Calm sounds could be heard from the window. Ziriel slept through the night without waking once. It was the first time she had truly slept without any troubles disturbing her slumber since returning to life in Umbral. She hadn't rested even once. What she thought about every day was how she could go to her wives.
Her heart was in her hand, and the guilt of being killed when she was still Dante ran through every vein.
"Ah," a loud sigh escaped as she settled. Her tiredness was still evident, but her head was clearer. Regardless, she was already acting early in the day, heading for her goal today.
Ziriel got up and put on the clothes she wanted. This time, however, she wore normal attire: a white button-up shirt and black leather pants with boots. It was something everyday knights wore for training. The first thing she really wanted to do now was to perfect herself. At the moment, she had no equipment or any kind of advantage to use against what she was about to face: an army of royal knights.
Another sigh echoed through the closet hallway where she looked at herself in the mirror, her hair tied in a ponytail. "You can do it," she told herself, turning to the door and making her way out.
Upon leaving, she encountered the same maid as before. This time, however, the atmosphere around her was completely different. She was more cheerful, her aura gentler. Previously, she was completely nervous and afraid, but now she seemed almost natural. Her bright smile filled Ziriel's eyes, who agreed with her words. The excited little maid wanted to take Ziriel to the breakfast Velryna had organized.
Of course, she already expected something like this, but she didn't know that just one compliment and something simple for a maid would make her seem like a different person. Despite the pretext of manipulation and increasing status within the Palace, Ziriel's personality remained steadfast when it came to those who treated her well.
"Treat me well and you'll be treated well, treat me badly and hell will chase after you." Those were the words Valentina would use in these situations, something that made her feel closer to her wife, something that reminded her of the times when the coexistence between them in a room every night was normal.
Thinking now, Ziriel was afraid she might never be able to lie down and sleep with her beloved Vampire again, or with her Mage. Even her Viper, who never slept with him, left him fearful.
The happy maid led Ziriel out of the palace where she saw the common appearance of Velryna, who wore the same outfit as Ziriel, coincidentally. Ziriel approached and smiled, Velryna returned it and waved for her to sit in the chair.
"Did you sleep well?" It was the first thing Velryna asked. Ziriel nodded and asked her the same. "And you?"
"It took me a while to fall asleep, I heard some noises and set some traps. Fortunately, I caught three rats in the morning." Velryna replied, of course, it was a code.
"I see, did you kill the rats?" Ziriel questioned as she drank a cup of coffee and one of the maids cut a slice of cake.
"Yes, I asked one of my men to kill them. They looked disgusting, I almost vomited!" She said, continuing the act.
"Understandable, it must be difficult for a princess," Ziriel replied. "It's all right, for the maids, it must be difficult to keep this place clean," she said, looking at the maids; the happy maid had already left, so Ziriel didn't mind. Velryna was clearly intimidating the maids who were not under her command, in this case, the three who were present at this breakfast.
That's why she mentioned three rats; it was a code, referring to three spies.
"Do you have any plans for today, Princess? As your escort, I can help in exterminating some rats," Ziriel said with a menacing smile that left all the maids frightened.
"Oh, don't worry, you can train with the knights today. They would love to spar with you, of course, if I'm present," she said with a mischievous and frightening smile as Ziriel's.
"Then let's do that, shall we? Knowing our strengths is the best we can do. After all, you're the Princess, you need to know what they are capable of, right?" Ziriel said.
Both of them were enjoying this performance in front of the repugnant maids who worked under the Emperor's orders. It took only a few minutes for them to leave one by one, saying they had things to do. Velryna nodded gently until only the two of them were left alone.
"That was disgusting, don't make me do that again," Ziriel said with a smile, and Velryna nodded. "It's all right, I can't even stand to do so much nonsense like that."
"How are things going?" Ziriel asked and received a gaze from Velryna and a sigh.
"Oh, I don't know where to start. Simon returned to Avalon, as the commission has been completed. But he will return with help, from what he said, two mages he knows can help if they are well paid," Velryna said as she drank more coffee.
"Does any of them have the name Fortune?" Ziriel asked, but Fortune mages from the Golden Tower were experts and ambitious when it came to work for money.
"No, he said they are close, I wouldn't know for sure," she replied, a bit downcast for not really being sure about the subject.
"Hey, I have another question, but you can deny it if you want," Ziriel said and looked at Velryna: "What is your brother's biggest fear?" "Dante Scarlet."
Before Ziriel could even finish, Velryna immediately responded.
"My brother spent years having hallucinations from coming into contact with the energy of the Demon King. Every night I would hear him screaming 'I'm sorry, Dante!' He thought that if he hadn't thrown Dante into the dungeon, he would never have to go through this.
I don't know how long it's been since he stopped having those dreams, but one thing I do know, he is terrified of people with scarlet red hair, to the point of banning them all from the palace." She concluded, and Ziriel struggled not to laugh.
