Chapter 69: Hidden Motives”How’s the situation?”

“I’m very sorry, Lord Steward,” Kaister bowed deeply, responding with a hint of regret.

“Although we’ve offered sufficient conditions, Mr. Julian still hasn’t agreed to our request. He told us he needs to consider it further.”

“Consider it further,” hearing this, the tall, thin old man sitting in the chair snorted coldly in dissatisfaction. He was the one who had previously gone to Julian’s location to request the return of the young master. He was also a core member of the orthodox faction. Although from previous interactions, this old man already knew that the young nobleman wasn’t someone easy to deal with, he still hoped that the other party would have thoughts and hopes of cooperation. Of course, since the previous negotiations broke down, this old man had already understood Julian’s intentions. Simply put, he was a kidnapper, and they could only get the hostage after satisfying his conditions. If they couldn’t satisfy them, then… the hostage would be killed.

Although the old man also knew that negotiation would inevitably be difficult, he hadn’t expected the other party to be so troublesome.

“I really don’t know what he wants,” saying this, the old man sighed, then looked at the nobles beside him, casually waving his hand.

“You may go now, Kaister.”

“…Yes, Lord Steward,” hearing these words, Kaister gritted his teeth. These old stubborn fools still wouldn’t trust him. Although from the beginning of the incident, he had declared his stance, standing on the side of the orthodox faction, these old stubborn fools had never trusted him. He had already done so much for the family, but they still weren’t willing to include him in the core – was this still because he wasn’t the legitimate heir? These old bastards, was nothing but bloodline ever within their consideration?

Although extremely angry inside, Kaister still hid his thoughts well. His surface remained as calm as ever, as if nothing had happened. After hearing the old man’s words, he bowed slightly, then turned and left the council hall.

“Is this alright, Lord Steward?” After Kaister’s figure disappeared, one of the seated nobles spoke up with concern.

“After all, Kaister is a top figure among the new generation. Perhaps we should moderately relinquish some power. This might be beneficial for all of us.”

“He’s just a mixed-blood from a collateral branch,” faced with this suggestion, the old man just snorted coldly.

“The noble tradition of the Zach Family cannot be tainted. As long as our master still exists, we absolutely cannot make any moves that subvert tradition. Don’t forget, everyone, you are people with noble blood in the Zach Family. Please don’t forget your identity.”

“But now, we’re not discussing this issue,” hearing the old man’s words, some nobles couldn’t help but frown. Frankly speaking, the steward’s obsession with bloodline had reached a fanatical level. Although they also understood that this wasn’t entirely without benefit for the family, even so, they had quite a few complaints about the old man’s personality.

“Now that gentleman isn’t willing to accept our deal, what exactly should we do? We absolutely cannot fall into a passive position on this matter. Otherwise, once the reform faction seizes the opportunity, our plan will fail at the last moment.”

“I already have a new plan,” the old man waved his hand, revealing a confident smile on his face.

“Since we can’t retrieve the young master from that gentleman, let’s make him hand over the young master to us voluntarily.”

“Voluntarily?” Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

“Do you mean… to confront that lord directly?”

“Of course not. Although the Zach Family is considered a great noble family, the strength in our hands is not enough to challenge a high-rank swordsman,” the old man coldly stared at the person who made the stupid suggestion, clearly very dissatisfied with his judgment.

“Or do you think we can threaten this lord through some method? Those idiots in the reform faction have already tried, and I think everyone has seen the result, right? Do you want us to suffer the same failure before you’re satisfied?”

“Of course that’s not what I meant, Lord Steward,” hearing this, that noble lowered his head, nervously wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. Obviously, he regretted his momentary slip of the tongue.

“But since Lord Steward has already made a decision, I assume you must have a plan?”

The struggles between nobles were never limited to just factions, so seeing a colleague in trouble, someone immediately seized the opportunity.

“Of course,” hearing this, the old man smiled with satisfaction, then he extended his withered finger and lightly tapped the table.

“Regarding the intelligence on this high-rank swordsman, I think everyone should be clear, right?”

Hearing this, the nobles couldn’t help but look at each other. Indeed, for such a dominant great noble family, gathering intelligence wasn’t a particularly difficult task. Moreover, Julian hadn’t specially hidden anything, so people quickly gathered this intelligence. Of course, its authenticity and accuracy still needed to be considered, but overall, there shouldn’t be any major problems.

“Everyone should know that this young gentleman’s current territory is Twilight Forest, and we all know that place is not a prosperous area. It’s backward and poor, usually with few inhabitants. According to intelligence, even ordinary soldiers are very scarce in that territory. Only the Bird Family has sent a guard patrol to help him maintain order. And now, he has taken out two-thirds of this guard patrol to follow him, which means that currently, Twilight Forest has no real strength.”

This was indeed true.

Hearing this, everyone nodded. They had of course carefully investigated Twilight Forest and had a general understanding of Julian’s current situation. From everything this lord was doing now, he obviously wanted to make that place prosperous again. But for some reason, the Bird Family hadn’t put much effort into assisting. This seemed very strange to other nobles. If their family had such a high-rank swordsman, they would definitely give him whatever he wanted. How could the Bird Family be like this, not even caring? Weren’t they deliberately pushing him away?

Of course, faced with this situation, the nobles also had their own explanations. After all, this young man had become a high-rank swordsman at the age of twenty, so he must be full of pride. Perhaps he had already told the Bird Family that he hoped to rely on his own strength to revitalize that territory, and the Bird Family had no choice but to agree – this possibility wasn’t non-existent.

