The banquet at the Earl's Mansion was quite successful.
Although the assassination occurred in full view of the public, and although Charlotte seemed to have done nothing, her purpose of formally meeting with the vassals was preliminarily achieved.
Not only that, thanks to these nobles who were extremely capable of infighting, she had a lot of leverage over various noble families in her hands after the banquet.
All I can say is that the vampires who infiltrated Castel behind the scenes acted too hastily.
However, Charlotte knew this was just the beginning.
Although she had a rough understanding of the vassal states in the territory, her authority had not yet been established.
No matter what happened to the various noble families after being infiltrated by the vampires, no matter how much respect people showed her at the banquet, the fact that the power of the Castel family was declining and the ambitions of the nobles were growing did not change.
It’s not all bad news, though.
The Ness clan, hiding behind the scenes, has come to the fore.
Although it was unclear what the other party would do next, Charlotte had at least vaguely guessed the purpose of the Ness clan's infiltration of Castel.
As for how to punish the vassal, how to establish authority, and how to expel the power of the Nice clan, Charlotte also had further ideas...
"Great Master, Sebastian has let you down. The assassin actually took advantage of the loophole with the magic scroll..."
Sebastian came back a little earlier than Charlotte expected, appearing early the next morning.
As soon as the fire elf returned to the castle, he hurried to her to apologize. His clothes were still wet and there was even a few seaweeds on his head.
But even so, it did not stop him from kneeling gracefully and bowing his head elegantly.
Sebastian didn't ask why Charlotte didn't just summon him back.
Charlotte didn't mention it either.
In fact, she didn't have much to say. She couldn't say that she didn't want to consume extra blood power, and she estimated that the assassin's strength would not pose a threat to her, so she didn't summon the other party, right
As for Sebastian... looking at his fearful expression, he might have taken Charlotte's failure to summon him as a sign of dissatisfaction with him.
To be honest, it is indeed a bit embarrassing that a Silver Moon second-level peak transcendent was ambushed by an assassin who has not even entered the first level.
"You have indeed been a little slack. You must be more cautious in the future and do not underestimate any enemy."
Charlotte said calmly.
Sebastian lowered his head even more:
"Great Master, I will remember this lesson and will never make the same mistake again."
"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Now that you're back, then... I guess you've heard about Madoc, right?"
Charlotte asked as she took a sip of the steaming sweet milk.
"I have... heard from Nice."
Sebastian replied.
But there was a hint of gnashing of teeth in that expression, especially when Nice's name was mentioned.
Looking at his expression, Charlotte almost guessed what happened.
I'm afraid that after Nice received her order, he turned around and went to the door of the Earl's Mansion, waiting for Sebastian to come back and laugh at him.
These two guys...will never miss the chance to take advantage of each other's misfortune.
"Now that you know, it's easy to deal with. I have already located the coordinates of the Blood Count. I order you to immediately organize people to investigate. If necessary, you can call for my arrival!"
Charlotte said seriously.
Sebastian's expression froze, and he lowered his head respectfully.
"I will obey your will."
"Okay, let's go down. Call Viscount Len Castel in on your way out. I've seen him walk around many times down there."
Charlotte glanced at the small square downstairs and said.
"Yes, sir."
Sebastian bowed and left respectfully.
After a while, Viscount Ryan Castel came tremblingly into the study with the help of the maid.
"My Lord Earl!"
As soon as the old viscount came in, he knelt down.
His eyes were red and had big dark circles around them, and it was obvious that he didn't get a good night's rest.
Come to think of it, not to mention Madoc's betrayal which the nobles were still unaware of, last night's assassination attempt was carried out in full view of everyone.
Although the attacker was not from the Len-Castell family, the accusation against Len-Castell by the assassin when he showed up eventually put them at the center of the storm...
Some things, said in private and said openly, have completely different effects.
In any case, since what happened last night, the old viscount will definitely come to his lord to explain.
"Get up. I know why you're here. In fact, even if you don't come, I'm going to call you over again."
Charlotte said.
"My Lord Earl! I really don't know about the assassination! Regarding the blood clan... I did have dealings with the blood clan, but you know, I was just pretending to be nice to them in order to find out their intentions. I... I am loyal to Castel, and I am unwavering!"
The old viscount spoke excitedly, his voice becoming somewhat incoherent.
Charlotte nodded slightly and said gently:
"I know. I have never doubted Len Castel's loyalty."
"My Lord Count..."
The old viscount looked touched.
"But... I also got some other information, all related to the Ryan Castel family."
Charlotte changed the subject, picked up a stack of parchment scrolls from the desk, handed them to the maid Shirley, and signaled her to deliver them to the old viscount.
The parchments contained information about other families reporting on Len Castel.
The old viscount took it tremblingly and began to browse through it in confusion. As he browsed, his eyes gradually widened and trembled slightly:
"Slander! This is slander! My Len-Castel family has never done such a thing!"
