Chapter 188: Thief Crying

The next morning, when Wayne emerged from his high-end hotel room in the city of Cintra, it was already approaching noon.

Arriving at the restaurant on the first floor, Geralt and Dandelion were sitting around a table by the window, eating breakfast.

No matter the time, the poet classmate always seemed so full of vitality and energy; as Wayne walked toward them, he happened to see him chattering away to a stony-faced Geralt.

Master Wayne yawned, sat down opposite the two, and waved over the tavern's barmaid—a tall, scantily clad woman with a sultry, mature air.

Faced with a big spender like Wayne, the barmaid immediately abandoned the other guests, fluttering her eyelashes and approaching with a smile on her face.

"Bring a few bottles of the best fruit mead, and go to the kitchen to get some honey-roasted bread; make sure it's fresh out of the oven."

After the beautiful barmaid left, Wayne smacked his lips and asked Dandelion, "What are you two discussing?"

Before Dandelion could answer, Geralt said with a bored expression:

"I don't know where he got the news, but he says some important personnel have gone missing in the Cintra royal palace. A large group of guards arrived from outside the city this morning, and now the entire palace and the city gates are under martial law."

As he spoke, Geralt looked at Wayne's bandage-wrapped right hand and asked with concern in his tone: "How is your right hand? Did you injure the bone? Thanks to you, we were able to stop Princess Pavetta so quickly during this contract."

Wayne dismissively stretched out his right hand to show Geralt, then said:

"It's a small matter, don't worry, just a flesh wound. There's no need to be so polite between us; just like we said at the beginning, when we execute a contract together, we split the bounty fifty-fifty, haha."

Geralt also revealed a smile; he rarely teamed up with others for tasks, but in his heart, he felt a bit fortunate that he had invited Wayne to help this time.

Soon, the tavern girl brought the mead and the steaming hot honey-roasted bread. Wayne pulled out two gold coins and patted her plump buttocks, earning a few giggles in return.

Dandelion reached out to take a bottle of mead, skillfully popped the cork, took a swig, and said with conviction: "I'm not talking nonsense. Remember that Baron of Grogota? The one who defied Queen Calanthe in public? I got the news from him; he's a friend of the royal family and knows a lot of inside information."

Geralt didn't seem to care much about this. He ate a honey bread in a few bites, then took a gulp of mead and said to Wayne and Dandelion:

"I'm planning to set off and leave Cintra in a while. Yennefer is still waiting for me in Novigrad, and since it's almost winter, I won't be able to stay in Novigrad for long before I have to return to Kaer Morhen."

Wayne raised an eyebrow, clinked his glass with Geralt's, and asked:

"Leaving so soon? Aren't you concerned about your potential Child of Surprise?"

Geralt downed the wine in his cup in one gulp and looked at Wayne with a meaningful gaze, saying:

"Destiny will arrange everything. I'll wait six years and come back to see if destiny has mercy on me."

"Besides, according to Dandelion, this place will soon become a place full of trouble. I advise you to leave early too, Wayne."

"This kind of place reeking of politics is not suitable for us witchers."

After the three of them finished a hearty breakfast, Geralt rode off on his mount, Roach, and left the city of Cintra. Dandelion, feeling there was still excitement to be seen here, slipped away to who knows where.

However, Wayne could not leave yet. As someone who knew the future development of the plot, whether out of kindness or to create obstacles for future enemies, he had some words to speak with Princess Pavetta, who possessed the Elder Blood.

After all, after leaving this time, he didn't know what year it would be before he came to Cintra again.

Moreover, he didn't need to wait long, nor did he need to take the initiative to go to them; presumably, it wouldn't be long before someone came here looking for him.

Sure enough, just as he had expected, in the afternoon, while Wayne was sitting in the lobby teasing the barmaid and making the mature woman feel a bit flustered, a gorgeously dressed middle-aged man found this hotel.

The middle-aged man's expression was somewhat anxious. When he saw Wayne sitting in the first-floor restaurant, his eyes lit up immediately. He walked quickly to Wayne's side, lowered his head, and said respectfully: "Master Wayne, I wonder if Master Geralt is also with you? Our respected Queen Calanthe hopes to invite both masters to the palace now; there is an important matter to discuss."

Wayne looked up at the middle-aged man and realized he was the palace steward, Haxo, who had led him and Geralt to the palace last time.