"Take that, you idiot! Am I your worst nightmare? You'll know what nightmare is!" Ziriel internally shouted. Let's be honest, that was very good news, as Ziriel could return to her old form sooner rather than later.
"Why the face?" Velryna questioned Ziriel, who had made several strange faces, but that didn't matter.
"Let's put some order in the knights, shall we?" Ziriel said to Velryna, and both of them promptly agreed, getting up from the table. Ziriel followed her silently as they searched for the location where the knights trained. Both seemed like entirely different women from the ones who entered the palace the night before.
Ziriel was more robust, even without muscles; she was taller than Velryna, with a smile on her face and a posture that made it clear how indomitable she was. Velryna, on the other hand, seemed more objective, with sharper and more observant eyes. The knights spotted them, and they didn't just react simply; they were almost drooling at the sight of such dangerous beauties.
That was their initial reaction, and after that, everything for them would be chaos.
"It seems we've found our guinea pigs," Ziriel said, looking at the knights in the distance, the strongest ones actually, who stayed more hidden and in their own corners.
"What's the princess doing here?" One of the knights questioned; he was tall and had red hair.
"I don't know, but I heard that the one next to her is a Knight from the White Tower," another one commented.
The truth was, intentionally, Simon before leaving had talked to some knights about Ziriel, a knight from the White Tower who recently rose to the rank of captain. Of course, just like the act with the maids, this was all a lie, a way to disrupt the knights' reality who were under Ethan's total influence.
Ziriel began to receive suspicious and disdainful looks. Normally, this would be common, as when she was Dante, everything was always like this, but she was genuinely angry now.
"Since you like to look at me like that, who wants to fight me?" Ziriel said in a loud tone, grabbing everyone's attention. Unlike when she was Dante, she wouldn't accept these things anymore.
Everyone looked at her and lightly laughed. Of course, sexism still existed, and a woman being a knight could attract a lot of that negative attention.
Ziriel grabbed a wooden sword and stood in front of the small ring on the premises, waiting for anyone to challenge her. It seemed they had completely forgotten courtesy and barely looked at the princess or paid her any kindness by saluting her.
No one approached Ziriel. On the contrary, they ignored her as if she were invisible. Velryna was watching the scene, almost crying with laughter; Ziriel standing there alone elicited numerous whispered laughs.
"Good to know that killing the Emperor will be easy; I only see useless knights around." Ziriel said. Immediately, everyone looked at her with such great hatred. Unlike before, now Ziriel had directly offended the Emperor, and that was unforgivable.
"Oh, now you're looking at me properly. Who's going to be the first to take a beating?" Ziriel said.
Finally, a knight had the courage to stand up against her. Slowly, he approached the ring with his wooden sword.
"I am Zhahar Mirton, Knight of the Seven Stars," he introduced himself, surprisingly gentle compared to the others.
"I'm Ziriel Azure, Knight without rank," she said, and everyone blinked. Again, laughter; a knight without even a rank? What a joke! Were the rumors about her being a captain false?
Holding the sword firmly in an attacking position, they both looked at each other without wasting much time. Ziriel had already assessed Zhahar, in fact, she had assessed all the knights the moment she saw them. Although her mana core wasn't functioning properly yet due to the lack of "cultivation," her martial skills remained the same.
Although now, after ten years, they had increased significantly, especially her fencing, which was already at the Specialist level, bordering on Master, as well as her spear, which was nearing the Master stage, one step away from Grandmaster.
"Shall we?" Ziriel questioned, and the Knight nodded.
The first strike came from Zhahar, instantly lunging the moment Ziriel asked him, a dirty move coming from a knight.
But it was in vain. Despite the "advantage," Ziriel blocked him as if his sword were a child's plastic toy.
Unable to help but find it impressive how determined the knight was, Ziriel decided to give him a taste of true skill.
She stood still, not even dodging, just defending. It looked like an adult fighting against a child.
Yawn.
Ziriel, in the midst of battle, began to yawn. She was bored. The knight in front of her was... truly a child.
"I'm sorry, I need to end this; you're very disappointing," she said. The moment his sword was knocked aside, Ziriel cut it vertically, effortlessly destroying the sword.
ARGH!!
The knight screamed in pain. He felt Ziriel's sword hit his own, and as it broke, unfortunately, Ziriel's sword didn't stop, hitting his hand and breaking it too.
"How disappointing," Ziriel said and looked at the others as the Knight fell to the ground, holding his hand, completely red and bleeding.
"Help him, you useless bunch," Ziriel ordered, and as if she were an empress, two of them immediately followed her orders and lifted Zhahar's body, helping him to stand.
"Hey, you slackers, bring me someone strong," she said, looking at everyone with even worse looks of hatred than before.
Velryna, behind her, just kept thinking about who Ziriel was. A woman stronger than an Imperial Knight. Someone who was trained by the Empire's relentless fencing. She destroyed him in just one move, without even moving from her spot.
'You're hiding something, and I need to find out what it is.' She swore to herself, watching how Ziriel was handling the situation.