"Oh? You really haven't done it?"
Charlotte lowered her eyelids, her expression slightly cold, and at the same time she mobilized the power of blood, directly stimulating the power of the majesty technique to put pressure on the second-level Silver Moon Viscount in front of her.
At that moment, Viscount Ryan Castel felt an overwhelming power erupting from Charlotte.
Although he did not feel any power beyond the stars from the girl in front of him, he suddenly felt a sense of panic and fear for no reason.
"I… "
The old viscount swallowed his saliva and his scalp suddenly felt numb.
"Okay, no need to explain."
Charlotte interrupted:
"Mr. Ryan Castel, I believe in your loyalty, but... as you said, the power of the blood clan has infiltrated every aspect of the territory. I think not everyone in the Ryan Castel family is as loyal as you are."
"Many things in this data are easy to verify, but I'm afraid they can't stand up to verification. All the noble families in Castel need to be reorganized, and the Ryan Castel family is no exception."
"A lot of the information here is enough for me to deprive your family of their titles, but I don't intend to do that."
"Because I believe in you, Your Excellency. The Ryan-Castel family is the most loyal family among the three viscounts. I believe that even if the things recorded here are related to the Ryan-Castel family, they are definitely not your orders, but the blood clans who have infiltrated the Ryan-Castel family are interfering."
"I have only one purpose in showing you this information, and that is to order you to reorganize the family!"
"What happened in the past is in the past. From now on, I don't want to see similar things happen in the territory again!"
"My Lord Count..."
The old viscount looked touched.
And Charlotte continued:
"Of course, the reason why I trust you so much is because you gave me a warning in advance."
"Now that the banquet is over, I can be frank with you about some things. In fact, before the banquet, I already knew that there would be an assassination attempt."
The old viscount was stunned:
“You… you know?!”
"I have my own intelligence channels."
Charlotte said calmly.
The old viscount hesitated for a moment and couldn't help asking:
"Then why do you..."
"Why are we still holding a banquet?"
Charlotte glanced at the other person and said calmly:
"Because I am also looking for an opportunity, an opportunity to find out the person behind the scenes!"
As she spoke, she chuckled and said:
"Actually, it's going pretty smoothly. It's just you and me here, so there are some things I can tell you."
"Your Excellency, the vampires of the Falling Star Kingdom have been infiltrating the various families of Castel all along. They were the masterminds behind last night's assassination."
"However, the assassin last night was not their real killer. In fact, after I left the venue last night, they attacked me again."
"You... you were attacked again?"
The old viscount's eyes widened.
"It's okay. The fact that I can stand here and talk to you means that everything has been resolved."
Charlotte nodded and said.
As she spoke, she smiled again:
"Your Excellency, do you know why I told you so much?"
The old viscount hesitated for a moment and bowed his head respectfully:
"Your servant... I don't know."
"Because I have a mission for you to complete. To be more precise, I need your Len Castel family to complete it."
Charlotte said with a serious expression.
Viscount Len-Castell's expression turned stern:
"Please give us your signal. The Len-Castel family will definitely do its best!"
"I want you to form an investigation team to investigate every noble family in Castel Territory and find all the Fallen Star Bloods in the territory!"
Charlotte said calmly.
"Investigate... Investigate all noble families?!"
The old viscount's eyes widened.
"Hmm? Any questions?"
Charlotte's eyelids drooped.
"My Lord Earl, I'm afraid there really is a problem... If we were to examine all the noble families, it would probably cause dissatisfaction among the vassals and might even shake the foundation of the territory..."
"Especially, the vampires behind the scenes are so arrogant, and their power is probably beyond our imagination... They will definitely not sit idly by and watch the censorship action."
The old viscount said stubbornly.
"If you are worried about the vampires behind the scenes, you can rest assured. For the next period of time, I'm afraid they will be leaderless and unable to take care of themselves."
Charlotte chuckled.
"Leaderless?"
The old viscount was stunned for a moment.
Charlotte nodded slightly, took a sip of sweet milk, and said calmly:
"The vampires who infiltrated Castel are from the Ness clan, one of the six major clans of the vampires, and the organizer behind the scenes is a blood earl named Lachlan Ness."
"It was this Blood Count who attacked me again last night!"
As she spoke, Charlotte smiled and looked at the old viscount:
"And he's... dead now."
"Dead? A Blood Count... dead?"
The old viscount was stunned again.
Charlotte did not explain further, but pointed to the pile of parchments in front of the desk:
"As for whether other noble families would object... Well, if they really want to object, just show them these things."
"I have just succeeded to the throne. To be honest, I do not want to start a war. I just hope that all families can stick to their original intentions and be loyal to me. But if there are really people who are blind..."
Charlotte's expression turned cold and she said:
"I don't mind assigning some new nobles."
——
A little bit short.