Chapter 372 Gathering of the Involved Families
372 Gathering of the Involved Families
At high noon in the Imperial Capital, a number of influential and politically powerful individuals from prominent families had promptly gathered in the conference room of the Imperial Palace. Many of them traveled from faraway locations just to attend this urgent meeting regarding the latest event. They even used their own teleportation spells and devices or ordered their most skilled mages to reach the destination in time. The sudden gathering of these important people was huge, but not a single journalist was present, as the empire thought it would only cause more problems if it were somewhat disclosed. Concerning the empire's national security, any words uttered in the conference should only remain in the room. All of the participants had taken their seats. The discussion was composed of at least four parties, mainly the imperial royal family, the Grise Archduchy, the County of Arcenciel, and the Raevender royal family. The heads of each family were present in the room, accompanied by a few people. "Well then. Now that the families involved are present in this session, let's start the discussion immediately." The one who initiated the meeting was the emperor of the Dixon Empire himself, Emperor Jeffrey Dixon. Normally, the emperor was the mediator for these kinds of matters, but today, a member of the imperial royal family is involved. "First off, let's discuss the details of the incident that happened just last night," the emperor continued. "The incident at the Dixon Imperial Academy. I know that this matter is not something a grown adult should intervene in, but a few crimes were committed there."
"The Raevenders abducted my daughter." Wearing a dead serious face, the head of the Archduchy of Grise, Archduke Owen Grise, blurted out what was on his mind. He was middle-aged, tall, and muscular, with viciously sharp purple eyes.
His claim was against a foreign royal family, but they seemed not to be offended by it as that was the latest information they had gathered so far. "We, the Queendom of Raevender, are sorry for what happened to your daughter," the Queen Regnant of Raevender, Queen Mylene, sympathized with the archduke. "We, too, do not know they would do such things, or are aware of where they are right now."
"However, we don't know the full story yet, and I think it's not fair to just fully put the blame on us," Queen Consort Claire added. "We know our children very well. There is no way they could take away your daughter without any plausible reason at all."
"She is right, Archduke Grise," the emperor seconded. "We cannot just jump to conclusions without knowing the whole truth. We need to hear out the statements of the eyewitnesses present during that time. Fortunately, the incident occurred in the middle of one of the academy's biggest annual events." 10:11
"I am aware of that, Your Imperial Majesty," Owen said, and then he took a glance at a certain family. "Count Arcenciel, your daughter was abducted too, yes? Then why are you so calm and not going to complain?"
"It might be true that my daughter, Iris, was dragged as well," he replied. "But according to my son, Alexander, Iris seemed to voluntarily follow them, and it's not exactly like she was being forcefully taken away. Those two are the most powerful students in the history of the academy, so I think that she is in safe hands. If it's the Raevenders, your daughter should be in a safe place as well." The Count of Arcenciel, Regenburg Arcenciel, did not complain about the situation of his daughter. He was a lean man, considering he was a top-class mage with slicked-back bright cerulean hair. He might have passed his prime, but he was still considered one of the top mages in the empire.
"That's true, but I still cannot fully entrust my only daughter to them. I am still a father who is worried about the well-being of my child." "But more importantly," Regenburg said, then glanced at Owen. "Have you ever inquired what actually happened before they got away? Do you know what your daughter has been through?" "..." Owen knew what Regenburg was trying to imply. He heard some hearsay about the latest news in the academy, but he believed that the relationship between his daughter and the crown prince had been stagnating. But seeing the prince in the palace right beside a woman he had not heard of, he was tired of it and decided to open this matter to the emperor. "Your Imperial Majesty, I like to inform you that my daughter has been suffering so much from the unnecessary actions of your son, His Imperial Highness Edward. He cheated on my daughter for someone we barely know. In my opinion, he is not suitable for the throne anymore."
Normally, it was imprudent of him to talk to the emperor that way, even if he was an archduke. However, almost everyone in the room was aware of that, and they did not bat him an eye. Also, the bootlicker nobles were not present to throw harsh words at Owen. "I am aware of my son's actions in the academy, and I deeply apologize on his behalf for him hurting your daughter. I can punish him, scold him, or give him a lesson, but asking to strip away his crown prince title is too much, Archduke Grise." "Even so, he should not be left unattended. He has to suffer from the consequences of his decisions." "I understand you, Archduke, but what's important right now is the situation of those children. The reports state that they used Long Teleportation to transport themselves somewhere, so finding their location is currently impossible. Queen Mylene, do you have any ideas as to where they went off?" "Unfortunately, Emperor Jeffrey, but we really don't know where they go. We tried to locate them in the dungeon and on the surface, but we could not find a clue of their shadows. But we remember that our son, Raphael, had secretly built a villa somewhere on this continent, but we genuinely have no idea where it is located." "I see. Thank you for your response. Is there anything else you can remember?" "Well, apparently, one of our maids has been missing since this morning. The only logical explanation we could think of is that she was taken away by them for obvious reasons." "Let's set their location aside, as it is currently unavailable," suggested Owen. "I also heard from the students that they heard some of Princess Louise's words before they were banished from the scene. To summarize it, most of the students clearly heard from her saying that if the crown prince is going to disregard Christine, then Princess Louise would take her away from him. Can you explain it, Queen Mylene?" The three of them, Mylene, Claire, and Gabrielle, gawked upon learning that their daughter had done something surprising and insane. But as royal people themselves, they immediately retained their composure and gave their response. "We are completely aware that our daughter has inherited my sexuality—the attraction to women," Mylene said. "With the ability to have a child with a woman, Raphael has given the crown to her instead for himself. Being the crown princess of our nation, of course, she has to seek her consort at the academy, but to think that she would choose Miss Christine, it's quite shocking even for us. And what can you say about that, Archduke?" "...I have no comment on that matter as of now. But my daughter is always perfect, so it's no surprise that she even caught a lady's heart. But where the hell are they?" Afterward, the session continued.
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