Rose Empire

The moment Charlotte let go of her hand, Rosie actually felt inexplicably relieved.

When Charlotte arrived at the familiar gate, she met a fifty-year-old man in bishop's robes and a tall middle-aged man with a beard.

"Nice to meet you, Bishop Fehrenbach, Count Albert." Charlotte lifted her skirt and saluted them both.

Albert was slightly surprised when he saw Charlotte, then he bowed and said, "Nice to meet you, Miss Charlotte."

"Good day, dear Miss Charlotte." Alan Fehrenbach looked Charlotte up and down and said with a smile.

It has been nearly seventeen years since Charlotte was reborn into this world. She has never met another person with such disgusting eyes as Allen Fehrenbach. Even Henry Holloway, the second-generation rich man, has a look that is not as disgusting as this wrinkled old man. Being looked up and down by Allen Fehrenbach, Charlotte feels like being licked up and down by a toad with its sticky tongue.

I must dig out this old guy's eyes if I get a chance...

Charlotte swore secretly in her heart, but her expression remained calm: "Are you two here to visit my father as well? Thank you for your concern."

"Miss Charlotte, there's no need to be so polite. This is just our job." Bishop Allen Fehrenbach said with a smile.

The bearded Count Albert nodded in agreement but didn't say much. He was always a man of few words.

Charlotte seemed very anxious about her father's illness. She exchanged a few words with the two and then hurriedly left.

Entering Jose Melfield's study, Charlotte saw Duke Greenfield half lying on the couch and Sean playing beside the couch.

"elder sister!"

When Sean saw Charlotte, he jumped up in surprise and shouted.

"Sean." Charlotte smiled and rubbed her younger brother's head. Her eyes involuntarily fell on the brooch in front of Sean and the sapphire inlaid on it. After a moment, Charlotte couldn't help but frowned. She always felt that the sapphire carrying miracles seemed to have a dim luster.

"Charlotte, you're back."

Jose Melfield didn't seem surprised to see his daughter.

"Father, I heard that you were sick?" Charlotte squatted in front of Jose Melfield's bed and said worriedly.

Jose Melefield shook his head and told the truth without keeping anyone in suspense: "I'm not sick, I just encountered an assassination attempt."

"Assassination? How could there be an assassination?" Charlotte said in shock.

José Melefield briefly told Charlotte how he had been poisoned.

After hearing this, Charlotte was really surprised. The black tea that Jose Melefield usually drank was placed in this study. The Riverside Castle was heavily guarded, and Jose Melefield's study was off-limits to outsiders. The Duke of Greenfield's daily meals were prepared by Wolf Vonderen.

Charlotte really couldn't imagine who could have poisoned Duke Luyuan for so long under such strict defense.

"Who poisoned my father?" Charlotte asked.

Jose Melfield shook his head and said, "I pretended to be sick these days just to lure the assassin out, but unfortunately he was very cautious and I didn't find any clues."

Charlotte frowned and thought for a long time, but couldn't come up with any clues. She could only sigh and said, "Fortunately, Mr. Wolfe did his duty and saved my father from a disaster. I must thank Mr. Wolfe when I go back."

Charlotte said this sincerely. If Jose Melfeld was assassinated, there would certainly be chaos in the Principality of Green Plains. Not only would her greatest support for development in Lanwan be gone, but her stupid brother would definitely not be able to stabilize the situation. It would be unknown whether Charlotte would have a home to return to by then.

Jose Melfield did not make too many comments on Charlotte's words. He closed the official letter he had just read and said in a deep voice, "Since you are back, stay at home for a while and come with me to Platinum City in a few days."

"What am I going to do in Platinum City?" Charlotte asked curiously.

"To attend Henry Holloway's wedding, of course," said Jose Melfield.

"Why do I have to attend his wedding?" Charlotte frowned.

"I, the Duke of Bonan, King Cato, King Coxin, and the Marquis of Blackstone will all attend Henry Holloway's wedding. What's wrong with you, a little viscount, going there too?" said Jose Melfield.

"So many people are going?" Charlotte asked in surprise.

Although many people would respectfully address Henry Holloway as "Your Highness", he was, after all, only the emperor's nephew who had not yet been officially appointed as the crown prince. Logically, he was not qualified to have people of the "two kings, two dukes and one marquis" level attend his wedding.

However, this time, the five most powerful figures below the emperor of the empire are actually going to attend the wedding of such a younger generation together, which is a rare and grand event.

With such a big scene, something big must be happening, and Charlotte became interested.

"In that case, I'll go too. I've received an invitation." Charlotte nodded and changed her mind.

Jose Melfield nodded with satisfaction.

Next, Charlotte played with Sean for a while, and only returned to her pink bedroom after dinner.

After bathing, Charlotte sat tiredly at the dressing table, letting Linda wipe her wet hair while she continued to think about the assassination of José Melefield.

First it was herself, then Jose Melefield. Charlotte raised her vigilance to the highest level. The assassin failed to assassinate her, so he tried to assassinate her father? Because the time interval between the two assassinations was too short, Charlotte had to think so.

Feeling Linda's gentle and delicate massage on her shoulders, Charlotte suddenly asked, "Linda, what is my brother doing recently?"

"Mr. Andre?" Linda thought for a moment and said, "I heard that Mr. Andre seems to have been contacting nobles to oppose Madam recently?"

"Who did he contact?" Charlotte asked again.

"Earl Perold, Earl Albert, Viscount Chester, Viscount Gerald..." Linda counted a few names on her fingers, then frowned, "I don't know the others."

Charlotte smiled and nodded, staring into the eyes of the person behind her through the mirror, and said, "You are not Linda, who are you?"

A cold dagger was placed on Linda's throat. Linda's body froze and tears suddenly filled her eyes. "Miss, what are you talking about? I am Linda..."

"Linda is probably the dumbest girl I have ever met in my life. It's good enough that she can remember my brother's name, but how can she remember so many names of strangers?" Charlotte's smile turned cold, and she repeated, "You are not Linda, who are you?"

PS: Thank you for your monthly blade recommendation tickets~~~

PS2：谢谢世界之汗 的提醒，前文错误已做修改。qun壹6巴2伊7妻衣6

Volume 75: Chapter 67 Chapter Linda's Deal

In fact, from the moment they met, Charlotte felt that there was something wrong with Linda.

"Little girl" is the name that Charlotte would use when Linda was pressed down and rubbed against her. Linda, who grew up with Charlotte, was a timid, shy, and a little silly girl. Every time Charlotte called her "little girl", she would blush with shyness.

However, this "Linda" in front of her just seemed very happy when Charlotte called her "little girl".

If this reaction could be explained by the girl being too excited after a long separation, then her initiative to massage Charlotte was enough to make Charlotte suspicious.

With Linda's stupid brain, if Charlotte asked her to help dry her hair, she would only think about drying her hair and would not remember how tired Charlotte was from traveling for days.

That's why Charlotte tried to test him.

In fact, when this "Linda" in front of Charlotte started to answer her questions, Charlotte was basically sure that there was something wrong with this "Linda". The Linda that Charlotte was familiar with, in addition to completing the tasks assigned by Charlotte, her only interest was to learn how to make desserts from the aunts in the kitchen. How could she care about what Andre was doing? Even if she heard it from someone, the little girl would probably forget it in a daze as soon as she turned her head.

Faced with Charlotte's questions, the real Linda would most likely be hesitant and unable to give any answer.

Linda felt the cold murderous intent coming from behind her, slowly raised her hands, and made a gesture of surrender, sighing helplessly: "Did she get behind me so easily? This kid is really stupid. We have been together for more than ten years, but she didn't know that Miss Renee is such a powerful transcendent."

Charlotte stood up, turned her head and stared into "Linda's" eyes, and asked again: "Who are you? Where is Linda?"

"I'm right in front of you. I'm Linda." This "Linda" spread out her hands and said with a smile.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes and walked around this "Linda" for a while, looking her up and down. From the appearance alone, Charlotte really couldn't see any flaws, even though she knew Linda inside and out. In fact, the more Charlotte looked, the more she felt that the person in front of her seemed to be the real Linda.

