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Solana clapped her hands, gesturing for a servant to bring another chair over and offer Helia a seat at the dining table.

"Please take a seat, Lord Helia."

"Alright."

Helia accepted Solana\'s offer and made her way toward her seat.

On the way, her gaze briefly landed on Cyrena before her eyes flickered with visible shock, realizing her youngest daughter had recently become an Early-stage Senior Witch.

The time it took Cyrena to reach the Early-stage Senior Witch rank from having zero power was unprecedented.

If Cyrena\'s rate of progress were known, it would shock the whole kingdom, and they would recognize her as a great genius.

Evidently, Cyrena was living well by Vaan\'s side.

Helia had also noticed the power of every other witch around Vaan; they had all made startling progress—enough for her to feel envious.

Even her subordinate, Hester, had become a Mid-stage High Witch.

But no matter how much Helia wished for it, she knew she wouldn\'t receive the same opportunity given to them. Aeliana\'s warning gaze was the most obvious proof that she had no chance.

Helia could only softly sigh as she took her seat at the end of the dining table.

Then, she shared the information she received from the southern border lords via the long-range communication-type magic tools granted to every region lord.

The southern border lords informed her of the Holy Knight Empire\'s demand for the kingdom to hand over the imperial princess within seven days. Otherwise, the Holy Knight Empire would use force to retrieve their imperial princess.

"Imperial princess? Since when did Baron Chalfont\'s daughter also become the emperor\'s daughter? Don\'t tell me those two were… Uh… I\'m not questioning the emperor\'s special preferences, but how is that even possible…?" Hester uttered with a dumbfounded look.

"I won\'t deny the possibility of such a situation if magic was involved. However, it\'s not what you are thinking, Lady Hester," Vaan chuckled amusedly before putting on a more serious expression. "It\'s likely that the empire recently elevated Dorothy\'s status to an imperial princess."

"Of course, they wouldn\'t share this information to put more pressure on our kingdom. That said, the empire\'s intentions are quite clear," Vaan stated.

Without a doubt, the Holy Knight Empire wanted war with the Kingdom of Black Rose.

Vaan didn\'t need to say it directly in order for everyone to understand the implication behind his words.

"It seems Baron Chalfont does not cherish his daughter\'s life as much as we thought," Silvaria commented with a frown.

"No, we shouldn\'t be wrong about Baron Chalfont\'s love for his daughter," Vaan shook his head and said, "But between a potentially hostile kingdom and the empire, it\'s clear which side Baron Chalfont would place his trust in."

"We gave him a chance to keep his daughter alive, but unfortunately, he blew his chance," Vaan said with a ridiculing look.

"If we hand over Dorothy as the empire demanded, wouldn\'t we be able to avoid a war?" Dahlia asked.

"No, you\'re looking at it too simply, Dahlia," Astoria shook her head with a soft sigh. "Since the empire wants a war, they don\'t really want us to hand Dorothy over to them within the seven days. Heck, they might even want her dead."

"And that\'s just might for the empire. If we are talking about Marquis Salazar alone, he will definitely want Dorothy dead to ensure the war happens," Astoria explained.

"Exactly," Vaan agreed with a nod and said, "Even if we hand Dorothy over, there\'s no guarantee that she will stay alive, especially when they have a snake like Marquis Salazar on their side. I can even confidently say Dorothy is much safer in our hands."

"But of course, if the empire truly values Baron Chalfont and his desire to save his daughter, they would most likely send an elite force to infiltrate the kingdom and rescue her. If they succeed, they will hide her for seven days and start a war under the pretense that we failed to hand her over during the stipulated time they demanded."

"As such, doing our best to keep Dorothy for seven days before handing her over to the empire with a bit of surprise will be in our best interest," Vaan stated.

"Right," Solana nodded before saying, "Since war is inevitable, seven days would buy us time to prepare for it."

"However, we don\'t know much about the Holy Knight Empire. Thus, it\'s hard to predict what methods they would use to infiltrate the kingdom and when they will make their move," Solana added with a frown.

"It doesn\'t matter if they fail to locate and retrieve Dorothy; I will send her to a secret location to keep her safe. Then, after those seven days, we will give Baron Chalfont and the empire a nice surprise," Vaan said with narrowed eyes.

There was no need to worry about Dorothy. They only needed to worry about themselves. That said, everyone couldn\'t help but feel curious about Vaan\'s surprise.

However, he only gave them a vague response when asked.

Moving forward, the group left the task of informing the southern border lords of their decision to Helia. At the same time, she was required to arrange a meeting between them to discuss defensive measures against the empire.

Even if the southern border lords didn\'t agree with their decisions, they would be forced to agree. The southern border lords didn\'t have a choice in the matter.

With Henrietta\'s whereabouts unknown, Vaan intended to assume the position of supreme commander for the war. After all, there was no one more qualified than him.

As such, he had seven days to force everyone to submit and recognize his position and authority in the kingdom. Then, make preparations to defend against the Holy Knight Empire\'s invasion.

It was not a lot of time, but time was never on their side.

Shortly after the group meeting ended, Vaan handed Dorothy over to the Red Dragon Clan. Then, he took Zodreg with him and headed south to study the kingdom\'s southern lands and scout the empire\'s borders.

They needed to confirm the empire\'s intentions.

Meanwhile, the other three Rank 5 young elite dragons were left behind to defend and watch over the central region during their absence.