The sound of clashing weapons came from the back of the column along with someone’s shout.

Startled, the horses neighed. Her body stiffened instantly. The current situation vividly reminded her of the day she was dragged to Nicholas Portrion.

As terrible memories tried to overlap her vision, Walter placed his hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll take care of it.”

The look on his face was full of confidence, as if he was waiting for the ambush. It was as if he was a hunter going to collect the trap he had set.

Unlike the day she was trapped in the Portrion mansion, Walter was by her side now. Edith braced herself so as not to be consumed by fear.

Thanks to Helen deploying skilled escorts, the assassins couldn’t even get close to the carriage where Walter and Edith were.

As people’s screams began to die down, Cassius caught up to Walter’s carriage on horseback.

“Walter. We’ve subdued them all.”

“Then capture them alive and scatter them.”

Walter avoided precise terminology so as not to startle the pregnant Edith. But Cassius understood Walter’s command exactly.

‘I had told General Reinhardt to prepare switched bodies in advance.’

What Walter had asked Reinhardt to prepare was about ten bodies.

“If an ambush occurs, don’t kill them all. Kidnap them alive.”

“To use them as hostages?”

“Reinhardt will bring mutilated criminal bodies. We’ll scatter those to deceive. We can use the captured ones.”

Though he wondered why so many hostages were necessary, Cassius moved as Walter directed.

‘Where did the General get those, I wonder.’

Cassius thought that the two seemed to work well together as he stripped the hostages and dressed the bodies in their clothes.

Then he arranged the bodies on the ground as if the assassins had been killed by Portrion’s escorts.

A while later, when Eisen came to check the situation, he was momentarily speechless at the sight of the strewn assassins.

Their faces were so mangled it was a horrific sight, as if wild animals had rampaged through them.

‘So being of Duke Lexion’s bloodline isn’t enough.’

Eisen turned back. It seemed he would need greater power to kill Walter.
The Portrion party had managed to enter the capital after another full day of travel. The citizens of the capital, upon discovering the long procession, exchanged various opinions after seeing the unfamiliar family crest.

“Which fiefdom is Portrion attached to?”

“Um… Isn’t it a fiefdom with some influence? I haven’t heard much about it in the capital, though.”

“If it weren’t for the Emperor’s summons, this would be an insignificant family with no business in the capital.”

To the commoners of the capital, who often watched the opulent mansions, carriages, and parties of the high nobility, Portrion was just one of the less notable provincial nobles.

However, the actual nobles were closely monitoring Portrion’s movements.

‘It’s possible that the dying Emperor called them in to collude with provincial forces.’

‘If the weak Empress tries to collude with that family…’

It was because they thought the conflict over imperial power between Duke Lexsion and the Empress might enter a new phase due to the ascent of a provincial family.

Even in the mansion of the Duke of Lexsion, second only to the imperial palace in grandeur, they were paying attention to Portrion.

“Your Grace, Duke. Lord Portrion and his party have entered the capital.”

The butler of the Duke of Lexsion reported with due respect.

Hearing the awaited report, the Duke slowly closed the book he was reading.

Traces of holding a sword in several petty power struggles and multiple small and large wars were clearly visible on the hand that closed the book.

Lexsion’s symbol-like jet-black hair was now mixed with dignified gray hair, but this appearance rather revealed the aura of an old warrior.

Franz Lexsion.

He was the current head of the Lexsion family, second in the line of succession to the imperial throne, and the leader of the noble faction.

“I wonder if the new head is a competent man.”

He remembered the incident where Nicholas Portrion had sent a student to him as if revealing Lexsion’s bloodline.

If it had been a family based in the capital, he would have crushed them long ago, but since they were a provincial family, he had not killed them. Just made a slight move.

However, the news of the annoying family ascending to the capital didn’t sound pleasant.

“Assign someone to them, and if any member of Portrion tries to act foolishly…”

A gleam surfaced in his golden eyes.

“Kill them.”