Free Web Novel"Victoria! Victoria!"
A female voice was calling her name.
It was choked with sobs.
Urgency, panic, and a deep sense of self-reproach were evident in the voice.
Victoria opened her eyes groggily.
Her vision was blurred, and the light was dim. The ceiling was an old wooden beam structure, with classical vine patterns carved into the crossbeams; the paint had peeled off quite a bit, but one could still see its former refinement.
The walls were made of dark wooden panels, adorned with several landscape paintings in gilded frames, though the gold lacquer had already begun to blacken.
A four-poster bed stood in the room, its velvet curtains a dark red with fine embroidery along the edges. Although the color had faded slightly, the material was still quite good. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
A gas lamp sat on the nightstand, its flame flickering and emitting a faint hissing sound.
This was a guest room.
It wasn't luxurious, but it wasn't shabby either.
It looked like a room in some noble family's old manor, the kind used to host less important guests.
"Victoria! Wake up! Please!"
The voice continued, accompanied by the sensation of her shoulders being shoved.
Victoria turned her head. Her vision finally came into focus.
Red hair, deep green eyes, and tear stains still on her cheeks.
Charlotte?
She was kneeling by the bedside, her hands gripping Victoria's shoulders, shaking her vigorously.
Her eyes were red and swollen, teardrops still clung to her eyelashes, and the tip of her nose was red; she looked as though she had been crying for a long time.
She was wearing a grey casual dress with dust on the hem, her cuffs were wrinkled, her hair was a mess, and a few strands were stuck to her cheeks.
Victoria had rarely seen Charlotte like this.
This red-haired girl, who was usually calm and always wore a playful smile, looked like a terrified little animal at this moment.
"Charlotte?" Victoria's voice was a bit raspy; her throat was incredibly dry.
"How did you..."
"You shouldn't have come!"
Charlotte interrupted her, her voice full of sobs.
"You really shouldn't have come! I hinted so clearly in the letter, why did you still come? How can you be so foolish!"
As she spoke, her tears fell again, large drops splashing onto the back of Victoria's hand.
Victoria was stunned for a moment, and then her brain began to function, like rusty gears starting to creak and turn.
Right, she remembered now.
A few days ago, she had received a letter.
The letter was sent by Charlotte.
The envelope used the Rosenthal family's wax seal, the red lacquer stamped with the family crest and decorated with gold leaf along the edges. The ink was dark blue, and the handwriting was in Charlotte's usual flowery script.
The content of the letter was simple: an invitation for Victoria to meet at a certain Rosenthal Estate, saying there was something important to discuss in person. The address was detailed, the date was set, and the tone was polite but not warm, like a matter of routine business.
When Victoria finished reading the letter at the time,
Her first reaction was—
Not to ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) go.
Although she hadn't officially taken over family affairs, as the daughter of Marquis Hohenheim, she still possessed some political intuition.
What time was it now?
It was a time when the pro-peace faction and the Pro-war faction were fighting tooth and nail. The Rosenthal family was a peripheral force of the Pro-war faction, while the Hohenheim family was a core member of the pro-peace faction.
If she went to see Charlotte at this time, what would outsiders think?
Would it be interpreted as the Hohenheim family sending some kind of signal to the Pro-war faction? Would it interfere with her father's arrangements?
But.
Victoria turned the letter over and over, reading it several times.
The more she looked, the more she felt something was wrong.
Charlotte's style of writing was very strange.
When she usually wrote letters, her tone was always relaxed and casual, occasionally cracking small jokes.
But this letter was different. Between the lines, there was a sense of restraint, as if someone were watching her write. The usage of certain phrases was also odd, such as "must come in person," "this matter is of great importance," and "inconvenient to detail in the letter."
It sounded like an official document rather than a private letter between friends.
What was even stranger was that several parts were clearly redundant.
For instance, polite clichés like "the weather is turning cold, hope you take care" were things Charlotte never wrote. And "the manor scenery is excellent, suitable for relaxation" didn't sound like her style either.
Victoria stared at those sentences for a long time, suddenly realizing—it was a hint. Charlotte was using this method to tell her something.
Although it was too obscure for Victoria to discern the specific meaning,
She felt that Charlotte was calling for help.
So, she came.
She knew this might be interpreted as a political signal, knew it might cause trouble for her father, but she went anyway.
Because that was her friend.
As for personal danger? Victoria wasn't particularly worried.
She didn't believe Viscount Rosenthal would dare to directly kidnap her.
Although the Hohenheim and Rosenthal families had political disagreements, they were both Imperial nobles and had personal ties. The head of the Rosenthal family, Duchess Erwina, and her father had even been teacher and student at the military academy. Though they later went their separate ways, they maintained a civil relationship on the surface.
Nobles valued propriety. No matter how much they fought, they wouldn't take things to the extreme; otherwise, even if they won for a moment, they would become infamous in their circles.
However, just in case, she had written a letter and sent it to her father through the Hohenheim family's secret channels in Eisenburg's Old City.
But what Victoria didn't expect was that the other party didn't intend to maintain any propriety this time.
As soon as she stepped through the gates of the Rosenthal Estate, before she even saw Charlotte, she was knocked unconscious from behind.
Clean and efficient, without any hesitation.
And then, there was now.
Victoria lowered her head and looked at her wrists.
Metal shackles, grey-black with some rust on the edges, but they looked quite sturdy. The chain was very short, only allowing her arms to move within a very small range.
She tried to move, and the shackles made a clattering sound, rubbing against the skin of her wrists. It hurt a little.
Phew.
Victoria sighed in her heart.
She looked up at Charlotte, who was still crying.
"Alright, alright, stop crying," she said, her tone as light as possible. "If you keep crying, your eyes will swell up like walnuts, and you won't be cute anymore."
Charlotte sobbed and wiped her tears haphazardly with her sleeve. "How can you still joke at a time like this!"
"What else can I do if I don't joke?" Victoria shrugged, the movement restricted by the shackles, making it look a bit comical. "Crying won't solve the problem either."
"But... but..." Charlotte's voice choked up again. "It's all my fault... I shouldn't have written that letter... but my father forced me to... he said if I didn't, he would... he would..."
She couldn't go on and began to shed tears again.
Victoria looked at her, and suddenly she understood.
So that was it.
The letter was indeed written by Charlotte, but not of her own free will; she had been forced.
That was why there were those strange hints—she was doing her best to warn Victoria not to come.
But Victoria had come anyway. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"Charlotte," she said, her voice very calm. "Listen to me."
Charlotte looked up at her with tearful eyes.
"First of all, this isn't your fault," Victoria said. "You did your best. You hinted very clearly in the letter; it was my own decision to come."
"But—"
"Secondly," Victoria interrupted her, "don't worry too much. I'll find a way to get us both out of here."
Charlotte was stunned for a moment.
Then she looked at the shackles on Victoria's hands, then at her face, her eyes full of doubt.
"How... how are you going to save us?"
Victoria smiled, a brilliant smile that revealed two small canine teeth.
"Just watch."
As she spoke, she gripped the chain of the shackles with both hands. The muscles in her wrists tensed, clear lines appeared on her forearms, and she took a deep breath.
Then she exerted force.
Crack.
A crisp sound.
The chain snapped.
The metal at the break was jagged, torn apart by sheer brute force. The two pieces of the chain fell onto the bed with a dull thud.
Charlotte's eyes widened. Her mouth hung slightly open as if she were speechless.
Victoria shook her wrists and flexed her fingers. Two red marks were left on her wrists, but they weren't serious.
She sat up from the bed, her golden hair a bit messy, but a dangerous light flickered in her eyes.
