Book 17: Chapter 15


    When I exited my room the next day, I discovered there was something strange about the atmosphere in the Royal Pce. Usually, it should pretty much as peaceful as it was in the elven imperial pce, yet when I woke up in the morning, there were more Valkyries present at the outer court. Further, the maids were running back and forth in a panic-stricken manner. I had no clue what was going on. Nier, who was next to me, was dressed in her sleep wear and white stockings, of course and she came out dressed that way. She asked one of the Valkyries, What happened?


    The Valkyrie bowed her head to us and reported, Your Majesties, a high-ranking finance minister was assassinated in the Royal Pces flower gardenst night. The entire Royal Pce has now been ced under martialw. Please remain at ease in the outer court and not thoughtlessly move about. I am very sorry. We have not been able to apprehend the culprit. In fact, we did not discover itst night. We only discovered the corpse this morning. We are very sorry, Your Majesty, we have failed in our duty.


    You should apologise to Her Majesty. I am not your superior. I shook my head.


    In all fairness, it wasnt the Valkyries fault. They were responsible for safety at the church until noon. Due to several days of highly stressful work, the Valkyries were all on breakst night, so the reins for guard duty in the Royal Pce were passed onto the army that entered the city. Because they couldnt enter the Royal Pce, interior of the pce was considerably empty. Only a number of Valkyries were on guard duty at the inner and outer courts. It was only natural that nobody paid attention to the flower garden.


    I went through lots of questions in my mind: If the assassin came into the Royal Pce already, why did they kill just a finance official? Also, he shouldve been innocent, shouldnt he? He was merely staying in hisne and serving Mommy Elizabeth. At least, I never heard of him. They were able to enter the Royal Pce when so many vassal states Kings and Queens were present, sneak into the outer court and an inner court, yet they chose to kill only one finance official? Why? Was it a personal vendetta? In the case that it was, why choose the Royal Pce?


    Putting aside whether or not the official was important to Mommy Elizabeth for the meantime, the most important point is that assassinating him in the Royal Pce is the equivalent of belittling Mom. In fact, its an insult to her. Just how insignificant do you consider Mommy Elizabeths Royal Pce? You think nothing of the Phoenixs Nest, huh?


    I got dressed. I ignored the Valkyries warning and stepped outside. The flower garden wasnt far from my outer court. The crucial factor at the moment was that the culprit was still atrge. There was the possibility it was someone employed in the pce whomitted the assassination. Sneaking into the Royal Pce through the military to assassinate someone would basically make them a puppet.


    I headed toward the inner court. I noticed the unusual atmosphere in the pce as soon as I stepped outside. The Royal Pce was in an idle state before, yet was extremely intense in spite of the warm sunlight in the morning. Valkyries were active. Maids and servants were questioned over and over. If they said just one thing that sounded off, the Valkyries would drag them out by their hair. If they dared to resist they shared the same fate as the corpse on the ground to my left. The Valkyries didnt even the time to get rid of corpses, after all.


    I then noticed two Valkyries nce toward the outer court and approach me. I knew they werent approaching with friendly intent with a single nce. I gently cleared my throat then went to block them off.


    The Valkyries gave me a bow before they straightened up to speak to me: Your Majesty, we are here to investigate all those in the Royal Pce under Her Majestys orders. Due to an assassination that has just happened, we are doing this out of consideration for your safety. I hope you take our duty into consideration and allow us to inspect the outer court.


    These Valkyries mustve been under different orders to the Valkyries outside of my outer court. The Valkyries outside of the outer court were under orders to protect it if I was correct, whereas this group was under orders to inspect and question all suspects. They even had the authority to kill on sight. Mom was furious, clearly.


    Who do you want to check? Nier or Daisy? I refused to move.


    The Valkyries froze and then quickly shook their heads: You misunderstand, Your Majesty, we do not mean it that way We are here on orders to investigate the assassination. Should the assassin be at the outer court, it would be risky for both you and Royal Princess, Her Majesty.


    In that case, you can leave now. There are no assassins at the outer court. I trust them. If the assassin really was after the royal family, they couldvee after me long ago; theres absolutely no need for them to assassinate a pitiful finance official. Ive lived here for a long time and not noticed any danger. Theres no need for you to inspect it.


    This is Empress Elizabeths order. We, too, need to investigate this case. If someone can provide us with clues, then that would be good, as well.


    Im a little unhappy with the way youre asking questions.


    We must be wary of those who are suspects.


    And the result of your wariness is indiscriminate violence? You cant be aggressive and rude to anyone before you have incriminating evidence to prove they are the assassin. What youre doing will only incite more panic in the Royal Pce. I can allow you to search the outer court and question the people present; however, I will not allow you to be rude to anyone. Theyre people who are looking after me; therefore, I, too, have an obligation to protect them.


    I walked off to the inner court. That was all that I said to them. I didnt hate Valkyries, nor did I want to have any conflicts with them. Their rights were drastically reduced after thest attempt on my life. However, they were allowed to kill at will again due to the assassination in the Royal Pce. I wasnt worried about the outer court because Nier was there. All the Valkyries would irrefutably respect their senior, Nier.


    I went to the inner court but didnt know if Mom would be there or not. Nevertheless, I believed Mom wouldnt hold another conference right after her finance official was killed. I didnt take long before I pped myself in the face, though, for Mom wasnt at the inner court. She had gone off to a conference. Seriously, nothing could shake her


    I nned to take advantage of the situation to investigate the incident. After all, it was serious if I was to be honest. It wasnt so much because the finance official was overwhelmingly important but because the assassination was essentially flipping the bird at Mommy Elizabeth. Plus, it took ce while the vassal states were present, which embarrassed Mom even more. That was the reason shed persist until she got to the bottom of it. I had to find out what happened before shemenced an indiscriminate massacre. Of course, I was just as curious as to who exactly dared to pull off the assassination and what his goal was.