How About a Refill? ~The Elegant Tea Party of the Grand Witches~ - Chapter 54

During this Time

In Beatrice’s mansion, Beatrice was conjuring up a magic circle with a silver wand.

A magic circle, the same colour as her eyes, spun into existence, but then immediately sputtered and disappeared.

“As I thought, it’s useless. For some reason I can’t grasp onto Millie and Robin. It’s all hazy.”

“Did they perhaps use the barrier to counter the teleportation magic? That means we can’t teleport there, and neither can we summon someone from there.”

“Now they’ve gone and done it! Not just Millie but they even dragged Robin into it… I’m going to zap them with my electricity and throw them in a wild beast’s nest…”

The witches had tried summoning Miriam like they always did, but they weren’t able to. The magic barrier they themselves had created long ago to prevent teleportation magic was being used against them. 

“If only we knew where they were… Oh Millie! Why do they always go after people from the Caparoni family!”

Leonardo was pacing restlessly with his head in his hands. 

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Someone pounded at the door. When Leonardo opened the door, Dino jumped into the room out of breath.

“Huff, huff… He’s gone!”

“Calm down, Dino. What happened!?”

Dino was panting as if he had run all the way here. Leonardo patted his back as he asked him what had happened.

“Prince Ivan was kidnapped! He was snatched from the manor! Damn! Just when I wasn’t there…!!”

“What…!”

So it wasn’t just Miriam, but even Ivan was abducted. Everyone in Beatrice’s Mansion were set by confusion at the news. 

　◇

“Miss Alessia, the private guard of the Caparoni family, has called for permission to conduct a search for Miss Miriam. What should we do?”

The Caparoni household had just received news of Miriam’s kidnapping from a messenger from the palace. Tatiana had fainted while Ferdinand had rushed off to the Palace. It left Alessia in charge of the household.

It was just, since Miriam had already announced her engagement to Emilio, the kidnapping ust be kept a secret. The options of what they could do were limited since they couldn’t just send out troops to look for her on a large scale.

“We can’t use our troops to conduct a public search. Miriam’s reputation is at stake. We’ll have to send a spy so go call one immediately! Brother and father will probably stay in the palace for a while so pack their clothes and necessities and send it to the palace as well!”

After giving instructions to the aged steward, Alessia headed to her mother’s room.

“Mother, how are you feeling?”

Tatiana sat up, helped by her maid.

“Sia… forgive me. I’ll get out of bed right now.”

“You should keep resting, mother.”

Both Alessia and the maid stopped Tatiana as she tried to get up. Judging from her pale face, Alessia judged that she should not get out of bed yet. She looked at the maid and signalled her with her eyes to look after Tatiana.

“I’m not like brother or father, but I can handle the household matters for now. You should just rest for now.”

“Your face is so pale. You should also take a break…”

Tatiana stroked Alessia’s face gently. Alessia brought up her hand to cover her mother’s.

“I can’t stand it when I think of how Miriam must be feeling so afraid, just like I did when I was kidnapped…”

“Ah, Sia…”

Tatiana hugged Alessia tightly. After a while, she let go and, apologising, lied down on her bed again.

Alessia left the room and let out a sigh in tiredness.

“Ah, Miriam. You must be suffering so much right now…”

“Miss Alessia, you’ve already given out all the instructions for now. I will let you know if something comes up, but you should rest for now. Your face looks pale.”

Come to think of it, she had been working non stop ever since she heard the news, and hadn’t even had time to eat lunch or dinner. Alessia decided it would be better to take a small rest, especially considering the situation may last longer. With that decided, she headed to her room after informing the maid.

She lied down on her bed. Was that man involved with Miriam’s kidnapping? If that was so then what would she do? Alessia’s heart tightened as a mixture of unforgiving anger towards him, and the longing she had felt for him the other day overcame her.

Clatter.

Alessia quickly sat up at the small noise.

She turned to look at the window to find the man who had been the subject of her complicated thoughts standing there on the balcony.

“…Gil.”

Alessia opened the window and muttered his name.

“Hey, my fairy princess…”

“You have some guts coming here.”

Gil furrowed his brows with a sad look on his face as he said, “There is something I want to tell you.”