And for Queen Calanthe to send a figure like the palace steward to invite him and Geralt at such a tense moment, it was clear she was very serious and anxious.

Facing Steward Haxo's anxious expression, Wayne shook his head with some regret and said: "I'm very sorry, Steward Haxo, but my companion, Geralt, already left the city of Cintra before noon. It's been half a day now; I expect you won't be able to find him."

Haxo was very disappointed to hear this, but as the palace steward, he did not show his disappointment. Instead, he bowed slightly to Wayne again very politely and said:

"Since that is the case, could I please ask Master Wayne to come with me to the palace now? This matter is truly very urgent; please forgive me."

Wayne naturally knew what the matter was, but he still feigned a puzzled expression, considered it for a few seconds, and then nodded, saying: "Since the Queen has invited me, I certainly won't refuse. It just so happens I have nothing to do right now; let's set off."

Having received Wayne's response, Steward Haxo nodded happily and led the way for Wayne with a mix of anxiety and eagerness.

At the previous banquet, he had already seen just how powerful this witcher, who looked like a teenager, was. At this moment, he held deep awe for Wayne in his heart.

About ten minutes later, the two, escorted by several guards, rode their horses through the streets and entered the massive royal palace.

However, this time they did not stop at the throne room. Haxo led Wayne into the palace's backyard and arrived at Queen Calanthe's reception hall. Before he arrived, several people were already waiting in the hall.

King Eist, Crach an Craite the Sea Boar, the Great Druid Mousesack, and Princess Pavetta, who sat on the other side with red-rimmed eyes, weeping silently.

Seeing Wayne enter, everyone except the dazed princess nodded slightly to him, which counted as a proactive greeting.

After all, at the last banquet, everyone who survived owed Wayne a favor.

After Wayne politely returned their greetings, he sat in the seat between Crach and Mousesack. He whispered to the Sea Boar: "What happened, Crach?"

"Why did the Queen call us all here?"

The two had drunk wine, played Gwent, and bragged together at the banquet; their relationship was neither distant nor close. Moreover, the Skelligers had rugged personalities, and it was easy to make friends with someone as powerful as Wayne.

The red-haired Crach first stole a glance at his uncle, then peeked at Princess Pavetta opposite, before whispering a chuckle and saying to Wayne: "Last night, that hedgehog-man Duny went missing."

"This morning, the royal guards searched the entire palace, turned over every corner, and found not a single clue."

"No one knows where that guy went or how he disappeared."

Crach spoke with great animation, looking like he was gloating. When he was about to say more, he was glared at fiercely by King Eist and immediately shut his mouth, though his eyes still held a smile; clearly, this matter made him quite happy.

Wayne revealed a look of surprise on his face, as if he were hearing about this for the first time. Then, he looked at the expressions of the others and stopped talking, sitting quietly in his seat waiting. After a few dozen seconds, Mousesack, sitting to his right, suddenly asked:

"Wayne, where did Geralt go? Didn't he come with you?"

Wayne shook his head and said:

"Geralt has already left Cintra."

"You know, whenever he sees certain kinds of trouble, he always runs very fast."

Mousesack nodded with some regret, then closed his eyes, as if falling into meditation.

A few minutes later, Queen Calanthe walked in from outside, wearing a suit of gorgeous light armor, looking somewhat exhausted.

The beautiful queen greeted everyone briefly, sat in the chair at the head of the table, tilted her head back to drain a cup of tea, and after scanning everyone, noticed Geralt had not arrived, so she asked Wayne once as well.

After receiving the result that Geralt had already left, the Queen was slightly disappointed, but she quickly adjusted her emotions and said straightforwardly:

"Everyone, last night, Pavetta's fiancé, Duny, mysteriously disappeared. Those incompetent guards found nothing; there isn't a single clue."

"So I have invited you all here to hear your thoughts."

After speaking, Queen Calanthe looked at her daughter, Princess Pavetta, signaling for her to recount the events of last night to everyone present.

Upon hearing her mother's voice, Princess Pavetta wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, looked up at the group, and told them everything she knew about last night.

Unfortunately, the princess had gone to bed very early last night, and everything she described consisted only of trivial, inconsequential matters.

After hearing this, the group had no leads; they only knew that the princess's fiancé, Duny, had likely disappeared from the study, as the wine he had not finished and the book he was halfway through reading were still on the desk.

