Walking out of the gloomy palace, the sunlight was blinding.
Elvia took a deep breath, the corners of her lips turning up in an involuntary smile.
It had been nearly a month since Lin Gui's departure.
Over this past month, everything had gone smoothly for her.
Her influence had been growing and spreading in the shadows, and she had subtly incited Charles and Diana to fight each other.
Meanwhile, she lay low in the dark, waiting for the perfect moment to reap the rewards.
Now, she even had the dying king under her control and had secured his final trump cards.
Unrolling the encrypted parchment, the names and locations recorded on it secretly startled her.
The old bastard had hidden things far deeper than she had imagined.
With these in hand, combined with the forces she had secretly gathered...
Elvia was confident she would be the ultimate victor.
She walked briskly through the corridors and stepped out of the palace gates.
Dozens of servants lay prostrate on the ground, their postures exceedingly humble.
The head maid stepped forward to assist her, guiding her onto a brand-new, gilded carriage.
The carriage interior was lined with velvet, and incense drifted through the air.
The prestige she had once lost was returning to her alongside her growing power.
The carriage made its way toward her new manor.
The estate boasted a vast courtyard filled with exotic flowers and rare plants, framed by pristine white pillars.
Wherever she went, servants stood with bowed heads, ready to attend to her every need.
Bathing, reading, or even just clearing her throat—someone would respond immediately.
It felt as though she had been wrapped inside an exquisite cocoon.
...
At noon, Elvia sat down at a long dining table.
Silver domes were lifted, revealing dishes as exquisite as works of art.
In the center of the massive plates, there were only one or two bites' worth of food.
Dozens of these plates lined the long table.
She took a bite, her brow furrowing.
She picked up a napkin, turned her head, and spat it out.
Her silver fork clinked softly.
The head chef's face turned pale as a sheet, and he fell to his knees.
The maids trembled in fear.
“How many times do I have to tell you?” Elvia said, rubbing her temples.
“Do not add those bizarre ingredients just because they are labeled as 'noble.'”
“I just want it to taste good. Good, do you understand?!”
Ever since Lin Gui left, nothing she ate tasted right.
She had once asked the chefs to replicate the flavors from her memory, but the results were always disappointing.
Part of it was that they couldn't find Lin Gui's "exclusive seasonings,"
but mostly, the chefs just couldn't resist adding rare ingredients to "elevate the dish's complexity," which only ruined the flavor.
Looking at the chef trembling on the floor, she would have flown into a rage in the past.
But—
A black-haired figure wearing a worn-out mage robe flashed across her mind.
Elvia's raised chin stiffened.
Suddenly losing all interest, she waved her hand.
“All of you, leave.”
The servants felt as though they had been granted a grand amnesty and hurriedly retreated.
In the spacious, empty dining room, she sat alone at the far end of the long table.
Before her sat dozens of plates of cold "art."
She remained silent for a moment, then stood up and walked out onto the balcony.
The setting sun cast a long shadow behind her.
A gentle breeze brushed through her golden hair, carrying the fragrance of the courtyard's flowers.
Yet, it could not disperse the slight emptiness in her heart.
Where is that bastard... right now?
And that chatterbox of an elf who loved to talk back to me.
Just as Elvia was staring into the distance, lost in thought...
“What you asked me to do has been done.”
A deep, raspy voice suddenly echoed from the shadows of the balcony behind her.
Elvia did not turn around, as if she had already expected this.
A tall figure slowly stepped out from behind a pillar, unmasked.
The crisscrossing scars on his face looked exceptionally gruesome in the light of the setting sun.
It was none other than the rebel leader, Caesar.
After the disastrous failure of the assassination attempt on the Saintess, which had cost him nearly all of his top assassins,
Elvia had taken the initiative to seek him out.
She extended a hand of cooperation to him,
hoping to use his remaining forces scattered throughout the shadows of the Royal Capital to help her ascend the throne.
Although Caesar's top-tier combatants were nearly wiped out,
his low-level intelligence network, manpower, and the hidden connections he had cultivated over many years were still not to be underestimated.
Caesar had initially scoffed at Elvia's olive branch.
In his eyes, this princess was fundamentally no different from those disgusting nobles.
To make her back down,
he proposed several conditions that he believed she could never possibly accept.
Publicly put three great nobles on trial, strip them of their titles for their crimes, and confiscate their properties to distribute to the commoners.
Abolish the "bloodline ransom" system—
the corrupt custom where a commoner who offended a noble could use their entire family estate to pay for their crime.
Allow children of commoners to enter the Royal Knights and the Administration Office through examinations, breaking the monopoly of the nobility.
Every single one of these conditions dug at the very roots of the nobility.
