Chapter 243 Maria's Grand Funeral
While the royal palace was filled with cheers, the atmosphere in the castle of the Kageno Territory was unusually depressing.

why?

Because about ten minutes ago, Claire and Reed returned here in a carriage pulling a coffin.

The person in the coffin is naturally Maria, but it is not her real self, but the body cloned by Miyano Shiho using her genes before her bloodline was transformed.

This is what Claire meant, in order to end all of Maria's ties in the real world.

Of course, this doesn’t have to be the case.

After all, it is not uncommon for a missing person to never be found.

But Claire insisted.

The reason is very simple. Claire wants to see how her cheap dad Knicks will react to this situation.

After all, her mother, who was truly affectionate, had been taken to another world to enjoy a happy life, so Claire planned to test her father, who had little affection at all.

Claire still remembered that Nix did nothing after being captured by Viscount Olba.

That's why Claire asked Miyano Shiho to secretly clone a body without telling Maria, just to test Knicks' reaction.

If Knicks is really sad, then Claire will not sever the father-daughter relationship with him and will give him certain protection in the future.

But if Knicks doesn't react with sadness, Claire plans to sever this father-daughter relationship.

As for whether Reed would have any objections, Claire was not worried. After all, Reed had expressed his support for Claire's decision at the beginning.

But when Claire and Reed drove the carriage to drag Maria's clone back to the castle, they saw that Knicks had invited some people to hold a party in the castle. Knicks was walking around the party like a butterfly, looking happy.

On one side, there was a banquet being held in the front yard of the castle, and on the other side, there was a coffin being brought back by a carriage. For a moment, the atmosphere in the entire venue was very awkward.

But this is not the reason why the atmosphere is depressing.

Because when Claire saw this scene, she was not angry at all. After all, her anger had been calmed down by Reed before she reached the castle.

After all, with their strength, they can sense the situation inside the castle from a long distance.

You have to know that Maria is currently missing in the real world, and has been missing for three days.

Although Baroness Maria's importance is certainly not comparable to Alice in the palace, she is still receiving a lot of attention because of Claire.

After being missing for three days, Knicks not only did not show any anxiety, but was even holding a party. If you say that the relationship between the couple is very good, probably no one would believe it.

As for whether Knicks sent someone to look for Maria symbolically, Claire doesn't know yet, but just because Knicks is holding a banquet, Claire has the urge to draw her sword and chop down this bastard father.

Fortunately, Reed had been paying attention to Claire and persuaded her to calm down before she lost her temper.

After all, my adopted mother Maria is not really missing, and in the world of Killer Z, she deserves the term "indulging in sensual pleasures", so there is no need to be so angry.

After all, the purpose of coming back this time was to test the waters. Why should I be angry when I have such a good excuse to break off relations?

It was because of Reed's persuasion that Claire was able to hold back her anger, which led to the awkward scene when the two sides met.

Originally, Claire had no intention of getting angry at this point. After all, she had already planned to treat Knicks as an outsider.

But who would have thought that Knicks would actually run up to her and show off his poor acting skills. It was Knicks' poor performance that really rekindled Claire's anger.

After seeing the coffin, Knicks immediately realized who was lying in it.

So he threw away the red wine glass in his hand, trotted to the coffin howling all the way, and pushed open the coffin lid.

After seeing that the person lying inside was indeed Maria, the woman who beat him up for no reason, Knicks howled even louder.

But no matter who was present, they could tell that this howl was not only not sad at all, but instead contained a hint of excitement.

Even people who were not close could hear the suppressed excitement in the howling. Claire, who was close at hand, could hear it even more clearly, and she also saw the happiness in Knicks' eyes.

Because of this, Claire's renewed anger made the atmosphere inside the entire castle depressing.

Not relying on sad emotions, but relying on uncontrollable murderous intent.

At this moment, the people in the entire venue were no different from the knights in the previous martial arts arena. The situation was even worse, mainly because Claire did not simply release her aura, but also brought murderous intent.

Therefore, these people not only felt as if a huge rock was pressing down on their hearts, but also felt their bodies gradually getting colder, and even their consciousness was about to be swallowed up by the darkness.

"Sister, don't do this!" Li De spoke up when he saw that some people were about to give up.

As Reed's voice sounded, Claire finally restrained her breath.

All of a sudden, everyone in the venue felt the heaviness in their chest disappear instantly, and the coldness that was about to freeze their bodies and souls also disappeared. The sunlight became warm again, and the numb senses regained consciousness.

Alive. Survived!

The people who fell to the ground in various miserable postures were now gasping for breath and looking with horror at the woman who was still riding on the horse, without making any movement but relying solely on murderous aura to almost take their lives.

This is definitely not a genius magic swordsman.

Because the word genius is not suitable to describe that woman.

Only a monster can describe it!
Yes, it's a monster!

This is a monster!

After all, I have never heard of anyone taking someone's life just by murderous intent.

In fact, if I hadn’t felt the touch of death myself, who would dare to believe that I almost died.

"My dear Sid, can you tell me what happened and why my dear Maria left me?" After catching his breath, Knicks gritted his teeth and asked Reed with trembling voice.

After all, he felt Claire's murderous intent the most deeply. If he had nowhere to run, he would have run as far as he could at this moment.

"Sister?" Reed did not give an answer, but looked at Claire and asked, maintaining the role of a useless and useless brother.

But the people present would not think that Reed was useless. Just because he was able to dissuade Claire, his value had already skyrocketed.

