"The Royal Magic Academy has been sealed off!"

A sudden cry from somewhere plunged the students inside the academy into panic.

A few students, disbelieving, dragged themselves to the school gates.

The gates could be opened, but a barrier separated them from the outside world.

No matter how the students pounded on it, the barrier remained unmoved.

The sudden appearance of the black barrier over the academy spread throughout the royal capital at an astonishing speed, its impact extraordinary.

Countless reporters and mages gathered before the barrier.

The black barrier emitted wisps of dark energy, seeming to dye half the sky black.

Countless intricate patterns covered it in all directions.

The inside of the barrier seemed filled with filth and darkness, constantly consuming people's energy.

The blackness devoured everything, leaving only the sounds of panic inside and outside the barrier, with a noticeably intense sense of weakness.

"What on earth is this thing?"

"Such an intricate formation... What kind of array is this?"

Many headlines had already been reported, all without exception related to the black barrier covering the Royal Academy.

Some even started rumors that this incident was related to Viktor.

Although the academy was completely sealed off by the barrier, with no communication possible between inside and outside,

News of Viktor kidnapping and attempting to murder Professor Devin had spread before the sealing.

This news quickly reached the Du Cloyi family.

Erica was confused when she heard about it. Didn't she hear from Henie yesterday that Viktor wasn't at the academy? How did such a big incident happen today?

More importantly, the news said that Viktor had attacked Devin Reiser at the academy yesterday.

This was completely different from what Henie had said.

"What exactly happened?"

"Did Henie deliberately conceal something? Could she be someone who knows?"

The more Erica thought, the more confused she became. Now she just wanted to go and see for herself what had happened.

But she couldn't be so rash. The urgent matter was to confirm if her father knew about this.

She hoped her father could help Viktor in this matter, to suppress the impact of this incident!

Because Viktor had really made a big mistake this time!

Who was Devin Reiser? Even in noble circles, few people knew about this.

The Reiser family had great influence in the south, almost monopolizing most of the empire's southern business.

This family had an extremely strong ability to accumulate wealth, and informed individuals like the Du Cloyi family, who held high authority, understood better the significance of the Reiser family to the entire royal family.

They were the main source of the royal family's economy.

Every year, a large portion of the national treasury was paid to the Reiser family, and the Reiser family would give back even more annually.

In other words, all the business developments of the Reiser family in the south were with the tacit approval of the royal family.

Because the Reiser family was royal kin, the emperor's sister had married into the Reiser family.

The royal family gave the Reiser family privileges, and the Reiser family provided financial feedback to the royal family.

It was a win-win situation.

Erica didn't know why Viktor would attack Devin Reiser, but she understood politics.

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As the duke's only daughter, her father had always been grooming her as his successor.

Regardless of Viktor's motives, the fact that he had harmed Devin Reiser was already established.

To protect Viktor, it was necessary...

To prevent this matter from reaching the emperor's attention before the academy's barrier was broken.

"Someone who could approach the emperor in advance, with such motives and status..."

"Lady Cassandra!"

Cassandra Reiser, who had changed her surname after marrying the head of the Reiser family, was the emperor's sister before that.

Although the Reiser family had a large amount of business to do every year, this lady did not engage in commerce and had always lived in a city not far from the royal capital.

If she had received the news yesterday, calculating the travel time.

"She could reach the royal capital today and meet with His Majesty!"

Realizing this, Erica immediately set out to find Duke Levi. The maid, seeing her gloomy expression and haste, stopped her.

"Miss, please don't be in such a hurry."

"When the duke left this morning, he specifically asked me to inform you that if you wanted to go out to find him, to tell you that he's already outside the city gates."

"Outside the city gates?"

Erica was stunned, somewhat confused.

What was her father doing outside the city in advance?

Could it be... he already knew about this too?

She was now anxious, feeling as if she was the only one left in the dark.

Erica really wanted to know something, so suddenly, she thought of someone.

Someone related to this incident and who might have deliberately concealed information.

Only Henie!

"She must know something!"

Erica thought to herself, quickly saying to the maid:

"Prepare the carriage! It needs to be fast! I want to go to the hill behind the academy immediately!"

She still remembered the place where she had chatted with Henie yesterday.

Erica had told Henie that she would come again the next day.

