Eileen’s carriage pressed forward through the wind and snow toward the fortress occupied by the Empire. Inside the command room of Maria Fortress, the Imperial Chancellor—the same “Blackstone Guild Master” who had once suffered a setback at the Raven Silver Mine—stood proudly, a smug smile plastered on his face.
He stroked his carefully trimmed goatee, eyes fixed on the battle map where the northern border of the kingdom was dotted with the Empire’s black eagle flags, the smile on his lips barely contained.
“Brilliant… truly brilliant!” he murmured, eyes gleaming with an almost fanatical admiration for Empress Fredericka.
“Putting herself in danger, using herself as bait, disguising as a fragile adventurer girl, not only infiltrating the kingdom’s core successfully but also capturing these three ironclad fortresses the kingdom has boasted about for centuries! Her Majesty’s intelligence is unfathomable! This deal isn’t just paid back with interest—it’s overflowing with profit!”
In his eyes, the Empress’s ruse of posing as Clarette, Governor of Raven Territory, was a masterstroke.
Not only had it effortlessly diverted the border army’s main forces, but it had also completely crushed Marquis Cecil’s influence in the kingdom’s court, leaving his trust in ruins.
Now, several prosperous border territories, including the resource-rich Raven Territory, were under the Empire’s actual control.
“Hmph, Crown Princess Will? Nothing but an immature girl with a hollow reputation.” The Chancellor sneered disdainfully, tapping his fingers on the edge of the battle map.
“Leading a group of untested kingdom knights and a hastily assembled legion, and yet she dares to try and stop the Empire’s iron cavalry? What a huge joke! This war is a sure thing!”
He especially admired Her Majesty’s use of “Dawnshade,” the shadowy dagger in the dark.
If it weren’t for those ghostlike top assassins, who had secretly replaced the fortress’s key commanders without anyone noticing, it would have been impossible to capture a fortress maintained for a hundred years just with an official transfer order.
Thinking of Dawnshade’s leader, Dark Crow Lorelei, and the Empress’s absolute control over her, the Chancellor felt utterly assured.
“Right now, Her Majesty is surely plotting to wipe out this decaying kingdom and that damned church in one stroke, isn’t she?” the Chancellor said confidently, gazing out at the fortress’s stern military formation.
“As a loyal subject, I only need to fulfill my duties and clear obstacles for Her Majesty! But Her Majesty has thought of so much more!”
However, the Empress the Chancellor imagined—strategizing and farsighted—was in a completely different situation at this very moment.
Inside the former commander’s residence, the most lavish building in Rosay Fortress, Fredericka—or rather, the Imperial Empress who had just shed the “Clarette” disguise—was sprawled on a large bed draped with expensive swan velvet, utterly without dignity.
Clutching a roughly made but unmistakably custom life-sized pillow modeled after Eileen, she buried her face deep in the soft “chest” of the pillow, her legs kicking excitedly in the air, making muffled sounds like a little girl who had stolen candy.
“Eileen… Eileen… my Eileen…” She rolled around, cheeks flushed unnaturally red, eyes dreamy and excited.
“You finally have no choice… The kingdom has abandoned you, the church has slandered you, the whole world is against you… Now, only here, with me, is your true home!”
The thought of Eileen being driven to desperation and finally having to come to her filled Fredericka with immense satisfaction and possessiveness, nearly driving her to scream in excitement.
“Taking the fortress and forcing you into my arms… killing two birds with one stone! I really am a genius! Fredericka is a genius!”
She rolled over on the bed again, burying her face deeper, greedily inhaling as if she could catch the faint, illusory scent of Eileen left on the pillow.
Her mind drifted back to a distant past.
That year, the imperial court was engulfed in a coup, bloodshed and chaos everywhere.
The young girl fled toward the kingdom’s border like a lost dog, with her loyal guards almost all killed.
Hungry, cold, gravely wounded, she collapsed in the freezing snow, consciousness fading, only to see a blurry figure emanating a warm glow approaching her…
It was Eileen.
Back then, Eileen was just a girl about the same age as her.
