The Genius Villain Dies Tomorrow

[Estimated Lifespan: 25 days, 2 hours, 20 minutes.]

The entire city of Eisenbran was in chaos.

Rosalia had more sway in Eisenbran than Rian initially thought. And words reached his ears about her...not so elegant methods.

Ruby Merchantry wagons had been positioned across every road leading in and out of the city. Merchants affiliated with her argued that their carriages had collapsed due to various problems.

Thankfully, just Charlotte’s presence alone had discouraged any of the knights from clearing the blockade using force.

Obviously, there was massive backlash, but at this point, Rosalia had gambled what remained of her influence on Rian being right. Fortunately, the gamble had produced something.

The black carriage had been found in a nearby warehouse close to the port, completely abandoned in a hurry. However, the old Port Master really had been telling the truth.

Several eyewitnesses were asked and all of them had said the same thing: "There were no ships that left last night."

There was a chance that they were all accomplices that were covering for each other. But the chances were extremely low when Alicia had made sure to ask at least twenty people from the different backgrounds the exact same thing.

The second possibility that Rian had thought of was that the kidnappers had been stowing away on one of the vessels, waiting to depart in the morning. But thorough searches carried out by Rosalia’s party had proved fruitless as well.

Furthermore, Baron Eisenbran had announced for the representatives of both controlling sides of Eisenbran to appear in a public hearing.

Which, in hindsight, was an awkward situation the Baron had gotten himself in. He ruled the city on paper as one of Rosenheim’s vassals. But in practice, Felix and Rosalia had long since usurped his influence.

That was where Rian was now, sticking next to Alicia with his hood drawn up high. He stood at the edge of the crowd that had built around the central fountain of the city.

Rosalia had arrived first, with Charlotte closely behind. But it was clear that she was nervous. Even if she was normally pretty good at hiding her emotions, this was a big turning point.

Felix, on the other hand, arrived a few minutes after. He wore an elegant white suit with a red half-cape draping to his side. The contrast in colors made his hair and eyes stand out even more.

At first, he had a smug look on his face. But seeing Charlotte stand nearby his youngest sister, his expression dropped a tad. Still, he managed to pick it right back up, offering Rosalia an exagerrated bow.

"Dearest sister, don’t you have something else to be doing right now?"

He was obviously mentioning the fact that Rosalia’s merchants were turning against her. Rosalia caught the notion, but swallowed her pride and stopped herself from saying anything further.

With both parties present, the Baron, who was a meek-looking old man, stepped forward with a scroll in his hand.

Felix stared at him intently, giving him the "What is this? Why didn’t you tell me...?" type of look. Baron Eisenbran quickly avoided eye contact, looking anywhere but in his direction.

’Figures, Baron Eisenbran would be under his thumb as well. So what is this whole public hearing? Surely if the Baron had not told Felix prior, then did it come from...?’

The Baron quickly cleared his throat, holding onto the scroll tightly and stepping up to the podium equipped with a sound-amplifying magic tool.

"Attention everyone who currently resides within Eisenbran! A message has come from Duke Adrian Rosenheim! Everything within this message is his authority, and his will is the final say!"

The man gingerly opened the scroll, taking a glance at both Felix and Rosalia, who were impatiently waiting for him to reveal the contents of the scroll.

Finally, the man unfurled it, and read its contents aloud. And well, what was written inside was truly the gunshot that started the final race.

"To both Felix and Rosalia Rosenheim," the baron relayed the message in his meek tone. "I have grown weary of your back-and-forth bickering. In two days, a formal trial shall be held to determine—"

Baron Eisenbran swallowed.

"...Who will receive full control of the Eisenbran Crystal Mines."

...

...

...

The square remained silent until someone in the crowd finally yelled out. This one action caused a domino effect, that could not be stopped.

"At last!"

"Does that mean this whole mess will finally end?"

"Two more days...We only have to endure two more days."

Most of Eisenbran’s citizens no longer cared which sibling received control of the mines. They wanted the inspections to stop, the merchant blockade to end, and the price of bread to return to something an ordinary family could afford.

Of course, nearly everyone believed they already knew the outcome.

Felix was a cunning and sly person, but they all knew that he probably wouldn’t care about the common folk. Most were actually on Rosalia’s side, as her control over the merchants allowed commerce to prosper.

But the dispute had gone on far enough...

From beside the fountain, Rosalia’s eyes widened as she froze in place. Color drained from her face, even if her expression hadn’t changed.

Rosalia had been counting on having more time. Now that she finally had a lead on Felix, she finally had hope that Rian would be able to uncover more evidence.

Now, they only had two days. And she was practically empty-handed. For Rosalia, the Duke’s decree might as well have been an execution date.

Felix’s reaction was stranger.

His smile showed his inevitable victory, and anyone else would’ve assumed he was completely satisfied. But Rian knew better.

The bastard intended to dismantle Rosalia’s faction completely. Given another few weeks, it would’ve all gone according to his plan.

And more importantly, Felix wasn’t an idiot.

The very fact that Charlotte Lowenhardt had shown up in Eisenbran and was on Rosalia’s side only signaled one thing:

Rian was going to meddle. He was the third party.

Felix didn’t really need to know if Rian himself was physically here, but judging from the way he was pulling back quickly, there was only one conclusion.

’He’s nervous about me.’

Still, with the schedule being pushed up more than Rian would’ve liked, he would have to push his own schedule up as well.

Rian departed from the crowd quickly, catching even Alicia off guard as she followed right behind him.

"Young Master, where are you going?"

"To pay the Witch of Black Ice a visit."

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