If Henie hadn't gone back on her word, she should be waiting for her on the hill behind the academy.

If Viktor really wanted to do something, sealing off the academy, he wouldn't have let Henie be sealed inside with them.

"Damn it! What exactly is his motive?"

Erica clenched her fists, biting her lip.

She couldn't understand, nor could she investigate personally.

She hated this feeling of powerlessness.

Just like that time on the volcano.

.......

Meanwhile, outside the city gates.

Duke Levi stood at the city gate, with several hundred silver-armored knights behind him, and dozens of hooded figures holding magic orbs, looking like mages, by his side.

A strong sense of danger permeated the area outside the city gates, as if war was about to break out.

Soon, a carriage escorted by many guards arrived, slowly coming to a stop.

A knight opened the carriage door, placing a footstool on the ground, and a woman dressed as a noble lady gracefully alighted.

She was beautiful, very well-maintained, but one could still faintly see some traces of age.

However, this did not affect her outstanding noble aura.

As soon as she got off the carriage, she glared at Levi and questioned angrily:

"Levi! What is the meaning of this!"

"Bringing your private army and magic corps to block me at the royal capital's gates? You really have some nerve!"

Duke Levi smiled kindly and nodded to her.

"Lady Cassandra, it's been a while."

"I brought so many people here just to ask you to stay here a bit longer."

"I will let you enter the city, but not now."

Although Levi smiled kindly, there was clearly some confrontation between the two.

"Levi, don't forget my status."

"I have never forgotten, Lady Cassandra, ever since you used your status to force me to marry you, I've remembered it until now."

Beneath Levi's kind facade, he was recounting an extremely explosive past event.

This incident, which could almost be called a royal secret, was casually mentioned by Levi. Cassandra's surrounding guards looked at each other in shock, not knowing whether they should continue listening to what would happen next.

However, when Cassandra heard Levi mention this matter, she suddenly became angry with embarrassment and shouted loudly:

"At this point, what do you mean by bringing this up? Just want to humiliate me!"

"I just wanted to stop you for a chat about old times, and by the way, remind you that your surname is no longer Sol."

Duke Levi waved his hand, and a magician from behind him stepped forward, infusing magic into the orb in his hand.

As the magical energy chaotically swirled inside the orb for a while, it materialized from within.

A table and two chairs appeared out of thin air from the ground.

"Please, have a seat."

Levi gestured and sat down in a chair first.

Cassandra looked at that magician, and her agitated emotions calmed down a bit.

Levi's magic corps.

Strictly speaking, magician was a profession.

They were not mages, but becoming a magician was much harder than becoming a mage.

While using expensive magical artifacts to support their use of magic, they also had to train for a long time to develop strong physical strength to assist in combat, this was what it meant to be a magician.

Even to train a single magician, the cost involved was something that ordinary nobles could not afford.

In the entire royal capital, only Duke Levi had sufficient wealth and status to train such a corps under the emperor's nose.

In short, if Cassandra wanted to force her way through.

She couldn't.

"I know your purpose for coming to the royal capital, Lady Cassandra. You want to seek an audience with His Majesty."

The knight behind had already prepared tea for Levi, placing it in front of Cassandra and Levi.

Only Duke Levi could do something like welcoming guests for tea at the city gate.

Cassandra picked up the teacup gracefully and said calmly:

"Devin is my son, and also his nephew."

"With such a thing happening, he won't sit idly by."

"Don't be impulsive, my lady."

Duke Levi hadn't spent all these years in politics for nothing.

He continued to persuade, his extremely amiable manner easily calming Cassandra's emotions.

"First, you need to know who your son has offended."

"Viktor Kravina, you must have heard this name."

Hearing this name, Cassandra's expression flashed with several traces of troubled difficulty.

A mother knows her child best, of course she knew to what extent her son's arrogance had reached.

"But Viktor is just a viscount..."

"He's now a fourth-tier mage."

Lady Cassandra immediately widened her eyes, with an expression of disbelief:

"No, how is this possible, even if you haven't..."

Duke Levi shook his head, smiling bitterly.

"But it's indeed the truth."

"If Viktor is at fault, the emperor will naturally punish him severely, but if the person with the problem is Devin Reiser."

"Forgive my directness, but you should be prepared to lose him."