Leona saved her progress first, then gathered her thoughts.
The difficulty of this instance was clearly higher than that of Little Red Riding Hood.
First, it was a long-term instance with a time limit. Considering the fifth point in the diary—to check the diary every ten days—Leona believed the storyline would likely progress in stages.
With each new stage, the diary would likely supply the hints needed for that next phase.
Too many characters were involved in this instance, so Leona decisively chose to follow the second clear path first, allowing her to adapt to changing circumstances.
If she killed the Princess right at the start and hit a dead end later, she would have to scrap everything and start over.
Besides, Leona wasn't crazy enough to kill everyone she ran into.
She pulled back the window curtain, and a beam of glaring sunlight streamed in.
This world actually had a sun.
Earlier, she had heard Anna mention the morning, and sure enough, she had actually gotten to see sunlight.
This was her first time seeing sunlight since entering the Fairy Tale World, ill-timed though it was.
Just as Leona was about to finish up and leave, a creaking sound came from outside the curtain.
It was the sound of a door opening.
But Anna had just left, so who could be opening the door?
The door opened slowly, and a maid poked her head in, looking around cautiously.
As she scanned the surroundings, she suddenly heard a sound from behind the curtain, like a hard object dropping into a pile of straw.
"Your Highness Princess, is that you in there?" A glint of malice flashed through the maid's eyes as she gripped a sharp object tightly and approached step by step.
The curtain suddenly pulled open, and "Anna" slowly walked out from behind it.
"It's me. Sorry, my stomach was hurting a bit, so I got delayed." She looked at the maid and asked in confusion, "Are you the only one here? Where's Aria? She should be coming around this time, right?"
A trace of panic flickered in the maid's eyes. She put her hand behind her back and shoved the object deeper into her sleeve.
"Ar... Aria will be a little late. She asked me to inform Your Highness."
"Anna" nodded and slowly approached the maid.
"I see."
The moment the words left her mouth, a paring knife plunged violently into the maid's chest.
The maid's pupils dilated instantly. She tried to pull out the hand behind her back, but "Anna" held her firm with one hand.
Twisting the paring knife continuously with a cold gaze, Leona guided the maid's body against the wall and slowly let her down, whispering near her ear:
"Without your master's permission, who gave you the courage to open the door?"
Only then did the maid realize she had been exposed from the moment she entered, but it was already too late.
She felt her body temperature drop gradually until it hit freezing point. In the end, under the gaze of a single eye, she watched the Princess before her transform into someone else as life left her body.
Leona laid the maid's corpse flat and began searching it.
In the end, however, she only found a sharp vase shard hidden in her sleeve.
"Daring to commit murder with just a broken shard... she sure had guts," Leona couldn't help but snort.
However, this also proved that the kingdom's security was extremely tight, which was a good thing for her at the moment.
After all, the third hint in the diary had warned that many people wanted the Princess dead.
Looking at it now, the "group of outsiders" presumably referred to invaders like them.
It was just that their Main God tasks differed—hers was to protect the Princess, while theirs was to kill her.
She just didn't know if there were any invaders who shared the same task as her.
"It's impossible that I'm really fighting completely alone here," Leona muttered under her breath.
As she searched the corpse, she suddenly noticed a peculiar design engraved on the maid's right shoulder.
It was a Holy Bible.
Aria had mentioned that a scepter represented a Lord, a sword represented a Pawn, and a Holy Bible represented a Devotee of God's faction.
To avoid internal conflict, God would certainly assign tasks to His subordinates on the same side.
In other words, in this instance, anyone from God's side had to be killed on sight.
"So how should I handle this corpse?"
Leona found herself stumped as she looked at the corpse before her.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up. Her helpers didn't necessarily have to be invaders.
Perhaps she could use this corpse to stir up something useful.
Just as she stood up to drag the body out, her nerves felt as though they were being yanked, and the sharp pain struck again.
She suddenly recalled the warning in the diary and looked around for her cloak.
Finally, she spotted her cloak on a rack.
She walked over to the rack and took down the cloak, which was imbued with a faint floral scent. Once she put it back on, the pain indeed vanished.
However, Shapeshift had a drawback: it could only alter her physical appearance, not her clothes.
After thinking it over, she tore off a piece of cloth from the corpse, dipped it in blood, and began smearing it over her cloak.
...
"Margot, could you go to the storeroom and get me a clean towel?"
"No problem, Connie." Margot glanced at the yellowed towel in Connie's hand and grumbled indignantly, "That stupid dog peed in the corridor again. I really hope it pisses off His Majesty the King one day so he slaughters it."
"Alright, stop talking. It'll be terrible if word gets to the Queen." Connie looked at the still-foul corridor and urged hurriedly, "Hurry back with the towel so I can get some lavender to clean this place up as quickly as possible."
Margot knew this matter could not be delayed. If the Queen's dog relieved itself in the hallway or the main hall, it wouldn't be the Queen who got punished, but the servants in charge of watching the dog.
She and Connie were not the ones responsible for watching the dog.
However, the person watching it shared a room with them, so they helped out with this dangerous chore whenever they could.
With that thought in mind, she involuntarily quickened her pace.
Soon, Margot arrived at the storeroom.
She slowly pushed open the iron door in front of her when suddenly, with a thud, an object about the same size as her collapsed outward.
The moment those unseeing, wide-open dead eyes locked with Margot's, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the entire corridor.
Half a shichen later.
Several guards walked out of the storeroom while a few maids remained standing outside the door.
Once low-level maids discovered a corpse, they were forbidden from moving it or touching the scene; they had to shout for help on the spot and leave someone to guard the body.
Except for Margot, the other maids had all rushed over after hearing her screams.
The Guard Captain stood in place and remained silent for a moment before looking toward the maid beside him.
"Who discovered the body first?"
The maids all turned their eyes to Margot in unison, and Margot raised her right hand, trembling.
The Guard Captain's gaze was sharp as he looked down at Margot from his position of authority.
His status was higher than Margot's, which was only natural.
"When was the body discovered?"
"A... about half a shichen ago."
"At that time, general cleaning should have just begun. What item did you run out of so fast that forced you to go to the storeroom?" The Guard Captain looked at Margot with a touch of suspicion.
Margot was still trapped in panic, her mind completely blank.
She couldn't possibly make up an excuse on short notice, yet she didn't dare mention that the dog had peed in the corridor.
If she did, three people—including herself and Connie—would lose their heads.
"I..." Just as she stammered, unable to speak, a freckled maid stepped forward.
"I arrived a step late, so she went to fetch the cleaning supplies in my place."
The Guard Captain shifted his gaze away from Margot and looked at the maid who had spoken up.
"A newcomer? What's your name?"
"Reporting to the Guard Captain, I am indeed new here. My name is Liyana."
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