Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 206 - 4: Running Away from Home

Chapter 206: Chapter 4: Running Away from Home

An hour later.

Eleanor stood at the entrance to the Duke’s camp.

The guarding knight did not stop her but simply gave a slight bow and banged his fist against his chest armor.

"Miss Eleanor, the Duke is waiting for you inside."

"Do you recognize me?" Eleanor was somewhat surprised.

"I saw you once, six years ago." The knight humbly replied and then once more fixed his gaze ahead, unshifting.

Eleanor sighed and continued to walk inside.

The patrolling knights on the road saw her, some solemnly saluted, while others showed puzzled expressions but promptly bowed along with their peers.

Approaching the temporary command center, two knights at the gate nodded at her, then lifted the tent flap.

"Please come in." The voice of the Carinthia Duke came from inside.

Eleanor stepped in and managed a strained smile, "Duke..."

"Miss Eleanor." The Carinthia Duke was signing a document, "Please sit."

Eleanor fell silent for a moment and then sat down in front of him.

"Your brother is on his way here." The Carinthia Duke spoke.

Upon hearing this, Eleanor was taken aback and gave a wry smile.

"Let’s skip the pleasantries, after all, I was well-acquainted with your father," the Carinthia Duke set down the document and lifted his gaze, "Why did you run away from home?"

Eleanor: ......

"Six months ago, after you left without notice, the Weisbach family searched the entire territory," the Carinthia Duke said indifferently, "Not just Bavaria, but also Carinthia, Lombardy, Burgundy, and Franknia... Everywhere that borders your family’s domain; your father’s messengers have nearly run through, and everyone knows that the Weisbach family’s second daughter has run away from home, leaving only an inexplicable letter."

That made Eleanor feel utterly ashamed, wishing she could dig a hole and crawl into it.

"Anyway, now that you’re here, you won’t go anywhere until your brother Ludwig comes to get you," the Carinthia Duke said.

Eleanor lifted her head, "But the mutation in the town ahead..."

"That’s the work of mercenaries and knight vassals," the Carinthia Duke frowned, "In my Carinthia Duchy, we’ve never had a tradition of sending noblewomen to the battlefield."

"I’m not a noblewoman!" Eleanor hurriedly argued, "I’m also a mercenary! A mercenary of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps!"

"If you keep saying that, the world will soon no longer have The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps," the Carinthia Duke said detachedly.

Eleanor hung her head in silence.

"Consider it from your father’s and brother’s perspective, a daughter of the Weisbach family, becoming a mercenary?" The Carinthia Duke let out a low chuckle, whether it was reflection or mockery was unclear, "Even if you’ve run away from home, you could have become a painter, a musician... taking up a refined job to make a living. What is a mercenary but a filthy occupation? Living hand to mouth, without honor, doing anything for money."

"You have misunderstood our mercenary group," Eleanor said slowly.

"Save that talk for your brother," the Carinthia Duke tapped the table lightly, "Robert?"

A knight walked in from outside: "Duke."

"Escort Miss Eleanor to the internal camp area to settle down, then go to Lifilah to find a few local noble daughters to accompany her. Choose those with good reputations, clear family backgrounds, and respectable appearances," the Carinthia Duke instructed, "Do not neglect a Weisbach."

"Yes." Robert nodded solemnly.

Eleanor remained silent and followed Robert to the aristocratic camp area.

This place was inhabited by Vassals, the Cabinet, and their families, all under the Carinthia Duke’s command. Robert summoned a few quick-witted Court Attendants and instructed them to clear out the innermost tent.

Ten minutes later, Eleanor entered the luxurious tent, which was furnished with velvet and carpets to create comfortable bedrooms, with a large wooden bed at the center covered with thick, soft mattresses and quilts.

Turning her head back, Eleanor saw that Robert had already stationed himself at the tent’s entrance, clearly intending to keep her guarded there.

Eleanor sighed and lowered the door curtains tied on both sides.

Then she sat on the edge of the bed and whispered,

"Mia."

Mia emerged from the shadows at her feet and asked, "How did it go? Have you confirmed it?"

"It’s confirmed," Eleanor nodded, then activated her Spirituality and teleported to Fire Island.

Mia returned to the Shadow Realm and then slipped into Robert’s shadow through a gap beneath the curtain.

The dutiful Knight Robert, with his arms crossed, stared straight ahead without a sideways glance.

Unnoticed by anyone, his projected shadow on the ground slowly stretched out, curling around the base of the tent to its rear and then reaching out through the gaps in the camp’s wooden fence.

Having upgraded to "Shadow II," Mia was now able to freely manipulate nearby shadows and truly "dissolve" her body into them.

As long as there was a shadow the size of a fingernail, she could hide within its corresponding Shadow Realm without being hindered by her own body size.

As soon as the shadow extended through the gap, Mia leaped out from the shadow and then casually departed.

The distorted shadow snapped back like an elongated rubber band to Robert’s feet.

On Fire Island, just as Eleanor had teleported in, Nora, who had been waiting, greeted her.

"How did it go?" she asked with concern.

"It’s confirmed, the Duke of Carinthia has notified my family," Eleanor sighed.

Nora also offered a wry smile.

Just a few hours ago, Eleanor had confessed to her and Mia that she had actually run away from home in the first place.

The familial concepts of the Franks were much more conservative than those of the Solomons; while daughters of minor Nobles might go out to do business or study, daughters born into Great Noble families were expected to stay at home, educated by private tutors.

Upon reaching adulthood, they were either to marry into other Noble families or enter a Monastery to "serve God" and "study truth."

Different from other girls, Eleanor had no desire to simply marry off, nor did she like to engage in scientific research; instead, she was particularly fond of inheriting her domain and becoming a Knight Lord.

Thus, after an argument with her father one day, she took some money she had saved privately, blended into a departing group, and slipped out of the castle.

As for how she managed to escape, Eleanor didn’t elaborate. In any case, after spending time in Sirius and Lesser Asia, when her funds were depleted, she came to Constantinople to make a living.

That’s when she met Aske.

The reason she chose to run away was partly because she didn’t want to stay at home and let her father arrange her life and partly because she hoped to find an opportunity to prove herself.

Now, as a Level 4 Transcendent, her combat abilities were far beyond the ordinary, so she presumed even her stubborn father would have to take a fresh look at her, right?

The encounter with the Duke of Carinthia was purely accidental. However, now that it was confirmed the Duke had informed her family, she would have to bring forward the plan to confront her family.

She intended to persuade her father, with her newfound status as a Transcendent.

If her father agreed to recognize her transformation and independence and allowed her to inherit the domain, that would be best.

If not, she would simply run away again. With Fire Island and Mia to aid her, Eleanor wasn’t worried her father could devise any way to trap her.