Just like the team sent to deal with Iliana, the a.s.sa.s.sins in Daphne's quarters were a combination of maids and eunuchs that either directly worked for the Holy Consort or belonged to her faction.
They numbered twelve in total, with ten high-level True Knights and two Grand Knight court ladies. The reason for such a formidable lineup was Daphne's skilled entourage.
Imperial consorts were allowed to possess six personal attendants that could be handpicked from their families, so house Kracht had chosen six loyal ninth step True Knight ladies to protect her. Those women all came from lesser houses subordinate to the Kracht. But unfortunately, they weren't able to detect the sneak attack carried on by Else's priest.
Since then, they had dutifully taken care of the comatose Daphne. Little did they expect that after all those silent years, they would meet a full-blown a.s.sa.s.sination attempt.
The twelve emerged from the shadows with no warning and immediately shot toward them. They fought hard to repel the a.s.sailants but were quickly suppressed and repelled by the Grand Knights leading them.
"Why? How young lady has already been comatose for more than a decade and did nothing to offend the Holy Consort so why must you be so ruthless toward her?!"
Roared one of the attendants with indignity. In the past, her relations.h.i.+p with Daphne was the best, and she always blamed herself for not having been able to protect her.
But to her outrage, the Grand Knight pair burst into laughter.
"If you want to blame someone, blame count Wolfgang for being unruly. He actually castrated his son to remove his succession rights and managed to obtain an imperial decree to not only legitimize that b.a.s.t.a.r.d daughter of his but also make her heir to his estates! Since he doesn't care about your lives, why should we?"
Count Wolfgang only had two children. His son Alex born of his legal wife and his daughter Iliana born of his beloved concubine. While men were not allowed to have more than one wife, n.o.bles held the right to possess concubines should they desire to. The higher their n.o.bility t.i.tle was, the more concubines they could have. But only rarely would they actually go through with it.
The reason was simple. Their wives were no pushovers. To maintain the loftiness of their n.o.ble blood and forge alliances, n.o.ble males only married highborn ladies. Those ladies often came from houses on the same level and thus possessed significant backgrounds.
