Amber Sword

Chapter 1173: Chapter 294: The Storm Approaches (Part 2)

This made Ben have to sigh.

"I understand now, the nobles in the North intend to stall for time, to find a proper pretext to start the war." Antitina reacted.

Ben nodded, very satisfied with his Staff Lady’s reaction. In fact, the South and the North had no intention of negotiating at all; both sides had come for Ambeser and the Holy Temple’s stance, and now that the Holy Temple’s attitude was clear, there was nothing left but war. He simply hadn’t expected an accident like this at the assembly—the Princess’s faction had actually produced the Lion Heart Sword; Duke Xifah must by now be worrying himself bald.

Princess Griffine was just as clever and sharp as the rumors said. She had certainly not produced the Lion Heart Sword in order to win back the nobles’ allegiance, but to proclaim the Royalists’ legitimacy over the succession in this moment watched by all; without a doubt she had succeeded. One could imagine the prestige of the Lion Heart Sword among the people of Erune; under the Holy Temple’s pressure, Her Highness the Princess could still strike back with such composure—this truly was beyond anyone’s expectations.

But just as Antitina had said, the Northern Nobles would not let the matter rest, and the purpose of Ben’s trip was precisely to probe for some information. Of course, he had some incidental objectives as well.

"Her Highness the Princess is truly brilliant." Antitina couldn’t help but offer a word of praise.

At this moment, the carriage stopped. The coach jolted slightly; Ben lifted the curtain and saw his own carriage stopping side by side with another. He scrutinized the other carriage for a moment, then knocked twice on the window. The door of that carriage opened, someone stepped down, then immediately boarded Ben’s carriage.

"Mr. Brand, I—" Magdal lifted her skirt and hopped into the carriage, looking at Ben as she spoke. The Nun Princess was wearing a pale White gown today, appearing gentle and demure, but she seemed somewhat nervous, her chest rising and falling slightly. After getting in she anxiously glanced outside once more before closing the door.

But Ben cut her off, shook his head, and made a gesture for silence.

Magdal looked at the two of them in confusion.

"When does the auction begin?" Ben asked.

"The auction... if we go now, we should arrive just about on time; Mr. Brand, my friend is very reliable, you can rest easy—he will certainly arrange everything for your lot. It’s just a pity that lately Ambeser has been in a state of panic, many people are dumping their artworks and collections. The manager had originally planned to make Mr. Brand’s lot the finale." Magdal understood Antitina’s hand sign—Ben was telling her not to mention ’those things’ for the time being, in case there were ears in the walls. The Nun Princess was a clever person as well and reacted at once.

"It’s fine," Ben replied. In fact this was even better; after all, the Dark Shining Princess’s painting in his hands was stolen goods, and it would not do for it to draw too much attention.

Magdal took a breath, suddenly raised her head, and somewhat anxiously signed a sequence of gestures at Ben. It was sign language. Ben was slightly taken aback, thinking this was bad—he did not understand sign language. Still, this Princess truly was multi‑talented; history claimed she was a prodigy with languages, who had repeatedly served as the Holy Temple’s envoy to other countries before her marriage. He simply hadn’t expected that she even knew sign language.

As he froze for that instant, he felt Antitina take his hand. Ben turned back to find his Staff Lady prying open his hand and tracing with one finger in his palm. He stared blankly for a moment before realizing that Antitina was helping him translate:

"Wood Main Priest has been placed under house arrest—"

Ben raised his head and stared in surprise at the Nun Princess of the Flame Temple, only to see her nod solemnly. This piece of news quickly made him knit his brows. One could say that Wood and Moros were colleagues within the same institution, and there was no personal enmity between them, at most some differences in philosophy. Ben could believe that Wood had yielded to the Holy Temple’s pressure and come to a compromise with Moros, but Moros had actually put the former under house arrest.

This was tantamount to tearing off all pretense.

Was there any need to go this far? Or had the Holy Temple already grown this desperate? What on earth had made the Holy Temple so impatient? He thought for a moment, then suddenly turned his hand over and clasped Antitina’s soft fingers—his Staff Lady had never dreamed of such a development; her face flushed crimson in an instant, though she remained steady, only trembling slightly. Ben noticed none of this; he merely wrote in her palm: