Chapter 24: Empress Fredrica

Late at night, on the dimly lit street, Clarette—dressed in a maid outfit—was sprinting for her life, with the town’s security patrol hot on her heels.

The captain of the guard, his face swollen and bruised, shouted furiously, “Don’t let her get away! Ow—damn it, that hurts! She actually attacked me, the captain! Get her!”

“Yes, sir!”

Clarette dashed ahead like the wind, even turning back to make a face at the captain and mock him.
“Trash! Trash!”

You dare talk nonsense?

We clearly fought a nearly full-health S-rank monster—how the hell was that ‘stealing the kill’ from a weakened one?!

Clarette was fuming.

She didn’t care about those ignorant townspeople—arguing with them was beneath her.

But this guy who’d slandered them with such baseless lies? No way was she letting it slide!

She had to beat him up.

Otherwise, her heart wouldn’t be at peace!

Her lady may not have been a “good person” in the traditional sense, but at least this time, she’d saved the town.

And this was how they repaid her?!

If she’d known it would turn out like this, she would’ve urged her lady to flee immediately!

What Clarette didn’t realize was that, without even noticing, she had already begun seeing things entirely from Eileen’s perspective.

Meanwhile, the captain of the guard was seething.

He’d been drinking and bragging with his men when Clarette had suddenly appeared—without a word—pinned him down and beat the crap out of him.

Her fists were merciless; the pain still made him wince.

“Block her off up ahead!”

Clarette’s eyes widened in alarm. She skidded to a halt—there were more guards coming from the other end of the street.

With no escape route in sight, she had no choice but to charge into the nearby inn.

The captain shouted, “After her! Drag her out of there!”

But the moment he finished shouting, thunk—everything went dark.

A stone smacked him squarely on the head.

“Argh!”

The suspenders-wearing captain howled in pain and collapsed to the ground.

“Who the hell threw that?! Are you blind?!”

Leila was walking calmly down the staircase inside the inn, her expression chilly.

She casually tossed another pebble in her hand, making no attempt to hide the fact that it was she who’d thrown it.

If her lady hadn’t forbidden it to avoid unnecessary trouble, she’d have sent this idiot to meet his maker already.

If he hadn’t twisted the story to reverse right and wrong, would her lady have become the public enemy like this?

“What’s wrong? Got a problem?” Leila asked coldly.

“My lady is resting. What exactly are you doing barging in here with your men?”

“That maid of yours beat me up just now—I came to demand an explanation!”

“Our maid?” Leila blinked innocently, then shrugged.

“Sorry, haven’t seen her. You guys see anyone come in?”

The knights on night duty all shook their heads instantly.

This drove the captain mad.

“I want to search the place!” he roared.

The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere inside the inn changed completely.

It wasn’t just Leila who showed a murderous glint in her eyes—even the knights guarding the place subtly moved their hands toward the hilts of their swords.

They were just as angry.

They had risked their lives to defeat an S-rank magical beast, and instead of gaining recognition, they were slandered and insulted? Outrageous!

And the culprit behind all this was standing right in front of them.

The only reason they hadn’t drawn their swords was because of their military discipline.

Frankly, they thought Clarette had done well to beat him up—maybe even not hard enough.

If he dared to barge in now, they wouldn’t mind giving him a few more lumps on the head themselves.

The captain of the guard had never seen a lineup like this.

He was just the captain of a small town’s security squad.

On a normal day, the most he did was chase down petty thieves or clean up weak monsters that wandered into town.

Compared to these knights—who had clawed their way out of literal piles of corpses—he was worlds apart.

He froze in fear at the door, unable to move a muscle.

It took him ages to choke out a weak protest.

“Y-you’re just abusing your power!”

“And what if we are? What are you gonna do about it? Go report us to the city council? Have the kingdom send someone to arrest me?”

The voice rang out lazily, and all eyes turned toward the stairs.

Descending at a slow pace was Eileen, yawning mid-sentence.

Behind her, Clarette followed meekly, looking as docile as could be—completely unlike the fiery girl from before.

The captain’s face turned red, then pale, and in the end, he folded.

He had no choice but to bow his head before the power of the villainous noble heiress.

He was just a mere town guard captain—if he hadn’t been drunk earlier, he wouldn’t have even dared to chase after Clarette in the first place.

What was a marquis?

What kind of status did that title carry?

And the marquis’s daughter?

How could he possibly afford to provoke someone like her?

He couldn’t.

With the help of his subordinates, the captain limped away, his face dark with gloom and frustration.

One of his men tried to comfort him.

“Captain, she’s the daughter of a marquis. We can’t afford to cross someone like that.”

But the captain wasn’t thinking about that.

Your Majesty…

I did exactly as you ordered. I made the marquis’s daughter a public enemy, ruined her reputation.

So why did you hit me?!

What did I do wrong?!

If you don’t tell me… how am I supposed to sleep tonight?!

*****

At that moment, in the capital—inside the Ministry of Military Affairs.

Under the dim glow of magical lamps, the female marquis Cecil sat at her desk.

Spread out before her was a map of the disputed zone between the Kingdom and the Empire.

Nearly every year, the two nations clashed in minor skirmishes.

So far, they had remained border conflicts—never escalating into full-scale war.

But Cecil had a nagging feeling… like the calm before a storm.

As she sat in silent thought, a shadow moved behind her.

Dressed in black stealth garb, her aide Rachel appeared quietly.

“Report, Lady Marquis. Many of the Empire’s spies spreading those rumors in the capital have been captured. We’ve nearly wiped out the source of the false information.”

Cecil smiled faintly.

“Well done.”

The old Veil hadn’t been like this at all.

If the First Prince hadn’t suddenly lost his mind and launched a coup—and then mysteriously dropped dead—the line of succession would’ve never fallen to her in the first place!

She’d been riding a wave of ridiculous good fortune for years now.

The Second Prince had already won the loyalty of most high-ranking officials.

But maybe… just maybe… her luck was finally running out?

“Get ready to inspect the troops. It won’t do to keep His Highness waiting.”

“Yes, Lady Marquis.”

Rachel hesitated for a second as if she remembered something.

“By the way, we received word from our informants in the imperial capital. The Empress hasn’t been attending court recently—she’s barely shown herself at all. Could she be plotting something again?”

Cecil’s expression changed subtly.

She remembered the Empress’s face clearly.

During the ceasefire negotiations between the Kingdom and the Empire, she had met her once—just a brief encounter.

A golden-haired, crimson-eyed beauty of unparalleled charm.

Still young, but already dangerous enough to topple nations.

If her daughter ever met someone like that… Cecil had a sinking suspicion that girl might just abandon the entire Kingdom to get close to her.

But what puzzled her most was that, during their brief meeting, the Empress had asked her about someone named “Eileen.”

Cecil had found it odd at the time.

And the Empress’s name was—

…

“Fredrica?”

*****

Early the next morning, Eileen woke up bright and early.

As she stepped into the inn’s common room, she was met with a curious sight: her newly hired maid, Clarette, sitting alone at one of the tables.

In her hand was a pendant with the name Fredrica etched on it.

She was slumped over the table, staring at it blankly…