Father, please forgive your wretched son.
**“What? His Majesty is lying in bed?”
“He’s sick in bed, not lying in bed, My Lady....”
Rosemary smacked her lips.
This can’t be happening....
This was going to ruin her plans. Holding back a sigh, Rosemary went over the current situation.
The noble assembly was held for three days. It was possible to extend it by the order of the Emperor, but the provincial thanes who had lots to do were sure to run off using one excuse or another. So if possible, they had to accomplish their goal within the three days.
“Alright, you can go.”
After sending the maid away, Rosemary imdiately began thinking.
I need to sink that chairman bastard sohow.
Her relationship with Aether had gone back to the way it was before, and that Verl or Caral whatsit was still missing. It would be a waste of ti to focus on either of them in this situation.
Hence, Rosemary chose the chairman as her next target. Since before, Chairman Robespierre had a talent for getting on her nerves, and she had been thinking about dealing with him at so point.
However.
“Damn it, not like this.”
Her plan to use the Emperor to put pressure on them was about to go down the drain. This was going to ruin all their future plans as well.
Grit. Rosemary clenched her teeth.
“It can’t be helped, then.”
Even without the Emperor, it would be fine as long as they got through the situation accordingly. Since it ca to this, she thought about using the nobles who were on bad terms with Robespierre. Having decided quickly, Rosemary stood in front of the mirror and began thinking about what dress to wear.
Click.
That was when Duke Blanton opened the door and ca in.
“I’m here.”
“Oh, just in ti. How does this look?”
Rosemary asked as she showed him a ruby necklace. With a sigh, Blanton shook his head.
“That isn’t important right now.”
“I know; I was joking.”
The necklace worth tens of gold was thrown into a corner of the room. Rosemary listened to Blanton’s briefing while brushing her hair.
“I believe he was poisoned.”
It was regarding the Emperor.
“Poisoned? By who?”
“That, I’m not certain.”
“Maybe it was that Klion?”
A reasonable suspicion.
“He’s the only one I can think of.”
Klion had started to defy Blanton’s orders a few months ago. It seed that he had broken free of the mind control for so reason.
“I let him be because his acting was hilarious.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I should see for myself first.”
She was already busy, so there was no need to open a can of worms about sothing that wasn’t urgent.
If they could, they were going to use the Prince instead. The important thing was achieving their goal. All they needed was a useful chess piece even if it wasn’t the Emperor.
“Of course, I’d prefer to kill him along with the chairman.”
“You are aware that we can’t do that, yes?”
“And that’s why I’m dying of frustration!”
Pounding her chest, Rosemary let out her frustrations like a child throwing a tantrum because they wanted a toy.
But soon, Rosemary’s face turned calm again like nothing happened.
“Still, I suppose it isn’t ti yet.”
Rosemary’s goal was ‘infiltration’, not ‘annihilation’. If she had done that, then she would’ve already killed all the humans in the capital multiple tis.
“We need to wait until the Lodestone arrives at Tilette.”
“Yes, I know.”
The Lodestone–the source of all things iron. It was a gem necessary for reviving the Demon King.
A while ago, Rosemary had learned that Red Lodestone was in western part of the Empire and that it was coming to Tilette Academy.
We have to lie low until we get it.
A long-range plan. Big things took a hundred years to accomplish.
She had infiltrated the Empire a hundred years ago, and it had been ten years since she assud the identity of the daughter of a powerful family. It wasn’t going to be long until they took a step closer to reviving their King, so she could endure this kind of trivial annoyance for it.
Besides.
Sis is still here.
Big sis, Aether, planned to stay here in the Empire until she was done with her research.
Big sis was gentle by nature. She had been the sa when she was in the army as well, seeing how she was probably the only senior officer who treated captives humanely when dealing with them.
There was only one situation in which she lost it.
We can’t disturb her while she’s researching.
If there was one thing that made Aether, who even laughed off most betrayals, go on a rampage, it was when her studies was interrupted.
“Hup.”
“Have you finished changing?”
“I was already changed.”
Having finished brushing, Rosemary got up from the chair.
Today she chose to wear a black dress made of high-quality fabric and a white pair of stockings to contrast it.
“I’m going to check on the Prince’s state first.”
With a heavy sigh, she headed towards the Second Prince’s room. Stepping outside the room, Rosemary called on a maid who wasn’t busy.
“You there.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Do you know where Prince Klion is?”
“H-he’s waiting in the room next door to HIs Majesty...!”
“That so? Alright.”
There wasn’t much ti left until the eting. She had to crown the Prince as soon as possible and oversee the banquet. If she lost the upper hand here, then they would lose the opportunity.
Let’s see what this guy is doing.
She arrived in front of the Crown Prince’s room. Before going in, Rosemary brought her ear to the door.
