novelraw Chapter 7
Chapter 7
7~ Checkmate~
"Asleep? That's fine."
The Empress removed her clothes and sat on the other side of the headboard.
Because they'd both been staying in the palace these past two days, neither Mo nor she had gotten particularly dirty anywhere, so postponing bathing until tomorrow was still acceptable.
Looking at the sweetly sleeping little Princess, she was somehow possessed to pinch the little Princess's face.
A princess who had been frail and sickly since childhood, without any magical talent, probably endured experiences that even princes would find difficult to bear before securing the title of Glaze Nation's first princess, right?
Compared to other empires and kingdoms, Glaze Nation was also considered a major power. And as the royal family of a major power, though outwardly glamorous, in reality, the princes' internal strife for power and succession was extremely serious.
Poisoning, assassination, framing, setting up, coercion—no matter how underhanded the methods, as long as they could secure their future inheritance of the throne, they would use any means necessary.
Gently moving onto the bed, snuggling up with the little Princess, after pulling the blanket tight, she drew the little Princess into her embrace and contentedly fell asleep.
...
...
In the dead of night, the vast majority of people were immersed in dreamland, but one type of person was an exception, and that was... workers on the night shift!
As the personal maid to the Scarlet Phoenix Nation's Empress, it was a 24/7 on-call system, ready to be summoned at any time. Setting aside benefits and compensation for now, her status was quite good anyway, almost at the level of second only to one, above ten thousand.
"As expected, they were already prepared."
Ling stared intently at the military camp below. Lights blazed everywhere, with several times more soldiers than usual patrolling the surroundings.
After offending the Empress, they had good self-awareness, knowing the Empress might send someone to eliminate him, so they deliberately increased the patrol scale.
But unfortunately for them, throughout the entire military camp, there was only one mage with magical talent who obeyed this general's orders, barely squeezing into upper-middle level, more than sufficient to deal with.
However, to perfectly complete the task the Empress entrusted, she specifically called in reinforcements—the Imperial Maid Corps.
On the surface a maid corps, in reality a sharp blade in the Empress's hand, existing to serve the royal family.
"Set up around the perimeter. Take him down within three minutes."
Ling instructed the other several maids around her.
When the camp's perimeter was attacked, some of these patrolling guard soldiers would be pulled away to respond to the sudden assault. At that time, a gap would appear, achieving the purpose of diverting attention. Then she just needed to use magic to conceal her form, enter the military camp, and execute the assassination.
The tactics had already formed in her mind.
...
Outside the military camp, several people draped in cloaks rushed straight for the camp, gripping longbows and longswords, charging forward under cover of night.
The gatekeeping soldiers at the camp entrance first froze when they saw them. Only after the other soldier who'd just been chatting with him took an arrow and fell to the ground did he react, hurriedly shouting:
"Someone's attacking! Quickly sound the alarm!"
Immediately after, an arrow pierced his throat, making a matching pair with the corpse on the ground.
Soon, before soldiers could arrive, someone had already reached the camp entrance and released magic.
With a thunderous boom, a huge hole was blasted through the camp gate as if it were made of paper. A maid draped in a cloak directly wielding a giant axe swiftly passed through the gate, clearing the path in the middle of the road.
...
"They're here?"
"They're here."
The general gripped his longsword, already prepared to be assassinated at any moment. Together with the guards beside him, they tightened their grip on their daggers.
"Move!"
Suddenly, firelight flashed overhead. A flame explosion spell dropped straight down from above.
After seeing her magic dodged, Ling wasn't anxious to rush forward and continue finishing off the flustered general. Instead, she leisurely toyed with the sword in her hand, saying unhurriedly:
"Long time no see, General Mu. Your reaction speed is still as fast as before."
The general: "..."
He remained silent, gripping the sword in his hand. Only after a moment did he speak:
"Is this Her Majesty's decree?"
Ling didn't answer him, but the expression on her face was enough to explain everything.
"Since it's Her Majesty's decree, you're still chatting with me so casually?"
"Of course not."
How could she be casual about Her Majesty's decree? Of course she had complete confidence.
Watching Ling slowly approaching with her sword, he suspected this personal guard beside the Empress had something wrong with her brain. A mage fighting close combat with a warrior? Wasn't that equivalent to throwing eggs at a rock?
But very quickly, he discovered something was wrong. He seemed to be nailed in place, unable to move his feet even half a step. His guards were the same.
Looking down at his feet, his own shadow had bound him? What kind of strange magic was this?!
Confirming it was a type of magic he'd definitely never seen before, and after observing the surroundings that had already been set with soundproofing magic, the general hurriedly pulled out a magic scroll to dispel the magic wrapped around his legs.
"My apologies, General Mu. If you're going to blame something, blame incomplete intelligence."
Ling's right leg fiercely kicked off the ground, charging to the general's front, piercing through along with the magic scroll.
"The general has been assassinated!!!"
...
...
"Your Majesty, it's handled."
"I know. You may go."
Fei continued pinching Mo's cheeks while instructing Ling.
"Haven't you pinched enough?"
"Don't move."
With a single rebuke, the little Princess's originally struggling body once again became obedient beyond her control.
She'd already been held by the Empress as a body pillow for almost an entire morning! Held while sleeping, held while reading, held while eating, held while resting. The only time she wasn't held was when using the toilet!
"..."
So boring... Just being a body pillow all morning like this, unable to do anything else, only able to read these books that made her dizzy and disoriented along with Fei.
She wanted to return to Glaze Nation. Although there were few people there she could really talk to, at least it wouldn't be as boring as now.
"Very bored?"
"What do you think?"
The little Princess gave her a speechless look.
"Then go wander around by yourself. Of course, limited to within the Imperial City. Come back after three hours."
And then... she was led out by Ling to the back garden.
"Have a pleasant time, Lady Mo. If you get lost, you can find a maid to guide you back to the palace."
Ling waved at her and left, leaving her alone here.
So... was it really this simple to let her move freely?
The little Princess looked around. Throughout the entire garden, besides a few maids, the rest was just a sea of flowers. And in the center of the flower sea was a small pavilion.
After thinking about it, she still decided to walk around other places first, familiarize herself with the Imperial City's paths, and could also check where she might slip out. Anyway, if she got lost, she could find someone to bring her back here.
So she boldly took big steps, casually strolling within the Imperial City.
——Ten minutes later...
"Huff... huff..."
So tired...
Then she just found a place to sit, kneading her calves to relax her muscles.
"Hey, did you hear? General Mu was assassinated last night and died!"
"Huh? Impossible, right? Someone could assassinate General Mu?"
General Mu? Wasn't that Scarlet Phoenix Nation's first great general? Assassinated last night and died?
The two maids' conversation piqued the little Princess's intense curiosity.