Eileen’s voice suddenly rose, sharp from weakness, her eyes staring incredulously at Roswitha. “Those corrupted soldiers were created by the Shadow Sword Order?! This is downright turning black into white. I have never met someone so shameless! What about the refugees? Didn’t they see Heinrich and the corrupted soldiers with their own eyes?!”
Roswitha nodded helplessly, her expression grave. “The refugees are indeed spreading the truth. During the battle beneath the Tower of Judgment, countless people witnessed the Grand Inquisitor transform into a demon, saw Bishop Eisenhart take the form of the Holy Light Knight and turn the tide, and they saw you… the miracle that reversed fate’s course.”
“At the border, especially in regions deeply oppressed by the Church or where people have heard of your reputation as the ‘Miracle Saintess,’ the populace tends to believe us more. In fact…” She paused, “to rally the people and counter the Church’s slander, Bishop Eisenhart has, intentionally or not, linked you and me… or rather, linked you to the ‘Manifestation of the Goddess’s Will.’ Now, in many border areas, people have started calling us the ‘Twin Saintesses.’”
“Twin… Twin Saintesses?!”
Eileen felt a surge of hot blood rush to her head, her face twitching fiercely as if she might jump out of bed. “The Bishop… this is just too…”
She couldn’t find the right words, only a sense of absurdity overwhelming her.
Wasn’t it agreed that she would never occupy the Saintess’s position? Yet in the end, she still couldn’t escape this destiny.
She had woken up not only branded a kingdom-wide “traitor” and “heretic leader,” but also elevated onto the “Saintess” pedestal?
The shift in identity was far too drastic!
“And there are rumors in the capital as well, that you’re building up the baron’s lands at the border, training troops, all as preparation for rebellion!” Roswitha rubbed her forehead. “You need to worry about the Marquess Lady far away in the capital too. Her position is very delicate right now. The saying goes, ‘the taller the tree, the more wind it attracts.’”
“Mother?” Eileen covered her face and groaned. “I’ve already cut ties with the family! This has nothing to do with Mother!”
“That’s just what you think,” Roswitha sighed. “No matter what, the blood of the Raven family still flows through your veins. Besides, the Church controls the capital’s mouthpiece. They accuse you of colluding with the Shadow Sword Order to subvert the kingdom’s legitimacy, even summoning demons… That charge is enough to stir up the people in the capital.”
“Your status as the former Marquess’s daughter carries great influence. Naturally, they want to tie you firmly to the rebellion, to undermine your reputation, and also strike at Marquess Cecil’s authority.”
She paused, then continued, “Crown Prince Will has already been ordered by the king to lead the army to ‘quell’ the border rebellion, with his spear pointed directly at us here.”
The atmosphere in the room instantly plummeted to an icy low.
Helga and Rita still bore tear stains, but now only shock and anger remained on their faces.
Serena’s fingers clenched into white-knuckled fists, her gaze sharp as a blade.
Légerive knelt by the bed, biting her lip tightly, eyes full of worry for Eileen’s predicament and fury at the Church’s distortions.
“The situation… is very bad,” Roswitha summarized. “The border people support us, but most of the border lords, who control the armies and resources, are either cowed by the Church and kingdom’s pressure or are bound by Church interests themselves. For now, they stand on the other side. The territory and forces we actually control… are very limited.”
Eileen felt as if her head was about to split.
Before she lost consciousness, she had been fighting for life and death; now, upon waking, she found herself embroiled in a far more complex political whirlpool, branded the kingdom’s “public enemy”…
This script was too thrilling!
Just as everyone was suffocating under the weight of this grim news, the room door was suddenly flung open!
A holy knight under the Goddess’s Shield, his expression frantic, rushed in without even saluting, his voice trembling with fear:
“R-Report! Captain, Saintess, urgent military intelligence! The kingdom… the kingdom’s northern border — the three border fortresses of Maria, Rosé, and Xena! They’ve all fallen!!”
“What?!” This time, it was not only Eileen but everyone in the room who cried out in shock.
“Impossible!” Eileen blurted, forcing herself upright. “Those three fortresses are the kingdom’s iron walls against the Empire! Centuries old and impregnable! How could they all fall simultaneously?!”
The holy knight panted rapidly, face pale. “The news came through secret channels just now, but the fall happened… reportedly several days ago! Right during the Tower of Judgment battle on our side! It’s said… that Miss Clarette, the governor of Raven Domain, holding a secret order from Marquess Cecil, forcibly redeployed over seventy percent of the main border defense troops from the three fortresses, under the pretext of ‘the rampant heretic rebellion at the border requiring urgent troop transfer for suppression!’”
“This caused the fortresses’ defenses to be dangerously thin! The Imperial Army… the Imperial Army somehow got wind of this, and launched a swift assault immediately after! The fortress garrisons were outnumbered and fought valiantly, but ultimately all fell! Now, the Imperial forces have penetrated deeply, their spearhead pointing straight at the kingdom’s heartland!”
