How About a Refill? ~The Elegant Tea Party of the Grand Witches~ - Chapter 24

In the Corridor

Alessia was invited to attend a small tea party held by one of her friends, a Count’s daughter. Since it was a casual party of close friends, she left with only one maid, one footman and the carriage driver.

She had lost track of time while conversing happily with her friends, and before long it was almost sunset. She had left hurriedly then before it got dark.

The carriage bearing the Caparoni family’s coat of arms had only entered the road in the forest for five minutes when it happened.

Two of the four horses pulling the carriage suddenly became agitated and went out of control. The driver quickly pulled the reins and stopped the carriage to get them under control.

Just then, people wearing red robes started appearing out of the shadows of the trees. They surrounded the carriage and started chanting some sort of spell. 

A giant magic circle began forming below the carriage and slowly rose up to envelope the whole carriage. In the next moment, the carriage, along with Alessia and her attendants disappeared. 

A few hours later, the carriage was discovered on the outskirts of the forest with the maid, footman and driver lying unconscious inside it.

“Brother! Where is sister!? Did you find out what happened to her!?”

Miriam had been in Beatrice’s mansion when she was informed of the disappearance by an attendant. She had rushed to Emilio’s office where her brother was.

“Calm down, Millie. I’m still questioning the staff who accompanied her.”

“Yes but… why did this have to happen!?”

Leonardo led the trembling Millie to the couch to calm her.

Just then Emilio returned to the office.

“We still don’t know what the perpetrators want, but we found out they did teleportation magic. It looks like they teleported the whole carriage once, and then after erasing the memories of Alessia’s entourage they returned them back with the carriage to the forest.”

“To teleport the whole carriage… they must be a large organisation.”

“Yeah, it’s almost impossible to do it alone. It looks like they had drawn the magic circle on the ground in advance; they stopped the carriage somehow and then activated it. Everything was planned.”

Miriam quivered as she thought of how scared and alone Alessia must be right now.

“Millie, are you alright? You’re shivering.”

“Brother, will she be alright? If something happens to her I’ll…”

Leonardo gently patted Miriam’s shivering back.

“Don’t worry. I will definitely save Sia.”

“… ok.”

However, Miriam couldn’t shake off her unease. She sank down into her hands with worry.

“Miss Miriam, you look pale. I’ll have a room prepared for you so you should rest for a while. Leonardo will be stationed in the palace for a while. You should also stay for today. We still don’t know if the culprits are after the Caparoni family or Alessia. It’s better not to leave right now.”

Saying so, Emilio called a maid and told her to prepare a room for Miriam.

“Did you contact the Marquess?”

“Father has been travelling to inspect our estates since a month ago. We have a lot of them scattered about the Kingdom. Unluckily, he’s currently in the farthest territory from the Capital. Even if we hurry, it’ll take three days to get him back here.”

“Has there been any contact with the kidnappers?”

“Nothing so far. Damn it! There’s not enough information.”

Just then, the maid showed up again and announced that the room for Miriam had been prepared.

“Looks like your room is ready. I’ll show you to it.”

Emilio held out his arm and Miriam quickly placed her hand on it.

‘They’re not even engaged but she’s so close…”

Leonardo felt exasperated towards his sister who had taken Emilio’s arm so naturally right in front of her brother. He sighed as he received his steward’s report. 

Emilio and Miriam followed the maid into the corridor. They left the Jade Palace, where the office was located, and headed towards the Ruby Palace where the guest rooms were located. Just then a voice called out from behind.

“Brother.”

When they turned back, Miriam saw a young man with amber eyes and waist length maroon hair walking towards them with a man who looked like a steward.

It was the Second Prince, Ivan Vittorio Bonifaccio Avilier.

He was Emilio’s half-sibling.

“Ivan. What is it?”

“I heard something terrible happened so I came to see you.”

“Something terrible?”

Emilio gazed at Ivan with suspicious eyes. Ivan glanced around carefully before speaking to Emilio.

“… I heard your fiance got kidnapped. Are you okay?”

Emilio raised his eyebrows at Ivan’s words.

“Who did you hear this from?”

“The atmosphere in Jade Palace seemed strained since earlier, so I asked one of the footmen. Is it true?”

“I can’t say anything right now.”

Ivan nodded and then looked at Miriam who was standing beside Emilio.

Miriam curtsied.

“Who is this young lady?”

Emilio quickly pulled Miriam behind him at Ivan’s question.

“It is none of your concern. I’m in a hurry so I’ll excuse myself first. Let’s go, Miriam.”

“Huh? Oh, yes, Prince Emilio.”

Emilio held out his arm once again and quickly led Miriam towards the guest rooms.

Ivan watched them leave with a dark gaze.

“Um, was it alright to leave like this?”

“Huh?” Emilio tilted his head to the side at Miriam’s question.

“That was the Second Prince Ivan, right? I didn’t get to greet him properly.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Besides, there’s something else I’m concerned about.” 

“What is it?”

“That’s… Well, you shouldn’t worry about it, Miriam.Just relax in your room.”

‘My fiance was kidnapped? Even though it was Lady Alessia that was kidnapped. I’m not particularly close to her… rather, how did he find out about this incident when it just occured?’