Greed
Greed
The news of the third princess arriving at their tiny border town spread like wildfire among the people, and the huge ruckus was enough to alert Evelyn even if she hadn't had the Lotus Throne's Eternal Ripple to watch out for the situation outside.
The guards at the tiny border town who had been used to lounging around abruptly sprang to action in a panic as they haphazardly tried to make sure nothing strange happened in front of the princess, and the rotund mayor almost fell all the way down his mansion's staircase when he heard the news.
Thankfully, his build was quite sturdy, allowing him to survive the 'disaster' unscathed.
With Evelyn's 'Eternal Ripple', it was a trivial matter to keep track of the nearby princess, and the princess could naturally feel the source of her bond from such a close range, and it was no trouble to find each other at all.
Evelyn had already conveyed her intentions of staying hidden clearly through their link, but she wasn't quite sure how the third princess planned on doing that.
There was no way for her to know how clearly the other side could understand her intentions, after all, and this was one of the biggest drawbacks of their link.
Thankfully, the third princess seemed to have got her point as she accepted the hospitality of the City Lord first instead of marching straight to her inn, and Evelyn finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the people of the 'Temple of Shinra' in this town were likely significantly weaker than herself, she still had to be wary not to expose her whereabouts carelessly, or it would only be a matter of time before she would be swarmed with stronger opponents and be rendered completely passive.
Since the City Lord's mansion wasn't far from Riham's inn, Evelyn was able to closely observe all the movements inside using the Lotus Throne's Eternal Ripple without wasting too much energy.
Not long after she arrived, the Lavinian princess informed the mayor that she would be out touring the town later, almost giving the man another heart attack.
Evelyn wasn't sure why he was panicking, though she believed it must either be due to the third princess having a reputation of causing trouble, or because he feared some of his nefarious schemes being exposed to the royal family.
Aside from the third princess and the city lord, the mansion also seemed to be housing another 'distinguished guest' of a similar status, though it seemed that he was being kept hidden from the third princess by the host.
Naturally, this person could only be the leader of the initiates from the Temple of Shinra, and after the third princess dismissed him, the city lord could currently be found rubbing his hands nervously in front of this 'distinguished guest'.
"Shit! What do I do now?! I thought she was only stopping by on the way, but if she spots anything suspicious while touring the town, we—!"
The white-robed man snorted, interrupting the panicking man with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Heh, just a backwater 'princess' of this shitty, backward empire. She's only here to flaunt her superiority over the commoners of this remote town, since the people back in the palace probably don't give her any value, her being the third princess and all."
The city lord couldn't help but be stunned, but after calming down a little from the robed man's words, he immediately panicked again. "N-No way, how can that be?! I-I heard that the third princess was the most favored and domineering out of all the Emperor's children, you know? Aside from the crown prince, she's the one everyone in the capital fears the most!"
Clutching at his already sparse dark hair almost painfully, the rotund city lord paced around the room while shaking his head in denial. "No no no, Lord Deacon, I really can't listen to you on this! The emperor will have my head if they find any sign of our collusion!"
The white-robed man frowned impatiently. "Stop panicking! Do you think our Temple of Shinra can't even handle a tiny little third princess of this shitty empire? If I wanted to, I could even walk right up to the emperor and smack the shit out of him, and no one would dare to speak a word."
The city lord finally calmed down after hearing his words. "T-That's right, compared to the Temple of Shinra, the Lavinian Empire is really nothing. What am I even worried about?!"
Although his words seemed more to reassure himself than anything else, the deacon also nodded in satisfaction. "As long as you keep your side of the deal, we will naturally protect you as well."
The ecstatic expression on the city lord's face immediately froze. "E-Eh? C-Can't we wait for the third princess to leave first? I-It's not like we'd be missing out on much if you didn't get new products for a few more days, r-right?"
The white-robed man narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "If you want to go back on the deal, forget it, I'll do things on my own, and you deal with the third princess by yourself."
Of course, while such a 'down time' would be no different from a lack of outsiders visiting the town for a few days, the deacon couldn't accept 'laying low' due to the presence of the third princess, as that would be admitting that he needed to fear what he considered as a backwater empire.
The city lord naturally didn't dare offend this person who was already superior to the emperor in his mind. "N-No no, don't misunderstand, Lord Deacon! O-Our deal is still up!"
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Meanwhile, the third princess stared forlornly in the direction of the inn from the window. She could clearly feel the presence of the one she had been longing so long for, and couldn't help but be a little upset that she was unable to seek the girl out immediately.
Holding the royal family's insignia in hand, the purple-haired girl couldn't help but sigh. "One day, I'll definitely get what I want… definitely."
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