(2) Living as the Villainess Queen

Chapter 230

The old man flinched at the word ‘Anika’ as he clamped his mouth into a tight shut. As a citizen of the Holy City, the subject regarding Sang-je was considered as a taboo. It was rigidly forbidden to criticize or condemn Sang-je, who served God’s will, under any circumstances. The same went for Anika, as their presence was deemed to be linked to the god’s will.

“Why do you ask such a thing?”

“I believe I’ve told you that my aunt used to live somewhere nearby from here around that specific time of period. And I’ve heard in passing that an incident concerning Anika, which had caused quite a commotion, had taken place around the same time. So, I wondered if maybe it could help me in finding my aunt.”

The man had slyly convinced the old man with his skillful words and succeeded in easing the aroused vigilance altogether. Reluctantly, the old man opened his mouth again when the man further offered him a handsome amount of compensation.

“Let’s see. Twenty years back? Umm…then there should be nothing else but this one incident. The birth of two Anikas.”

“I believe it’s something which happened a few years after the birth of two Anikas.”

“A few years after that…”

After a moment of contemplation, the old man murmured to himself in a low tone, ‘Could it be about that then?’.

“Do you remember what happened? From what I’ve heard, they said the incident had caused quite a stir in the city.”

“Umm, you’re right indeed. The whole Holy City was practically turned upside down when someone or a bunch of lunatics had kidnapped two Anikas.”

“Truly? Both of them?”

“I can’t quite remember if it was the both of them or it was only one of them. Nevertheless, it surely caused quite a commotion as the knights had begun to search through the whole city after the kidnappers. They’d even made this far and searched every nook and cranny of the street.”

“Then, had the kidnapped Anikas safely returned to their homes?”

“I bet they did. If not, they wouldn’t be alive by now. I’ve never heard anything about one of them being dead after that.”

The old man did not seem to know much of its details. However, with all of the leads he gathered so far, the man had now got a better picture on how he’ll further investigate the very incident.

The man was indeed Rodrigo’s hired informant. He began to conduct a secret investigation as he traveled from place to place while being awfully cautious as to not arouse any suspicion.

***

As every citizen of the Holy City was considered altogether equal under the law and Sang-je, there weren’t specific titles which insinuated the hierarchy of the society such as a commoner and the nobles.

However, the hierarchy system still prevailed in the Holy City. So those who were affluent, along with those who had a high influential power in the society, had created a social circle which was strictly limited to their own kinds. And among all the privileged members of the circle, only a handful of them came from the prestigious families of the Holy City.