Chapter 272 : Chapter 272
Chapter 272. Nevira: Little Virgin, You Have Quite the Imagination
In the shadows, a slender figure slowly emerged. The other party wore tight leather armor of the same style, except that an extremely discreet red maple leaf was embroidered at the collar.
That was First Prince Dorg’s personal Shadow Guard, Nevira.
“My dear little sister, being too curious is not a good thing.” Nevira’s voice was cold, like some precisely operating construct, without the slightest trace of unnecessary emotion.
Esmeralda’s eyes narrowed slightly. Yet her fingers, which were gripping the short blade “Scarlet Lady,” unconsciously relaxed for an instant. In the circles of the Shadow Guards, Nevira’s reputation was no smaller than hers.
Moreover, in this world, no one knew the woman before her better than she did.
She was her elder sister by blood.
As biological sisters, they had been selected for Shadow Guard training when they were still children.
Later, her elder sister Nevira had been chosen for Redleaf Manor and became First Prince Dorg’s sharpest blade. Esmeralda, meanwhile, had been assigned to Princess Sylvia’s side.
“A person of the First Prince appearing outside the king’s bedchamber late at night isn’t exactly something that can be brought into the light either, is it?” Esmeralda snorted coldly, but the corner of her mouth curved into her signature frivolous smile.
She deliberately paused, her gaze brazenly sweeping up and down Nevira’s taut leather armor twice.
“My dear big sister, I hear the First Prince has been so weak lately that he can barely even walk. Since you guard him personally every day, haven’t you taken the opportunity to ‘replenish’ him in bed? Look at how tightly that leather armor squeezes you. Your figure is getting more and more impressive. The First Prince must be enjoying himself quite a bit, no?”
Nevira curled her lip in disdain. Faced with such blatant provocation, she merely gave an extremely faint cold sneer.
“Esmeralda, after all these years, you still haven’t changed that habit of spouting nonsense.”
Nevira lifted her eyes, her indifferent gaze sweeping over the other woman as though she were looking at garbage.
“You spend all day keeping those vulgar jokes on your lips and pretending to be some seasoned veteran of romance. And the result? You’re already in your thirties, yet I’m afraid you’re still an old virgin who has never even held a man’s hand. You can only satisfy yourself with your mouth.”
Lies did not hurt. The truth was the sharpest blade.
Esmeralda’s face, which always wore a cynical smile, visibly darkened.
Her brown eyes narrowed slightly, revealing killing intent so tangible it seemed almost material. “…Nevira, you really are becoming less and less cute.”
“Care to try?”
Before the words had even fallen, Esmeralda tapped the ground lightly with the tip of her foot. Her figure instantly became like ink dripping into water, silently merging into the shadow beneath her feet.
In the next instant, a pitch-black afterimage stretched rapidly along the wall. The crimson short blade “Scarlet Lady” burst soundlessly from the darkness behind Nevira, aiming straight for her throat.
Nevira snorted coldly. Instead of retreating, she advanced.
Her body also turned into a stream of gray-black light, completely sinking into the shadow layer of the narrow corridor.
The Shadow Realm.
This was a battlefield that belonged only to high-ranking Shadow Guards.
In the real corridor, everything remained deathly silent. The halo of the mana lantern twisted faintly on the wall, without even stirring the slightest breeze.
This was the heavily guarded Inner Court of Golden Rose Palace. Even a crisp clash of blades would instantly draw groups of Royal Guards. It might even alarm those terrifying supreme powerhouses deeper within.
The two of them tacitly restrained every sound.
Two blurred masses of shadow were like madly entwined venomous snakes, strangling each other wildly between the load-bearing columns and the vaulted ceiling.
Within the Shadow Dimension, killing intent lurked everywhere.
Esmeralda exerted strength through her waist and slashed horizontally with Scarlet Lady. The blade narrowly brushed past Nevira’s neck, cutting off several strands of hair.
Nevira ducked to avoid it, then swept her black blade upward along a fold in the shadows, aiming straight for Esmeralda’s abdomen.
As top Shadow Guards, both of them used ruthless moves and held nothing back.
Esmeralda forcefully twisted her waist in midair.
