Book 17: Chapter 15
When I exited my room the next day, I discovered there was something strange about the atmosphere in the Royal Palace. Usually, it should pretty much as peaceful as it was in the elven imperial palace, yet when I woke up in the morning, there were more Valkyries present at the outer court. Further, the maids were running back and forth in a panic-stricken manner. I had no clue what was going on. Nier, who was next to me, was dressed in her sleep wear and white stockings, of course… and she came out dressed that way. She asked one of the Valkyries, “What happened?”
The Valkyrie bowed her head to us and reported, “Your Majesties, a high-ranking finance minister was assassinated in the Royal Palace’s flower garden last night. The entire Royal Palace has now been placed under martial law. Please remain at ease in the outer court and not thoughtlessly move about. I am very sorry. We have not been able to apprehend the culprit. In fact, we did not discover it last night. We only discovered the corpse this morning. We are very sorry, Your Majesty, we have failed in our duty.”
“You should apologise to Her Majesty. I am not your superior.” I shook my head.
In all fairness, it wasn’t the Valkyries’ fault. They were responsible for safety at the church until noon. Due to several days of highly stressful work, the Valkyries were all on break last night, so the reins for guard duty in the Royal Palace were passed onto the army that entered the city. Because they couldn’t enter the Royal Palace, interior of the palace was considerably empty. Only a number of Valkyries were on guard duty at the inner and outer courts. It was only natural that nobody paid attention to the flower garden.
I went through lots of questions in my mind: “If the assassin came into the Royal Palace already, why did they kill just a finance official? Also, he should’ve been innocent, shouldn’t he? He was merely staying in his lane and serving Mommy Elizabeth. At least, I never heard of him. They were able to enter the Royal Palace when so many vassal states’ Kings and Queens were present, sneak into the outer court and an inner court, yet they chose to kill only one finance official? Why? Was it a personal vendetta? In the case that it was, why choose the Royal Palace?
Putting aside whether or not the official was important to Mommy Elizabeth for the meantime, the most important point is that assassinating him in the Royal Palace is the equivalent of belittling Mom. In fact, it’s an insult to her. Just how insignificant do you consider Mommy Elizabeth’s Royal Palace? You think nothing of the Phoenix’s Nest, huh?”
I got dressed. I ignored the Valkyries warning and stepped outside. The flower garden wasn’t far from my outer court. The crucial factor at the moment was that the culprit was still at large. There was the possibility it was someone employed in the palace who committed the assassination. Sneaking into the Royal Palace through the military to assassinate someone would basically make them a puppet.
I headed toward the inner court. I noticed the unusual atmosphere in the palace as soon as I stepped outside. The Royal Palace was in an idle state before, yet was extremely intense in spite of the warm sunlight in the morning. Valkyries were active. Maids and servants were questioned over and over. If they said just one thing that sounded off, the Valkyries would drag them out by their hair. If they dared to resist they shared the same fate as the corpse on the ground to my left. The Valkyries didn’t even the time to get rid of corpses, after all.
I then noticed two Valkyries glance toward the outer court and approach me. I knew they weren’t approaching with friendly intent with a single glance. I gently cleared my throat then went to block them off.