Chapter 87 +15 BONUS

Carissa continued, “That wasn’t the worst of it. The worst came later.”

She recounted how the Warren family tried to seize her dowry, even going so far as to accuse her of being disrespectful and jealous, using this as grounds for divorce.

“That was the real outrage. But I didn’t expect the king to posthumously grant my father the title of duke and allow me to divorce Barrett. Because of that, I could take all my dowry with me.”

Rafael’s eyes burned with anger. “They dared to treat you like that and wrong you?”

“I don’t feel wronged,” Carissa said, placing her hands on her knees and turning to look at Rafael. The beauty mark beneath her eye stood out vividly. “If I had feelings for him, it would have been different, but I didn’t. Leaving the Warren family was a relief. Their schemes failed, and you saw how angry Aurora was at me, Marshal. She was upset that I didn’t care about the man she coveted.”

Aurora wanted to humiliate her, but Carissa had left the Warren family with all her dowry, without shedding a single tear. She even enjoyed the status of being a duke’s daughter. That infuriated Aurora.

Moreover, judging by the looks and words exchanged between Aurora and Barrett earlier, their marriage was far from loving; it seemed strained.

Rafael gazed at Carissa for a long time before speaking slowly. “Nobody from the Duke of Northwatch’s family ever bows down to anyone, Carissa. Stay strong!”

He paused, then continued, “His Majesty will be looking into the battle at Victory Pass. The truth will come out, and someone will be held responsible, but it might not be in the way we wish.”

Carissa understood. The people of Westhaven highly valued their reputation. They would rather retaliate secretly than admit their prince had been captured, humiliated, and tortured, then chose suicide upon release instead of seeking revenge. They wouldn’t acknowledge the incident or admit their prince had been captured. To cover it up, they had even hidden the massacre of the villagers by Aurora. Since they chose to conceal it, there would be no negotiations with Starhaven about it.

Even if the king discovered the truth, he wouldn’t publicize it. Doing so would reveal that a highly respected female general had violated the agreement between the two kingdoms not to harm civilians. If the truth wasn’t made public, Aurora couldn’t be prosecuted, nor could it be linked to the massacre of the Duke of Northwatch’s entire household. For the sake of the larger picture, the king wouldn’t agree to that. The likely outcome was predictable.

How would the public react? In a war between the two kingdoms, if Westhaven hadn’t killed a single civilian while Starhaven had kidnapped a prince and massacred civilians, wouldn’t the citizens of Starhaven believe their country was at fault?

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Secondly, what would be said to Westhaven? If the incident were acknowledged, Westhaven would have grounds to demand an explanation and compensation from Starhaven. What price would need to be paid to settle this matter?

If Aurora had only massacred villagers, Westhaven could still make a fuss. But she had humiliated and tortured a prince of Westhaven.

Aurora was lucky enough to have escaped retribution, but it was a misfortune for all the people in Northwatch Estate, as well as the soldiers on the Southern Frontier battlefield, all of whom had died due to Westhaven’s vengeance. Westhaven chose to exact revenge by allying with Sandoria to kill Starhaven soldiers on the Southern Frontier battlefield and seize Starhaven territory.

Moreover, if this incident were brought to light, Carissa’s maternal grandfather, as the main commander at Victory Pass, would bear unshirkable responsibility. What kind of disaster would that bring to the Sullivan family?

Carissa had thought about this repeatedly, which is why she chose not to tell the king. Not only could she not speak, she also had to feign ignorance in front of him.

But as for the soldiers who participated in the village massacre with Aurora… Carissa could foresee their fate.

Rafael understood the stakes even better than she did. But that was fine; he would find a way to get justice for the Duke of Northwatch’s family.

After a moment of silence, he said, “I’ll take you to inspect the Mystic Army. From today, you will be the deputy commander of the Mystic Army.”