It was very visible the reason why they chose to go after the middle brother. Since the throne was a major problem, they had to take out the substitutes first, which only marks George and Lewis from the three people for their current ages. They might have seen the eldest as the direct descendant first, and the second as the major substitute.
Here, another fact should come into the matter, that it can already be seen the Count was smart enough to know that once the first person has been killed, from the direct descendant's line, the throne will automatically be handed down to the one who is the least wiling to take it or the least expected. And in this scenario, it was the middle brother. As a regent for Henry or as the heir himself.
Then, the second person to be killed would be either the duchess or the eldest brother. But most probably, the duchess will be next, to put the final candidate into the throne and then take him out with the execution order. This was because once the defender has been taken out, the one receiving the verdict will be all alone and no one to act as a witness.
Then, the family will be doomed and be forced to put the child onto the throne, where he will be a little dumb to work with and easily be pulled down and officially lead to the empire's downfall, forcing victory onto the Count's hand. This plan was precisely going to be executed in a timely manner and once all the members were wiped out, not even the cousin's sides or the next generation can take over, making the empire fall into the hands of defeat and complete loss.
The dynamics of this plan must have been brought into view from a long time ago, since the trial request and everything were lining up with every one of their movements and next steps. Starting with Stephany's delayed magic receiving and the Count's sudden trial request against the direct descendant of the throne, who is only seen that way in the eyes of the public. With every single scenario in hand, it could be told with confidence and no error that the Count had indeed been planning this for about an year or so.
Why this was so, there was no saying a single reason, since his tactics were hiding the fact behind multiple pages and not even letting the idea drop between their own estate guards. The last time she had been to their estate in her astral form, she had gone there the wrong time and only managed to here a few words before she noticed her lose of energy and faded back into her body.
Although the few words were, 'gain rein over this empire', she couldn't tell whether it was him who was going to colonize the throne or someone in specific who he wanted to take the throne by using. But there was a similar face to Stephany, wearing an elegant gown and was a little older then the girl she was expecting her of being. And due to not knowing enough about that person, she made it a final decision that this was going to go far off the coast of the Island they were stranded in.
And with this plan in mind, is where Aefia comes into handy. Because thanks to the secrecy of her identity, she could easily be put onto the throne to secure it as a regent for the youngest if anything happens. She was going to be the wall that stops the harsh water from flowing in and take responsibilities onto her hand once the three had been taken out of the line. This was her role as a pawn, just like how she had deciphered a long while ago. And now that the middle child had known this dynamic, she could easily manuvre through this case freely and simply gain an extra hand.
But the only disadvantage here now was that the extra hand was in danger and she had to find a way or two to stop the damage against him, so she could gather a little bit more information in the near future and work things out for the Count's problem. And she knew that right after this assassination attempt had been neutralized, she would have to directly jump over to the verdict and call on a full force until she silenced Lucius in every ways.
With this simple realization, she had made this prediction that the one being immediately attacked is the middle child and not the duchess or the eldest. And to keep sure that the youngest was out of the radar, she had to force him inside her room, the least expected since without her presence, he would never enter there. The most expected place in the entire palace for the kid to be at would be the mother's room or his own room or the cat's room as of recently.
In the middle of her way there, she came across her handmaid and immediately stopped to order her a few words with heavy breathes as she still managed to stay upright for a little while longer. "Get to my room now! Don't let anyone else in and shut the windows with closed curtains! And it's better to have a sharp tool around in case someone attacks... I trust you in that!" As soon as the last words fell her mouth, she sprinted back towards the route she had been running.
Immediately dropping her items, Brittany grabbed for the nearest sharp tool, a dart, and ran towards her room as she was ordered. Although she had no idea what was happening, there was a clinging feeling that it was bad enough to cause the young master to run despite her heavy breathing and tiredness, and all that while holding a gun at her right hand and a fork at her left. But the fact that scared her the most was to shut the windows while also closing the curtains.
If only I could run faster! I am not even outside and my situation is just tightening the passing seconds! She thought to herself as she took the last turn and held out her hand towards the handle of the study door. In the meantime, the assassin had already reached the room window, pointing his sniper at the silver-haired target standing opposite to a taller, darker haired person while bowing his head. It seemed like he was being scolded or ordered a few things, but in reality, they were just speaking about a recent suspicious letter they had received from an unknown source.
"The infiltration will begin... On the stated date." And a small numerical code written below it at the tiny corner, marking the present date as they tried deciphered the dire meaning of it. "It would have been better to ask her about it. No one knows what she is doing right now." The middle brother spoke while stretching his arms then finally turning sideways, not even conscious about the target that has locked at him from behind a bunch of trees.
"Lewis! Get down!"
Aefia shouted... While slamming open the door and rushing towards him with full force. Her steps lifted as she jumped forward with her elbow pushing him out of the way as her own finger pulled on the trigger of her pistol. But from the assassin's view, the sapphire brooch that Lewis was wearing at his collar, reflected the light rays into the man's eyes as he shut them and shot with complete blindness, once was due to his eyes shut, the other due to a bullet hitting his hand in return and his fingers immediately contracted, thus, pulling the trigger a second time.