He waited to see this princess's face contort in refusal.
However, Elvia only fell silent for a brief moment,
then looked up at him, her gaze terrifyingly calm.
“I can give you the power and authority to do these things.”
“But as for how far you can take it...”
“That depends on how much you can grasp and how much you can overturn.”
That day, for the first time, Caesar felt that
this once-haughty princess might have truly changed.
Caesar walked to the edge of the balcony, standing side by side with her as they looked toward the distant palace.
“Regarding the dirty things Charles did in the past...”
“I've already 'accidentally' let that old hag Diana find out about them.”
“Excellent.”
Elvia curled her lips in satisfaction, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.
“Let's stir that muddy water even more.”
“Once they both end up bruised and battered...”
“I will step in and sweep away everything.”
Caesar fell silent behind her for a moment, then lowered his voice even further.
“Then... what about Prince Warren?”
“Both Charles and Diana's forces have suffered visible damage.”
“Yet Warren, the other candidate for the throne... has made absolutely no move so far.”
He turned his head and stared at Elvia's profile.
“Could he be... like you, waiting for the perfect opportunity?”
Elvia's smile suddenly stiffened.
Then, her expression became rather peculiar,
as if she had heard something both absurd and helpless.
“Him...”
She shook her head.
“He shouldn't be coming to obstruct me.”
“In fact... he probably won't be an obstacle to my ascension to the throne at all.”
Caesar frowned. “Why?”
Elvia's expression grew even more peculiar.
“Some time ago, he approached me on his own initiative.”
“He borrowed a portion of my intelligence network to look into some... strange matters.”
“In exchange, he vacated several influential positions under his name and handed them over to my people.”
Caesar's eyes sharpened. “Why would he do that? Could it be a trap?”
“No.”
Elvia spoke with certainty, her voice carrying a subtle sense of emotion.
“Because... he seems to be on quite good terms with my 'royal husband.'”
“According to him, he owes my husband a favor.”
As for what that favor was, to be honest, Elvia was also very curious.
It seemed that Lin Gui had done something incredible when she wasn't looking.
She paused, as if choosing her words carefully.
“In other words...”
“He's barely on our side.”
Hearing the words "royal husband," the scars on Caesar's face twitched slightly.
That black-haired, black-eyed young mage who always had a blank expression...
The man who had cornered him in the mine, yet had also offered him a strange glimmer of hope.
His expression turned exceptionally complex.
Caesar fell silent for a moment, then changed the subject.
“Recently, there's been a string of disappearances in the Royal Capital... Is this the work of some great noble up top?”
At the mention of this, Elvia's brow also furrowed.
“I'm not sure either, but it's definitely not my people's doing.”
Ever since Lin Gui left...
a ridiculous number of disappearances had indeed occurred in the Royal Capital.
Just how absurd was it?
Over the past week, more than five thousand people had vanished into thin air.
Because those who went missing were all commoners, refugees, and low-level craftsmen,
it had yet to attract any real attention from the upper class.
But Elvia's foundation lay in the commoner district.
She knew very well the "peculiarities" of these five thousand-odd people.
Almost every single one of the vanished individuals possessed a specialized skill.
Master blacksmiths, old women skilled in herb cultivation,
handymen capable of mental arithmetic, and old carriage drivers who knew every corner of the Royal Capital.
There were even a few skilled tailors and potters.
Elvia sighed and rubbed her temples.
“Right now... I don't have the energy to investigate this deeply.”
She still had far too many things to do.
Consolidate the king's legacy she had just acquired.
Keep a close eye on the deadly struggle between Charles and Diana.
Deploy her own people...
Caesar glanced at her, then suddenly said,
“There is one more thing.”
“The movements of Eagle Fortress that you asked me to watch...”
“Word came this morning that the banshees have left Eagle Fortress.”
Every drop of color drained from Elvia's face in an instant.
She whipped around, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the balcony railing.
An icy chill slowly crept up her spine.
She let out a laugh and said to Caesar,
“Haha, you must be joking.”
Not understanding why Elvia, who had just been completely in control, had suddenly turned pale,
Caesar confirmed with absolute certainty,
“I am not joking. The banshees have indeed left.”
“Eagle Fortress is completely empty right now.”
Speaking of this, Caesar was also puzzled; the banshees' departure seemed extremely rushed.
So rushed that they hadn't even taken the banshee eggs they had laid.
Just what kind of event could have made them evacuate in such a frantic panic?
Caesar pondered for a while but couldn't think of any explanation.
And when he came back to his senses, he realized that Elvia—who had been riding high on her recent success—was now slumped on the ground, completely devoid of color.
Rate on N.U.
