Escape from the evil lady (GL)
Chapter 86 - 36. Misunderstanding between mother and daughter

Chapter 86: Chapter 36. Misunderstanding between mother and daughter

In a dimly lit dungeon, a man who had been ordered to be captured by order of the Crown Princess was being interrogated. Kaena stood in front of him, and her piercing golden eyes were fixed on the trembling figure. The flickering torches cast eerie shadows on the stone walls, and at that moment, the knight next to her spoke:

«This is he, my lady,» Mag announced, «the heir to the Duchy of de Walt, whom you ordered to be tracked down and captured.

The guy, who was tied to a chair with a rope, was terrified and trembling. A bag was thrown over his head, and the princess couldn’t wait to rip it off so that she could look into the eyes of the man she would soon send to be devoured by demonic beasts.

Nevertheless, when Kaena pulled the bag off his head, an expression of undisguised disappointment was reflected on the woman’s face.

«It’s not him,» she announced coldly.

«Wh-what?» — the knights who tracked down and eventually kidnapped this guy asked in confusion.

«Where the hell are your eyes? He doesn’t look like that bastard at all!»

Mag stammered, «How is that possible? You said that the heir of the duke’s family has blue hair, and we were specifically looking for a person based on your description...»

Kaena de Ronan let out a long sigh and ruffled her hair.

— Blue hair? Where do you see them? — she growled and pointed her finger at the poor pale young man: — Are you saying that I’m wrong, or is it your eyesight problems?

In Kaena’s eyes, everything was quite obvious. This guy who was captured by her subordinates didn’t look like Yufil de Walt at all. The only similarities between them were their similar height and age. But everything else was completely different! Even this guy’s hair color wasn’t blue, but rather ashen.

Kaena was annoyed that she had to take the time to come here, and in vain. But she was even more disappointed that her high expectations were not fulfilled. After all, the woman believed that the cold corpse of her older brother would serve as a good present for Camilla in honor of their engagement ceremony. However, in the end, her expectations only collapsed.

«No, of course we didn’t mean anything like that...!» they hurriedly defended themselves.

Kaena continued to glare at her subordinates, when suddenly another knight quickly approached her and whispered something in her ear. Surprisingly, in the next instant, the princess’ expression changed dramatically.

«My fiancee is waiting for me now, so I have to go,» she announced dryly, «and you. Next time, it’s better to check the information before bothering me for such reasons.

«Y-yes, Your Highness.»

In any case, since this guy had already entered the Heilos residence, there was no way he could get out of here alive. Based on this, in the next instant, one of the knights raised his sword and ended his life. The corpse of the guy who had been mistaken for the duke’s eldest son was now sitting on a chair with his head hanging limply.

At this moment, the Crown Princess had already left the prison room and headed to her office. The Knights of the dark host stayed behind to clean up the mess they had made. The guy’s corpse was taken out of the cell to be burned later along with the rest of the bodies. But besides that, there was also a lot of blood on the floor due to the murder that had just taken place here.

«Hey, new guy,» Mag said dispassionately to one of the recruits who had been here all this time.

He spoke for the first time from the shadows he was in.

«Yes,» the laconic knight in the dark helmet nodded curtly after receiving an order from his superior officer.

«...»

While everyone else was leaving the room, he had to stay behind to clean up the prison cell. This troublesome task was one that was usually assigned to soldiers who had recently joined the ranks of the dark host. Simply put, it was no different from the hazing that took place in any army.

The cold floor was covered in thick red blood, which the knight took only a fleeting glance at. At the same time, a suffocating silence reigned in the dungeon.

Left alone in the cell, the knight involuntarily clenched his fists tighter.

***

After returning from the morning training of the Imperial knights, the second Princess intended to rest in her study before continuing to work on state affairs. However, as soon as she entered the room, she found an unexpected visitor there.

— Mother...? What are you doing here? — Jerica asked with undisguised surprise in her voice.

Usually, the Empress never came by herself, but always sent someone if she wanted to see her daughter. However, this time, the Empress personally visited the princess’s office and, apparently, had been waiting for her return all this time. Sitting on the visitor’s sofa and sipping a cup of tea, the woman leisurely looked up when her daughter entered.

— Jerica, — the Empress’s tone towards her was, as usual, gentle, but still Jerika managed to catch some uncharacteristic notes in it, — you and I need to discuss something.

«.....»

