Once Jiang Li was back to the capital, he briefly talked with the Pope about the ceremony, saying he wanted to be the one to officiate the mid part of the ceremony, namely the wedding. He was not a priest. However, due to his special position in the Church, since the Pope approved and the Emperor had no problem with it too, the matter was then settled. His goal was achieved just like that."There are really reasons why many are so hungry for power and influence. Depending on the situation, there are things money could not help one get or accomplish, but power and influence could. If it is other people who requested what I just requested, even if they give up all their wealth to get the chance to host or officiate a very prestigious event, they will be rejected within a second."
He shook his head as he sighed to his valet. Lando, one of the two youths always giving the female lead a sharp glare whenever she approached Jiang Li, looked at him in puzzlement and asked, "Did something happen, milord?"
They were inside a s.p.a.cious and luxurious white painted horse-driven carriage, on their way back to Wade Mansion. The ride was slow to ensure there would be little to no b.u.mps along the road and dozens of knights and servants were either marching or riding their horses as they escorted the carriage.
Since the trip would take a little more than fifteen minutes, the valet couldn"t help but wonder if his master was bored and thus wanted to talk about random or philosophical things.
Jiang Li shook his head and laughed. "Nothing. I just suddenly recalled our experiences outside. I couldn"t help making the comparison since the people we encountered are helpless as they have neither money nor power and are subject to the others" rules. Had I been one of them, or someone with only one of the two, would His Holiness still smile and agree to my request?"
"Milord, you are the prophet. The Holy Church only had two people who can communicate with the Esteemed G.o.ddess. There is no way they will not hear you out."
"If I was not the prophet?"
The valet thought for a moment, keeping his silence. If he was a simple lad, he would have answered, the young master was still a Duke"s heir, a position of less weight, but still with considerable power. It was just that the power was not one which a personality like the Pope would think highly so it would be no use bringing it up.
Something flickered in his mind, "The prophet"s mental condition... People said there are two things that could happen when a person neared their death, either they become wiser, or stupider than ever. Is he being the latter? Asking things that don"t actually matter in the current situation..."
The thought rendered the valet silently contemplating for quite a while.
Lando then could only say in a serious manner, ".... Milord, actually, there is no use pondering over the what-ifs and other possibilities. If you are feeling burdened by the responsibility or in some sort of internal dilemma, please just remember that you are important because you matter not only to the family, but to the whole empire. Young master, don"t fall into depression!"
"..." Depression? Just what the h.e.l.l had gotten into this servant of his?
Jiang Li"s almost burst into laughter. Shaking his head, he chose not to speak anymore as the valet was not in the right state of the mind to hear out his complaints about life. Just the opening questions already made the other person"s brain flew far away.
The march, under the watch of the several spectating civilians and escorting knights, safely reach the destination by the afternoon. Jiang Li was warmly welcomed back. A feast was even thrown for him and many high personages were invited. It was near 10 pm when the mansion turned quiet.
The young man obediently went to sleep after that, feeling a bit worn out by the long travels and the acc.u.mulated fatigue. The next morning, he rose early. Wearing suspicious overalls that hid his features and body figure, he snuck out with no one in tow.
He didn"t want to bring servants or errand boys around as first, he was not comfortable with people tailing him, and second, if he brought them, it would be blatantly telling them his illness was now nothing but a lie.
Before daybreak graced the horizon above, Jiang Li was already sneaking into the Bolden"s place. The guards in the residence were not negligent people, however, Jiang Li was using qinggong learned from Jiang Ying Yue"s world to bypa.s.s the patrolling guards and other roaming servants.
"This is the first time I"m the one going inside the female lead"s house without permission or advance notice. What a funny experience," he snorted in his heart, his mouth forming a lopsided smile.
After jumping one last wall which separated the chapel of House Bolden from the "sick" girl"s compound, Jiang Li halted for a full minute to catch his breath. His eyes also wandered around. Since the sky had barely tinged of grey, the visibility in the place was still poor. The man did not dare use magic right now since the Ducal house might have some safety measures placed around, like stuff that could detect magic power not from people of the mansion. No, actually, he was positive House Bolden had something like that since no matter what position they had fallen these days, they were still publicly recognized as the second most powerful and wealthiest family of the Litus Empire.
Jiang Li lightened his footsteps as he entered the tall, dome-like entrance to the residence owned by Rumina Bolden.