“Clarette?! A secret order?!” Eileen felt as if struck by lightning, her mind blank. “Mother’s order? That’s impossible! Mother would never issue such a self-destructive, foolish command! Are the border generals idiots? Would they blindly follow such an obviously weakening and inviting-the-wolf order?! Without the Privy Council and Military’s joint command, how dare they?”
Eileen’s voice suddenly cut off, an icy chill spreading instantly from her feet to every fiber of her body.
She understood.
Why the kingdom had so quickly branded her a “traitor.” Why Crown Prince Will was urgently dispatched to “quell the rebellion.” Why the border troops would heed a possibly forged “secret order.”
This was a massive, intricately linked trap!
Clarette’s troop transfers were just one part of the trap, designed to leave the border defenses empty, providing the Empire an opportunity to strike!
The catastrophic consequences of the Empire’s invasion would neatly prove Eileen Raven’s “collusion with heretics,” “inviting the Empire’s invasion,” and “subverting the kingdom!”
Her “treason” would have “irrefutable evidence!”
“It’s over…” Eileen’s face drained of color as she murmured, “Now… the traitor charge is something I could never wash away, even if I jumped into the River of Death…”
The room fell into a deathly silence.
The news of fortress losses and Imperial invasion hit far harder than the Church’s slander ever could!
This was the danger of national ruin! And all the blame would fall squarely on Eileen and the faction she represented!
Just then, the door was pushed open again.
Another holy knight burst in, panting heavily, clutching a letter tightly in his hand.
“R-Report! Miss Eileen! There’s… there’s a letter for you! Urgently delivered from Raven Domain!”
The holy knight raised the letter high.
All eyes immediately fixed on it.
Raven Domain? At this moment? Could it be Clarette?
What on earth was she thinking?!
Eileen’s heart suddenly raced, gripped by an ominous premonition.
She trembled as she reached out, her voice dry: “G-give it… to me.”
The holy knight hurried forward, handing her the letter.
The envelope was ordinary, but on it, in delicate yet chilling handwriting, were the words: “To my dear Eileen.”
Eileen took a deep breath and tore open the envelope, pulling out the letter inside.
When she read its contents clearly, her pupils suddenly contracted!
The letterhead bore the emblem of Marquess Cecil’s domain! But the sender’s signature was — Frederica.
Eileen had some impression of this name; she had seen it on Clarette’s pendant, but what truly shocked her was the surname!
Eisenfeld — that was the Imperial royal family’s name!
The whole letter was full of enthusiasm, almost like a marriage proposal, but between the lines, Eileen understood one thing: all this time, the chaos around her was orchestrated by Empress Frederica herself!
Why had her reputation as a villainous marquess’s daughter spread across the capital overnight?
Why had she encountered strange bandits on the road?
Who was the pitiful amnesiac girl she had saved, deliberately placed?
All of this was the Empress Frederica’s secret plot—or more precisely, Miss Clarette, whom Eileen trusted deeply, had been plotting this all along! She had been scheming to corner Eileen, forcing her into a dead end so that the only choice left would be to join forces with her!
Now, her conspiracy had succeeded! The fall of the border was 100% blamed on Eileen herself, and she was thoroughly branded a traitor!
Rage made her still-weak body stagger.
But she forced herself steady, set the letter down, and said coldly, “Prepare the carriage. I will go see her.”
Saying this, meeting her companions’ curious gazes, Eileen handed the letter to Roswitha, who read it and couldn’t help but show a slight change in expression.
“It sounds pretty nice, huh? The border suffering under the Church’s oppression, ‘Though I have no desire to contend for the throne, I know the people’s suffering, and thus must take drastic action…’”
“The Church’s deeds are utterly heartless. We, the Imperial Iron Cavalry, are willing to lend a hand, to overthrow the Church’s brutal rule!”
“Since the Holy Capital lies within the kingdom, I can only pass through by borrowing their route. Once my mission is complete, I will surely return it with both hands!”
Serena cut in, “Sounds prettier than a song. ‘Borrow’? Once borrowed, I bet they’ll never give it back!”
Helga tried to persuade her, “Eileen, can you not go see her? I feel this woman has ill intentions. Back in Raven Domain, I always thought the way she looked at you was strange. She deliberately dragged you into this no-escape mess. What does she want?”
The other girls also found it odd. Even with the Empress’s ambition, there was no need to care so much about a mere marquess’s daughter, let alone personally risk disguising herself as Eileen’s maid. What if she slipped up?
They just couldn’t understand this woman’s mind.
Eileen shook her head and sighed softly. “That’s exactly why I have to see her. After meeting her, everything will be decided…”
She was just as curious. What was she planning? Was such a huge scheme really necessary?
Eileen had no memory of ever having any dealings with this Empress.
No grudges, no debts.
Why would she be so fixated on her?
A grievance must have its origin, a debt its debtor. The conflicts of recent times had to be settled face to face!