Gospel of Blood

Chapter 38: Sebastian's Decision

In the following days, Charlotte's life became much calmer.

She would sleep until she naturally woke up, then devoutly attend the church service with the priests who came from the church, followed by receiving "spiritual therapy" from the priests from the church hospital.

Her enthusiasm, initiative, and religious fervor impressed the priests who came to earn extra income.

Charlotte was indeed very devout. Watching the blood calling recharge bar rise again, she offered heartfelt blessings and sincere thanks to the Great God Harald every day... The only regret was probably not being able to see Miss Lottie.

The beautiful priestess not only was pleasing to the eye, smelled good, and kind, but also brought Charlotte a natural intimacy. She was the first person to treat Charlotte kindly after she crossed over. During those days at the hospital, Lottie took care of Charlotte meticulously, and Charlotte could genuinely feel the other's heartfelt concern and gentleness.

Charlotte was looking forward to her visit, but instead, the priests who came were all men, one more enthusiastic than the other, but none pleasing to the eye. Later, after some cute gestures and getting friendly, Charlotte chatted with the priests and learned that Lottie had gone to study at the cathedral during these days.

Regrettably.

After the "charging" in the morning, it was lunchtime.

The new maid who had started working respectfully served the girl's meal, allowing Charlotte to return to the sinful life of having everything served on a silver platter.

Lunch was as sumptuous as ever. In the end, Casimodo successfully persuaded Charlotte to increase her meal fee, ultimately lowering it to one-fifth of the original amount. Lower than the original but still higher than Charlotte demands.

According to him, he had already exchanged eighty thousand gold tana with the cheapest porcelain in the pawnshop opened by the Yucca people, enough to cover the upcoming expenses. And there were several rooms in the manor with similar collections... Charlotte was truly amazed by her family's heritage. She felt astonished that the manor had not been targeted by thieves during this time, it was truly a miracle.

"They won't dare, because in the past few days, the Duke's mansion has been sending people to help watch over, and the leader even sent a first-tier extraordinary to patrol the surroundings."

Casimodo explained.

"Then what about our extraordinaries? Don't tell me that the Castell family, such a prestigious family, doesn't even have one first tier?"

Charlotte asked the question she had been wanting to ask.

Casimodo sighed.

"There are indeed first-tier rextraordinaries in the family, and there are even two Viscounts in the Second Tier Silver Moon. There used to be at least one who was always by the Lord's side, but over the past few years, all the extraordinary have been sent back to the Count's territory by the previous Countess under various pretexts..."

Charlotte instantly understood.

It wasn't that the Castells didn't have Extraordinary personnel. It was that the old witch feared exposure and sent them all back to the territory. This resulted in the Castell Manor in the city of Borde becoming a mere figurehead!

"Absurd, she's not even afraid of being attacked."

Charlotte muttered.

"With the Church here and the Sacred Code, who would dare to cause trouble in the capital?"

Casimodo shook his head.

"But now that such a big incident has occurred at the manor, why haven't the extraordinaries in the territory rushed back?"

Charlotte asked again.

Casimodo fell silent. Obviously, he couldn't answer this question. Perhaps he guessed something but didn't dare to answer.

Charlotte quickly returned to her senses.

"Ah, it's not easy being a feudal lord..."

She sighed helplessly.

First-tier extraordinary that loyal to the great nobles were, of course, also considered nobles.

Being nobles, they almost all had their own territories. Even if they didn't have territories, it was very easy to obtain a rural estate. And with a territory, there were personal interests...

Obviously, the Castell family, which had been managed by the old Countess for ten years, was probably a mess internally. The inheritance of the Castell title had not yet been decided, and everyone eyeing it.

Of course, this was not a problem that Charlotte was worrying about now. If she is going to be worried, it would be after she successfully inherited the territory in the future. Now without officially inheriting the territory, she couldn't even command those lower-ranked nobles...

After lunch, habitually drinking a glass of milk, and taking a nap, the afternoon was the time to train the servants.

Majesty magic was indeed a good thing.

They could intimidate and charm. Coupled with Charlotte's understanding of noble etiquette from her memories, within a few days, she trained the newcomers to be respectful and fearful of her.

Charlotte estimated that in a couple of months, she could mold these people to her liking from head to toe.

As the days went by, the proficiency of the low-level majesty magic skyrocketed. She broke through 100 on the third day, advancing from basic to intermediate, and the progress bar became 0/300.

The power didn't increase much, but it became more handy to use. At least the duration became quite long. Before, it would only last for about fifteen minutes, but now, she could sustain it for almost an hour.

Charlotte estimated that in another week, she should be able to reach maximum proficiency and reach the next level.

Evening time was relatively free, and Charlotte usually chose to read to learn, absorbing as much knowledge about this world as possible. Especially information about the nobles and her own family.

As she delved deeper, she began to understand why the response from her territory was so sluggish.

There was nothing special, it was because the Count's territory was originally an enclave of the Borde Duchy. The Borde Duchy was located on the southwestern coast of the Crescent Kingdom.

However, the Count's territory was located on the northern coast, the northern border of the kingdom. Originally territory of the Orc Tribe that was conquered by the first Count.

