Chapter 197 – Leticia’s plan into action
Translator – Yue
To get ready for the Queen, everyone had prepared numerous expensive items. There were many carriages filled with the highest quality silks that could change color depending on the light. Moreover, there were also plenty of thread and leather especially designed for the Queen.
However, before heading to the Queen’s Palace, they had to go through a strict control procedure.
“I’m Chris, from Orban Merchants”.
After all merchants stated their names and company names, they were all subject to complete body scans. Their items would also be thoroughly searched. Everyone seemed pissed at the fact that entering the Queen’s Palace would be quite the ordeal, as it looked as though palace security was willing to scrutinize even the tiniest ant that passed through with their merchandise.
“Please, come on in”.
After being inspected, they were granted permission into the Queen’s Palace. Once there, a maid would give them instructions to head into the reception room, where they’d meet directly with the Queen herself.
Leticia was mixed among them. She had dyed her hair black and changed her skin tone with makeup, besides also modifying some of her facial features. After putting on a merchant’s clothes, she looked quite good. At the beginning, she doubted “that man’s” words, but they’d turned out to be true.
They’d informed her nobody would suspect a criminal of infiltrating the Queen’s Palace, of all places (T/N: cuz nobody’s that stupid besides you, sweetie). Besides, the guards were more focused on whether anyone carried weapons, dangerous artifacts or anything strange among their items, so nobody looked much at her appearance.
Leticia was extremely nervous as she entered the Palace grounds, but once she reached the Queen’s domains, she felt more relaxed.
“All of you, wait here”.
The representative merchants entered the reception room. Lower class workers like Leticia were ordered to stay put in their designated areas and look after the merchandise. While she was heading there, Leticia quickly hid from the servants’ gaze and escaped. Then, she searched for a place she’d previously studied in a map and hid herself, awaiting. While she waited, she took out the small knife she’d hidden inside a yarn ball.
Now, all she had to do was wait for the Queen to pass by and stab her with this knife.
The place Leticia was hiding in was next to a hall corridor, which had a small round sunken part in which one could hide. Covered by a curtain, Leticia waited for the Queen. Not long after, she heard approaching footsteps. She saw the Queen and some maids leisurely walking by, laughing softly.
Seeing the Queen, Leticia felt enraged once more. Rihannan wasn’t wearing the latest trend. She had boring, plain clothes that looked as clothes for daily use. Her hair was tangled up, without any accessory. However, she stood out among the many maids that surrounded her. You could easily tell at first glance who was the Queen among that group of women. She exuded this elegant aura around her, as though she’d been born and raised in the Royal Family.
That made Leticia’s anger grow madly. In spite of her current attire, that woman was still noble and beautiful.
Leticia tightly held the knife she had in her hand. In any case, all was going well according to the plan. She’d infiltrated the Palace, and just as she’d been previously told, the Queen was indeed heading to the reception room walking down this hall.
Leticia waited in her small hole inside the wall, and once they’d walked past her, she opened the curtain. Just when she was about to jump on the Queen, someone approached her from behind and held her.
“…!”
A big hand covered her mouth. Even though her arm was twisted in a painful angle behind her, she couldn’t let out a single moan of pain. After getting a hold of Leticia’s body, the man waited for the Queen and her maids to walk by. Once they’d disappeared from the hall, the man spoke as though he couldn’t believe it.
“I suspected it was you when I heard someone with a similar appearance had entered this place. But to think that you’d come here yourself! That’s unbelievable. I’m not sure if you are brave or stupid”. (T/N: See? I told you nobody was THAT stupid.)
The man clicked his tongue and lowered the hand that has clasping Leticia’s mouth. She turned around and glared fiercely at him.
“Let me go!”
“You think I’ll let you go because you asked? Please, think before speaking, Mrs. Viscountess Leticia Olbach”.
“What?”
“Shhhh. Please, shut it. Our Queen is feeling very happy today, and it’s been too long since that’s happened. I do not want to ruin her mood”.
Basil looked at Leticia’s face. Her face had certainly changed a little, but it was still the same face as the one portrayed on the “wanted” posters. (T/N: Last comment, but *facepalm* this woman tried infiltrating the Palace with just foundation on).
Basil frowned.
“Why do people say you are the most astounding beauty that’s ever existed? From my perspective, you are not”.
Leticia couldn’t think of any word to say at that moment. While studying her astonished expression, Basil yelled to the soldiers nearby.
“Take this woman! This is the criminal that tried to kill the Queen!”
Leticia tried to scream and struggle once more, but she couldn’t do so for long. Her lips were sealed with a cloth, and her eyes covered with a black blindfold.
She was escorted by the guards and forced to walk beside them. After reaching a certain building, she went down some stairs. She started feeling dampness, like some sort of unpleasant smell. Since she couldn’t say anything, her fear grew.
After being forced into a room, they made her kneel on the ground. She spent a lot of time in this position, with her breaths heavily echoing throughout the room. After a long time had passed, just when Leticia thought she couldn’t take it anymore, she heard a heavy metal door opening up.
The sound of footsteps told her someone had approached her. Then, she heard someone sitting in a chair right in front of her.
Leticia wished for someone to take off the blindfold that was covering her eyes, but there was no reply. Just when her patience was running thin, she heard a man’s voice.
“Take it off”.
Immediately, the dark blindfold was off her eyes. The torches that were illuminating the room momentarily blinded her, but she soon saw the figure of a man sitting in a chair in front of her. When her sight finally went back to normal, the man spoke.
“The ropes around her hands, too”.
“Your Majesty, that’s…”
“Do what I’ve said. And everyone, get out of this room, now”.
Hearing those words coming out of the man’s mouth, Leticia swallowed hard. She finally realized the identity of the man sitting in front of her, who she couldn’t see quite well due to the torches’ intense luminosity.
Igor Cheska.
This nation’s King, and that woman’s husband.
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