Captain – Chapter 259 – Misdirection

“Not bad.”

After thinking for a moment, Roy gave a noncommittal answer.

She tore off a small piece from the white bread studded with hazelnuts, fed it to the raven on her shoulder, and added: “At least so far.”

“That’s good.”

The Governor walked slowly to the round table, placed the short pistol he had been holding onto the table, and looked at it as he spoke: “This is a fine gun. In terms of quality and craftsmanship, there may not be ten like it in the entire Empire. They are all made by top royal craftsmen, specifically forged for military stars with glorious achievements.”

“And if I’m not mistaken, its original owner should be the little lion of the Howard family—Caine Howard, who nearly became your fiancé.”

At this point, Robert paused, then looked at the young woman with some regret: “I’m very sorry for interrupting your engagement, child, but it was out of necessity. If you had completed the ceremony and I still wanted to use your identity to create trouble, that boy would have been caught in the chaos as well.”

“I promise, when all this is over, I will compensate you with an even more grand engagement ceremony. I hope you can accept this arrangement.”

Having said this, the Governor pushed both the pistol and the curved dagger toward the young woman. Meeting her slightly surprised gaze, he smiled and said: “Whether they are instruments of killing or tokens of love, I believe they hold special meaning for you. So rest assured, I won’t take away your treasured possessions again.”

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Instruments of killing was certainly accurate, but as for tokens of love… well, that pistol was more accurately a trophy, or perhaps payment for a rescue.

Roy silently corrected him but didn’t speak these thoughts aloud.

After the raven finished pecking at the small piece of white bread, she reached out to reclaim her weapons and reattached them to her waist. Then she looked up at the Governor who had quietly observed all this, and said softly: “I’m a bit hungry, Uncle Robert.”

No response to his talk of compensation, no reaction to his returning her weapons—the young woman had only said this seemingly trivial sentence.

But after hearing the implication in her words and her form of address to him, Robert’s smile grew even warmer.

He knew that she had accepted his apology and was truly willing to dine with him, just like before.

Clapping his hands to summon a servant standing by a pillar, the Governor instructed in a low voice: “Begin serving the meal. Keep the dishes the same as usual, nothing too elaborate.”

“Yes, sir.”

After the servant relayed the message, the attendants standing by the marble pillars on both sides quickly set to work, preparing for this dinner of special significance.

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“Just wait a little longer.”

Robert didn’t immediately take his seat. Instead, he uncorked the bottle of grape wine and personally poured about a third of a glass for Roy. Only then did he sit in the chair pulled out by a servant and began pouring wine for himself, asking with interest: “Tell me, how did you escape?”

Roy took a light sip of the wine and answered, “Naturally, using the method you most hoped to see.”

Hearing this, the Governor wasn’t particularly surprised. He placed the wine bottle to the side, picked up the crystal glass and swirled it gently, watching the amber liquid as he asked: “Then the Mermaid’s departure from port more than ten days ago… was that also preparation you made in advance?”

Since the young woman had acted according to his arrangement, without asking further, he knew that everyone escorting her to Morton Prison, including Colonel Berney, had naturally been completely wiped out.

This way, his purpose had been achieved.

If Roy were truly a young lady from a branch of the Anderson family, then putting aside whether she actually had the ability to kill more than a dozen well-armed soldiers, her position alone would determine that she wouldn’t do anything that might intensify the conflict between the Federation and the Empire.

With public opinion and the situation gradually turning in her favor, as long as she remained silent and cooperated with the investigation, she and the family behind her could gain maximum benefit from this.

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But now, she had fled during transport and killed all her escorts, which meant she didn’t care about the state of affairs between the Empire and the Federation, nor did she care if her family would be implicated. This left only one possibility.

She wasn’t a Federation noble lady at all, but truly the pirate captain so deeply hated by the imperial military and feared by the Auran populace. And the reason she acted this way was simply that she worried her identity would be discovered, subjecting her to the judgment of imperial law.

Stimulated by such a malicious incident, faced with the evidence of more than a dozen soldiers’ lives, any defense made for the young woman would seem weak and hollow, and the charge that the Howard family had private communication with an imperial criminal would naturally be confirmed.

When the truth was made public, everything Naren had done during this time would reasonably be considered as sheltering Captain Roy and covering up her various crimes.

Such a person who disregarded Auran interests to protect someone close to him, no matter how glorious his past military achievements, would no longer be suitable to continue wielding significant power or remaining in the position of Imperial Governor.

Robert understood this clearly, and he knew the young woman understood as well.

Therefore, under Roy’s deliberate misdirection, he mistakenly believed that the reason the Mermaid was sailing west along the Loyce Canal was to leave Auran territory before everything erupted, to prevent being heavily surrounded with no escape.

When Roy heard the Governor mention the Mermaid, her gaze flickered imperceptibly, but his subsequent words dispelled certain doubts she had and even happened to align with her intentions.

So after a brief silence, the captain nodded slightly: “Yes, you know my identity is too sensitive. Once exposed, it would inevitably implicate my crew. So I had them sail the Mermaid away from the Empire first, both to keep them safe and to allow me to proceed without worry.”

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“If nothing unexpected happens, given that waterways are much faster than land routes, I think the Mermaid should be approaching or has already reached the western sea outlet. Although in the current situation, they might find it difficult to get permission to pass through, but I think…”

Roy deliberately paused with hesitation, then asked in an uncertain tone: “You’ll have a way, won’t you, Uncle Robert?”

“Of course, child.”

Hearing the young woman’s question, Robert became even more convinced of his conjecture. He smiled and nodded: “Thanks to your wise choice and decisive action, we still have ample time. After dinner, I’ll order someone to set out overnight to smooth relations and allow your ship passage through the checkpoint.”

As the Governor finished speaking, a servant carrying a pure silver tray approached, serving each of them a small plate of glossy black caviar before bowing slightly and withdrawing.

“Let’s put those troublesome matters aside for now.”

Robert gestured to Roy, indicating she could begin eating, and then asked in a gentle voice: “Compared to those issues, I’m now more curious about another question, child. That is, what exactly happened…”

“That turned you into a young woman?”