Chapter 8: 8

Very quickly, a month passed since the day the Archduke accepted Michelle as his daughter. On that day, Michelle went into the Imperial Palace in disguise, and basically started working there as a maid.

The day before the harvest festival banquet, she found out another interesting thing. She noticed a neglected prince, the Emperor’s youngest son, the Eight Prince, who was nine years old, getting trained in martial arts by a subordinate of the leader of the illegal auction house where she bought Snow.

The illegal auction house was also an assassination guild, so it wasn’t surprising that it had some skilled fighters, but it was shocking that one of them was teaching a neglected prince.

Michelle used her footwork, which she finally decided to name as Shadow Spirit Steps, and hid herself in a tree crown, observing the two practicing martial arts.

The fighter was indeed very powerful and skilled, and the young prince was clearly a talented student because he was already quite proficient in using his body.

Looking at the young prince, Michelle wanted to see him wield the shifting weapon she used in her spars. She wanted to find out what weapon the young prince was the most proficient with.

But Michelle couldn’t observe for long because the fighter was clearly vigilant, and if she stayed longer, he could notice her, so she retreated somewhere else.

When Michelle returned home in the evening, her eyes were gleaming with cold satisfaction as she had finally completed the plan in her mind. There were already some things she had prepared over the month, but the plan still had some loopholes which she needed to stitch up, and when she saw the neglected prince with the subordinate of the leader of the illegal auction house, she completed all her plans.

In the day, she went to the auction house and requested a meeting with the leader’s subordinate, and as she was someone who sold them highly valuable items and bought a lot, her request was quickly granted. She had a long conversation with the leader’s subordinate which lasted till the evening and then, she returned home in satisfaction.

The first thing she did was tell the Archduke, the head butler and Snow and Mare about the finalization of her plan before going to prepare for the upcoming banquet. Her maids had prepared for her the best dress, as for a woman in the world she was in, a dress was a battle attire and a fan was a weapon. The dress was made so it would match the shape-shifting weapon when it was in the shape of a silver fan.

The dress was dark purple, with streaks of silver on it. It was a very elegant design, but the purple color gave it a sinister gleam.

It was illegal to bring a weapon into the Imperial Palace for someone who didn’t have written permission from the Emperor, but Michelle didn’t care about that, since she was able to conceal the fact that the fan could shape-shift into other weapons.

For her, something like reverence towards the ruler was nonexistent, since she was someone who lived in the world of 21st century, making her way of thinking completely different from the people who lived in the Empire.

After trying on the dress for the banquet, Michelle went to spar with the knight’s commander before taking a bath and going to sleep, anticipating the next day so that she could finally start her plan.

On the morning of the next day, Michelle was woken up by her maids, and they helped her bathe and get dressed, causing Michelle to think about the luxuries the nobles enjoyed in the Empire for them to need someone to bathe and dress them.

After getting dressed, Michelle summoned Mare and Snow from the contract space where they were sleeping and announced to them the beginning of the show she had prepared for the Royal Family, especially the Crown Prince. When the two heard about it, they beamed in excitement. “Master, should we depart towards our places?” Snow asked in excitement, her eyes gleaming in eagerness.

Michelle smiled and patted her head. “Snow, I’m leaving it up to you in the forest,” she said as she looked at Snow. In the single month, Snow grew a lot and now looked to be eight-years old. In her animal form, she was so huge that her single paw was the size of a carriage.

Hearing Michelle’s words, Snow giggled excitedly before rushing out of the mansion.

When Snow was gone, Michelle turned towards Mare. “How is it, Mare? Did you learn to completely conceal your beast traits?” she asked with a smile.

Mare nodded a bit. “Yes, master. I can now completely transform into a human.” When she finished speaking, the scales on her neck completely disappeared, and she looked like an ordinary human girl with green eyes and blond hair. The only unusual thing was her beauty, but that wasn’t that strange as it was a trend in aristocratic society for ladies to be accompanied by beautiful maids or ladies-in-waiting.

“Good!” Michelle smiled widely. “Today, you will act as my maid while I go to the banquet. As for the scene in the forest, I leave the acting to you.”

Mare bowed her head slightly. “Yes, My Lady!” she instantly changed her way of addressing Michelle so as not to raise any suspicions.

“Very well… Now, let’s go!” Michelle retracted her smile and calmly walked towards the exit of the mansion. There, she met the Archduke and entered with him the carriage. Michelle sat opposite the Archduke, and Mare sat next to her.

The carriage ride was silent, but it wasn’t awkward. Quite the opposite. It was actually calming and peaceful. Even the Archduke was surprised how calming it was to sit opposition Michelle. He’d thought it would be awkwardly silent, but for some reason, a situation which would be awkward with anyone else was calming with Michelle sitting opposite him. Maybe it was because of the kind of person she was, but the silence just felt natural.

After a while, the carriage stopped and the Archduke got out, followed by Michelle. As she was stepping out of the carriage, the Archduke extended his hand towards her, and she got down with his help. Michelle was followed by Mare, who silently followed like an exemplary maid would.

The Archduke then led Michelle to the banquet hall, and the servant by the door announced their arrival as they entered. “His Excellence, Archduke Grace, and Her Ladyship, Young Lady Grace!” he announced loudly, and the banquet hall instantly went silent for a moment as all gazes were directed at Michelle. A moment later, the chatter returned to the hall, but all the gazes were still on the father-daughter pair, with all the talk being about them.

Calmly walking into the hall with the Archduke by her side, Michelle felt like a monkey in a circus, but she didn’t mind it. The attention was actually needed for the show she was about to make. But for the show to start, she needed the main characters to appear, them being the Crown Prince and his lover, and the Emperor and his concubine, who was also the Crown Prince’s mistress.

There was nothing Michelle loved more than destroying the minds of those she hated, and the Crown Prince and his lover and mistress were unfortunately on the list.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep