Page 58

Sometimes I don’t understand what a grown woman thinks.

Is she holding a big responsibility as an older person because of life experience?

Are they being polite by giving a good role model as an example?

Or something simple as an good inspiration for a little child to be like her when they grow up?

That was the first thing I thought after seeing the Queen of the Kingdom sitting on her knees in front of me with a leash around her neck.

"Uhm, what does this mean?" I asked, looking at the Queen of the Aurora Kingdom, who was silent in front of me.

Her facial expression looked happy and her friendly attitude made me a little confused by her behavior.

After the little incident that I caused with my father, suddenly the Queen of the Aurora Kingdom came to see me while wearing a leash around her neck.

That already made my situation chaotic because several soldiers of the Royal Palace looked at me with trembling bodies and white pale facial expressions.

This is not something that surprising, right?

"Oh, my honorable owner, your lonely pet welcomes your arrival at the Royal Palace…" said the Queen in a cheerful and happy tone.

Cold sweat suddenly filled my back as if indicating this event became the subject of noble conversation. Witnessed by people in the open space, wouldn’t it be a bit troublesome if Zoe’s curse that had been designed would be in vain when party get cancelled like this?

For that, I immediately swung my katana to return it to its sheath.

"Act normally," I said in response to the Queen’s strange attitude before my eyes.

"Ah! Thank you for your kindess, my honorable owner."

The Queen corrected her pride as a mature woman to become more graceful and elegant. A contrast that seemed different from her previous appearance that looked like an uneducated animal.

"So, what happened around here, Victoria?" My Mom suddenly approached me while tightly gripping a magic wand that emitted traces of protective magical energy.

"Seeing your action of charging after the arrow attack makes you want to stop this fight for a while, doesn’t it?

Enjoy more content from empire

How about we continue this in a political diplomacy situation that will cast the Marquess Rommel family as an opponent against the political power of the royal family?" my Mom continued in a gentle tone, behind the polite-sounding words, I could see a complicated smile full of deceit behind it.

"Ahh… Umm… That… Could you please not do that?" responding to my Mom’s polite-sounding words, I realized that this was the way a mature woman solves problems that occur by using intelligence and the power of words.

Although I didn’t understand what they were saying, my Mom seemed to be dominating this battle of manners.

My ears twitched a little when I heard a small whisper directed at my Mom.

"Hey, isn’t that the royal family’s witch who once held the position of the Leader of the Main Division of Witches before going on to get married for the second time?"

"Yes! You’re right, if I’m not mistaken she’s nicknamed the Restraining Witch From Hell. Don’t get hit by one of her restraining spells or you’ll lose half your life."

"That’s crazy! How are we supposed to win against a witch like that?"

"That’s the problem! Didn’t you see our Queen acting like a pet in front of her?’

"Eh, isn’t it because of that little girl?"

"Little girl? Oh! That little girl with light brown skin?"

"Yeah, didn’t you see that little girl has an unusual power? How can she move that fast without activating magic? Doesn’t that look way scarier than that Restraint Witch From Hell?"

My ears felt a little itchy and hot when I heard that.

So I decided to use Sakura Dash and leave a trail of cherry blossom petals to approach the two sources of the voices.

"I seem to have heard some interesting gossip about my stepmother, can you tell me more about it?" I said as I appeared behind them.

"Gaaak!!"

"Haaa!!"

The two Royal Palace soldiers who were busy talking about my Mom seemed surprised by my sudden appearance. I could see their body shaking they looked scared with my unusual smile expression.

"Hmm... is there something wrong?" I said while tilting my head.

"N-Nothing is wrong! Everything is fine!"

"Right! There is nothing wrong in this state of full alert!"

The two Royal Palace soldiers looked nervous with my presence appearing behind them.

"Why do you look so nervous?" I asked while watching their every movement.

"N-Nothing! We are just too disciplined when on alert!"

"That’s right! If the Royal Palace troops are not disciplined when on alert, it will tarnish our good name as the vanguard of the Royal Palace."

The reasons they gave seemed made up until their gazes were fixed on one of the Royal Palace soldiers who was slightly injured when my sharp sword managed to leave a wound on his lower crotch.

"Hmm…" I immediately pulled the handle of my katana while watching their still frightened expressions.

"Hiieekk!!" the two Royal Palace soldiers screamed at the same time.

"If you can answer my question, maybe you won’t get hurt, I can guarantee that," I said with a friendlier smile than before.

The two Royal Palace soldiers just fell silent and stood up straight with full alertness.

"I know the reason behind this siege, but isn’t this a little too much?"

"Just so you know, I won’t do something dishonorable like piling up corpses inside the Royal Palace if something that doesn’t attract my wrath happens."