The area was not small, accounting for one-third of the total area of the Borde Duchy. The two territories were separated, one to the south and one to the north, separated by several duchies, and had strong control over their own.

In fact, the Castell family had always been living in their own territory over the years, only leaving once a year to see the Lord.

It wasn't until the previous Count became the leader of the Duchy's Mage Corps that they stayed in Borde City for a long time.

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As for the source of the family's strong income... in simple terms, the Castell family had mines. And it was a silver mine that contained mithril.

In addition, as a territory facing the Fallen Star Kingdom across the sea, adjacent to the Northern Territory Grand Duchy, and a land route to the Badlands of Eastern Yunette and even the Coria Kingdom in the east... in recent years, the commercial development of the Count's territory had also been thriving.

Charlotte finally understood why the nobles were coveting her family's territory.

Hundreds of years ago, it was indeed a desolate place, but now it was a land of hope with high potential for future development.

In addition to studying family records, the girl also didn't forget to find a scapegoat in the bloodline record.

After picking and choosing, Charlotte found that the effect of her majesty magic was quite similar to the bloodline power of an ancient and declining noble family in the Coria Kingdom.

This bloodline had a grandiose name — "Heaven's Chosen."

The effect was to comprehensively strengthen physical fitness, increase the probability of becoming a knight or a mage, plus an aura release similar to majesty magic.

This bloodline ability was quite good, almost like tailored for her identity, so she directly chose it.

Just wondering, as a bloodborne, could she still truly awaken her noble bloodline power?

Charlotte still harbored doubts about the "half-elf" in her bloodline, but asking Casimodo or consulting literature didn't yield any results. She could only speculate whether the ancestors of the Castell family had intermarriage with elves.

In the following days, the internal situation of the estate remained relatively calm.

However, things in the city of Borde were somewhat strange.

During the days when Charlotte was "recuperating," rumors about the Castell family colluding with Blood Demon Cult became increasingly rampant... Even the priests who came to the manor every day to earn extra income were interpreted by the public as the Castell family's confession of guilt to cover up their tracks.

Some even more maliciously described Charlotte as a bloodborne who borrowed a corpse to return to life or a succubus who bewitched people's hearts...

When Charlotte heard the old servant indignantly recounting the information she had inquired about, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Because the last rumor... in a sense, was partially true.

Obviously, there were still people behind the scenes. They were definitely related to the vassal nobles of the Duchy, and maybe even encouraged by the Duke in secret.

Apart from this, the assassination attempts had stopped. The other party seemed to be quite wary of the Demon Hunters, even though most of them were trainees patrolling, they still stopped.

In the blink of an eye, a week had passed... The Duke's birthday banquet is tomorrow.

At the same time, in a luxurious mansion in the outer city area.

Lying leisurely on a soft bed, Sebastian, the president of the Rose Society, enjoyed the fruit peeled by the demi-human maids and elegantly held a goblet filled with red wine. Finally, after sorting out the information collected from the search, he saw a parchment on the table, clearly copying the sacrificial array in the basement of the Castell Manor that night.

Sebastian picked up the parchment, and he slowly sipped his red wine, contemplating.

"The Countess of Castell possessed cursed pages. She wanted to sacrifice her granddaughter to communicate with the Blood Duke but ultimately died in a mysterious sacrificial ritual..."

"I got the cursed pages from her, and shortly afterward, I was summoned into the dream by Lady of the Night..."

"The Blood Duke is one of the five Blood Archdukes, the leader of the Bloodborne's 'Shadows'."

"Lady of the Night is likely a revived Bloodborne..."

"A coincidence?"

"Or is there... some deeper connection between the two?"

Sebastian's gaze gradually deepened.

He put down the parchment and picked up a piece of drawing paper underneath. On the drawing paper was a beautiful blonde girl.

She was dressed in a holy white gown, kneeling, closing her eyes in prayer in front of the statue of Harald. The holy light shone on her, making her look extremely sacred, like an angel descending.

"Charlotte de Castell..."

Sebastian touched the drawing paper, his clear eyes filled with admiration for beauty.

"It's worthy of being the heir of the Castell family, truly beautiful and moving, even the White Witch is inferior."

"However, to survive such a sacrifice, this is not something an ordinary person can do."

"Perhaps, she has experienced something and knows something..."

Thinking of this, Sebastian fell into contemplation. He continued to flip through the information about the city of Borde, searching for clues.

"Hmm? There's such a rumor?"

He frowned slightly.

After casually flipping through a few pages, Sebastian sneered.

"Hey, these greedy human nobles are really shameless! They don't even feel embarrassed to bully a child!"

As Sebastian turned to the last page, his eyebrows raised.

"The Duke's birthday banquet?"

After pondering for a moment, he felt a slight movement in his heart, coming up with an idea.

"It's interesting. Perhaps... this is a good opportunity for a personal investigation!"

He put down the information, finished the red wine in his goblet in one gulp, and then gracefully got up, ordering the demi-human maid who was waiting.

"Prepare an elegant dress for me and some decent gifts."

"Tomorrow, I will attend the Duke's birthday banquet at the Duke's mansion."