Regardless of what deals were behind the scenes, at least what was on the surface was clear to everyone. This Twilight Forest really had no strength to speak of.

But what did this have to do with themselves and young master Zach? Did the steward hope to indirectly win the favor of that young lord by giving benefits to Twilight Forest? But that didn’t seem to be the case…

“Although he’s a high-rank swordsman, he’s still the lord of a territory,” the old steward raised his head, his face showing determination and confidence.

“If something happens to his territory, I think this young gentleman won’t have such a leisurely mood to continue playing this tug-of-war with us here.”

“My lord, do you mean…?” Hearing this, many people’s expressions changed slightly.

“Do you mean we should attack Twilight Forest? My lord, this isn’t a good idea. That young man isn’t stupid. Once he realizes it’s the Zach Family taking action, we’ll be in big trouble.”

“Yes, Lord Steward, please reconsider. We might have other options…”

“We have no other options left!” The old man suddenly waved his hand, interrupting everyone’s dissuasion. For the first time, his face showed a hint of ferocity.

“The reform faction has already accelerated their pace. We absolutely cannot fall behind. Moreover, even if we’re discovered now, so what? Since that gentleman dares to use young master Zach as a bargaining chip to maneuver with us, he must be very familiar with the current internal situation of the Zach Family. If so, we can certainly take advantage of this opportunity. Yes, even if we’re discovered, we can easily push the blame onto the reform faction. At that time, to protect his own interests, that gentleman might even take the initiative to stand on the same side as us. After all, the reform faction has the precedent of ambushing that gentleman first. They couldn’t defeat that high-rank swordsman, so it’s not strange for them to take out their anger on his territory. But we can’t wait any longer. You should know that the current rumors are very unfavorable to us.”

Hearing this, the previously excited crowd suddenly fell silent. An awkward atmosphere spread throughout the hall. This wasn’t because of anything else, but because of the group of women Julian had called back earlier. In fact, shortly after that, rumors about young master Zach began to spread throughout the streets and alleys of Roya City. It was said that the child was naturally lustful and lecherous, and even in such a situation, he didn’t forget to find women for pleasure. Moreover, many rumors were quite detailed, saying things like he would frequently touch women’s chests and buttocks, taking great advantage of them, and even having his guards perform live erotic shows in front of him. All sorts of absurd things were being said.

Although if one thought carefully, it wouldn’t be strange for a boy of about ten years old to barely understand some matters between men and women and do some things. After all, people always have tolerance for children. But young master Zach’s identity was different. It’s worth noting that on this continent, nobles always claimed that their bloodline was nobler than commoners. In other words, those who inherited their noble blood were naturally polite, idealistic, moral, cultured, and disciplined upper-class people, fundamentally different from those vulgar, lowly, despicable, selfish, and barbaric lower-class people. This propaganda, over time, had also made the commoners have similar ideas. However, these current rumors broke the notion that noble blood necessarily meant noble and polite behavior. Indeed, if it were an ordinary person’s child doing these things, people might still accept it. But wasn’t noble blood supposed to be nobler than ours? How do they seem even more depraved and dissolute than us?

Once such rumors took root in people’s hearts, it would be difficult for young master Zach to win people over even if he inherited the position of patriarch in the future. After all, a large part of the commoners’ worship and fear of nobles came from bloodline. Once their recognition of this noble bloodline began to waver, the family head who took power naturally wouldn’t receive the love of his subjects. Moreover, if the situation developed to a serious extent, in the future, those commoners might not only disregard the Zach Family but even view such a “lecherous” and “dissolute” family head as a laughingstock. The family’s honor and prestige would be ruined in an instant. Moreover, the old steward was very clear that rumors spread extremely fast in noble circles. Although many nobles were extremely lecherous, no one had ever fallen to the point of being ridiculed by commoners. One could imagine that if this wasn’t dealt with quickly, the Zach Family wouldn’t be able to hold their heads high not only among commoners but even among nobles.

This was absolutely unacceptable.

It was precisely because of this that the old steward finally made the decision that this matter must be resolved immediately. No matter what, they couldn’t continue like this. The fact that dancing girls were entering and leaving that inn was true, and the fact that young master Zach was inside was also true. They had already cleared the scene, and ordinary people couldn’t see young master Zach, so naturally, any guess would be fine. They might even suspect that the reason they cleared the scene was to prevent exposing the young master’s lecherous side to the public.

In this situation, they absolutely couldn’t delay any longer.

“I’ve already made the decision. For the Zach Family, for the old patriarch, for the family’s sacred bloodline, we must deal with this matter as quickly as possible,” saying this, the old man stood up, his aged eyes flashing with a glint of light.

“I want you to immediately send fifty trustworthy subordinates with considerable strength, disguised as bandits, to plunder Twilight Castle.”

Hearing this, the nobles couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath. Although this was said to be a covert private action, such a direct attack on another noble’s territory was something that hadn’t happened for many years. What if the news leaked? What if the plan went wrong? They looked at each other, feeling more nervous than they had ever been before. Some even directly and cautiously raised questions.

“But what if we encounter resistance…”

Hearing this, the old man snorted coldly, then gritted his teeth. This was their last chance. They had no other choice. Since they couldn’t subdue that lord in a short time, they had to resort to this method that wasn’t really a method… Hopefully, it would succeed.

“If there’s any resistance, kill without mercy.”