The scene was silent for a time, and no one had a logical deduction; Queen Calanthe's expression grew increasingly irritable, and she suddenly slapped the table and asked the druid Mousesack directly: "Mousesack, I feel that being able to make someone disappear from a heavily guarded palace, whether Duny did it voluntarily or was kidnapped, is not something an ordinary person could accomplish."

"As the only spellcaster among us, do you have any thoughts?"

The old druid heard this, looked up at the Queen, and after locking eyes with her for over ten seconds, shook his head and said:

"Apologies, Calanthe, I have already been to that study to look, and I found no clues, not a single trace, as if he had simply vanished into thin air."

"Furthermore, I have used divination spells to predict it, but the results were very poor; Duny's fate is like a quagmire, full of variables, and I can see nothing."

"However, just as you said, it is basically impossible for an ordinary person to accomplish such a thing."

Queen Calanthe was very disappointed, then turned her gaze toward her fiancé, King Eist, and his nephew, Crach.

Well, both of these were brutes; having them participate in battle was fine, but for this kind of disappearance case, they were certainly useless.

Finally, Queen Calanthe looked at Vane and said with expectation in her tone: "Witcher Vane, do you have any thoughts on this matter?"

Vane pretended to be in thought for over ten seconds, then also shook his head regretfully and said:

"Apologies, Your Majesty, you may not be aware, but I have only been a witcher for less than three years; having me hunt monsters is fine, but having me handle such a complex case is likely quite difficult."

Upon hearing this from Vane, everyone present looked at him with surprise; they had not expected that this young witcher, who had performed so aggressively at the banquet yesterday, had actually only been a witcher for less than three years, which was truly quite rare for witchers, whose ages generally exceeded fifty years.

And just as Calanthe was about to withdraw her gaze in disappointment and look for other methods.

Princess Pavetta, who was sitting opposite them, suddenly raised her head and said to Vane with teary eyes: "Mr. Vane, you must know something; when we were at the banquet yesterday, you said some strange things to me and even said you would tell me the truth later. Could you please tell me now?"

Once the princess said this, everyone's gaze gathered on Vane again; this was the first time they had heard of this, and they were very eager to know what the truth Vane spoke of actually was.

Facing everyone's gaze, Vane remained calm inside, while outwardly pretending to be troubled as he shook his head and said: "Your Highness, actually, I originally intended to confront Mr. Duny and expose his lies to his face, but later, Mr. Duny became your fiancé, and I felt I shouldn't meddle and ruin the feelings between you two."

"But now, Mr. Duny has disappeared, and if I tell the truth now, it would just be one-sided, which would instead cause you to misunderstand, so I no longer intend to tell you!"

Vane's explanation, which played hard to get, instead made Queen Calanthe extremely annoyed; she slapped the table hard and looked at Vane, saying:

"Vane, don't be wishy-washy, acting like a woman."

"At a time like this, whatever information or news you have, just say it boldly; whether we believe it or not, it can at least provide us with some leads."

Listening to Queen Calanthe's rather forthright statement, Vane put on a bitter smile, then weighed his words and said:

"Alright then, Your Majesty."

"Actually, before arriving in Cintra, I met a fellow witcher from the south on the road, and he told me a piece of news."

"Over a dozen years ago, a coup occurred in the southern Kingdom of Nilfgaard; the emperor at the time was killed by a usurper, and Prince Emhyr was cursed by a sorcerer, turning into a monster that looked like a hedgehog."

"A hedgehog!"

Everyone exclaimed, having formed some guesses about the truth Vane spoke of.

Vane nodded, his expression unchanged, and continued: "My colleague was commissioned by the Emperor of Nilfgaard to come and find information on this former Prince of Nilfgaard; according to the information he provided, this former Prince of Nilfgaard used to live in Ebbing."

"And he also told me a special piece of news; he said this Prince Emhyr still had an evil sorcerer working with him, and they plotted a chance encounter, an accident, wanting to use King Roegner's surprise child to break his curse."

"Therefore, when I saw that Urcheon who claimed to be from Ebbing, I thought Princess Pavetta was a poor, deceived person."

As he spoke, Vane looked at the group, whose expressions had all become different, and said as if hesitating:

"However, now that my fellow witcher has returned to Nilfgaard and Duny has also disappeared, I don't know who that so-called evil sorcerer is."

"So I feel that it is better not to tell you news like this where nothing can be confirmed."

(End of chapter)