There were piercing sounds coming through the door.
“You must not do this, Your Highness!”
“How many tis have I told you to shut up! Be gone!”
“Is it because you’ve been drinking since yesterday? It’s almost ti for the banquet!”
“Let my father do it! Why do you bother !”
Rosemary barely held back her laughter. It didn’t matter if he was acting or not, it was awfully hilarious.
“His Majesty is bedridden from an unknown illness! You must personally conduct the eting, Your Highness!”
“What about my brother! Tell that bastard to do it! I’m going to go and bed a woman!”
Rosemary snickered, her mouth even twisting. What a scene. She had expected him to have so sense of duty towards his father, but to think that even the original was this much of a trash.
No, did Orléans make him like that?
He’d been brainwashed for ten years. There was no guarantee that he wouldn’t change without realizing.
“Your Highness!”
The urgent voice of the servant. Rosemary stepped back imdiately, and Klion burst through the door with a bang!
The sll of alcohol stung her nose. Rosemary scowled for an instant.
“Hm?”
Making a stupid sound, the Crown Prince looked at Rosemary. His gaze was unusual. His eyes glassy with alcohol swept over Rosemary’s not-so-prominent chest.
“Tsk. Pass.”
Rosemary glared at the Second Prince like she wanted to kill him. If he was acting like this despite knowing that she was a Beast, then he certainly had nerves.
“I apologize, My Lady! It seems that His Highness hasn’t quite yet beco sober.”
“What can you do.”
He was going to be a living corpse in a few months, anyway.
Seeing as the Prince was drunk out of his mind even before the start of the banquet, she would be the one in control. If she took out Marquis Robespierre, it would be done.
Politically pressure the chairman into resigning. Have Duke Blanton appointed as the next chairman. With this, they would be able to have the Lodestone coming to Tilette fall into the Demon Army’s hands for sure.
The corners of her mouth lifted at the perfect plan. With a relaxed expression, Rosemary arrived at the banquet hall before the Prince.
Just then, one of the palace butlers rushed over.
“My Lady, soone who wishes to see you has co to the palace!”
“Who?”
“I am not certain.”
How annoying at such a good ti.
If they weren’t a noble, soone who was an uninvited guest, then the best thing was to turn them away without question. It was because she couldn’t have them co into the eting and ss things up.
“Just send them away. I’m busy at the mont.”
“T-that.......”
“What is the problem?”
“That is what I ant to do but they simply wouldn’t listen.”
It made her sigh. Did she have to handle such trivial things like this herself? Even having ten bodies wouldn’t be enough.
“Why do you have guards, then?”
They weren’t just any guard but palace guards who defended the palace. The elite guards, commonly referred to as ‘Old Guard’, weren’t to be ssed with. They should be able to subdue most unwelco visitors with a finger and turn them away.
“Well, they attempted to stop them by force, but....”
“But?”
“They were overpowered instead...!”
Rosemary’s mouth dropped open into the size of a bowl, wondering what kind of nonsense that was. She set aside the plate she’d been filling with at and hurried to the main entrance.
“Ah.”
A brief sound.
Over ten mbers of the Old Guard who were known as the elite were all passed out together in front of the door.
Who could have done this....
There weren’t any visible wounds so that opponent must have controlled their power.
In battle, capturing soone alive was harder to do than killing them. The person must have great skill to subdue the Old Guard without damage to them.
Though the palace boasted tight security, they only found out now that the guards had been overpowered. That ant every one of them had been helplessly defeated without being able to put up a fight.
Just as she was thinking that.
“Kugh!”
A guard flew this way from sohwere and crashed into the floor. They rolled like a mop and flopped over. Rosemary slowly lifted her head and looked in the direction that the guard was thrown from.
Soone holding a staff was walking over through the dim darkness.
“Could’ve used words you just had to ask for a beating.”
“Keughh....”
“Overdramatic much? I swung it horizontally so there shouldn’t even be any wounds.”
Rosemary quickly looked over the girl’s silhouette. There weren’t any sll of cigarettes near her, which proved that this hadn’t been a fight involving magic.
That was why she was convinced.
“S-sis, why are you here...?”
“Hey, little sis.”
Aether returned the staff resting on her shoulder to subspace and scratched her head.
“I need to research and I think the professor who’s helping is here.”
Rosemary’s face beca dumbstruck. Her mind was scrambling to grasp the situation, but Aether stepped into the castle first.
While she was going ‘uh, uh’, Aether ca inside the palace, and Rosemary couldn’t stop her.
Aether smacked her lips and looked back one last ti. More than ten of the Old Guard were strewn out haphazardly like tossed rags.
“By the way, is this going to leave a strike on my student record?”
Rubbing her eyes, Rosemary let out a wordless scream that no one could hear.
Ah.
She wanted to go ho.
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