Without hesitation, she took in the mysterious girl, cared for her meticulously, providing the only warmth and shelter amid the cold despair.
Those clear golden eyes, that unguarded kindness and gentleness, were branded deep into Fredericka’s soul.
From that moment on, Fredericka understood—she wanted this person! No matter the cost!
Yet, she was the Empire’s princess (later Empress), and Eileen was the marquis’s daughter of the kingdom.
Between them lay national hatred, family grudges, and the cold walls of politics. She knew she could never openly possess Eileen under the name “Fredericka.”
Over the years, she had constantly schemed and planned. How to make Eileen leave that doomed kingdom? How to make her willingly fall into her arms?
A vast and intricate plan had slowly taken shape in her heart.
The “amnesia” disguise was the perfect mask to approach Eileen.
Those days together in the Raven Territory were the sweetest yet most painful time of her life.
Sweet because she could be so close to her, feel her presence; painful because she had to suppress her raging emotions and play the role of a “loyal and reliable” maid.
Especially that ambiguous night locked in the cellar… just thinking about it made Fredericka’s heart race and cheeks burn. Eileen’s panicked yet forced calm expression was simply too adorable!
“This time… this time you won’t escape, my Eileen…” Fredericka murmured, pressing against the pillow with an obsession in her eyes that glowed with a predestined certainty.
“I’ll make you understand that only by being with me can you find true happiness and…”
“—Your Majesty, watch out!”
A cold, urgent shout thundered in Fredericka’s ear like a clap of thunder!
The Empress, lost in her sweet delusions, suddenly snapped to attention! A chill, lethal intent, condensed to its peak, struck like a viper bursting from the darkest corner of the room’s shadow!
A cold gleam sliced through the air, driven by a desperate determination, aimed straight at Fredericka’s pale throat!
Fast! Ruthless! Precise!
This was no ordinary assassin but a top killer, a master of the shadows! The timing was perfect—right when Fredericka’s mind was at its most relaxed, and her guard was down!
Her pupils suddenly contracted! Her body reacted faster than her mind, clutching the pillow and rolling inward on the bed in a clumsy, undignified way that completely lost the Empress’s usual grace!
Ssshk!
The sharp dagger’s tip grazed the side of her neck, drawing a line of blood, and slammed deep into the soft velvet pillow! The cold breath of death made the hairs on Fredericka’s skin stand on end!
But just as the dagger was about to fully pierce the pillow and wound Fredericka—
Another hand clad in black leather armor shot out from a different shadow, like iron pincers, lightning-fast and unerringly grabbing the assassin’s wrist!
“Hmph!”
A cold snort, youthful in tone yet icy beyond measure, sounded.
The assassin’s figure was forcibly dragged out from the shadows! It was Eileen’s maid, Layla!
Her face was etched with deep hatred and resolve, struggling desperately, but the hand holding her wrist was incredibly strong, unmoving!
“Layla… after all these years, have you… grown weaker?”
A petite figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
She wore form-fitting black leather armor that shaped her nearly flat figure. Her face was partially hidden by a raven mask covering the upper half, revealing only a finely contoured chin and lips curled into a mocking smirk.
Her voice was crisp and girlish, but the eyes behind the mask’s holes were cold and indifferent, as if distilled from a millennium of ice.
She was the leader of “Dawnshade,” the world’s deadliest assassin, code-named “Dark Crow”—Lorelei!
A creature of unknown age, yet looking like a twelve or thirteen-year-old loli!
“Has indulging in the comforts of maid life made your blade rusty? You dare try to assassinate Her Majesty with this pathetic skill?” Lorelei’s voice dripped with unmasked contempt.
“Lorelei! Let me go!” Layla roared, eyes blazing at Fredericka, who was still shaken on the bed, blood seeping from her neck.
“Fredericka! You vile lunatic! You’ve doomed the young lady to endless torment! I will never forgive you!”
Fredericka sat up, touching the fiery wound on her neck, watching the blood on her fingertips. Her excited flush instantly faded, replaced by a frost-like chill.
The love-drunk daze in her eyes vanished, replaced by the cold majesty of the Imperial Empress.
