NOVEL WEB Chapter 383: Innocent Gunst
The next day, Lilith invited Alice out for another meeting, and the first thing that came out of her mouth was the following:
"Gunst disappeared."
Alice subconsciously tensed up when she heard Lilith's words. However, she quickly relaxed when she noticed the gloomy look on Lilith's face, realizing that Lilith might not be aware she was behind Gunst's disappearance.
—That was indeed the case. Lilith might have learned about Gunst's disappearance, but she didn't know Alice was behind the royal guard captain's abduction.
According to Sylvia's report, Gunst was last seen in a neighborhood a few blocks away from the magic town. However, for some reason, King Haydn suddenly issued an order to evacuate and cordon off the neighborhood, so the thieves tasked to follow Gunst were forced to evacuate the area. Then…that was it.
Because Gunst's subordinates had cordoned the neighborhood, Lilith's thieves couldn't sneak in to see what was going on inside. But judging by the dense residual mana flowing out of the neighborhood, it wasn't hard to surmise that a battle of epic scale had taken place inside.
Originally, Lilith had wondered if Alice was the one who had fought Gunst. However, she quickly denied the thought. If Alice really did apprehend the mastermind, Lilith was certain Alice would inform her about it. But since Alice didn't do so, Lilith felt that Alice wasn't the person who had fought Gunst.
—Alice couldn't help it. She likewise didn't expect the mastermind to be King Haydn in reality. Hence, she didn't tell Lilith about her plan to apprehend Gunst to avoid alerting the enemy.
After all, it was still highly unlikely for Lilith to think that her father was trying to collude with the demons. Alice felt that if she were to tell Lilith the truth, with how unprepared Lilith was against King Haydn right now, King Haydn might notice something was up if Lilith suddenly changed her behavior toward him. Hence, Alice planned to only tell Lilith the truth once she had collected sufficient evidence and was about to take action against King Haydn.
Essentially, it was just like Lilith assumed—if Alice did apprehend the real mastermind, Alice would tell her about it. Since Gunst was nothing more than a tool King Haydn used to carry out his plot, Alice didn't see the need to inform Lilith about her actions.
Fortunately, Luna had arrived in the Rhine Kingdom and was in Alice's house checking Gunst's memories, so, hopefully, it shouldn't be long before Alice would find the evidence she needed to convict King Haydn. However, as neither Alice nor Luna knew what they should be looking for, Luna had no choice but to go through all of Gunst's memories, starting from the most recent ones.
Originally, Alice had planned to stay by Luna's side until Luna found a clue. However, while Luna was looking through Gunst's memories, Lilith contacted Alice, saying that she had something she wanted to tell her. Hence, here Alice was now, meeting with Lilith.
"We can't continue investigating Gunst now that he is missing, but from what we learned through looking at his past activities, it would seem that he has been actively visiting various places starting several months ago."
Lilith frowned. Although she was confused by Gunst's disappearance, she couldn't look deeper into the matter since her father had already taken over the investigation. So, she switched topics and started talking about Gunst's activities in the past few months.
"He is growing more and more suspicious in my eyes. A royal guard captain doesn't have many duties, so there should be no reason for him to visit all these places. His behavior is especially suspicious since he only started getting busy several months ago. He must be up to something."
Indeed. As the Rhine Kingdom's royal guard captain, Gunst's responsibilities should usually be limited to training and managing the kingdom's army. Although a royal guard captain would have many more duties during times of war, the war between humans and demons had yet to begin, and the relationship between the five human kingdoms was peaceful. So, the position of royal guard captain should be one with a relatively low workload right now.
Take Catherine, for example. Despite being the Gryffin Kingdom's royal guard captain, Catherine was free enough to help Alice handle all sorts of miscellaneous tasks. At this point, Catherine was already close to becoming Alice's butler. So, one could see just how much free time Catherine had on her hands.
On the other hand, Gunst was often seen leaving the army and visiting various places by himself, starting several months ago. He had even included a few forests in his itinerary. People who didn't pay attention to Gunst naturally wouldn't care why Gunst had suddenly started to become so active. However, from Lilith's perspective, the sudden change in Gunst's behavior was a big cause for suspicion. For all she knew, Gunst's activities were preparations for usurping the throne.
Alice smiled awkwardly when she heard Lilith's words. She could more or less guess why Gunst was visiting various places in the past several months—it should be to find a suitable place to plant the Pollution Roulette. However, Alice still hadn't figured out why King Haydn would have Gunst place the Pollution Roulette in the treant settlement. Perhaps she would learn the reason from Luna after she returned home.
"By the way, Lilith, what do you think of your second brother's abilities? Specifically, his ability as heir to the Rhine Kingdom's throne," Alice suddenly asked. "If the kingdom was handed to him now, can he manage it properly?"
"My second brother? If it's him, he should do fine. In reality, he is already responsible for managing some of the kingdom's affairs," Lilith answered after giving Alice's question some thought. Although she didn't know why Alice would suddenly ask about Etoria, she still gave Alice a truthful answer. "But he is still too young. He might have difficulties keeping his subordinates in check. Originally, I thought that Gunst should be able to help my second brother stabilize his position after he inherits the throne. But now…"
Just like I assumed, Gunst's authority in the military can indeed help the new king stabilize his position. But that's under the precondition that Gunst isn't foolishly loyal to King Haydn… Alice thought when she heard Lilith's answer.
"Why are you suddenly asking about my second brother? Don't tell me you're interested in him?" Lilith asked, a strange expression appearing on her face. "To tell you the truth, my second brother has a strange fetish. But if it's you, Alice…you might fit his tastes perfectly."
"Are you asking for a beating?" Alice asked as she looked at Lilith indifferently, her response causing Lilith to shut her mouth.
Thinking carefully, Alice realized that the Rhine Kingdom's royal siblings more or less had some problems. The eldest prince was a cross-dresser, the eldest princess was an otaku, and the second prince was a lolicon. Although these hobbies weren't a big problem, they made the siblings look strange...
Out of the four royal siblings, the only one that appeared normal was the third prince. However, whether the youngest prince was actually normal or he had yet to realize his preferences due to his young age was up for debate.