“Ugh… I slept so well…”
Wait, wasn’t I at the banquet in the Yaoguang Palace?
Why am I lying here?
The girl began to recall.
She remembered that yesterday, she had been tormented by her Spirit Perception, so she had hidden against Isabella’s chest to escape the sensory overload.
Then… then, because it was so warm and soft, and because she was physically and mentally exhausted after spending the entire day in a carriage, she had fallen asleep right in those arms.
Fallen asleep…
Winnidith’s face turned bright red in an instant.
She had wondered why her pillow yesterday had been so comfortable!
It turns out it was!
It was!
“Aaaah!”
Winnidith covered her face and rolled around on the bed.
It was too embarrassing.
She had lost all face right after arriving in the Natural Forest!
‘Maybe I should just sneak back home right now?’
Throb, throb, throb!
A sharp pain from her skull made Winnidith freeze, and her expression immediately turned miserable.
‘What is wrong with this Spirit Perception! Why is there a life-threatening danger even if I just want to sneak home?!’
“Young Lady, are you awake?”
Winnidith immediately composed herself.
Although her head still ached, it was at least manageable.
Furthermore, the voice outside was not Bella’s.
“If you are awake, I am coming in.”
After a few more seconds of silence, the door to her room was opened.
The person entering was a maid dressed in a traditional maid uniform.
After staring at her face and thinking for several seconds, Winnidith remembered that she was one of the maids sent by the Pers family to serve Hiberton.
She remembered her name was Mei?
But as soon as Mei stepped inside, she was shocked by the mess in the room.
Even the rooms after the Master and his wives had finished their battles weren’t this messy!
Was the lifestyle of this Young Lady of the Trenton family really this chaotic?!
However… Miss Winnidith looked so cute in her pajamas!
Mei really wanted to scoop her up and give her a good squeeze!
Mei suppressed the urge to rush forward and instead explained the current situation to Winnidith.
“Last night’s banquet went very smoothly. The Young Master has already taken people to discuss the trade details with the representatives of the Elves.”
“Since you did not bring any maids on this trip, the Princess asked the Young Master for me to take care of your daily needs.”
“My name is Mei.
I will be in your care for the next few days, Miss Winnidith.”
Mei bowed.
Taking care of Winnidith was a wonderful assignment.
Even setting aside the power of the Trenton family she represented, who wouldn’t like a beautiful, well-behaved child who needed looking after?
They had nearly come to blows to fight for this spot.
In the end, Mei had won because she had once made a bowl of apple porridge for Winnidith.
Hearing her words, Winnidith blinked.
She wouldn’t say things like she didn’t need a servant.
Having lived in this world for 15 years, she was long accustomed to being cared for, and even in the carriage, Isabella had looked after her.
She was just curious why Isabella wasn’t the first person she saw upon waking.
“The Princess went out very early. She said she was going to make some transactions, and she took Mr. Arns with her. She told us not to worry,” Mei explained.
“Oh.”
Winnidith gave a soft response.
Pushing aside her internal frustration, she reached out and brushed back the messy silver hair behind her head.
“Then I’ll leave things to you.”
“Of course! Please leave it to me!”
Mei’s eyes lit up.
Taking the tools she had prepared, she began to groom Winnidith’s hair.
Throughout the process, Winnidith sat obediently in her lap.
But as her messy silver hair gradually became smooth, Winnidith’s thoughts also became clearer.
She couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.
“Did Bella not say anything to me before she left?”
“Eh?”
Mei, who was tidying the hair, thought back for a moment.
She suddenly remembered that Isabella really had left a specific message for Winnidith before departing.
“There was. As she was leaving, the Princess said:”
“The delegation’s mission is more than half finished. For what comes next, Wendy, you don’t need to do anything.”
***
In the early morning, just as the sun was rising, Isabella had left those words behind and departed the Silver Moon Palace with Arns.
However, during their journey, Arns still expressed his concerns to Isabella.