As if suspecting something was amiss behind the Empress’ statement, Jerica de Ronan did not ask any further questions and only nodded curtly.

«Selman, wait outside,» the princess ordered her subordinate. He obeyed without hesitation and left the office, closing the door behind him.

As soon as that happened and they were alone, Jerica slowly walked deeper into the room. She still couldn’t figure out what her mother was up to. And at the moment when she was about to ask that question...

«Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?» The Empress’s previously calm voice instantly turned cold.

«I beg your pardon...?»

The Empress’s blue eyes stared at her fixedly.

«You met with the daughter of Duke de Walt,» she hissed, «My people reported to me that the trip you went on not so long ago was not at all an urgent task of the Imperial Army, but... You actually went north to meet this girl!

Upon hearing this, the second princess intervened somewhat dumbfounded:

— Mother... Were you really following me?

— «Followed»? — The Empress snorted, — It’s just a precaution. As your mother, I’m always worried about your safety, so I’m always sending extra people to protect you.

«.....»

Additional security that she didn’t even know existed? No matter how you look at it, such methods would be better called espionage. However, Jerica chose to keep quiet about it.

«So it’s true?» The Empress continued to insist on an answer.

And since it was useless to hide the obvious in this case, the princess had only one possible answer.

«Yes,» she nodded curtly, «we have indeed met.»

These words were the last straw before the Empress finally lost her patience. She couldn’t stand it and screamed:

— why? Why did you need to see her?!

The second Princess couldn’t immediately find a suitable answer. After all, she was primarily concerned about her mother’s further reaction. After all, the operation to overthrow the current Crown Princess was a top secret affair that only those who were directly involved in it were privy to. Therefore, even the Empress turned out to be an «outsider» here.

— This... — The girl hesitated: — I will definitely tell you about it, but later.

— what? — The Empress couldn’t believe her ears: — So you really won’t tell me? Since when did you start keeping secrets from your own mother?!

Jerica hastened to contradict her:

— Mother, it’s not what you think at all! I’m just worried about you and that’s why I can’t reveal the truth ahead of time.

— Really? — The woman narrowed her eyes: — Well, you should know that I also do not intend to sit idly by. Do you know how unbearable my life is now? Because of this stuff, I can’t even predict if I’ll be able to wake up the next morning!

— .....

— Your father’s health is getting worse. And it looks like he’s just going to wait for that devil brat to come and kill us all! — The woman continued to speak in a raised voice: — But I’m not going to sit idly by like him.

«Mother...» The second princess said in confusion, «What do you mean?»

The Empress frowned and looked at her. Putting down her half-empty cup of tea, she got up from the sofa and intended to leave the office.

— If my daughter has a secret from me, then why should I reveal my own? — The woman chuckled.

«...»

Her mother’s harsh remarks left Jericho visibly distraught, but there was nothing she could do about it in the current situation.

«Just like you said. Just wait and find out.»

After the Empress dropped these cold words, she swiftly left the office. The second princess was not alone for long before Selman Hirsch entered the room again. Although he was also quite puzzled by the sudden visit of the Empress, but for reasons of subordination, he did not ask any questions to find out about the topic of their conversation. Instead, he just silently waited for the second princess’ further orders.

Jerica de Ronan stared into space in front of her for a long time, as if she was in a difficult inner thought. Finally, she opened her mouth.

— Lady de Walt... — breaking the silence for the first time in a long time, the first thing the girl said was that name: — Have you had any more messages from her lately?

«This...» The deputy princess hesitated, «One came just this morning. But you were busy training at the camp, so I couldn’t warn you right away.

— what? It’s true? — Jerica immediately intervened: — Hurry up and give it to me!

After receiving the message from the duke’s youngest daughter, the princess immediately printed it out and quickly scanned through it in the next moment. However, her already gloomy expression only darkened further. After all, the information that Camilla provided in her letter could not be called particularly comforting.

The Crown Princess decided to postpone the date of their engagement to a later date, which by definition could not be called positive news. After all, this only meant that they would have to carry out the operation, which was already being prepared in a hurry, even earlier than planned.

«.....»

With a straight face, Jerica de Ronan, as soon as she finished reading the last lines, immediately threw the message to the duke’s youngest daughter into the blazing flames of the fireplace.

«Your Highness...» Selman Hirsch asked the princess hesitantly, but was immediately interrupted.

«Send my message to our squad immediately,» the girl commanded decisively, «We must complete all preparations and begin the operation as soon as possible!»