Rover suddenly opened her mouth, her pearly teeth biting down hard on Lucian's palm, leaving a neat tooth mark.
Lucian instinctively let go of his hand, jumping up and down in pain, grimacing.
Rover cleared her throat lightly: "As the second miss of the family, how can you be so hasty with such a lifelong matter?"
Carlotta chuckled lightly: "Rover, don't worry. As long as I submit my intention, the family decision-makers will definitely agree."
Rover sneered: "What does your agreement matter? Lucian is my fiancé!"
"As the second miss of the Montelli family, one of the largest families in Ragunna, wouldn't it be disgraceful if word got out about forcibly taking a commoner's husband?"
Carlotta was unconcerned: "Fiancé, fiancé—this isn't married yet, right?"
Rover glared angrily: "That's not a reason for you to poach him."
Carlotta refused to back down: "I'm not just letting you belittle me either!"
Their gazes met with sparks flying, the air thick with tension.
Lucian extended his hand to quickly intervene: "Stop arguing, you two!"
Seeing this, Rover grabbed Lucian's hand and pulled it toward herself, then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him squarely on the lips.
Lucian: "?"
Carlotta: "?"
A few seconds later, Rover pulled away. Due to the force, her soft lips were quite rosy.
She looked triumphantly at Carlotta: "How about that? This is my fiancé. Can you do it?"
Carlotta was stunned, staring at Lucian's lips in silence for a moment, then slowly lowering her head: "Fine, you win. I can't do it..."
Lucian said seriously: "Believe in yourself; you can do it!"
Rover pinched Lucian's ear threateningly: "Do what? Hmm?"
Lucian cleared his throat lightly: "Alright, alright, let's drop this matter here."
Lucian was afraid that if things continued like this, the relationship between Rover and Carlotta would shift from cooperative to rivals in love.
Then they might lose an ally like the Montelli family.
Carlotta also recovered, clearing her throat lightly: "Back to the traitors."
"Thank you for your help; sorry for the spectacle."
"These tuners don't have that much guts."
"There must be deeper hidden betrayers behind them."
"To come up with the idea of using Echoes to create chaos at the Carnevale, precisely targeting the family's weakness..."
"Internal traitors are more terrifying than external threats."
After pondering for a while, Lucian thought: "I think this person's status must be very high."
"Otherwise, how could they direct these tuners to tamper with the Echoes?"
"Carlotta, not only high status, but also someone who can benefit from doing this..."
"...Who do you think it is?"
Lucian and the others didn't have much understanding of the Montelli family's internal members.
But as the family's second miss, Carlotta naturally knew the high-status people in the family like the back of her hand.
Carlotta frowned slightly upon hearing this; there was nothing wrong with Lucian's judgment method.
But Carlotta couldn't quite figure it out, after all, the high-status people were all members of the Montelli family. How could ruining the Montelli family's reputation possibly benefit these higher-ups?
If we temporarily don't consider internal beneficiaries, if the Montelli family's reputation is ruined, the biggest beneficiary would definitely be the Fisalia family, followed by the Order of the Deep.
Then there's only one possibility: that a family member has reached a cooperation with the Fisalia or the Order, willing to destroy the family's interests in exchange for their own benefits.
Thinking of this, Carlotta's beautiful eyes turned slightly cold. If that's the case, it won't be easy to catch this traitor.
They must find evidence of the traitor's cooperation with the opposing forces...
Carlotta shook her head slightly and shared her thoughts.
Lucian nodded slightly upon hearing: "...Very possible."
"Now we've disrupted the plot to tamper with the Echoes, but we haven't yet rooted out the person behind it."
"I think he should be quite anxious now and won't let us continue investigating, lest we find evidence."
"Then we'll see who jumps out to stop us..."
Carlotta smiled slightly: "Mm."
"I heard from Zani that when you were in contact with the Vitreum Dancers, you heard the Sentinel's oracle?"
Rover nodded slightly: "Yes. Although not directly heard, it's about the same."
Carlotta: "The old craftsmen in the family repaired that Dancer, and while reviewing the archives related to the Dancers, they discovered some interesting things."
"Come with me; perhaps it can answer your doubts."
...
Taking the elevator to the upper level.
A wide and long corridor unfolded before everyone, with tall display cabinets on both sides storing various kinds of Echoes.
Carlotta spread her arms and turned around, somewhat proudly: "We've arrived—"
"Please allow me to proudly show you the true treasures of the Montelli family!"
The golden light shone on Carlotta, somewhat dazzling, like a brilliant gem.
In Lucian's view, someone like Carlotta was the true treasure of the Montelli family.
Rover looked around curiously: "Are these display cabinets all filled with Echoes?"
Carlotta smiled: "Yes and no; they are Echoes, but also the future of Rinascita, and moreover—freedom."
"Although Rinascita is a country with shallow foundations, it at least has hundreds of years of history."
"And its sea routes for communication with the outside world were only opened a few years ago."
"Don't you find it strange?"
"Rinascita—the country of Echoes."
"It has the world's most extensive applications of Echoes, yet it appears so conservative and isolated."
"What do you think caused all this?"
Lucian pondered for a moment upon hearing: "Public Echoes must be used within the range of Rinascita's beacons."
"Echoes are so important to the people of Rinascita, but once outside Rinascita, they can't be used, which probably makes people who rely on Echoes find it hard to move an inch."
"Then the reason is probably due to factors like Echoes, beacons, terminals, and so on."
Carlotta smiled slightly: "Completely correct."
"Rinascita's public Echoes cannot be far from the great beacon, so they cannot go to sea with ships."
"To deal with Tacet Discords and other threats at sea, the power of Echoes is essential."
"It can be said that the preference of Rinascita people for public Echoes has shackled our steps toward outward exploration."
"To break this shackle, the Montelli family emphasizes the development of private terminals."
"This is not for immediate benefits, but for... the future of the entire Ragunna."