SFS Chapter 219 Can’t He Come Back Now?
Chapter 219 Can’t He Come Back Now?
On the third day after the earthquake, the army of the Heiseidon Empire captured the border city of Nergodo in Tirateno.
When the news reached the eastern part of the empire, many eastern nobles felt extremely terrified. Some even secretly defected and wanted to secretly assist the imperial expeditionary army in opening the defensive array of the eastern outer city of Donawa.
But before the traitors could act, they were caught in one fell swoop by the trap set by the head of the Ortiz family, and all of them were imprisoned in the dungeon of Scarlet Stone City.
The Scarlet Stone Castle, located in the central eastern part of the empire, is the ancestral castle of the Ortiz family. It is named "Scarlet Stone Castle" because it is built entirely of red rocks from Mount Podor.
This castle, which was called the Heart of the East decades ago, and its heir, the only remaining bloodline of the Ortiz family - Marcela Ortiz, suddenly returned to the public eye in a jaw-dropping way nearly twenty years after they withdrew from the upper aristocratic circle of the empire.
In the 991st year of the Imperial Calendar, Marcela Ortiz publicly announced that she would no longer pay the increasing taxes to the royal family, which caused an uproar in the empire.
But at first, everyone just treated it as a joke.
The reason why the Ortiz family did not have their fiefdom taken back by the emperor after losing all their direct male heirs was because the previous emperor, before his death, went against public opinion and specially appointed Marcela Ortiz, who was only 12 years old, as the next Duke of Ortiz.
But Marcella only obtained such a future duke title. The fiefdom that she should have managed was handed over by the old emperor to other families in the east to assist in management. After she came of age, she had to choose one of the heirs of these families as her partner before she could officially continue the title and take back the management rights of the fiefdom.
After Marcella grew up, she did not choose a partner from the major families. Instead, she claimed to be ill and refused all visitors. She did not appear in public for seven years.
When she appeared again, there was a male magician who always wore a black wizard robe beside her. And it was unknown since when that there appeared in the Scarlet Stone Castle more than 5,000 well-trained knights and magicians, in addition to two to three thousand mercenaries of mixed races.
In the following years, Marcella first used some unconventional means to regain the management rights of her own fiefdom, and then appeared in various social occasions in the aristocratic circle, and the black-robed magician would occasionally follow her.
People privately speculated about the relationship between the two and believed that the black-robed magician was the lover of Duke Marcella, but Marcella always invited different young nobles and brought some young talents back to the Scarlet Stone Castle. The black-robed magician's attitude towards this was extremely indifferent. According to insiders, Marcella often drank and had fun in the castle with the black-robed magician and other young talents until dawn.
In short, Marcella's various absurd deeds over the years have become so numerous that they are like stones seen everywhere on the roadside. People have become accustomed to it. Even His Majesty the Emperor no longer requires her to choose a partner from the heirs of the eastern nobles as soon as possible. Instead, he indulges her behavior and no longer pursues the matter of her taking back the management rights of her fiefdom.
The empire had been at war for years, and taxes were getting heavier year by year. The lives of the lower class civilians were miserable, but this did not have much impact on the lives of the nobles. So when Marcella refused to pay taxes, everyone just thought she was just trying to attract attention and use this method to gain the temporary gratitude of the people.
But the series of events that followed not only made the emperor feel anxious, but also caused the various forces that were secretly watching to begin to re-examine the young head of the family.
……
In the underground secret passage of Feishi City, the woman in the dark green dress looked at the head of the family walking in front of her, adjusted her monocle, and couldn't help muttering in a low voice.
"Why do we need the Patriarch to interrogate these people in person? It's a waste of half a day, and we didn't get anything out of it..."
As soon as she finished muttering, her master scratched her beautiful golden curly hair in distress, then suddenly turned around and complained.
"Laura, what's so attractive about the Far North? Is Yrel going to stay there for a whole winter? Did you receive his letter? I'm really busy. Can't he come back now?"
