Chapter 24: 24

Waiting for Mare to wake up, Michelle decided to try cultivating for the first time. She sat cross-legged and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind, but for someone like her, with lots of thoughts and plans, it was hardly possible for her to clear her mind, so she just tried to calm her thoughts and sort them out in her head, having a theory that if her thoughts were calm enough, she would be able to cultivate.

She didn’t know how much time it took her, but when she finally sorted out her thoughts, she felt movement next to her, so she opened her eyes, only to see Mare waking up. And to her surprise, the sky was already darkening. The time she thought was mere few minutes ended up being more than half a day. But she didn’t mind it, as she was a step closer to being able to cultivate and even her mind was clearer.

“Mare, how are you feeling?” Michelle asked, looking at the awakening Mare.

Mare rubbed the back of her neck where the assassin leader hit her and sat up. “Fine. That much wouldn’t hurt me.”

Michelle nodded a bit. “That’s good. Let’s go then. We should get home before dark, so they aren’t too worried about us.” She stood up as she spoke and glanced at the carriage. Without a coachman, the carriage was basically useless for them, but Michelle remembered that the original owner knew how to ride a horse. “Mare, can you ride a horse?” she asked as she walked towards the horses by the carriage.

Mare shook her head. “No, I can’t!”

“Well, that’s fine!” Michelle shrugged a bit as she cut the ropes tying the horses to the carriage. Then, she mounted one. “Since you can’t ride a horse, transform into a small snake, and I’ll put you in my sleeve!” she told Mare and Mare did as she was told.

Seeing how cute Mare was as a small snake, Michelle smiled a bit before putting her in her sleeve and nudging the horse to go. She rode the horse through the forest, racing with the setting sun to get to the Archduchy before it was completely dark. She wasn’t worried about herself, but if it got too dark, the horse wouldn’t see on the road and might get hurt, and thus she would need to walk back home and that was annoying.

After getting into the Archduchy, Michelle left Mare in her room, changed clothes and went to meet Archduke Grace. “Father, I’m back!” she knocked on the door to his office.

“Enter!” the Archduke’s voice carried to her through the closed door. Michelle opened the door and entered the office. “How was your day, father?” she asked as she sat down at the coffee table.

The Archduke lifted his gaze from the documents to look at her. In some things, for example her laziness, she was really similar to his daughter, but in other aspects, she was a completely different person. “My day was fine. But what about yours? Why did a simple breakfast take so long?” he asked, a tingle of worry in his expression.

Seeing the worry in the Archduke’s expression, Michelle wasn’t sure if he was really concerned for her, or if he was subconsciously worried because she looked the same as his daughter since she took over his daughter’s body. But she didn’t think about it too much and answered the Archduke’s question. “Everything went as planned. The Crown Prince is dead, the Emperor poisoned, and assassins annihilated. All that remains is putting the Eight Prince on the throne and finding a Regent for him.”

“I see…” the Archduke nodded. “But if everything went in accordance to your plans, why did it take so long for you to come home? Didn’t you say it would take at most half a day and that by noon you would be back?”

“Oh… that-” Michelle closed her eyes. “The assassins knocked Mare out strangely and I couldn’t wake her up. She woke up when the sun started setting. Luckily, she’s fine.”

“I understand now. Luckily everything ended well.” The Archduke was clearly relieved that the plan was successful. “But… How are you planning to make the Eight Prince the new Emperor? He has six older siblings who will definitely fight for the throne.”

Michelle smiled coldly a bit. “There are two ways… Well, we can also say it as three ways…” She opened her purple eyes, and they narrowed in beautiful but cold smiling crescents. “First: assassinate or make them unable to compete differently. Second: poison them with the same poison as the one the Crown Prince used on the Emperor and make everyone think that the Crown Prince did it. And third: politically suppress them. Now, father, the choice is yours. Of course, if you come p with a different method, I’m always prepared to change my plans.”

When Michelle finished speaking, the Archduke went silent for a moment before speaking again. “I’ll think about it. Now, I have one more question. Do you have someone in mind who would make a good Regent for the Eight Prince?”

Michelle smiled. “Yes, I have, but I need to confirm a few more things before making the final decision.” she spoke lazily, but her eyes revealed a hint of seriousness. Since she promised the Archduke to help him avenge his daughter, she would do it properly, making the Emperor watch his hated son, the Eight Prince, sit on the throne he wanted to give to the Crown Prince.

Knowing that Michelle had her own plans, the Archduke didn’t ask anything more and let her go rest, since it was already late in the evening, and it was clear that Michelle would be leaving the mansion early in the morning just as she always did the days before.

She was rarely at the mansion, but the aristocratic society thought that she was holed up in there. Michelle found that quite funny.

She returned to her room and laid on her bed lazily. She closed her eyes, and, using the contract, she contacted Snow and told her to come to the Archduchy.

So, under the cover of the night, a small white fox with scarlet eyes slipped into the Archduke’s tightly guarded mansion and jumped into Michelle’s opened window. There, she took on her human form and closed the window before turning back into a small fox and curling up into a ball next to Michelle’s head.

When Michelle woke up the next day, it was still dark outside. She looked at Snow who was curled up beside her and picked her up, putting the small fluff-ball into her sleeve. Then she walked over to Mare’s room and entered without knocking. She found Mare in her full snake form, being a big snake that, curled up, filled the whole bed.

Michelle smiled a bit, and using the power of the contract, she made Mare shrink into a small snake before putting her into her free sleeve.

She left a note for the Archduke in his office and using her Shadow Spirit Steps, she left the Archduchy with Made and Snow in her sleeves.

Following the mental map in her mind, Michelle found her way through the dark and got to the illegal auction house. There, she was already so well known because of the pills she made, that the owner used to greet her.

But that was only when she was wearing her disguise mask. At the moment, Michelle didn’t have the disguise mask, her long silver hair sparkling in the moonlight as she entered the building, her purple eyes scanning the surroundings.

Seeing a new person come to the auction house, and at such an early time, a beautiful lady came forward to greet Michelle. “My Lady, what did you come for? Can I help you?” she asked with a smile.

Michelle glanced at the beautiful lady for a moment before reaching into her cloak and taking out a black colored badge with the letters “MG” on it. It was the badge the auction house gave to the girl who sold them the indigo grade Revitalization Pill.

Seeing the badge, the beautiful lady froze up for a moment. She wanted to ask something, but Michelle beat her to it. “I was told that the owner only comes here early in the morning and late at night.” Her tone made it clear that she wanted to meet the owner.

The beautiful lady looked at the black badge for a short while before her smile widened. The badge was real. “Please follow me. I’ll lead you to the owner.” She bowed her head a bit before walking towards a small staircase which was never really used by the guests of the auction house.

Michelle silently followed the beautiful lady up the stairs onto a floor which was luxurious but simple. It seemed to be the floor the owner used when he was at the auction house.

After walking for a while, the beautiful lady stopped in front of a door and knocked. “Sir, a Young Lady with the special black badge came to see you.”

At first, no answer came, but after a while, a voice appeared. “Come in!” it was a youthful voice.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep