Melody of Strength novel

Carissa needed to get her hands on the battlefield report Dominic sent back.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

The reports first went to the Ministry of Defense, where a copy was made before the original was presented to the king. So, the Ministry of Defense should have copies of the battle report from Dominic as well as the victory report.

She would have to sneak into the Ministry of Defense.

There weren’t many people at the ministry at night, but all the ministry offices were located on either side of Thousand Street, which was adjacent to the royal palace. The royal guards didn’t patrol Thousand Street, but the guards from the garrison unit did.

But no matter what, Carissa had to see the battlefield report and the post–war memorial Dominic submitted.

One thing was certain–Dominic must have affirmed Aurora’s contributions, otherwise the Ministry of Defense wouldn’t have credited her.

The people of Westhaven were known for seeking revenge at all costs. If Aurora had massacred the villagers who surrendered, Westhaven wouldn’t easily let the matter go, regardless of the villagers‘ reasons for surrender.

The most likely outcome was that they would ally with Sandoria and join the fight at the Southern Frontier.

Carissa checked the map. If Westhaven wanted to reach the Southern Frontier without going through Starhaven, they would first need to go to Sandoria. From there, the journey to the Southern Frontier would take almost three months.

Sandoria was determined to win the Southern Frontier. But with the Hell Monarch leading the charge for Starhaven, Sandoria hadn’t succeeded and the battle was at a stalemate,

If Westhaven joined the battle, the Hell Monarch would surely lose. He wouldn’t be able to foresee that outcome or prepare for it in advance. Even if he did somehow know beforehand, without reinforcements, he would still lose.

Westhaven would spare no effort for revenge, as shown by their spies slaughtering Carissa’s entire family in the capital.

The battle for the Southern Frontier had dragged on for too long. Soldiers and horses were tired, and supplies were running out. The Hell Monarch must be in a difficult situation.

If Carissa’s guess was correct, the court couldn’t afford to delay and had to send reinforcements to the Southern Frontier immediately. If they gathered troops from the capital or Riverhold Garrison, they would take at least a month to reach the Southern Frontier.

But she had no evidence to prove Westhaven was sending troops to Sandoria, so she had to wait for news from her eldest senior.

Her priority now was to get the report on the battle at Victory Pass from the Ministry of Defense.

When Lulu brought in the fire liquor, Carissa was nowhere to be seen. Lulu searched everywhere–the martial arts hall, study, and garden–but found no trace of her mistress.

An anxious Lulu immediately summoned the four other personal attendants to search for her, as well as

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reported her disappearance to Holly and Lily. Soon, everyone in the mansion was mobilized to search, but there was no sign of Carissa anywhere.

It was Lulu who finally noticed that Carissa’s red whip was missing, confirming that she had gone out. The fact that she had taken the red whip out so late at night meant she likely was going to take action.

Holly and Lily exchanged glances with furrowed brows. They had known today was Barrett and Aurora’s wedding day, but hadn’t told Carissa.

Had Carissa also found out? Was she going to cause trouble for the Warren family?

But they immediately dismissed that guess. Carissa wouldn’t do that, she always acted decisively. Since she had even gone as far as to get the king to grant her a divorce, she wouldn’t get involved with the Warren family again.

“No need to search anymore. Everyone, go back to sleep. Lulu, you go back to Exquisite Pavilion and wait. Lady Sinclair will be back soon. She’s just out for a walk to sober up after drinking, Holly ordered.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Everyone dispersed and returned to their rooms.

Lulu returned to Exquisite Pavilion to wait. She was certain that her mistress hadn’t gone to Valor Estate. Though she didn’t know the contents of the note–since Carissa had instructed her to never open any of her messages–she knew Carissa’s disappearance must be related to it.

All Lulu could do was wait patiently for her mistress to return.

In the middle of the night, she heard a fluttering sound outside. She immediately got up and ran out to find that another pigeon had landed on the railing. She recognized the pigeon–it belonged to Carissa’s second senior. She carefully untied the note attached to its leg and hurried back inside.

On the same night, Carissa had received messages from both her eldest senior and second senior. Lulu guessed something big must have happened.