"I haven't received a reply from Lord Yrel yet, but judging by the current situation, Lord Yrel will definitely return to the East ahead of schedule." Laura tried to comfort her master, but when she saw the master's lake blue eyes that always made people feel extra reassured, she knew it.
The master of the family did not need her comfort at all.
"Forget it. It would be best if he could come back earlier. It's okay if he can't come back. The sky won't fall in the East without him." Turning around and pushing open the iron door in front of her, Marcella stepped onto the stairs leading to the ground. She extended a hand to the secretary behind her.
“The stairs are a bit steep, be careful not to step on your skirt, Laura. Although I think your skirt is very beautiful, it’s really not very convenient.”
Laura held Marcella's hand and followed her to the exit step by step. When they left the secret passage and stood on the lawn, she carefully adjusted her dress, then looked at the head of the family, who was wearing men's clothes, with a tall and straight figure and a bright face, and agreed with what she said.
"You're right. I like wearing skirts, but they're really inconvenient. Men's clothes are designed based on men's aesthetics and preferences. Even if the tailor changes the size to make it fit, I still feel it's a little weird. Of course, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the clothes you're wearing. I just think there should be something more suitable for us women to wear, something that's both convenient and beautiful, and can also be very handsome."
Marcella smiled after hearing her words and said, "Miss Laura, who likes beautiful clothes, can you think of a way to make such clothes?"
"As your secretary, I don't have the time to be a tailor. I will hand this matter over to Meilin later. Master, you know that she is the best at making clothes in the entire castle. The patterns she embroiders are very beautiful, and she also has some special patterns that only the people of Palasso can do."
Laura followed Marcela back to the main building of the castle. It was already time for lunch and there was no urgent business to deal with, so they could chat for a while.
Laura is the daughter of Marcella's nanny. The two often slept in the same cradle since they were young. Marcella is the head of Laura's household, but she is also her sister. They have a good relationship and always have a lot to talk about.
"What special patterns do the Parasol people embroider? Why haven't I seen Meilin embroider before?"
Marcela recalled that she didn't seem to have seen any special patterns on her clothes.
Laura heard her words, and the smile on her face faded for a moment, "She embroidered it. Don't you remember? That cloak saved your life."
Although it might be a coincidence, the cloak did miraculously block the venom sprayed by the monster.
Marcella had no recollection of it at all. Only after Laura reminded her did she remember that when she secretly left Scarlet Stone City after she became an adult and trained on the Lar Continent for several years, she kept a cloak embroidered with silver and gold patterns in her space ring.
She seemed to have worn that cloak only once, and the mercenary group she joined suffered heavy casualties in the Red Moon. Most of the people died of poisoning, and only she suffered some external injuries.
A long time had passed, and when she recalled it, she vaguely remembered that the embroidery on the cloak seemed to be not patterns, but words.
……
The wizard robe that Xie Wei wore was made of a thin, misty gray leather. The top of the robe was embroidered with patterns in silver thread, while the wide hem of the robe was embroidered with many prayers in silver and gold thread.
This wizard robe does not have many decorative gems except for the buttons. Compared with the other clothes that Thrall prepared for Shevi, it can be said to be simple, but Shevi likes it very much.
Not only Xie Wei likes it, but Raymond also likes it.
The group of four explored the places in the ruins that Iriel and Raymond had not been to. After discovering that Shevi's clothes were not only waterproof but also fireproof, and not only fireproof but also poison-proof, Raymond stared at Shevi's wizard robe from time to time.
When Thrall was about to beat him, Raymond moved to Shevi and said that he also wanted a shiny wizard robe.
As for what he wanted the mage robe for, Raymond glanced at Yrel who was talking to Thrall, then shook his head and said seriously: "I won't tell you, I want to give Yrel a shiny mage robe."
Xie Wei held Flos in his arms, and both he and the dragon tilted their heads at the same time.
They thought about it for two seconds, and finally decided to respect Raymond and pretend not to hear this.