Meanwhile back at the duchy:
Oliver was worried sick about his daughter ever since he heard that his very own father found out where she was but the girl herself chose to run away. He couldn't understand what was going through that little mind of hers at all. He and his kids as well as his father were worried sick about her and yet she didn't want to return back at all. Then there was also the problem that his feather came by over and over again to talk about this topic as well. It seemed as if no one could forget the little girl. She was not long with them yet it was enough to make them all want her back by their side.
While Oliver was in his office sighing to the millions of times again, the door to his study was slammed open and no other than Delca was standing there but the man seemed out of breath. This was something that nearly never happened before at all. Only something important could make Delca run at full speed to his office and display such behaviour as well.
"What is it?"
"We found the source of the rumors."
"Which rumors"
"About the ones that the duchy was the one helping the magic tower and that the duke had fought himself."
"And?"
There was no need to lie at all. Oliver hopped that Delca would come to his office in such a hurry to tell him knew about his one and only daughter. The poor man couldn't even sleep at night anymore. It was the guilt which was eating away from him. If he had only assigned two knights earlier to her, if he had made sure that there were no spies and if he had noticed everything earlier as well... maybe then his girl wouldn't be lost like now at all.
The thoughts came over and over and were sticking to his mind and wouldn't let go of him at all. Vivi was such a bright child and everyone had the same opinion, that girl was not acting up her age but she was also childish sometimes. She seemed happy but at the same time worried and nervous as if she knew something that she couldn't tell anyone. The longer Viviana was gone, the more and more people started to point this thing out. At first the servants including Emilia and Delca would say it was worry about how she would have been treated in the future but now thinking back it may have been something else.
"It was the mysterious healer that everyone is talking about nowadays."
"Healer?"
"Yes. People say there is an old lady who was treating the sick and poor without asking for anything in return."
"What does the old lady look like?"
"No one knows that sir."
As little as the chances were that this would be Viviana, it was too big of a coincidence to simply ignore it completely. Viviana had the ability to heal people and manipulate the air around her. That was what they knew so far. There might have been more things but they only knew so far about these two things. Since she was a kid on her own, the duke had everyone look at abnormalities which had anything to do with a sudden healer or doctor as well as wind abnormalities. While they were looking for everything, they found the sudden appearance of a healer which as the coincidence wants it only happened to go around after Viviana left and also vanished completely.
"Is it possible that Vivi would be the healer?"
"That might be possible but we have an even bigger problem."
"Which one?"
"The crown opened up the fire on us."
"Damn it!"
It was a last resort but still, no one thought that the crown would be this stupid as to attack the duchy openly. It wouldn't just mean that a lot of lives would be lost but dramatically increase the demonic beast as well. There were some rumors that the crown was catching and mutating or even starving demonic beasts to release at the battlefield to make sure they would win. Then there were other rumors saying they were creating them and no matter what it was, in the end each of the rumors suggested that the crown would use demonic beasts or even demons themselves in the next battle.
How long could the duchy survive with a constant threat? How long could they hold on? How long could they even make sure that the people in the duchy wouldn't get hurt from the wild beasts around them but at the same time also from the released beats? There are too many open questions.
Though there was all unpleasant news, the duke and Oliver were still somewhat happy that Viviana wouldn't be there around. Not only that but they were soon about to send Alex and the rest of the family who were not able to fight in this battle to a safe place. They had to ensure their bloodline would survive even if that meant just a single individual would survive from the Underwood household.
"How should we respond?"
"We are not backing down!"
"What about the beasts they are gonna release soon?"
"Our knights know how to deal with them! Is father gonna join the battlefield?"
"Yes Sire. "
"In that case there is nothing to be worried about."
"From what I know your brothers will also be joining very soon."
"I see.... It seemed they left the last strength up to me."
"Yes Sire."
"Anything else I should know about this battle?"
"That is all we know for now. There are hints about the crown managing to get a mage on their team."
"A mage?"
"Yes, Sire. However that is still not approved and a lot of people are contradicting this fact ever after the crown prince died."
