Chapter 51: The Plan

"..."

Caelan stared at Theo with an unreadable expression on his face.

What do you mean, create an opportunity?

"Um, Theo. Did Jack happen to mention how I should do that?"

Theo shook his head. "No, my lord. Sir Jack believes that you would be able to handle that part yourself."

"..." Caelan couldn’t help but sigh. He was beginning to realize that the members of the Night had a rather exaggerated opinion of his abilities.

Just because he managed to defeat their previous Lord didn’t mean he was suddenly capable of doing everything.

Besides, what did getting close to a noblewoman have to do with gathering information?

Well, I guess it does make sense. If he managed to become acquainted with Lady Renswort, he could probably learn more about her without having to rely entirely on the Night’s information network.

"Anyway, do you know what time she’ll be passing by?" Caelan asked after thinking about it for a moment.

"According to our sources, she should be arriving within the next 2 hours."

"2 hours, huh..."

Caelan glanced toward the street. There were already quite a few people walking around. There were also several carriages that had passed by since he started eating breakfast.

He then looked back at Theo.

"Do you have any information about what she likes? Maybe something that could help me start a conversation?"

"Her preferences, my lord?"

"Yeah. Like hobbies, favorite foods, or anything like that."

Theo thought about it for a moment before opening one of the documents.

"Unfortunately, there isn’t much information about her personal interests. However, according to our sources, Lady Renswort is known to be rather gentle and polite. She also seems to have a strong interest in religious matters, considering how frequently she visits temples."

"I see..." Caelan nodded slowly.

That wasn’t particularly helpful. After all, what was he supposed to do with that information? Pretend to be some devoted believer and start talking about the gods?

He barely knew anything about the religions of this world!

"Alright. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens." Caelan nodded as if everything was going well.

"Understood, my lord." Theo nodded obediently. He was amused at how confident their lord was.

"Keep these for now. I’ll ask for them again if I need anything." Caelan gathered the documents and handed them back to him. Since they were discussing a noble family in a public place, they can’t just leave the papers openly.

"Of course." Theo carefully returned the documents to his bag.

For the next minutes, the two remained at the stall while Caelan tried to think of a reasonable way to approach Lady Renswort.

Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. He considered visiting the temple himself, but that would only put him in the same building as her. It wasn’t like he could suddenly walk up to her while she was praying and ask about her time in the mountains.

Man, why couldn’t Jack just give me a normal request? Caelan leaned back against his chair and sighed.

After thinking about it for another few minutes, Caelan finally gave up.

Ah, whatever. I’ll just wing it.

There was no point in thinking too much about something he couldn’t even figure out. Besides, he didn’t know what kind of person Lady Renswort was, so making a plan without meeting her first would probably be useless anyway.

He might as well wait until she arrived and see if an opportunity presented itself.

With that in mind, Caelan decided to stop worrying about it for now. He ordered another drink from the stall owner and continued chatting with Theo while occasionally glancing toward the street.

Of course, Theo had no idea that Caelan already gave up on making a plan. From his perspective, he was simply waiting patiently for the right opportunity to make his move.

And so, time slowly passed. Almost two hours later, just as Theo had mentioned, a carriage finally appeared at the far end of the street.

Unlike the luxurious carriages that usually belonged to noble families, this one looked rather ordinary.

"My lord." Theo suddenly leaned forward and pointed toward the approaching carriage. "That’s the one."

"Hm? Which one?"

"The brown carriage approaching from the left."

Caelan followed the direction of his finger and immediately frowned.

"That one? Are you sure?"

"Yes, my lord. According to our sources, Lady Renswort is traveling discreetly today. Since this is a private visit to the temple, the family arranged for her to use an ordinary carriage to avoid attracting unnecessary attention."

"Oh, I see..." Caelan nodded in understanding. That actually made sense.

Considering how influential the Renswort family was, traveling in a carriage bearing their family crest would probably attract plenty of attention. Still, he didn’t expect the daughter of a duke to be riding around in something so ordinary.

"Well, let’s see..." Caelan stood up from his chair and looked toward the approaching carriage. It was moving at a steady pace, passing by the shops and pedestrians along the street.

Fortunately, the curtains covering its windows were slightly drawn open, allowing him to catch a glimpse of the people sitting inside.

At first, Caelan only intended to take a quick look. However, the moment his eyes landed on one of the passengers, his expression suddenly changed.

Huh? He leaned forward slightly, narrowing his eyes to get a better look.

Inside the carriage sat a young woman whose face looked strangely familiar. Although he could only see her through the window, Caelan was certain that he had seen her somewhere before.

Wait a minute... Isn’t that... His eyes widened in realization.

For a moment, Caelan simply stood there, staring at the carriage as it slowly passed by. Then, as if something had clicked inside his head, the corners of his mouth began to rise.

Oh? So that’s how it is.

Now that he had seen who was inside the carriage, an idea suddenly came to mind.

"Theo." Caelan immediately turned toward Theo.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Gather a few of our men."

"Our men, my lord?" Theo seemed surprised by the sudden order.

"Yeah. Just a few should be enough." Caelan glanced toward the carriage again before looking back at him. "You know the route they’re taking to the temple, right?"

"Yes, my lord."

"How long will it take them to arrive there if they use their carriage?"

"Around 2 hours more, my lord," Theo answered, even if he was getting a little confused already.

"Good." Caelan smiled confidently.

"Then get everyone ready. I know what to do now."

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A/N: Shout out to Knownasnoone and Eric_Bindner. Thank you for all the Golden Tickets! I really appreciate it man.