"The 3rd daughter of the Rose family has been found dead in her restaurant. We are suspecting that it was her personal servant Ivan who had done it. But we are unable to find Ivan. Right now, the Duke has ordered us to search for Ivan throughout the entire city." Aditya and Alicia both widened their eyes in shock. Just a few days ago, both of them had met Kyra Rose, the 3rd daughter of the Rose family in her own restaurant. The news was just too shocking for them.
"This morning, Kyra was found dead lying in her own restaurant. A few customers found her dead body when they went to have breakfast in her restaurant."
"Where is she right now?" Alicia asked.
"In an hour, her body will be buried in the cemetery."
The Rose family head was devastated by the death of his daughter. He was also very angry. Aditya can tell that Kyra's father was holding it inside. He was waiting to find Ivan. But even after searching the whole city, no one was able to find Ivan. As a result, everyone started to believe that Ivan already has left the city.
At the same time, although the news about a group breaking into the royal palace and entering the treasury had been suppressed by the general public and the nobles of the Empire, the news had managed to reach the ears of Aditya, Alicia, Sylvie, and Nora. As a result, everyone decided to head back to the capital. The plan of attending Kyra's funeral was discarded. It was not as if Alicia was very close to Kyra or anything. Kyra was Alicia's big fan and she idolized her. Alicia was sad about her sudden death.
The rest of the day in the capital was a mess. Aditya who was already super tired with all the injuries and multiple big battles and after depleting his huge mana reserve, couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. Without even bothering to wash his body, he felt entered one of the guest bedrooms in the royal palace and fell asleep.
Fortunately, after learning that Aditya had fallen asleep, Alicia ordered the servants to not disturb him. The goddess then returned home where she was scolded for going with the expedition team. The poor goddess was scolded not only by her own mother but also by her other stepmothers and her grandma also scolded her.
After the scolding period was over, they asked Alicia what happened after they entered the Heavenly Hemlock forest. Alicia explained everything that she and others went through. After she was done explaining everything, at the end of the evening, after returning to the royal palace and after checking on Aditya, the goddess decided to contact a certain person who can help him in this situation.
Meanwhile, Noah and Ronnie did not return home. Both father and son were busy working. Noah and an investigation team went around the capital to find more clues about the culprit. Ronnie refrained from telling Noah anything about the League of black tomb. He was planning on revealing everything when the whole family was together. Ronnie got busy with the administration work. He listed out the names of the soldiers who died in this fight and decided to pay 10 royal gold coins to each dead soldier's family. Also, the matter of the Rose family's 3rd daughter being killed by her own servant was giving Ronnie another headache as the duke was pleading with Ronnie to help him out.
Ronnie also decided to rebuild Blackwood city from scratch. He knew that the people now would be afraid of living in blackwood city after what has happened. This is why he decided to work with the White Lotus guild to launch several campaigns to change the people's minds and let them know that this kind of incident won't happen again.
Also now that the entire Heavenly Hemlock forest was empty; without any magical beasts or animals, there wasn't a thing to worry about.
Sylvie returned to the White Lotus guild. It has been almost 4 days since she had sat at her desk and worked. As Blackwood city was destroyed a huge number of people migrated to Rose High hills city. Alicia had asked Sylvie to help out these people as much as she can without harming the guild. Sylvie decided to sell cheap food and cloth without making any profit. The white Lotus guild also collaborated with the Ethereal empire to provide housing to these survivors.
Nora and elder Ronan had nothing else to do. While Nora, being a Succubus went to the red district zone of the capital, Ronan retreated indoors. He would only come out when the Ethereal Empire needed the guardian. For now, he was going to watch and observe everything in silence. Ronan and Nora never took part in political matters. Unlike Tate who regularly advised Ronnie, Ronan and Nora had no interest in doing that.
Back to Aditya, the Dragon monarch slept for an entire day before waking up late in the afternoon. Aditya moved the curtains and allowed the sunlight to enter the bedroom. "It looks like I have slept for the entire day."
Aditya began removing the long dark brown jacket and the Black full-sleeved T-shirt that he wore beneath the jacket. The jacket was torn out in many places. The fashion industry of the continent of Westnia was very different when compared to the fashion industry in other continents.
After grabbing a white towel, before entering the bathroom, Aditya stopped to look at his face in the mirror.
Nothing about his face had changed except for the new and permanent 3 inches long vertical scar over his right eye. "Should I cover my right eye with my hair?" After thinking for a while, Aditya decided to not hide his scar. Although now his face was ruined, hiding his right eye with his hair would only make him look more creepy and scary.
In the washroom, Aditya took his time to clean his body and his long dark blue hair. In the Heavenly Hemlock forest, Aditya did not get time to clean his body. His own blood that has been mixed with dirt and had dried on his skin and hair. After 30 minutes of a relaxing shower, Aditya walked out and wore new clothes.
This time, Aditya wore a White full-sleeved T-shirt and a dark leather long jacket. Aditya walked out of his room and found a maid cleaning a flower base.
"Excuse me?"
"How can I help you, sir?" The maid had long black hair. She had a pretty face. The most surprising thing about her was her cultivation. This maid was a Peak 2nd-order cultivator. When the Istarin Empire was only a 2nd-tier Kingdom, even having a beginner 2nd-order cultivator used to be a big thing. This only goes on to show just the difference between a 2nd-tier kingdom and a 5th-tier kingdom.
"Can you prepare some food for me?" Aditya hadn't eaten anything for almost 2 days now. After completely depleting his mana, the Dragon King was now feeling hungry.
"What would you like to eat sir?"
"Anything is fine. But I prefer chicken."
"Alright." Aditya then returned back to the bedroom while the maid went to inform the head chef to cook for Aditya.
After returning to his room, Aditya locked the door and then took out the diary of the Mutant fire ant queen.
"Let's see what the mutant fire ant queen had written in this dairy." Just as Aditya was about to open the diary and began reading, someone knocked on the door.
Knock! Knock!
"Aditya, are you awake?" It was Alicia. Aditya put the dairy in his storage ring and then opened the door.
Click!
"How are you feeling? When did you wake up?" Alicia asked before Aditya can ask her anything.
"I woke up a while ago. Yes, I am feeling completely fine. How is everything being handled?" Aditya knew that there would be shockwaves after this war. There is no way the other Empires would just sit around when the strongest Empire in Westnia has lost one beginner 5th-order elder and 94 elite soldiers. If there was an opportunity of taking over the entire Ethereal Empire, that opportunity was now.
"Don't worry, father and big brother are taking care of everything. Besides, the White Lotus guild has a big influence on other Empires. Even if the neighboring Empires decide to attack us or even think of attacking our Empire, the White Lotus guild will use its influence to buy time for the Ethereal Empire. I will ask Sylvie to just start a rebellion in the neighboring Empires which should divert the enemy Empire's attention and buy us enough time to recover." While most Kings and Emperors fail to realize what soft power is, Alicia was someone who perfectly understood and knew how to use soft power. Even though she wasn't a King of any Empire, she had enough influence to start a war or stop a war.
"Leaving that aside, I have bought someone from another continent. This person will heal your right eye. Come with me." Excitedly Alicia grabbed Aditya's right arm and started walking.
Really Thank you very much to all those who sends support with valuable golden tickets. I hope we can keep it up!!!