Hiss.
A faint sound of tearing fabric echoed only within the Shadow Dimension. A wound was cut into her side. The moment blood seeped out, it was swallowed by the surrounding shadow substance.
Nevira was not having an easy time either. The instant she swept her blade upward, she exposed an opening. Esmeralda’s blade tip turned smoothly through the crevice between shadows, directly tearing open the cuff of Nevira’s left sleeve and leaving a deep bloody line on her forearm.
The two intertwined shadows used the recoil to collide and separate in an instant, then each recondensed into a solid body behind the load-bearing columns on either side of the corridor.
Their breathing remained steady. Only their faintly rising and falling chests and the blood dripping from their blade tips proved how perilous the exchange just now had been.
Clack, clack, clack.
A perfectly synchronized sound of iron boots striking the floor came from the corner at the other end of the corridor. Along with the pale-white beam of a mana lantern, several long shadows were cast across the floor tiles.
Once they became entangled with the Royal Guards in a place like this, the matter would completely blow up.
It might even alarm those supreme powerhouses deep inside the Inner Court. At that point, even if their stealth techniques were almost miraculous, they would still suffer for it.
Esmeralda grumbled inwardly. She had no desire to be captured alive in a place like this and then act out some restricted-rated “defeated female assassin” scenario.
Nevira tilted her head and glanced at the light and shadows moving rapidly across the wall.
With a flick of her wrist, the pitch-black dagger slid smoothly back into her sleeve. Using the shadow of the column, she took half a step back, and her body sank slightly.
That was an unmistakable signal to retreat.
Esmeralda instantly understood the other party’s intention and curled her lip. Then she turned her fingers and put away “Scarlet Lady.” Her body tilted backward, and her entire person merged without resistance into the ink-black shadow beneath her feet.
“Dear big sister, the First Prince has been in poor health recently, so he hasn’t been satisfying you, has he? No wonder your temper is so bad.” Esmeralda directly transmitted her voice in secret, the cynical look on her face hiding the pain from her wound.
Nevira’s eye twitched slightly, but she could not be bothered to retort.
Esmeralda’s body softened in place. Her entire person turned into a puddle of ink-colored shadow, quickly gliding along the base of the wall before slipping out the window.
The reconnaissance operation had been forcibly interrupted.
Two seconds later, the guards came around the corner with their lanterns, only to see an empty corridor.
…
The night was deep. In the study of the temporary residence in the Lower District of the Royal Capital.
The firewood in the fireplace crackled as it burned. Esmeralda emerged from the shadow by the corner of the door.
At an extremely fast pace, she recounted the Inner Court’s defensive deployment and the details of her encounter with Nevira.
Sylvia sat in a high-backed chair, her fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.
“The First Prince’s trump-card Shadow Guard went to investigate the king’s Inner Court defensive deployment late at night.” Sylvia reached a conclusion. “Dorg must have noticed that something was wrong with Father-King’s condition, so he sent someone to sound things out.”
She turned to look at Logaris, who had been standing by the window the entire time.
“That can be considered good news.” The firelight from the fireplace was reflected in Logaris’s eyes, and his tone was calm and certain.
“Since Dorg needed to send Nevira to the Inner Court to investigate, that means he has not grasped the king’s true situation. From this, we can determine that the First Prince and Prime Minister Moran most likely do not belong to the same faction.”
He turned around and continued his analysis clearly and methodically. “If Dorg and Moran were co-conspirators, there would be no need for him to do something so unnecessary. An enemy’s enemy may not necessarily be a friend, but at tomorrow night’s royal banquet, Dorg will absolutely be an excellent variable.”
Logaris tilted his head, his gaze falling on Sylvia. “What about your side? How are the preparations?”
Sylvia sat back down in the high-backed chair, her hands folded together and pressed beneath her chin. A cold light of assured victory flashed through her silver-gray eyes.
“Everything has already been arranged. Although Teacher Elena will not take part in a political struggle, she will act against external threats.” Her tone carried the certainty of the Northern Territory’s governor.
“Teacher made me a clear promise—at tomorrow night’s royal banquet, she will absolutely not allow anyone to harm another person at the feast.”