Suddenly, Charlotte thought of a possibility, and she slowly said, "You are... a shadow mage?"

The smile on the face of "Linda" opposite froze, and she immediately put two fingers of her right hand together and was about to point to her heart.

However, Renee was faster and struck Linda on the back of her neck, then easily twisted "Linda's" hands. Judging from her fighting ability, this "Linda" was no different from the real Linda.

"I didn't expect Miss Charlotte to know about us, a mere shadow sorcerer."

"Linda" had her hands twisted and tied behind her back on a reclining chair. She looked at Charlotte and smiled, but her smile was no longer as relaxed and calm as before.

Charlotte heard about Shadow Warlocks, a rare faction, from Lilith. Shadow Warlocks can use their own souls to enter other people's bodies and control their actions. This sounds a bit like "possession", but it is different from possession, because Shadow Warlocks will not destroy or devour other people's souls. The reason is simple - the souls of almost everyone in this world belong to God, so when Shadow Warlocks invade other people's bodies, their souls and the souls of the original owners of the body should be in a symbiotic relationship.

All intelligent life is equal at the soul level, which is also common sense in this world. Therefore, after the soul of a shadow sorcerer enters another person's body, it cannot directly gain control of the body. According to Lilith, at this time, the shadow sorcerer usually chooses to make a fair deal with the original owner of the body, so that the original owner's soul will voluntarily give up the dominance of the body. This kind of transaction usually makes the original owner's soul satisfied enough, otherwise the restless second soul will easily expose the lurking shadow sorcerer.

Charlotte didn't know what kind of deal Linda made with the Shadow Warlock, but with that girl's silly personality, no matter what kind of deal they made, Charlotte wouldn't find it strange.

"What is your purpose in controlling Linda's body?" Charlotte looked at "Linda".

"Linda" just chuckled and looked at Charlotte without answering.

"Do you have anything to do with the assassination of my father? Who ordered you to do so?" Charlotte asked again.

"Linda" still said nothing.

Charlotte took a deep breath. She found a tricky problem. She didn't know whether it was because the shadow sorcerer was very powerful or because of the coexistence of two souls, but her "confusing mind" had very limited effect on Linda in front of her.

"Not only Renee, Miss Charlotte is also a transcendent? Linda really doesn't know anything."

Perhaps because she felt that she had been tricked twice by the real Linda's memory, the fake "Linda" could not help but smile bitterly.

"Your soul has not returned to your body. If the host dies at this moment, you will die too, right?" Charlotte said in a deep voice, "If you answer my questions honestly, I can spare your life."

"No need, returning to the kingdom of God is exactly what I want."

Linda replied without fear.

Charlotte keenly caught the subtle changes in the other party's words and guessed, "Are you from the church?"

"Linda" realized that talking too much would lead to mistakes, so she immediately shut up and said no more.

The other party stopped talking, but Charlotte had already determined the answer in her heart. She sneered: "The church clearly announced at least fifty years ago that it had wiped out all shadow sorcerers, but now a shadow sorcerer belonging to the church appears in front of me. What is this? Stealing from the inside? Is this how you express your piety to God?"

Shadow sorcerers were also found guilty by the church for playing with souls. However, unlike necromancers, shadow sorcerers have a condition that must be met in their soul awakening rituals - near death. Only when they are on the verge of death can the soul awakening ritual of the shadow sorcerer faction succeed. However, it is not easy to grasp the degree of near death. Often, practitioners of the shadow sorcerer faction lose their lives before they can successfully embark on the extraordinary path, or they finally awaken and become a shadow sorcerer at the moment of death, but the doctors on the scene fail to rescue them and they die again.

Therefore, the number of shadow mages was already small, and after several rounds of attacks by the church, this faction was no longer heard. However, it now seems that they were not completely wiped out as the church said, but were incorporated. In other words, the church wiped out the original shadow mages, obtained their training methods, and then trained a group of shadow mages of its own.

However, the "Linda" on the other side still had a cold look in her eyes and did not respond.

"Forget it, I won't ask anymore," Charlotte shook her head and said, "The church has been hypocritical and shameless for a long time. It lies, abuses the people, makes money, and commits adultery. Every commandment written in the Canon is a sin committed by the church. I really want to know why God never minds that he has such an ugly group of shepherds? Or is it..."

Charlotte paused and said coldly: "Is our God actually blind?"

"Linda" raised her head quickly, her eyes full of shock, and she seemed to be unable to believe that Charlotte could say such outrageous words.

Seeing such a big reaction from "Linda", Charlotte thought that it would stimulate her to some extent, but unfortunately, she quickly lowered her head without saying anything.

Charlotte realized that the other party was probably a strictly trained "agent" and would not reveal any useful information after such a simple interrogation.

However, judging from the other party's devotion to God, Charlotte's second guess should be more in line with the actual situation - the church obtained the shadow mages' training methods in the action of eradicating the shadow mages, and then trained a group of shadow mages of its own.

The extermination of the Shadow Warlocks happened at least fifty years ago. It seems that some people in the church have been planning their plan for quite some time.

But what exactly is the church preparing to do?

Was the assassination of José Melefeld also the work of the Church?

Charlotte felt that it was most likely that "Linda" was not the one who assassinated Jose Melfield, because the real Linda had no chance to enter Jose Melfield's study.

This means that there are at least two intruders in the Riverside Castle, oh, and Marion Duran who had assassinated him before!

Charlotte suddenly felt that the Green Plains Principality was like a sieve.

If these people were related to the church, Charlotte couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart.

Inexplicably, Charlotte thought of the old enemy of the Orlan Empire to the north - the Edissa Empire. More than 20 years ago, the army of the Edissa Empire was defeated at the foot of Platinum City. On the way home, the emperor of the Edissa Empire suddenly fell ill and died suddenly. His two sons were dissatisfied with each other and started a long-term internal struggle. From then on, the huge Edissa Empire was split into the East Edissa Empire and the West Edissa Empire.

Charlotte thought of this story at this time, not for any other reason, but because the holy city of the church and the residence of the Pope - Moyes, is located in the Edisa Empire.

Seeing that Charlotte hadn't made any movement for a long time, Renee couldn't help but ask, "Miss, Lin...what do we do with this person?"

Charlotte came back to her senses, looked at the familiar face of "Linda", then raised her head, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath: "Feed her the medicine."

Although Renee looked reluctant, she still followed Charlotte's instructions, took out a small ceramic bottle, poured out about a spoonful of medicine powder, dissolved it with warm water, and fed it to "Linda".

At first, "Linda" did not react after being fed the medicine, but not long after, she bent over in pain, curled up like a shrimp, and beads of sweat the size of beans emerged from her forehead.

Charlotte squatted down and reached out to gently touch Linda's cheek.

Scarlet blood flowed out of the maid's nostrils. "Linda" looked at Charlotte and said in a hoarse voice, laughing at herself: "Linda said you are an extraordinary noble. I didn't take it seriously at first, but it seems I was wrong. You are willing to kill even your childhood friend, how can you be more than extraordinary..."

Charlotte bit her lip and squeezed out a voice from the depths of her throat: "I will kill you all sooner or later, I swear."

Linda was also Charlotte's childhood playmate, and Charlotte didn't want to do this unless necessary. But Linda knew too much about Charlotte, and no matter what, Charlotte couldn't let the soul of this shadow sorcerer go.

"Linda"'s gaze gradually became blurred, and tears gradually welled up in the little maid's eyes.

"Miss, I'm in so much pain..."

"I'm sorry, Linda." Charlotte's voice was a little choked, and she knew that it was the real Linda who was speaking this time.

"Miss, Miss, please don't be angry with me..." Linda said pleadingly.

Charlotte didn't know why Linda said that. She shook her head and replied, "I'm not angry. I've never been angry with you."

Linda spat out large mouthfuls of blood, and then a satisfied smile appeared on her little face: "Miss, the bed, under the bed..."

"Under what bed?" Charlotte asked puzzledly.

"I hid...under the bed..."

Charlotte still didn't understand.