novelraw Chapter 173 : The Scheming Advisor
Chapter 173 : The Scheming Advisor
"Speaking of which, I just remembered something!"
Julie, the maid, took out her phone, opened her notes, and continued, "The Free Federation Empress is visiting today. Her entourage is staying at the VIP hotel south of the palace, and they'll be here for about a week."
"That tall, slim Alpha is the captain of the Empress's guard. She must have come along too."
Upon hearing that the Alpha named Shen Han had come to their palace, Princess Quintina's mood immediately brightened from cloudy to sunny.
Her delicate face, like that of a porcelain doll, instantly lit up with joy.
But immediately after, the little princess pouted: "So when grandfather and brother said they were receiving important guests today, they meant the Free Federation Empress? Why didn't anyone tell me about this in advance?"
Hearing this, Julie was almost in tears.
She thought to herself: Wasn't this mentioned during the morning lesson? Even I wrote it down. My little ancestor, you get a headache whenever you hear about state affairs, who dares to mention it more in front of you?
Quintina was obviously just complaining casually and didn't really expect Julie to respond.
She blinked her emerald-like beautiful eyes and suddenly asked, "Can I know my pheromone compatibility with that guard Alpha?"
After asking this, as if afraid Julie wouldn't understand her meaning, she added, "Like with those Alphas my brother introduced before, don't they always do a compatibility test before meeting?"
Julie nearly fell to her knees.
She rushed to the door in a few steps, closed the bedroom door, then ran back to the bedside with a pained expression and began to answer the little princess's question.
"Princess, we can't talk about these things outside. The Alphas Prince Joris chooses for you are all from noble families. Only such people are qualified to test pheromone compatibility with you."
"Besides, compatibility is just an important reference, but it's not absolute. What's crucial is whether you like the person after interacting with them."
"So princess, don't resist meeting the Alphas introduced by the prince. It's through understanding and comparison that you'll better know what you like and what you dislike."
Although Julie was a servant and not as astute as the other attendants and butlers, she was very loyal to the little princess she served.
She often considered issues from the little princess's perspective, which made the latter feel at ease and willing to share her thoughts with her.
Quintina thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "Then let's go see that guard tomorrow."
Julie went forward to help her lie down, tucked her in, and then asked softly, "So, are you still attending the small gathering the prince arranged for you?"
"No! I'm not feeling well!"
After throwing out these words, the little princess pulled the thin blanket over her head.
Julie looked at the 'cicada baby' who had wrapped herself up in front of her, sighed inwardly, and then tiptoed out of the room.
...
The next day, Gu Junwan's itinerary was to visit Ksenrode's most famous castle, Amberson Castle.
It was not only the cultural window of this kingdom but also held extraordinary historical significance.
For this itinerary, most of the Empress's team was not arranged to participate.
Among the accompanying personnel, apart from several officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, only the assistant and the guard team closely followed the Empress.
The convoy of flying cars arrived at Amberson Castle in grand style.
After disembarking, Joris immediately led a group of people to approach Gu Junwan.
Surprisingly, among the prince's entourage was a petite and beautiful figure.
Gu Junwan looked at the girl who was politely greeting her, and information about her immediately appeared in her mind like a file.
"Princess Quintina's demeanor has become even more outstanding, very reminiscent of the late Queen Angie's grace."
Hearing the Free Federation Empress's praise, the little princess immediately became happy.
She slightly lifted her skirt, walked from her brother's side to Gu Junwan's front, and flashed a pure smile at her: "Praise to the Empress, your elegance is a model for me to learn from."
Gu Junwan wasn't too concerned about the little princess's sudden appearance at first.
She thought the princess had just come along to play, and after exchanging greetings, she shifted her attention to today's itinerary.
It wasn't until she noticed that the little princess, who should have been accompanying Joris, kept falling behind, and that she always appeared near Shen Han, that she began to feel suspicious.
Last year, the little princess had shown obvious curiosity and friendliness towards Shen Han.
But at that time, the little girl was still a minor, and her pheromone reception problem also made Gu Junwan not pay much attention to her attitude towards Shen Han.
Now, however, the situation seemed to have become a bit complicated.
It was reported that the little princess's gland problem had been greatly improved.
The whole royal family was very happy and took turns finding excellent Alphas for her, but they didn't control the degree well, causing the little princess to develop contrary thoughts.
Yesterday, after the banquet, Joris had poured out his troubles to Gu Junwan.
He said that the little princess was now almost developing resistance and aversion to interacting with Alphas.
But now...
Gu Junwan discreetly turned her gaze towards the little princess.
Looking at her smiling at Shen Han, where was there any sign of resistance or aversion to Alphas?
Gu Junwan naturally knew that Shen Han wouldn't develop any feelings for other women.
But the troublesome point of this matter was that the little princess's behavior might bring some unexpected situations to the two countries that were preparing to cooperate.
For example, would the old king think that her side had used some means, using the little princess as a breakthrough for cooperation?
This was on someone else's turf, and the little princess's identity was not ordinary.
The methods Gu Junwan had used in the past to intimidate love rivals were not really suitable to use on the little princess.
