Chapter 322

Chapter 322: Secret Talk in the Woods

In the courtyard of the forest, the students watching the battle saw the two girls fight from the ground up into the trees, and then continue to weave through the air until they gradually disappeared among the dense foliage. Gradually, they could no longer see their figures.

“Who would have thought that Miss Lolan has such formidable strength herself.” Two members of the ‘True Crimson Rose’ discussed again while observing the battle from amidst the trees.

“Ronald, you didn’t know either? I thought your faction had thoroughly investigated this student’s background,” Elin said, looking at the young man still carving, with a curious tone.

“No, it was only when Prince Adren happened to see Miss Lolan during the preliminaries that we began to pay attention. Subsequent investigations did not go smoothly. In fact, the rumors in the school are somewhat true; Miss Lolan’s background is indeed shrouded in mystery.”

“She attracted the eldest son of the Salus family, Jerlanen, when she first enrolled as a freshman. Jerlanen even pursued her actively, but she politely declined him.”

“Oh, it started a year ago, and I didn’t know about it. If it were me, I probably would have agreed right away, hehe.” The noble girl covered her mouth and laughed.

“What happened afterward?”

“Afterward, Jerlanen had his subordinates investigate Miss Lolan, but there was little progress. They only knew she came from the Tisilam Mountains near the border of Clancia, but nothing more.”

“You should also know that we are currently quite tense with the Snowfall Seven Kingdoms, and now Clancia has just been established with strict control. Spies and informants are very restricted, so nothing can be found out.”

“Oh, if we could recruit her, it would be great. I hope one of our empire’s handsome heroes will marry this girl and bring her back to our nation.”

The young man beside them did not respond immediately, continuing to carve the wooden puppet that was gradually taking shape. After a while, he sighed, “It’s difficult. Most of the empire’s nobles dare not offend Lord Jerlanen, after all, he will hold great power in the future. Other identities similar to his, who do not fear him, are only Prince Adren, and Princess Evelyn and Miss Froisia are both girls.”

“Huhuhu, from your words, does it mean Prince Adren does not want to pursue her?”

“It’s not possible.”

The young man began carving the hair of the wooden figure, which looked like it should be a girl.

“Prince Adren’s birth, you know, after the failure of the previous generation’s struggle for the throne, Prince Adren’s lineage was destined to find it hard to gain power. His Highness does not intend to live a simple life.”

“So there must be another marriage prospect?” The girl guessed. She was someone from Princess Evelyn’s side and naturally paid close attention to Prince Adren’s future direction.

“You will know in the future. I cannot say now.”

As heirs to the imperial throne, Princess Evelyn and Prince Adren’s grandfather were twin brothers, both emperors of the empire. But in their father’s generation, it was Princess Evelyn’s father and brothers who became emperors, while Prince Adren’s lineage failed in the struggle for power and became a branch of the royal family. Although they were neither imprisoned nor executed, they could hardly come into contact with power in the future and could only become idle rich people.

And Adren, who had shown talent since childhood, found it hard to accept this result. Compared to beauty, he valued power, or rather, the realm.

Elin, seeing that he was silent, knew that further questioning would not elicit any useful information, so she stopped discussing the matter. After Lolan Hill and Bumansa fought into the sky, they no longer observed but waited idly, occasionally glancing down at the bustling courtyard below.

“Speaking of which, where is that ‘Witch’ lady? It seems she hasn’t made much of a move recently,” Elin swung her legs, searching for the purple-haired figure.

“She’s probably sulking somewhere. But that’s just how it is,” the young man casually replied, his carving becoming increasingly delicate, gradually revealing a slender and beautiful girl.

“Sigh, do you really think so poorly of her? Osuna has pretty good talent too.”

“It’s considered good, but such geniuses appear every year, none reaching Miss Lolan’s level.”

“That’s the Witch~” Elin emphasized those two words, but there seemed to be hidden meanings.

“It’s just a casual evaluation from some teacher. When the prince once casually asked a senior official, that person personally denied it. If you say Miss Lolan is a Witch, I might believe it.”

Although their extraordinary strength did not rank among the top, these two members of the True Crimson Rose came from the empire’s old aristocracy, with extremely high standards. They had been exposed to various important figures since childhood, and from the beginning, they did not believe in the rumors about Witches. Some of their elders had even seen Witches firsthand, knowing how terrifying and powerful they were—unpredictable, with top-notch strength and extremely long lifespans, not easy to get along with. Even if you matched their current strength, after your death, your grandchildren might still have to face them. Therefore, the nobility of Verdant generally did not want to provoke these people, though they were beautiful and powerful, they were ultimately uncontrollable, feared to cause self-destruction.

Historically, love-hate stories often led to tragic endings, and these old aristocrats later feared this too.

Elin wasn’t surprised upon hearing this; she seemed to have known this fact long ago. Just now, she was merely testing with a casual mention.

“Jerlanen warned Miss Osuna a few days ago, but unfortunately, she didn’t listen. She thought it was Miss Lolan deliberately sowing discord and saying bad things about her, hehe,” Elin threw out a little-known piece of information at this point.

“Miss Osuna is still too young, thinking she can deceive everyone,” the young man holding the wooden carving continued to make the details clearer, starting to carve the folds and patterns of the skirt.

“Either you have unparalleled talent and strength, or you have exceptional character and virtue. Unfortunately, she lacks both. When Aniel tried to test her slightly, she cheated with a clear conscience. Such behavior is tantamount to cutting off her own roots.”

“Don’t look at how dukes, earls, and countesses scheme before ascending, but once it comes to choosing wives for their sons, they all wish to cram the best virtues into their children, where could such sand fit in?”

The young man expressed his own evaluation, no wonder Adren looked down on Osuna during the preliminaries. It was just petty cleverness, cowardice, and greed for glory.

“Yaya, I never imagined that Lord Adren viewed Osuna in such a way. Truly a significant piece of information,” Elin laughed exaggeratedly.

“From this perspective, no wonder everyone favors Miss Lolan. With both strength and virtue, the princess might develop a liking for her in the future. Having such a helper would be wonderful.”

“But speaking of which, we seem to have overlooked something. That girl following Miss Lolan is no simpleton,” Elin pointed to the distant courtyard, where the enchanting girl surrounded by flames stood.

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End of Chapter