Secrets of the Villainous Empress

Chapter Twelve: Everyone Gets Jitters The Night Before…

I moved the white bishop to C4 then tapped the wooden board with my forefinger.

Since the meeting with the gods, eleven days had passed.

I stared at Hends lying casually on the couch, then sighed.

Everyone on the list he provided several days ago was either being detained in the dungeon or were in the process of ‘being’ arrested by his hounds.

The food brought by the butler once a day without fail was always poisoned, with more than double the amount meaning that not only were some people getting desperate, I had also missed a rat. 

After the meeting in the temple, the system did not come back online, even to say its usual stretched out goodbyes.

I sighed then turned to the map of Cursix plastered on my wall.

Duke George Theodore Cursix would not orchestrate something like this. He was a snide man, but he was too calculative for a poison assassination that can be traced. This reeks of Innes, the dutchess, her or her children.

I’d bet my life that it was her favoured Kassim. He was the one who handled his little sister’s case in the academy. By handling, I mean he handed out bribes and pulled strings in the background to make the bullying problem seem like a ‘child got hurt while playing.’

He is calculative, vindictive and, more than that, arrogant.

The Theodore-Cursix household are descendants of the First Emperor’s brother Dietrich, who ended up with the female lead, meaning their attacks were solely due to their belief that they should have been the linage to lead the Empire.

An old grudge indicates typically that there are allies, factions and secret organisations behind the scenes so that even if they feel as though they are in charge, they could be mere pawns of a strickler.

Is that why the gods needed Aleu to be a Tyrant? Meaning, in a sense, that the gods did not want the Theodores’ on the throne.

It could also mean that this section of the throne fights is mostly Aleu’s to deal with.

So, does that mean that I should let the main culprit in Azalea’s assassination go? This way, he can learn to fight his own battles as they may mostly attack Fuscia, which can toughen him.

I frowned.

It can harden him, but I don’t know how much of a ‘coward’ he really is, meaning that I need to up the difficulty for him…

I turned to the night sky, whose only light source was the glittering silver stars far across the distance, then hummed.

The coward of the west…huh?

Should I make it easy for him to kill me?

Hmm…

Still, which duchy would support the Theodores?

The West was a land of scholars, the North non-humans, the South merchants, and the East is coastal, so they deal mostly in hotels, and they were mainly a tourist spot. The religious nuts were all gone, erased by time, meaning that the dutchy that offers their support to the Theodore Cursix was looking for more…. Or if they were not a duchy but a faction, it grows more complicated by the second.

This…this is why I hate noble roles.

Akonia, the Northern Territory, was the only allied one, the West claims neutrality, but the fact that they sent thirteen spies to the palace would make anyone call bull. The East is neutral, and so is the South.

I tapped the board once more because it was too quiet. Considering that the meeting is tomorrow, the palace was too quiet.

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Fuscia Greene

“Do you have any more luggage on you?” a white-haired man who had been holding a sign with her name scrawled in cursive asked as he took the only suitcase she had in her hand.

The man looked as though he was in his mid-sixties, and even though he looked eerily familiar, as though she had seen him in either broadcasts, crystal visions or even the papers, he still treated her, a nobody, with respect.

The man has to be working for the Empress, right? She wasn’t getting mugged?

-Right, polite, polite-

-That’s right, even if this is a mugging because I exited from the noble side of the train…a polite mugging leaves no casualties!!-

-…except for the one who is getting mugged. Curses!-

“No, thank you for your assistance,” Fuscia responded, then cleared her throat, hoping that that was enough to get the man with two people, who resembled knights, behind him to at the very least introduce himself.

“Right, My name is Edward Storm Mathews. I am the Imperial butler, sent by her imperial majesty herself to escort you to the palace.”

-The Empress sent the butler?! Herself??-

-Wait…Storm Mathews?! Isn’t he the man who was on the cover of last month’s ‘home n’ style’ lifestyle magazine?!-

-Wait, let's go back to where he said the Empress sent him??! Am I really that important? No way, I am just a maid!! Shouldn’t she have sent…rather, no one?-

Fuscia had never in her life been summoned…well, anywhere before, so she was uncertain of the ‘normal’ protocol. However, sending the butler, a celebrity in the home lifestyle world, felt over the top for some reason.

When the Duke of Nissa sent her off, all he granted her was a carriage to the station and an ominous-sounding warning about reporting to him the reason for the summoning after she returned. She had had to purchase her own ticket, only for it to be upgraded by the Empress.

The white-haired man cleared his throat then turned to introduce the two knights behind him.

“This is Jelly Kion, a knight in the special division.” He said, introducing the blue-haired and aqua eyed female knight beside him.