She multitasked, communicating with Joris about energy matters while already beginning to think about how to smoothly resolve this situation if the little princess really developed feelings for Shen Han.
The Empress always liked to keep the initiative in her own hands when dealing with matters.
Unless it was a sudden accident, she would never just wait for problems to erupt before starting to deal with and solve them.
Just as Gu Junwan was analyzing the thorny situations that might arise in her mind,
Shen Han was vigilantly guarding against the cute offensive of the Ksenrode little princess!
"You really don't remember me? My name is Quintina. I even gave you a very nice mountain bike last year."
The little princess's voice wasn't loud, but it was as crisp and pleasant as an oriole's song.
Such a voice appearing in this ancient castle with a long history could give people a very attractive sense of contrast.
Shen Han lowered her eyes to look at the beautiful girl blocking her path, and her heart sounded an alarm!
To be honest, Quintina's looks were really very high.
Her silver hair, symbolizing royal bloodline, hung smoothly on her shoulders, with a silky luster flowing over it, making her look like a cute girl who had just stepped out of a manga.
She had emerald-green eyes, mysterious and profound.
Complementing her small and delicate features, she looked like a doll placed in a showcase in an exhibition hall.
Shen Han's perception wasn't slow; she could sense that this noble young lady in front of her had hidden feelings for her.
This didn't make her feel proud; instead, it gave her a sense of facing a formidable enemy.
She thought to herself: What bicycle? If you keep this up, I'm going to get angry with you!
Shen Han originally didn't plan to pay attention to her, but seeing that the commotion on her side had already been noticed by quite a few people, she had to lower her voice and say solemnly, "I'm working now, I can't chat idly."
Quintina tilted her head and asked, "Then can I come find you to play when you're resting? By the way, what time do you finish work today?"
Shen Han made a show of taking out a small notebook from her pocket, looked at it, and then answered very seriously, "I don't have any rest time these few days, I can't play with you, sorry."
After saying this, without waiting for the little princess to react, she sidestepped her and walked towards the area where Gu Junwan was.
When the Empress was visiting the ancient castle, she needed to have some simple discussions with Prince Joris.
Therefore, apart from their special assistants, the other companions maintained some distance.
The guard team and the royal guards didn't follow as closely as usual, but were distributed around, moving along at a distance that was neither too close nor too far.
Shen Han slowly moved along an ancient stone wall, occasionally stealing glances at Gu Junwan, who was seven or eight meters away.
Seeing her looking like a queen inspecting her castle, Shen Han couldn't help but feel a bit itchy inside.
She wanted to go up and lead her to an open tower she had just passed.
She wanted to listen to the wind at the top of the castle together and gaze at the historical traces that had survived wars in the distance.
Quintina didn't follow to continue asking questions.
She stood gracefully in the middle of the stone corridor, looking up at the direction Shen Han was walking, her green eyes blinking, her beautiful eyes bright and spirited.
At the stone wall of the corridor, the tall Alpha was walking silently.
Sunlight slipped in through the window holes in the outer wall of the castle, casting a mottled light and shadow on the Alpha.
The somewhat somber black military uniform was given a strange hue at this moment.
Quintina looked at Shen Han's straight back, thinking that she looked like a black-feathered knight who had just stepped out of a castle mural, offering a contract of eternal companionship to the princess she would serve.
Julie squeezed out a small snort from her nose.
She whispered to the little princess, "This guard is not gentlemanly at all, you can just cross her off the list!"
Quintina first shook her head, then looked at her maid with a seeking approval gaze and asked softly, "Don't you think she's working very hard? She doesn't even have a little time to rest."
Julie was immediately stunned.
She thought to herself: Isn't this normal? She's here to work, not to travel.
Before her maid could reply, the little princess pulled her to a corner where no one was around.
"Quick, think of a way for me. How can I get her to chat with me properly? To play with me?"
Julie crouched down, adjusting the princess's skirt while saying, "If the princess really wants her to accompany you, you can directly ask Prince Joris to order her to be arranged by your side in the form of work."
"I don't think the Empress would disagree, after all, this isn't too unreasonable a request."
Quintina thought for a moment and directly refused, "No, I don't want that. Can you think of a more romantic way?"
Julie looked up and saw that the little princess wasn't joking at all. After a moment of silence, she had no choice but to transform into a scheming advisor.
"Then how about this, the Amberson Castle itinerary will end at 4 pm. After returning to the palace, the Empress will attend a noble banquet, and her guard won't be able to enter."
"We'll arrange for soldiers to lead that guard to the Kazas Bridge, and you'll be there too. Then it will be like a chance encounter!"
After hearing Julie's words, Quintina's eyes lit up, and she continued to ask, "Then what? What if she doesn't want to stay and play with me?"
Julie tugged at her own hair, her mind spinning rapidly, "You can pretend to lose your balance and almost fall. No matter what her identity is, whether she's on duty or not, she can't just watch you fall to the ground without doing anything."
"You can let her touch you briefly. If you don't mind, we can think of ways to make her stay longer later!"