Chapter 822

Hahshall’s statement that if Eleonora couldn’t prove her abilities as regent, he would throw her into the underground prison.

It was, after all, just a bluff to suppress the backlash from the bureaucrats and push Eleonora to give her all…

“…But what if it’s true?”

Perhaps it was because of the strange pressure Hahshall exuded at the time, or perhaps it was because his achievements, stained with blood and slaughter, gave his words a violent weight.

“…This woman might really try to throw me in prison. Just the fact that she’s breaking her promise with Leopold and pushing me to the forefront shows she clearly doesn’t care about imperial authority.”

Not only the bureaucrats but even Eleonora couldn’t dismiss his words as lies, so she had no choice but to prove her qualifications as regent with all her might.

The result was an endless flood of paperwork and daily political meetings that only added to her exhaustion.

For Eleonora, it was a teeth-grinding ordeal.

And it wasn’t just the hellish waterfall of tasks that kept piling up no matter how much she dealt with them.

She could delegate paperwork, political discussions, and business plans to others—mainly Lambert—to somehow carve out a moment to breathe…

“Ele—ahem, Regent Eleonora. Did you cough?”

But she still had two problems of a completely different nature. And these were issues she couldn’t even touch.

“The political meeting will start soon. Please prepare.”

“…I’m up. I’ll be ready in thirty minutes, so wait.”

Eleonora, half-submerged in sleep, felt her drowsy mind being overtaken by irritation and frowned deeply.

A voice she didn’t want to hear.

Eleonora sat up in bed, muttering curses under her breath.

As if to provoke her, Hahshall had assigned Leonor as her guard, a woman whose mere presence was enough to irritate her.

‘Of all people, Leonor as my guard? He knows exactly how things are between us.’

The daughter of the first queen, sold off in a political marriage, and the daughter of the second queen, who sold her off. There was no way their relationship could be good.

Eleonora harbored resentment and jealousy toward Leonor, while Leonor, in turn, felt a faint sense of guilt and indebtedness toward Eleonora.

The only condition the King of Panam wanted was an imperial princess, so if Leopold had had the power to overwhelm Isabella at the time, Leonor would have been the one sold to King Danon instead of Eleonora.

Of course, Eleonora understood that her resentment toward Leonor was irrational and misdirected, but human emotions aren’t something that can be neatly cut with a knife.

That’s why Eleonora found Leonor unpleasant and uncomfortable. Every time she faced her, she was forced to confront her own ugliest parts.

Jealousy toward her half-sister, who had enjoyed everything denied to her simply because they had different mothers, and self-loathing for the jealousy that shook her.

Even after becoming an apostle through her contract with Peirus. No, rather, it was after becoming an apostle that these feelings grew stronger.

Having to spend almost the entire day with the very person who evoked such emotions.

Moreover, the so-called guard was just a nice-sounding pretext; the real purpose was clearly to monitor and control her every move.

For Eleonora, there was nothing more irritating than this.

‘Is this a ploy to provoke and shake me? Are they expecting me to make a mistake under mental fatigue and pressure?’

It was an obvious but effective tactic.

In fact, every time she faced Leonor, Eleonora felt her stress skyrocket and her stomach twist.

And it wasn’t just Leonor who was watching her. Where there’s light, there’s always shadow. The fact that they openly assigned a guard meant there was likely another, hidden watcher.

Unlike the guard who could only monitor her public actions, there was a true watcher observing her every move.

Not just Eleonora, but Belnesia, who was posing as her maid, was also certain of the watcher’s presence.

-It’s probably that half-fairy.

Belnesia suspected Hersh. There was no evidence, but her intuition was clear.

For an agent skilled in hiding in the shadows and monitoring someone, there was no one more capable than a half-fairy with dark skin.

If she were Hahshall, she would have used that half-fairy as a spy or assassin too.

-This is troublesome. With this, we can’t even contact the other apostles.

As long as Hersh was secretly watching them, communicating with the other apostles was out of the question.

The moment they showed even the slightest suspicious behavior, that half-fairy would immediately report everything to Hahshall.

For the two of them, it was an infuriating situation.

The discomfort and humiliation of having their entire private lives observed.

Not being able to relax for even a moment, playing the role of a diligent princess working hard as regent and a maid serving her faithfully all day.

And in their already suspicious position, they couldn’t just find and eliminate the watcher… Without a special plan, it was inevitable for their nerves to be on edge.

-Can’t we figure out when the surveillance stops?

-Impossible. Even I can’t detect her presence, probably due to her race.

If they couldn’t eliminate the watcher, Eleonora had hoped to at least seize the moment when the watcher’s attention was diverted, but even that was impossible.

That half-dark, half-fairy was so skilled at hiding that even Belnesia, who had crossed walls in a new body, couldn’t properly sense her presence.

They were truly cornered.

As long as they were disguised as a mere princess and maid, protesting to Hahshall or even discussing the watcher was impossible.

A normal princess and maid noticing the presence of a clearly well-trained watcher? That alone would be an admission that they were suspicious.

Not knowing where or when the watcher was observing them, the two could only discuss the apostles’ affairs or the watcher through written notes.

Even that was likely being monitored, so they had to choose a method that left no trace and couldn’t be observed.

Thus, the method they chose for their notes was…

—-

“Huuuh…”

A faint moan. As fingers crawled spider-like along her thigh, Eleonora let out a soft breath and slightly furrowed her brow.

A sensation similar to but slightly different from tickling. For a body left neglected, it was an overly stimulating feeling. But it couldn’t be helped.

-No, why are you moaning so heatedly in broad daylight?

Belnesia, who had slipped her hand under Eleonora’s skirt and was rubbing her thigh, looked up at Eleonora with a pitiful expression.

They were just using their thighs as paper to exchange notes, and yet Eleonora was reacting like this. To Belnesia, it was absurd.

-Just, just a moment. Let me calm down a bit…

Eleonora’s fingers were also under Belnesia’s skirt, writing on her thigh, but Belnesia only felt a slight tickling sensation.

Yes. The two of them, to avoid the gaze of the mysterious watcher, were writing notes on each other’s thighs with their fingers.

Doing so would hide their hands under their skirts, making it impossible for anyone outside to know what notes they were exchanging.

Though Eleonora’s state became increasingly unstable as they wrote longer sentences, making it impossible to continue for too long…

For Eleonora and Belnesia, who had to continue their act while hiding their true identities, this was more than enough.

At least it was a hundred times better than being unable to discuss the apostles’ affairs at all and being on edge.

“…A lesbian relationship with her personal maid… The maid looks somewhat dissatisfied… Possible forced harassment due to hierarchy.”

If they had known what the dark-skinned half-fairy hiding in the shadows was writing in her report, they would have no choice but to kick their blankets in frustration and regret.