“Love?” Fredericka’s voice was low and dangerous, laced with an unquestionable pressure.
“Layla, what do you understand? It’s precisely because I love Eileen deeply that I must do this! Only by tearing her away completely from that rotten kingdom, away from the hypocrites who would hurt her, only by leaving her nowhere to go can she truly belong to me! Everything I’ve done is to win her, to protect her! Such deep love—how could a servant like you, who only knows blind loyalty, possibly understand?!”
“Nonsense! Your twisted love will only destroy the young lady!” Layla shouted in fury.
Lorelei tightened her grip on Layla’s wrist slightly. Layla gasped, feeling her bones nearly crushed. The dagger slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor.
“Your Majesty, how do you wish to deal with this traitor?” Lorelei asked, her voice void of emotion, as if discussing how to dispose of trash.
“Kill her?”
Fredericka looked at Layla’s face twisted with rage and helplessness, fell silent for a moment, her eyes flickering.
“No.”
She slowly shook her head, a cold smile curling on her lips.
“Keep her alive. She still has use. After all… she’s Eileen’s ‘most trusted’ maid, isn’t she? Lock her up and guard her closely.”
“Yes.” Lorelei nodded without hesitation.
With a slight wave of her hand, two ghostlike black shadows silently appeared behind Layla.
They deftly removed her chin guard to prevent her from biting her tongue and shackled her limbs and magical circuits with specially made shadow restraints.
Layla could only emit angry, desperate whimpers as the two shadows dragged her into deeper darkness.
Silence returned to the room, leaving only the faint scent of blood and Fredericka’s slightly heavy breathing.
Lorelei slipped silently back into the shadows, as if she had never been there.
Fredericka sat on the disheveled bed, stroking the wound on her neck, her eyes clouded and unreadable.
The near-assassination and Layla’s furious accusations doused the excitement she had just felt like a bucket of cold water.
“Eileen…”
She lowered her gaze to the pillow embroidered with Eileen’s smiling face. Her fingers clenched so tightly that her knuckles whitened, voice trembling with barely restrained fanatic obsession.
“Very soon… very soon we’ll be together forever… No one can stop us… no one can…”
Meanwhile, in Sol City, the key stronghold in the kingdom’s northern border.
The heavy city gates slowly opened and closed, weary armored kingdom knights stained with blood trudging through the snow into the city.
Above the walls, the banner symbolizing the Crown Princess fluttered in the cold wind, though it seemed somewhat listless.
Inside the temporarily requisitioned city lord’s mansion, the atmosphere was as oppressive as solid lead.
Crown Princess Will—or rather, Veil, clad in silver armor with a heavy fatigue etched on her brow—was staring intently at the massive military map before her.
On the map, black arrows representing the Empire’s invasion snaked forward like venomous serpents, stretching deep into the kingdom’s heartland from the lost fortresses of Maria, Rosay, and Hina.
Sol City, where she stood, was like a solitary nail in the path of one of these black arrows.
Her pale fingers pressed hard against Sol City on the map, knuckles white from the force.
“Still… I just can’t believe it…” Veil’s voice was heavy with deep confusion and a burden hard to shake, as if talking to herself or confiding in the silent kingdom generals around her.
“Eileen… colluding with the Empire? Inviting the wolf inside? How… how is this possible?!”
Before her eyes floated the image of the silver-haired girl at the capital, who, despite bearing the title of “villainous marquis’s daughter” at the banquet, had eyes clear and sincere; the Eileen Raven who had remained carefree and indifferent amid all rumors.
That Eileen would betray her own country by conspiring with the hated Empire? Even letting the imperial iron hoof trample her family’s lands?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible. There must be something hidden behind this matter!
In the past, Veil had once made grievous mistakes by trusting rumors and deeply hurting Eileen, but this time would be different. No matter the kingdom’s gossip, she would firmly stand by Eileen’s side!
She would choose to believe her!
“… Eileen, please don’t disappoint me.”
Is this the same novel? Who are these characters?
gross. Whoever this empress is, I despise manipulative rapist assholes. I don’t give a shit about your obsession, I hope your death is painful and eternal.