23: Preparations (e)

Trojan looked out towards the horizons, having just let off a whole bunch of messenger pigeons. He had spent most of the night writing the letters, and if he was unable to deliver them safely, he doubted he would have enough time to rewrite them.

Trojan had constructed a plan. He knew that if the Royal Family wanted to thwart him, they could easily do so. Earlier that day, he had gotten messengers to carry a letter each. All of them were to go on horses, carrying the letters to their respective noble families. Trojan had his doubts as to whether the messengers were capable of reaching the noble families fast enough. Besides, there was no telling whether those messengers were loyal to him.

If even a single messenger were to report the content of Trojan's letters to the Royal Family, Trojan's plan would have been cut short. That was his first worry, the worry of a spy or traitor.

The second worry he had was regarding time. He needed the messengers to arrive at the noble families as quickly as possible. He hoped that they would be able to deliver the letters before the Royal Family built up the courage to start assassinating him.

The third worry he had was that the Royal Family would likely get involved in one way or another. Trojan understood how he threatened the Royal Family, so he would expect that he was under some kind of supervision or under someone's watchful eye. There was no telling who it could have been, but Trojan felt almost certain of it.

With so many factors, Trojan made the risky decision that shocked his staff members. All the messengers were not told the exact content of the letters, and were simply told to go to a certain noble family's estate. They were each given horses to quicken the pace of their journey. Trojan estimated that the furthest noble family would take up to half a day of travelling should the messenger stick to his path.

Each letter was sealed with his emblem, a wax seal with a picture of a horse on it. Trojan had given those letters to the messengers, and they were let off.

But each and every letter held by the messengers were blank.

The messengers were sent out with empty and blank letters, all of them not knowing anything about Trojan's plans, they all left. That would address several of his concerns, like the concern of a traitor, or of a spy. That way, the Royal Family would not be able to get information on Trojan's plans.

But what was the reason for Trojan's decision to send out the messengers anyways? It was a simple idea of spotting if there was really someone watching out for them.

If the Royal Family had located someone to watch for Trojan's every action, they would never have been able to let the messengers go just like that. If the messengers got stopped, had the letters stolen, interrogated or even killed, Trojan stood to lose nothing, and stood to gain much needed information of his stalker.

Before he even got the report on the messengers, Trojan moved onto the next phase of his plan. At the roof, in cages, we're pigeons, messenger birds to be exact. Messenger birds were trained to go to a specific location as commanded by their owner, but in those cages, were just ordinary pigeons. His staff members had painfully tied letters to their legs.

That strategy had a few flaws, even if he had used messenger birds. Mainly, the birds could be attacked. With the news of more aerial monsters being spotted, Trojan doubted the plan would work, but he did it as a distraction.

Messenger birds flew directly to their targeted location. Trojan's home was relatively west of the country, so messenger birds would have likely gone in a similar direction. Pigeons, however, flew in every direction.

Trojan stood on his roof after having released the birds, looking at them as they flew off. If there was someone trying to stop any of Trojan's suspicious actions, they were hiding themselves well. Trojan watched just in case the birds were ever shot down by a human, just in case. But even after they flew out of sight, Trojan never saw a thing.

"Report, my lord," His maid told him after Trojan went down from the roof.

"What is it?" Trojan asked.

"We have lost contact with the messengers. It seems like a brutal gang has killed them for the money, my lord," She told him.

A brutal gang. The Royal Family could have likely hired them, but it was in no way possible for Trojan to pin the blame onto them directly. He had just made two risky and bold decisions. He had sent out messengers with blank letters, and he had sent out untrained pigeons with blank letters as well.

There was no confirmation, but it was possible that someone was keeping an eye on them. Considering how stealthy and hidden the person had been, Trojan knew whoever it was ,was smart.

"Call the staff over, I might have to write my will," Trojan said, walking to the conference room.

"Your will, my lord?" His maid asked.

"Not really, but I need to instruct all of you for anything that might happen," Trojan explained on the way. "Also what I expect the staff to do when I am off to speak with Emilia later today."

"Understood, my lord."

The staff, as usual, was quickly gathered and settled down at the table. Trojan sat there, the stack of letter in front of him, undelivered.

"I will now say my will," Trojan told the four people present in the room.

"My lord," Klaus said, trying to interrupt him.

Trojan shook his head, saying, "This is just in case I ever die, okay?"

He remained silent for a few seconds, looking around before he continued, "I want you all to know that if I were to die anytime within the next week, the Royal Family is to blame. Any time after, do not blame the Royal Family. Half of my assets are to be split between all of my working staff equally without question. The other half is to be given to Letha L. Emilia, my future wife. If I were to ever die, I do hope all of you are able to live comfortably."

Trojan looked around once more, feeling the wind in the room pick up. He smiled slightly, knowing what was to come.

The windows were closed, but there was wind.

"And Domino gets the house," Trojan finished.