News of the Princess willingly allowing herself to be kidnapped and almost sold as a slave shocked the entire Kingdom of Elysia.
This incident turned the soldiers stationed in each region into a laughingstock among the people and the nobles, as they had ignored kidnapping cases for years.
Now, they must work hard to resolve this matter, especially with the Crown Princess directly involved.
This news also spread among the high-ranking nobles, including Duke Callisto, who was now having dinner with his wife and children.
However, the atmosphere in the dining room was extremely tense, as the Duke appeared visibly displeased with the news he had heard earlier, just before dinner.
"The Crown Princess allowed herself to be kidnapped, so that the authorities would investigate these cases. This situation greatly burdens our position in the eyes of the people."
He recalled the words of several Counts who had visited his home earlier, one of whom had come specifically to discuss this matter.
Hearing this, he was left speechless, as he knew that some of the Counts in the Kingdom of Elysia were involved in the slave trade.
The slave trade in the Kingdom of Elysia was strictly prohibited, in line with policies from other nations.
However, due to the high profits from selling slaves—especially beautiful women—it was no surprise that many nobles were involved.
Although Duke Callisto himself did not take part in the profits from the slave trade, he still received sums of money or valuable goods, including jewelry, from other nobles who were involved.
This made him uneasy, and his discomfort was evident on his face during dinner.
What troubled him even more was knowing that his daughter, Olivia, was one of the Crown Princess's close friends.
After ordering all the servants to leave the dining room, while slicing his beef carpaccio topped with arugula and celery, he cleared his throat—a sound that drew tense glances from everyone in the family.
He then addressed Olivia, "Olivia, didn't I tell you before that you must gather every piece of information the Princess says and report it back to me?"
Olivia's hands, which were holding her fork and knife, suddenly froze in mid-air upon hearing her father's words. Her face turned even paler.
"I-I'm sorry, Father. But I didn't hear any information from the Princess," she replied after placing her fork and knife back on her plate.
Duke Callisto set down the fork he was holding, picked up a napkin, and wiped his mouth.
"Didn't you host a tea gathering here at the manor last week?" he asked, fixing his sharp gaze on his daughter.
Olivia sank further into her chair and replied softly, "Y-Yes, but she barely spoke and remained quiet most of the time..."
"Nothing unusual or new from her?" the Duke pressed on.
His daughter stayed silent for a moment, but then she seemed to remember something, "S-She only brought her personal Royal Guard, Father..."
The Duke fell silent, then picked up his wine glass and took a sip before saying, "You must always keep an eye on her actions. Especially now."
His final words made Olivia lower her head even further as she replied, "Y-Yes, Father."
The Duke set his glass down, narrowing his eyes as he stared at his daughter.
Deep down, he was extremely furious at his daughter's inability to extract any useful information from the Princess.
Viana Yanis was the biggest threat to his plan to control the nobles. And now, she had won over the hearts of all the people of Elysia.
And yet, she was merely an eighteen-year-old girl.
'I must find a way to eliminate her—and her father—so I can become the King of this kingdom,' he thought, grinding his teeth.
Then, he stood up from his seat and walked out of the dining room, leaving behind his wife and children, including Olivia, who remained silent and motionless.
***
The soldiers moved toward a house in the rundown outskirts of the capital.
They entered narrow, foul-smelling alleys in the slums.
The area reeked due to the lack of proper sanitation.
Rotting garbage and human waste were everywhere, and many of the residents in the slums kept the corpses of their family members inside their homes because they couldn't afford burial costs.
Earlier, Viana had intended to join the soldiers in raiding a house suspected to belong to one of the henchmen of the slave traders.
However, as she began entering the inner parts of the slum, she felt nauseous and was eventually escorted back out of the narrow alleyway by Reyes, which served as the entrance to the slum.
"Open the door!!" shouted one of the soldiers as he banged on the door of the suspected house.
Several other soldiers, armed with spears and swords, surrounded the entrance of the small, rundown house.
But after some time, no one came out.
The soldier who had been banging on the door turned to his comrades, and they exchanged nods.
Then, the same soldier forcefully broke down the door, causing its hinges to snap.
However, when they entered the house, they found no one inside.
Without wasting any more time, they quickly left the house and rejoined the other soldiers who had already been searching and surrounding the slum area.
They soon apprehended other kidnappers, apart from those already in the underground prison where the Princess had been held captive.
As they were being taken out of the slum, Viana recognized one of the individuals among them.
She then said to Reyes, who always stood behind her, "One of them is the one who kidnapped me the other day."
He nodded to her and replied, "Yes. I recognize him too, Your Highness."
The soldiers, after hearing the confirmation from the Princess and her Royal Guard, immediately escorted the suspected kidnappers into the detention carriage.
As she watched all the suspects being loaded into the detention carriage, Viana muttered while walking toward her own horse-drawn carriage, "One more person who kidnapped me still hasn't been found."
Reyes, overhearing the Princess's muttering, responded, "Yes. We will find him soon."