“Hello.” She bowed.

-Bowing…to me…-

The butler then turned to the brown-haired male knight standing on his opposite side.

“This is Chider Forrest, a knight in the first division.”

Jelly had a pure white uniform with gold and red alternate hems, while Chider wore a navy blue uniform with black hemmed stitching.

-Imperial knights?-

An odd mix of excitement and fear claimed Fuscia as she tried to rack her brain on her possible importance or how the empress was even aware of her humble existence.

The surprises, unfortunately, had not begun there. They had started when she had left the carriage that the Duke had offered to board the still expensive commoner side of the train, only to find that her ticket had been upgraded.

Of course, Fuscia couldn't leave her room because of the blatant discrimination she would receive if she, a mere maid with less than a suitcase of Keris, was found in the Aristocratic section of the train.

But thankfully, she didn’t have to leave until the journey was complete. There was both on the clock room service and a heated pool inside her room!! The difference between the two sections in the train was astronomical, and no matter how often she tried to tell herself to be grateful, after this trip, she figured that she would have very little to be ‘grateful’ for, or so she had teased herself.

“Hello, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintances.” She said, then bowed.

The butler nodded as though her fascination meant very little to him, then led them all to a private exit to the station that she had never known existed.

“Please understand, as the Empress has summoned a council meeting set for tomorrow, your summoning has been set for three days after. In the meantime, as there is a lot of heat directed to the upper aristocratic families, I would suggest that you occupy yourself with in-palace activities. If you do decide to disregard my advice, I ask that you at least take one of the two knights offered to you.” The butler said, all while walking towards a pure white large carriage with gold embeddings.

The coachman dressed in white extended his hand to help her get on. As Fuscia settled in the warm crimson seats, with the only glow emanating from the orange fire crystals on the roof of the carriage surrounding the skylight providing both lighting and warmth, the butler and Jelly joined her.

She had hoped that all of them would enjoy the carriages seating, but Chider sat outside next to the coachman.

The carriage began to move, and Fuscia, for the first time, did not wince in discomfort at the hard wooden seats that transport carriages mostly hailed.

-So this how the upper quarter live.-

“Now, there are various dangers in the palace that you need to avoid. However, most of them will lessen by tomorrow except the paparazzi bit.”

“If by any chance you are a subject of discussion and are requested for an interview whenever, and by whichever form of publication, you are not to mention the Empress or any members of the imperial family. The members of the imperial family include all the staff that you will meet during your stay.”

“Next, for tonight, you are to go straight to your rooms and lock all windows and doors. You will not open for anyone at any point of the night. If you do, you might end up losing your life. Jelly will be stationed outside your door throughout the night. Therefore, as long as you adhere to the instructions, your safety is guaranteed.”

“Let us move on to conduct. During your stay in the palace, if you see the Empress or anyone from the noble households, you must neither approach nor speak to them. You must stop and bow until they have fully passed your station, that is unless otherwise instructed….”

He proceeded with the instructions for what Fuscia was certain was a little over two hours, and then finally, the carriage stopped for inspection at the gates.

It was a little past midnight, so all the streetlight in the tarmacked road leading to the palace were well lit, offering a marvellous halo inside the carriage, primarily through the skylight.

“Wow…” Fuscia gasped in delight. If her life was a movie, wouldn’t this be where it began?

…If only, if only Aleu were here to see this with her.

“Now, for the last and most important piece of information. During your stay, if you are bribed, kidnapped, threatened, tortured or otherwise, do you swear to keep any palace information in private at the expense of your life?”

-is…is he serious?-

“I am one hundred percent serious and need your consent before I proceed with the rest of the instructions, especially pertaining to your room. Keep in mind; all roads lead to hell. If you are found to have given out information by any means to the outside world, especially those termed as ‘secret’ ‘private’ or ‘confidential, you shall be charged with high treason, whose punishment is death.”

-Wait…Is the Empress really dead?-

-Or did they switch her out with a double?-

-But wouldn’t that be found out during the meeting?-

-I don’t want to die! I don’t…-

“I…”  she began and jelly adjusted what Fuscia thought was her belt, then crossed her legs.

“Okay, I will take any and all imperial secrets to my grave.”

The butler nodded, and Jelly relaxed.

The carriage halted, and seconds later, the coachman opened the door for them, and that was where she saw the glimmering silver on Jelly’s belt, and a cold chill seeped down her back.

Fucia took a deep breath then stepped out of the carriage. Unfortunately, her first scent of the palace was not the roses blooming in the garden or the freshly cut grass; Rather, it was the scent of blood.