"I have avenged my mother. Now let's prepare for the funeral. My only hope now is that my mother can rest in peace." Claire said coldly with a straight face.

If she didn't keep a straight face, she was afraid that she would show a strange expression.

After all, when Reed heard these words and thought of the fact that he might be having fun at the moment, the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably. "Oh! Someone, hurry up and call the Knights to escort Maria to the church!" Nix shouted to the servants in the castle.

It was not until the knights' formation arrived and Claire and Reed led the entire team of knights to slowly leave the castle that Knyx sat down on the ground and breathed deeply.

Logically, the Knicks should follow suit at this point.

But no one present, including Knicks, could leave the castle at the moment.

It's because Claire's murderous intent is so terrifying. Under such murderous intent, incontinence is inevitable. At this moment, no one's lower body is not a mess.

In fact, if we were not in an open space, the stench would have filled the entire venue.

After Claire and Reed left with their men, the nobles present hurriedly asked their entourage to prepare formal dresses.

As for going home, it is impossible to go home.

After all, no one can afford the wrath of the new Martial God Festival champion.

Especially after feeling death so close to oneself.

So he could only stay in the Kageno territory, wait to change into funeral clothes, and then go to the town church to keep vigil.

It is too dangerous to leave the Barony of Kageno before Baroness Kageno is properly buried.

In addition, these people also mobilized their own connections to inform other nobles.

After all, only by giving enough face to that monster can your own safety be guaranteed.

So a day later, when the news of Baroness Maria's assassination reached the royal capital, a piece of gossip came with it.

That was when Marquis Clare and his brother Sid brought back their mother's body, and they happened to meet their unreliable Baron father who was hosting a banquet.

The Marquis of Clare was furious and had murderous intent at the time, and everyone in the venue almost died from his horrible murderous intent.

If the nobles in the royal capital had heard this gossip a day ago, they would have simply sneered in disdain.

I think anyone who believes this rumor is definitely mentally ill, and seriously ill.

But after personally feeling that Alexia's aura could really oppress people and make them breathless, these people really believed this rumor that sounded a bit unreliable.

After all, Claire had a record of knocking out thousands of people with just one glance, so it didn't seem strange that she almost killed a group of weaklings with murderous intent.

Therefore, almost all the nobles in the royal capital who received the news came out in full force and rushed to the Barony of Kageno.

Even if you haven't received an invitation, you have to go!

After all, don't forget that Marquis Claire is the main force of the royal faction, and her younger brother Sid Kageno will become the fiancé of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexia after graduation.

Just for this relationship, you have to go.

After all, no one wants to be targeted by these two monsters.

Although Claire made it clear when he accepted the title of Marquis that he would not participate in the war of expansion, no one would not intervene in the internal cleanup affairs.

Giving the other party excuses in this matter shows that you are really afraid of not dying fast enough.

So in the next few days, Baron Kageno's territory was unprecedentedly lively.

Because almost all the nobles of the Kingdom of Midgar gathered here, and even some foreign nobles came to attend the funeral and mourn Baroness Maria.

Among them, King Claus and the two princesses even put aside the affairs of the royal capital and came here to attend the mourning service. They did not set off to return to the royal capital until after the burial.

After the funeral, Claire did not leave with Reed immediately. After all, there were some things she still needed to explain to Knicks.

After the funeral was over and all the guests had left, Claire and Reed came to Knicks' study.

The Knicks have been waiting for a long time. After all, Reed had already informed the Knicks of today's conversation several days ago.

When he saw Claire and Reed come in, Knicks quickly stood up from behind the desk. He had no dignity of a father at all. Instead, he was cautious, with a flattering smile on his face.

"You're here, please sit down first!" Knicks hurriedly greeted Reed and Claire.

"No need. This conversation won't take up much of your time. I'm here mainly to tell you what our mother said." Claire said coldly.

"Tell me, what did Maria say at the end of her life?" After seeing Claire's expression, Knicks knew that things were already irreversible.

Then he sat back in the chair and asked calmly.

As for why Knicks' expression changed so suddenly, it was mainly because he was worried that his daughter might take his life.

After all, with Claire's current influence in the Kingdom of Midgar, if she told others that her father died of grief over her mother's accidental death, no one would probably question it. Instead, they would give her affectionate comments.

So Knicks was very worried during the days during the funeral, fearing that his daughter would find an excuse to deal with him after the funeral.

However, when Knicks understood the purpose of Claire and Reed's visit, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as he is not executed in private, everything else is fine.

As for trying to restore family ties, the Knicks are still very self-aware.

After all, his marriage with Maria was a political marriage, and there was no emotional connection between them.

For a son-in-law of low status, it is enough for him to just do a good job as a husband and a father.

If there really was a family with affection, would Claire call her biological father Knicks "baldy"?
You know, Claire called Knicks Baldy as early as when she was captured by Viscount Alba.

Even in front of an outsider, she didn't hold back at all, which shows what status the Knicks hold in Claire's mind.

"My mother asked me to tell you that the baronial title and territory will be left to you, as compensation for the lives you gave to me and Sid. But you are not allowed to use the surname Kageno again, because you are not worthy of it.

I will take Sid away, and he will inherit my title of Marquis in the future. From now on, there will be no connection between us, and you should not do anything in the name of Sid and me. This is the last warning, remember it! Let's go, Sid!" Claire said, and turned around very decisively.

"Okay, sister!" Li De followed.

Just as the two of them left the study, they heard a dull thud of something heavy hitting the floor.

(End of this chapter)