Chapter 270: The Count's Invitation

Holding the fine porcelain cup, Lucien slightly nodded, "I know. People like Ivanovszki are definitely ruthless, or they wouldn't be able to survive. I wish I knew who was protecting him, so I could..."

Although Lucien's tone was gentle, his words made Leo feel cold. The person he was working for right now was a sorcerer who was beyond calm. If this young man knew more about Ivanovszki, then through a series of analysis, he would kill Ivanovszki as soon as possible.

"When I was working for Ivanovszki, in public, he only had a grand knight or a middle-rank mage protecting him, but as you said, he must still have more people. I've seen it several times. Those assassinators sent by his competitors never made it into the place he lived. There was one time... a level two knight whose Blessing allowed him to hide, and thus he seriously injured Ivanovszki's grand knight. The moment when Ivanovszki was going to be killed, the assassin fell on the ground, dead. I still remember the look on his face... it was horror." Leo told Lucien what he knew altogether.

There was smile on Lucien's face, "I just sent my unseen servant to follow him, and he almost noticed it. But the servant still managed to make sure that his room was protected by some spells. It's hard for us to spy on him. If we want to kill him, we need to make him step out of those places that he knows well. We want him to follow our plan."

"My lord..." said Leo, a little hesitant, "If you give me a middle-rank magic item, I'll seize a chance and die together with Ivanovszki."

Lucien looked around and said, "Suicide attack? Not necessary yet. Go and have some rest, Leo."

Lucien's biggest advantage now was the fact that Ivanovszki did not know anything about his power as a sorcerer. No matter who Ivanovszki sent to kill Lucien, it was always going to be a mistake, which was a great chance for Lucien, since he could consume Ivanovszki's power bit by bit. Of course, if Ivanovszki was not planning on killing him, that was the best.

At the same time, Lucien also cast a secret magic circle invented by the Congress around his room. The magic circle did not block other people from spying on the person in the room, but it could reinforce the caster's spiritual power for sensing any magic waves, so the caster could detect even the slightest amount of magic wave disturbance.

The moonlight was gentle and delicate. Lucien sat in the couch and slowly closed his eyes.

In the darkness, everything was very quiet. At this time, Lucien sensed a tiny amount of magic waves. It was only like part of the night breeze, so, if Lucien had not placed the magic circle, there was no chance that he would notice this.

The magic waves gradually settled, however, it was still there—like a mirror, watching Lucien.

Lucien, in the couch, adjusted his position from time to time, as if he had fallen into deep sleep.

Just like this, nothing ever happened throughout the whole night.

...

Ural City, Green Vine luxury hotel.

After selling most of his goods in this busy city and buying some more local ironwares, Berdychiv was quite relaxed.

He sat in the hotel's corner after having breakfast, drinking his liquor and looking at the many guests in the hotel. He and another juice head were remarking upon the guests' appearance and manner.

"Father, are you seriously drinking in the morning?" asked Yielena a bit angryly. She had accepted Igor's apology last night, and they were planning on having a tour in the city.

Berdychiv let out a belch. The strong smell of liquor was rising from his stomach. "Yielena, come on..." Berdychiv laughed, "Tomorrow we're heading back home. Just let me drink today. The more I drink, the more revitalized I am."

The caravan's next stop was the provincial capital of Kirov.

"You've been drinking for two days!" Yielena frowned, "You have to promise that you won't drink a single drop on our way home!"

Berdychiv laughed, "Yielena, you think I'm drunk? Ha, you cannot cancel my breakfast drink, lunch drink, and dinner drink from the list!"

After saying this to his daughter, Berdychiv suddenly stood up, rolling a bit back and forth, "Mr. Peter, welcome back! I thought you were gonna stay in the baroness' manor!"

The ambiguity of Berdychiv words contradicted his age.

Lucien, followed by Leo, was right now walking into the hotel. After having breakfast in the manor, Carleena, who was obviously much colder to Lucien than yesterday, sent Lucien and Leo back to Ural City, which was what Lucien wanted exactly, but he would not lower his guard.

"Morning, Mr. Peter." Yielena grinned. She always believed that Peter was a decent gentleman.

Lucien also smiled, "Good morning, Miss Yielena. You two are good again, aren't you?"

Yielena's face flushed, and although Igor did not like Lucien, he also scratched the back of his head shyly, having no idea how to answer.

Berdychiv patted on Lucien's shoulder and comforted, "You're still popular among young girls, Mr. Peter. Maybe... Maybe you're just not lady Carleena's type, you know..."

Although Lucien was a few centimeters taller with his disguise, compared to most guys in the empire, he was still small.

At this time, Igor said to Lucien, "Mr. Peter, there's one thing... I live next door to you, and last night I heard some noise in your room. You might want to go back and check your luggage, or maybe it was a mouse... I'm not sure."

Lucien quickly exchanged a look with Leo, and then said to Igor calmly with a smile, "Thank you. I'll go back and check it right now."

...

In the room, Lucien carefully checked almost everything including the secret magic marks he left, his cups and kettle, then he said to Leo confusedly, "Nothing... Maybe it was a mouse?"

"I don't think so, my Lord. This can't be just a coincidence." Leo knew what kind of person Ivanovszki was.

Lucien nodded, and he started checking around again.

Opening his suitcase, Lucien searched through his clothes, some folk music transcripts and some special souvenirs...

At this time, Lucien noticed the set of stacking dolls in the corner. When he examined the dolls with his spiritual power, he finally detected a tiny amount of vicious power in it, which made the look of the doll quite creepy.

"Curse..." Lucien murmured. He had been studying curse-related things for almost a year.

Leo also saw the dolls. He asked, "My lord, what shall we do?"

After thinking for a while, Lucien smiled, "Do as nobles do."

He activated Sun's Corona in front of his chest, and the holy light immediately covered Lucien's body.

Then Lucien opened the stacking dolls, one by one.

When he opened the fourth layer and an old grandma's face was revealed, black smoke burst out and came directly and fiercely toward Lucien!

However, the holy light blocked the smoke completely, and the smoke disappeared.

When the light was going to disappear, Lucien started to roar out of great anger, "A sorcerer tried to kill me! A sorcerer! In this empire!"

As he was shouting, Lucien asked Leo to wrap the dolls with clothes, and they directly walked towards the church nearby, leaving Berdychiv and other people feeling astonished in the hotel.

...

In a secret room in the church.

"You must know what I just said is true. My divine item just saved my life!" said Lucien to a city lord. Lucien was still furious, or say, pretended to be furious.

The cardinal was like a big bear wearing white robe. He nodded and comforted Lucien, "Yes, I know, Mr. Peter."

"Good. Then, Cardinal, please get the damned sorcerer as soon as possible! I have no idea how the bastard dared to do this to me in the empire under the close watch of the church!?" As Lucien was saying, he even quickly took out his Sun's Corona in front of the cardinal. With only two layers of seals unlocked, Sun's Corona looked like a level-five divine item.

"I understand, Mr. Peter, but we still need some time to investigate," said the Cardinal calmly.

"But I do know who did this! It was Ivanovszki! It was Carleena! They are craving for the count's wealth! That's why!"

Then Lucien told the cardinal what happened in the manor.

"But, Mr. Peter, the baroness and Mr. Ivanovszki are not doing something immoral. Most people would do exactly as what they are doing if they could get the information ahead. Nevskiy also knows this." The cardinal felt that this young noble was overreacting a little, "Of course, thank you for providing us with the information. We'll look into this."

Lucien spent half an hour in the church asserting that it was Ivanovszki who did this. After that, he gradually calmed down and left the church.

Following Lucien, Leo asked in a low voice, "My lord, why you did not mention Ivanovszki's a smuggler?"

"They won't trust me. Or they probably know this already. An influential businessman like him must have great support behind his back." Lucien slightly squinted, "I've done what I can do. Now let's see how Ivanovszki will respond."

...

As soon as they came back to the hotel, a middle-aged gentleman greeted him.

"Mr. Peter. Count Witte heard that an outstanding young man from Vladimir family has arrived in the city. Count Witte would like to invite you to his castle." The man smiled.

Lucien was a bit surprised. It looked like his plan on dealing with Ivanovszki was going to be disturbed by the count's invitation.