"How unfortunate... I wish I could have killed that bastard for harming my Vivi."
"It seemed he got what he deserved though."
"It seemed you already heart what happened."
"Only a bit."
With a heavy sigh, Oliver decided to tell his friend what had happened over at the magic tower. Not even Oliver knew that fact until his father had come back home angered and nearly even lost control over his very own bloodlust. It was that same day that a lot of servants were injured and nearly even killed as well.
Oliver initially came over to check on his father but he would have never expected to learn about the fact that his daughter had seemingly escaped to the forest around the magic tower and took refuge there. Not only that but the magic tower owner had taught her a bit of magic and she was in the form of a dragon. His father, who got the information, decided to immediately travel over and take Viviana home. However when he arrived he found a battle taking place and caught a glimpse of a dragon flying above his head. It was a dragon with pure white scales and white feathery wings. On top of that the dragon had a bit of gold as well. Supposedly that was Viviana who decided to run away before the duke had arrived at the magic tower and after the crown prince had died.
The magic tower owner was so indebted to Viviana that he even joined the search for the child. It seemed that without Viviana, the tower owner would have lost his life and the girl had saved soo many lives.
It was simply an unbelievable story but deep down in his heart, he knew that that was his daughters doing. The only question he had was why his daughter wouldn't return at all. Did she know about what was going on? Did she perhaps even foresee everything? It was a ridiculous thought but there wasn't really anything else Oliver could think about. Up until now Viviana was only helping them. It was her who gave them the information about the spies, it was her who had made the bond between the magic tower and the duchy even stronger and it was her who was for sure spreading the rumors about the duchy. This girl was full of surprise.
"At least she is not here to see this madness."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that Sire."
"Say that again..."
"I believe we know where she is...."
"What now?"
"The church invited us over for the new Saintess introduction into society and the public."
While the discussion was focused on the topic of his daughter, the word Saintess fell down and in an instant he knew where his daughter was hiding. It was definitely one of the most dangerous places to be considering that he knew that the church was under the influence of the current king himself.
"New Saintess?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Today."
"Why do I only know now about this?"
This man right here, was ready to get up from his seat and dash out of the room to take the fastest horse to the capital and get his daughter back. Finally, they knew where she was and they could bring her back. However a dreadful thought popped up in his mind all of the sudden: What if his daughter didn't want to come back?
There must have been a reason for her to not reunite with her family and instead become the new Saintess. He believed in his daughter. Each and every single one of his childrens never acted on pure coincidence. It was something about the bloodline of a dragon. They were never childish for long and would always act differently than normal people. This was why he never gave everything much thought but accepted them. Right now, on the other hand, he wasn't so sure about what to do at all.
"Ryan held back the letter and went instead."
"If the child went there on his own then there must be something that caught his attention."
"Sire, we believe that the new Saint is Viviana."
"More troubles..."
"Indeed."
"Anything else, I have to know?"
"It seems as if the magic tower also found out about the saintess."
"What are they about to do?"
"We don't know yet."
"Find out what they want to do and make sure it wouldn't get in the way of whatever Viviana is planning to do."
"Yes, Sire. Should I send Damian and Elice to protect Viviana?"
"No need for that. The church will not let go of their new Saintess this easily. It might even be one of the safest places to be right now."
"I see what you mean.... However, don't you think she is still young to be alone?"
"Delca, did you forget that father has seen her in a dragon appearance?"
"I am sorry Sire."
"No one ever could shift into a dragon and yet this child can.... She is someone sent from heaven, no our ancestors sent her over to protect us. We have to believe in what she is doing right now."
"I understand."
"Anything else?"
"Nothing more than this. Should we get our princess Viviana back?"
"No.... let Ryan handle it. There must be a reason she is doing all this.... "
"You think she knows something?"
"I don't know but this is not pure coincidence that she is helping us soo much."
"I agree with that."
Just like that the conversation ended and these two people got back to their work preparing to counter the crowns attack while taking care of everything else as well. They had to make sure there was something that Viviana could return to and not leave her alone. This was what Oliver made up his mind to do.