In between my words, I once again performed the Sakura Dash move by moving beside them and pressing the sharp blade of my katana that had come out of its sheath against their thighs.

I didn’t scratch them.

It was just a small bluff before scratching them.

"If you can answer me about this little question."

"Then you will have a great chance to live for a little longer."

I smiled saying that sentence and suddenly a strange writing floated in front of my eyes.

[ Yurification System: Blessing of the Demon Queen has been activated! You can do bad deeds more honorably! ]

Eh, is this a blessing?

What kind of blessing allows bad deeds to be honorably done?

I immediately ignored the writing and continued to press the two Royal Palace soldiers with the important question about the surprise attack that night.

"Are they all owned by the Crown Prince of the Kingdom?" I asked in a clear and firm tone.

"All of them?" the soldier in front of me seemed confused by my words.

"Oh! Those? Y-Yes! There’s no mistake, they belong to the Crown Prince of the Kingdom and the Queen has personally taken care of all of that with her punishment order!" shouted one of the soldiers next to him.

Seeing his body’s very frightened response, I immediately put my katana back into its sheath.

"Good answer, I like that honesty," I said while nodding my head in a small respect for him.

Using Sakura Dash to return to my family, I could see Mio smiling at me.

"Lily-sama, have you gotten the confirmation?" asked Mio with a smile like a Maid who was in charge of serving me.

"Yes, there’s no mistake, Mio. It does belong to that trash."

"Ah! Then, it was the right decision when we threw it here."

"From the start, it was trash that drifted into Marquess Rommel’s residence. I feel fortunate to slowly reduce the power of that trash considering that the Queen seems to have taken action."

"Fufu… Lily-sama seems to be enjoying this. Is this because of a grudge from the previous party?"

"Mio, I don’t have any grudges like that. This is just my pure generosity in returning the trash to its place."

"Yes, I understand the feeling of that, Lily-sama."

While Mio and I were having a small talk, I could see a girl looking at me with shiny binoculars from a distance.

Her golden blonde hair was topped with a small crown that showed her status as a member of the royal family. I had never seen the girl before but it felt like she was looking at my body so intensely because the shine was not coming from the binoculars but from her dripping saliva.

I didn’t know the royal family had such strangeness.

A Queen who was willing to be a pet and one of the royal family members who was observing me through binoculars without caring about her dripping saliva. I could even see her maid wiping her face which was covered in saliva.

"Mio, my appearance isn’t that strange, is it?" I said to Mio.

"There’s nothing strange, Lily-sama. You appeared perfectly and charmingly today. There’s nothing to ruin your great appearance that managed to instill fear not to attack Marquess Rommel’s family."

"Um, what does that mean, Mio?"

"Lily-sama, didn’t you notice?"

"Huh?"

I was a little confused by Mio’s words.

"When Marcioness Amagi left the main division of the royal mage army, the task she carried out had given enough warning of her extraordinary magic power by burning down a large worm nest in the desert.

Marquess Rommel has been recognized as a military noble who can suppress unpredictable wild forest monsters thanks to his experience at the Royal Military Academy which always handles emergencies from monster attacks. But from all that, Lily-sama has proven her great worth if not only Marquess Rommel and Marchioness who have extraordinary combat power."

"What is that meaning?" I was very confused by Mio’s complicated words.

"That means they were very surprised when the Queen of the Aurora Kingdom became your obedient pet. Isn’t that more extraordinary compared to Marquess Rommel and Marchioness Amagi?"

"I don’t know, I didn’t know my parents looked so great like that."

"Fufu… when compared to Lily-sama, Alice-sama, and Alyssa-sama. This family is much stronger than the royal family. So don’t hesitate to bare your fangs at the party, Lily-sama."

"Huh? Unn... I understand."

Honestly, I don’t understand this situation at all.

But since this situation is still manageable, I just need to draw an opportunity for Zoe to shine with her prepared curse, right?

At least, this is the initial stage of me being able to fight back to protect myself.

Besides, I can see Alice and Alyssa working hard by spreading out invisible protection magic. Even Mio who doesn’t like magic can’t see the magic barrier that has covered her body.

It seems this stage is still too small to release Zoe’s curse.

Should I spread Zoe’s butterfly wings to shine more?

I hope I can see Zoe’s curse.

If the situation is too comfortable like this. I have a bad feeling to hate this peaceful situation.

Leaving the line of Imperial Palace soldiers surrounding our horse-drawn carriage, Marquess Rommel gave the order to move aside and we easily entered the royal family’s pre-party without any further trouble.

I wanted to find the problem that spread Zoe’s cursed wings.

I hoped I could find that problem.