Meanwhile, inside the building, the girl opened her eyes, feeling that something changed in the air. She sat up on the bed and looked out of the window. Seeing that no light was pouring into the room through the gla.s.s pane, her heart tightened a bit. The maid should be in the nearby room, on standby in case she called out for them. Outside, there was somebody else whose presence seemed not one of her father"s people. It felt a bit familiar. However, she had no time to rummage through her memories to recall whose was it...
"Who would visit me at this unG.o.dly house? Somebody curious about my situation?"
Having lived in a palace where treacheries and a.s.sa.s.sinations were a common thing, she didn"t panic much. Or at least, even if she did, she immediately regained reason and decided for her next course of action.
The female lead was somebody with a great affinity to light and mind magic. Her dual attributes was the reason why she was hailed as a genius. Now she chose to demonstrate a peculiar spell learned from her previous life which could be used through her light magic.
She quickly left the bed and stood in front of the mirror. With eyes closed, her mouth constantly moved even though there were no sounds coming out of it. However, a couple of seconds later, something odd happened to the full-body mirror. A big ball of light, the size of the whole coconut fruit, appeared before her chest and then slowly flew by itself above the s.p.a.ce between her and the mirror. Another couple of seconds pa.s.sed. Slowly, the Rumina reflected there suddenly opened her eyes and looked around. The image was a bit weird, or even, uncanny and spooky, since the real Rumina still had her eyes closed. Couple with the darkness around and the eerie silence, if only a bit wind would flow inside and play with the female lead"s hair, the scene there would certainly qualify as a scare point in a horror movie.
The girl opened her eyes and looked at the reflection which started to move and even came out of the mirror. She bit her lower lip, "I succeeded, but it"s a doppelganger who could only stay for no more than five minutes. It is unfortunate, but Light could mostly illuminate, and not breathe life into something incorporeal."
She then gave the look-alike in front of her a long glance before issuing some orders. Not long after, when light footsteps rang outside of the lavishly decorated bedchamber, only one person was inside, lying in the bed, underneath the soft satiny blanket.
Outside, the eastern sky was still blanketed by black and greyish clouds. There was still more or less an hour before the sun appears.
...
The footsteps that the female lead heard were not from Jiang Li. No, he was not yet at the point where he would casually intrude in a girl"s room, especially if it was not his lover or a family member.
The young man actually bypa.s.sed the female lead"s room and went to the study and small library there. For a while, when he saw the place and its grandiose, a small sigh escaped out of his lips.
Duke Bolden must be very proud of her to build a small western palace-like building complete with most facilities and rooms. There was a small library, a small indoor swimming pool, kitchen, dining room, living room, servants" quarters, conservatory, cloak room, drawing room, a gallery, music room...
Well, there were more, according to the map he found inlaid on one of the walls in the library. He wanted to ask, was the duke afraid that people who would come visit would not see how much he pampered his daughter?
Most likely.
Come to think of it, she had been the crown princess for five years. With a stellar background, talent, and future, it was no wonder she was given all these luxuries.
"But why isn"t there any useful information in her study?" he crinkled his nose at the extremely neat and tidy room that greeted his eyes after he lit up the torch.
There were stacks of paper next to the bottle of ink. Other than that, there was nothing else. The smell of oil and permeated the air. His breathing was suppressed to the minimum so only the sound of crackling fire could be heard.
When he spoke, his words seemed especially loud even though he only whispered it under his breath. Due to this, the discontent in his tone became clearer.
In some fiction works, some sensitive information was sometimes left in unlikely places like this. People would not usually a.s.sume an intelligent person would do that but the intelligent person would actually do just that, as if playing some sort of reverse psychology. So was the girl truly very careful? A pity...
Jiang Li pretended he was looking around the place.
Inside the main bedchamber, the female lead was already panicking since it was already her third time casting the mirror doppelganger spell. The drain in her magic power was already substantial. In her heart, she kept wondering why the footsteps from outside never ceased and if it was actually a maid pranking her.
When another five minutes pa.s.sed, Rumina stood dumbfounded before her reflection. The face of the person reflected there was already ashen and the glow of her eyes became a bit lackl.u.s.ter. Her nightdress had traces of wrinkles and a bit of dirt from the acc.u.mulated dust. After all, every time her doppelganger would pretend to be sleeping in the soft mattress, she was under the bed, curling onto the hard and cold ground.
Maybe if there was one thing the whole farce had brought her, it was that her mind cooled and she remembered the person who should be having the aura she felt.
"Calm down. Calm down," she chanted.
"Peace, Supreme peace. Let the anger return to its source of universal energy so that the energy is purified, returned to me and becomes usable."
"Om... Om..."
"Was I played for a fool?" she resentfully wondered when the calming mantras did not show results.