What he didn't see as he fell backwards was the target had fallen to someone else, not the initial he wanted and with a feeling of succeeded, he fell to the ground and immediately got back up to run away, knowing he was caught at this. But just when he glanced up from the green carpet, he noticed a young butler with navy blue hair with bright blue eyes holding out a gun at his forehead.
It was the one he had brought along with him from the Banshees and was glad it was finally at a use. "I have been following you since the time you entered through the garden." Cedric spoke while holding his finger against the trigger. "I will not kill you if a member from the family has died." He added with sterness at his voice.
But before the assassin could reply, gun shots fired at nowhere as he looked up at the third floor and the window to the study. "Thus, declared. A person in the family is injured." He replied after a short while of observation and settled his gunpoint directly against his forehead and pulled the trigger, twice. The same way the man had done before falling.
***
As soon as her bullet fired, another returned towards her direction, located towards her left lung. Her hand immediately wrapped around the injury as she coughed up blood with a burning sensation at the back of her throat and her fingers turning red with the passing second. With the seeping injury dyeing her prussian blue coat a darker brown colour. Her eyes didn't catch the sight of much as they watered with the immediate pain radiating from her left arm and her lungs, the back of her throat, and her muscles sored as blood flowed down her chin from the two corners of her mouth.
The second bullet zoomed past her head, while striking the side of her forehead, causing a leceration at the area, with droplets of redness falling past her eyes and leaving her vision slightly redened. Her dizzying mind was now left in the last brink of consciousness as her eye sight turned blurred and slowly darkened. Then, she shut them and fell forward with the last breathe leaving her lungs with blood covering them.
Despite being injured, she was only glad that the family wasn't in a state that the Count wanted and although the bullet had dashed past her while reaching George's standing position, he had already moved away in time for the bullet to fly into a bookshelve. The paper that he was holding had fallen to the ground as her blood stained the single line of text in the centre of the page. The small amount of time was all enough to cause panic among the maid servants with the echoing gunshots, even reaching as far as to Henry's ears as he shut his eyes tightly.
The guard who was previously standing inside the cats' room had already left through the window sill as he stood knealing in front of the butler with his hands held high. They had both heard the first gunshots just one tree away. As soon as they heard it, Cedric sprinted towards the fallen body with his gun extended in front.
Back inside the room, Lewis just stared with horror and a blank mind, along with widened eyes, while he grabbed onto the fallen pistol beside him. One of his hands wrapped around Aefia's shoulders while the other continuously pulled the triggers at the direction of the person who wielded the sniper. The sound of leaves rustling was heard, as he blanking continued to shoot.
George grabbed onto his arm in time as he shoke it to drop the gun from his loose grip against it. "Stop that. You are just wasting bullets at an invisible target." He spoke calmly at his younger brother, while glancing down at the injured girl at his arm, fallen with her eyes shut. "If you want to save her... You should rush now." He softly spoke while glancing down the window sill with the next row of gunshots. "She had already found out before anyone of us did... That there was an assassination attempt." He whispered to himself.
Despite all those words, Lewis turned silent for a long time since then, as if the assassination incident had left a huge mark in his mind. There was a disturbance in his sleep rountine, which was filled with nightmares of that specific day, and he stopped going to school until he eventually came to face the hard truth and returned to his education institute. For an entire week, the duchess and George worked to find the assassin's origins, even going as far as to rummaging through Aefia's documents in the meantime she took to recover.
Cedric stayed as a witness and a background to help around trying to solve the case while her handmaid worked to keep Henry safe from any immediate threats that came his way. While also, the butler was slowly trying to solve the case she was working on secretly with the guard from the Viscount's estate. Despite their initial misunderstanding, he soon came to realize that the main cause of this problem was Count Lucius and kept the family far from his intentions by scratching through the smallest dirt at the palace grounds to avoid a second assassination.
Having already set up her own force, Aefia now rested worry-free that her small group of people will handle the rest of the family barriers while she was away.
While she only managed to stay in her astral form for a short time, she had found a new set of clues, or more specifically, about where the duchess kept her 'confidential' contract. In her room, there is a small vault like mechanism which needs to be flipped twice and it will reveal another tight space filled with documents that she doesn't want anyone else to see or get their hands on.
Memorizing it word by word, she immediately sprinted out of the palace and quickly rushed over to the Viscount's estate this time, to catch up with the guard as he informed every detail of what had happened. She was glad, that the Viscount was happy to know the family was still safe, and didn't give a mind to the girl who had to risk her life for it. Well at least... I don't care either and if by chance I die, I will be able to escape the grasp of this stressful life.
With the last words fading deep inside her mind, she turned away and dissapeared out of the world and out of her astral form, falling into deep abyss of her unconscious mind.