“Princess, will leaving such a simple sentence really be enough to keep Miss Winnidith in her room?”
He had heard Alvain’s words just as Isabella had, so he naturally knew how dangerous it would be to let Winnidith roam free.
That was why—
“Wendy isn’t stupid. If I say too much, she’ll notice something is wrong. This is enough for now.”
Isabella exhaled.
In reality, the best solution was to say nothing at all.
Without her supervision, Winnidith would certainly lead the same lazy life in the Silver Moon Palace as she did in the Imperial Capital.
But she was too worried.
Moreover, there was the potential temptation from Alvain in the shadows, so she had left that one sentence.
Knowing his understanding of Winnidith could never match Isabella’s, Arns dropped the subject and asked about their destination instead.
“We don’t have one. We only need to take a lap around the City of Emerald Shadows, and someone will naturally deliver our destination to us.”
Sure enough, as they turned a corner onto another street, an Alandin man dressed in Elven attire walked over with a smile.
“My master has been waiting for a long time ahead.”
“However, my master says that only the Princess alone may enter the area ahead. Therefore, I must ask you to stay here.”
“One person!”
Arns gripped his sword hilt but did not immediately argue.
Instead, he turned his head to look at Isabella.
“Arns, stay here and wait for me to come out.”
Without a shred of hesitation, Isabella gave Arns the order and followed the Alandin man into a courtyard.
Arns expanded his perception and discovered that the surroundings were already shrouded in a dense dark Magic Array.
He could only wait anxiously while praying for Isabella’s safety.
“Welcome, welcome. I didn’t expect you to actually come. Is it for the sake of Miss Winnidith? You are so good to your friend; it truly makes me envious.”
“Could I become your friend? Of course, I wouldn’t be as good to my friends as you are to yours.”
After turning into the courtyard, Isabella saw Olivier sitting playfully on a rattan chair.
Today, he was not wearing those flamboyant red robes.
Instead, he had changed into a set of exquisite clothes that looked exactly like what a normal noble would wear.
Thanks to this, Isabella finally clarified Winnidith’s confusion from the night before.
His chest and hips indeed had some curves.
“If you keep staring at those parts of me, it might damage the grace of the Empire Royal Family.”
Olivier gave her a shy glare.
But it didn’t matter.
Whether he had truly undergone a change or had been a woman disguised as a man all along, Isabella had only one goal for this trip.
“Tell me everything you know regarding Vilda.”
She sat opposite Olivier, her crimson eyes containing an irrepressible anger that looked like boiling lava.
“Showing your hand immediately isn’t what a good heir to the throne should do. Or perhaps you don’t want…”
“What do you want from me? The throne of the Alandin Kingdom?”
Isabella interrupted him.
As the Second Prince of the Alandin Kingdom, the only thing Isabella could imagine Olivier lacking was the throne.
But Olivier was stunned for a moment before laughing so hard he shook.
“No, no, no. The throne belongs to my elder brother, and it can only be his.”
He wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and met Isabella’s gaze with a serious expression.
“What I need is simply a single instance of your help.”
“Help?”
Isabella raised an eyebrow.
The payment couldn’t be that simple.
If this ‘help’ was used against the Empire, then she…
“Rest assured, our meeting is limited to the Natural Forest. Once we leave this place, the Princess of the Empire and the Second Prince of Alandin will have never had a private meeting.nDoes that requirement satisfy you?”
As if seeing through her concerns, Olivier kindly added a supplement, though this kindness only made the confusion in Isabella’s heart grow.
What exactly was he trying to do?
Isabella couldn’t figure it out.
Since she couldn’t figure it out, she decided not to think about it for now and get the information she needed first.
“Then the contract is established.”
Olivier spoke in a fairly light tone, his rising inflection filled with the joy of a young girl getting what she wanted.
“Though you might not believe me, within this one month in the City of Emerald Shadows, you and I are natural allies.”
The corners of Olivier’s mouth curved up as he asked mysteriously.
“Have you ever heard of the Dark Elves?”