Her Graceful War Song novel Chapter 1367

As the two sides clashed in battle, Everett had already arrived in Nerovia with a group of martial artists.

The timing had been carefully calculated. At this moment, Nerovia was without capable leadership. While the officials were loyal to Nicholas, nearly all of the fighting men had been sent out to battle, leaving only a thousand men and a few city guards behind.

With Hayden's emblem in hand, Everett made his way directly to the government office. He first dismissed the governor and took control of the office.

At the same time, Eustace led several of his bodyguards and merchant convoys to Nerovia. The battle for Nerovia was one of the easiest to win. With Hayden's emblem in hand, Nicholas' residence, Riverton Estate, was now sealed off.

Now, Riverton Estate no longer had any of Hayden's people. All the former officials had been driven out to the countryside.

Once Everett had taken control of the government office, he led his men straight to Riverton Estate. They captured every aide and servant, subjecting them to intense interrogation. Under harsh questioning, they revealed all the secret codes they had used. Even the carrier pigeons that were raised by Clifford were seized.

Each pigeon had a specific flight route, and a few were used exclusively to communicate with Nicholas.

If Clifford's forces were victorious, a red silk ribbon would be tied to the pigeon's leg. If they suffered a defeat, a white ribbon would replace it. In cases where the battle's outcome was unclear, the pigeons would simply be released with no markings.

For years, the pigeons had carried messages written in a secret code to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. The aides also handed over a coded ledger, where the meanings of the cryptic terms were explained.

Some of the terms included animals like pigs, dogs, cows, tigers, wolves, snakes, and foxes, which referred to specific people.

The pig referred to Yuvan, the dog to Harvey, the snake to Salvador, the wolf to Carissa, the leopard to Rafael, and the griffin referred to Nicholas. The prime ministers and the heads of the six ministries also had their own code names.

A large pile of letters was found, exchanged between Nicholas and the other rebels.

Many of the letters were written in veiled language, but one set of letters stood out. These were the letters between Nicholas and Eustace, where the threat of a life debt was used to coerce Eustace into forging weapons, supplying war horses, and using merchant caravans as cover for their operations.

Eustace also brought out identical letters, making it clear that each letter was written in duplicate—one kept as a record and the other sent out. However, none of Eustace's replies could be found among Nicholas' possessions.