“Phil, why did you sell out the Qing Bao?”
Marentia stared at the small figure before her, a bit uncertain of what exactly Her Highness Nori meant.
From the very moment the man slipped in quietly, Nori had already noticed his presence. Those so-called Qing Bao were things Nori had deliberately revealed through conversation for the eavesdropper to overhear.
Marentia did not know who the intruder was, but judging by the current situation, he most likely belonged to the human side—a Hunter, enemy to the Blood Clan.
And yet, Nori had not reported him to the guards, but instead handed him important Qing Bao herself.
Wasn’t this, in effect, helping their enemies?
“Why is passing on Qing Bao considered betrayal? In truth, we were simply conducting a little experiment here,” Nori leaned against the balcony railing, smiling mischievously as the wind swept up her bangs, revealing eyes red as blood.
“To be overheard, to be discovered—these are things beyond our control, right?”
“…I suppose that’s true.”
“So, does Marentia have any complaints about what I did?”
“There’s nothing at all,” Marentia said.
She knew there was no point in arguing further. What Her Highness Nori decided, she would simply follow.
Nori’s decisions were always correct, and as for her, she only needed to loyally support Her Highness, no matter what.
“I am your maid, Nori. I will always be loyal to you.”
Nori’s eyelashes fluttered as she raised an eyebrow.
“You’ll always be loyal to me, will you?” she said, half-joking.
“Of course, truly, I will never betray you,” Marentia replied, her expression resolute. “In the eyes of outsiders, Nori may seem like a capricious Princess, but only I know how gentle she really is to me.”
Suddenly, Nori’s expression grew strange, pacing back and forth as if she found this answer rather unsatisfactory.
“Gentle? Marentia, I bully you all the time, throw things at you, leave you bruised and battered, and you still think I’m gentle?”
Nori looked at her maid, searching her face.
“I know all of that is just for show, to fool others,” Marentia replied, her voice full of conviction, without a trace of hesitation. “No matter what you do to me, I will always… always love you.”
The childish appearance, the innocent determination in her eyes—she loved everything about Nori, deeply and wholly. Before, she had thought such obsession was like some foreigner’s unhealthy attachment.
But now, this love and the mingling of passion and tenderness had filled Marentia’s heart completely.
“All of this is exactly as Nori intended.”
Hearing these words, Nori laughed softly, her eyes flickering with a mysterious emotion as she stepped closer.
“Marentia, you’re getting good at hiding yourself.”
“Huh… Nori?”
As if the calm before a storm had been suddenly shattered, Nori crept forward, her hand reaching out with iron-like strength to seize Marentia’s long hair, her voice cold and merciless.
“You actually enjoy being bullied, don’t you? Just like this.”
Before the words had even faded, Nori’s other hand swung up high and, with an irresistible force, slapped Marentia hard across the cheek.
Smack!
The slap came so suddenly, as fierce as a Fierce Gale. Marentia felt a ringing in her ear, and for a moment, it was as if the whole world lost all color and form.
She let out a shrill, involuntary cry, stumbling back a few steps, nearly falling to the floor. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall, only a thin line of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
“Do you like it?” Nori’s honeyed voice whispered in her ear. “Endure it. Just a bit longer, bear it for me.”
“Yes… yes…” Marentia gingerly touched her cheek, trembling.
Nori smiled with a bit of cruelty, letting go of Marentia, then skipped over to the bed.
“Look, look, when you sprayed perfume just now, you got my foot all wet,” she said as she kicked off her shoes, revealing slender legs, raising her foot high.
“Come on, Marentia, help me clean it up properly, like a little dog.”
Marentia’s face flushed, somewhat embarrassed and aggrieved, but she couldn’t resist Nori’s dominating aura. Hesitantly, she knelt before the Little Princess and began to imitate Nori’s gesture.
The maid’s hands trembled as she began to wipe her master’s foot with great care, just as she had been told. The atmosphere in the room grew strangely warm and intimate.
“It tickles… good, just like that, keep going,” Nori’s voice caressed her ear. “From now on, Nori will do everything to create a world where it’s just you and me, Marentia, so…”
That childish, intoxicating voice quietly murmured,
“No matter what I say, Marentia, you must always listen to me.”
It was a tone as cold and sharp as a blade, yet Marentia’s mind was already clouded by love.
“No matter what she says or does, Princess Nori’s performance is utterly flawless. But perhaps that’s exactly why I can sense the true danger behind it.”
In the letter, Ash analyzed calmly:
“The Blood Clan possesses an ability called ‘Condensed Perception.’ As long as they actively use it, they can sense changes within a certain range of their surroundings.
“In my later observations, I found that Nori is extremely vigilant of her environment, using Condensed Perception very frequently. I fear that I could be discovered at any moment.
“But she did not expose me. Instead, she informed me of these things.”
When the captain read this, he could almost see Ash’s smug expression before his eyes: the boy’s lips curled with a self-satisfied smile, his eyes gleaming with wild ambition, utterly confident in his own abilities.
“This proves there must be some hidden connection between her and Elgel. In my opinion, if we want to learn more about the Blood Clan’s internal affairs, that Little Princess may be the key contact.”
The letter ended there. As the last word faded, everyone standing on the empty ground fell silent.
Affairs within the Royal Capital were certainly precious Qing Bao, but to them at the moment, it seemed of little real help.
“Cooperating with the Blood Clan? That’s just a wild fantasy,” the examiner from before said heavily. “That youth might be skilled, but to draw such conclusions from so little evidence… I don’t find it all that convincing.”
“Right… Since this Qing Bao came from the enemy, what if it’s just a trick?”
“I also think we can’t trust it completely.” The captain thought for a moment, nodding.
“Still, since it’s Qing Bao from Ash, there’s some credibility to it. The letter also mentions that he didn’t just overhear the Little Princess—he conducted other observations within the palace. As a former authority in the Feather Division, Ash surely cross-verified the information through many channels before sending us this report.”
“Then, Captain, what do you plan to do?”
Just then, a girl’s voice rang out.
The Hunter’s ears twitched. It was the girl they had captured earlier, the one who called herself Phil.