Elmer heaved out a deep breath and cracked his neck, relieving it of the tension that had turned it stiff. He flipped to a new leaf of his notebook and continued reading from where he’d stopped.

The words on this page bore the accomplishments of the Fitzroy girls who had been converted into spies, beginning from the exploits of the princess who was claimed to have turned whore, Aria, the eldest of the royal family’s children.

She was eighteen of age when she and her sisters had been deployed. And to her was given the Southern Kingdom, which she had snuck her way into successfully—a kingdom where the cold never ceased, and snowflakes barely took days off from falling from the sky.

Although, the exact details of how she had done so were not recorded in the pages of history as she had not lived to tell her tale.

Her dead body had been found with strangling marks on its neck on the grand bed of the prince of the Southern Kingdom, Einhorn Blackhorn. And it was believed that her life had been snuffed out by the prince after he’d found out that she was a spy.

The documenters of history had gone ahead to retrieve as much information as they could from the White Castle’s servants on how the late Princess Aria had seduced the gullible Prince Einhorn, while acting a budding whore, and wiggled her way into his chambers.

With spite in the serfs voices, overshadowing their fear in that instant, they had claimed that they had thought her to be a witch at first because of how smitten the prince had been.

Ever since her arrival he would seek no other woman to warm his bed, and he accepted not a single noble lady to wed too, no matter how beautiful or moneyed they were. The only thing he’d wanted had been the embrace of Aria the whore.

His food had to be brought by her. His bath had to be heated by her. His feet had to be washed by her. And his nights had to be sweetened by her.

Even the king could not bring him back to his senses.

And since that had been the case, her death turned weird in the eyes of the documenters of history. That caused them to believe that it would have been no one but Aria who would have let the truth come out to Prince Einhorn.

She must have told him everything herself on the night the White Castle had been breached. How she was a spy and caused the downfall of the Southern Kingdom. It was presumed that she’d maybe wanted her demise and was not hoping to leave the White Castle alive.

Maybe she had fallen in love.

What a love story… Blimey…! She must have been very pretty to seduce a prince… If only descriptions were in history books, it would have been a lot better… Elmer’s lips downturned suddenly as he came to a realization of some sort. It’s possible that this free lending library is of books with cheaper qualities… Maybe the main library would have those that bear descriptions… That seems plausible… Sadly, I cannot waltz into there…

He sighed and returned his mind back to the words in his notebook, focusing on the exact reason for Princess Aria’s seduction and sacrifice.

Her route had been taken in order to extract information on how to cut off the food supplies of the White Castle, and also the best way to sneak into its territory. And there was not a single person, besides the king of the kingdom, that could compete with the crowned prince on the knowledge of such.

That information had caused the Southern Kingdom’s walls to fall the easiest out of all the three kingdoms King Athelstan aimed to conquer. And its king, Raedwald, as well as his son, were felled in the White Castle’s throne room by the great sword of the Unhinged King.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The scene of death had been characterized as a grotesque illustration, depicting two headless bodies hugging each other with their heads firm on the dais of the throne room. While the blood painting the scenery was described as narrow brooks seemingly drawn from the perfect brushstrokes of The Creator of all himself.

I can just imagine it… Gory…!

It was then Elmer arrived at the part of Aria’s history that left a bitter aftertaste in his tongue, widened his eyes, and slackened his mouth.

Her father, King Athelstan, had cremated her body and cast the ashes into the southern sea. He’d said with a disgusted look that his daughter was not befitting of the burial of a princess as she had turned herself into a whore. And it was only because of her achievements to help take down the kingdom that he had not given up her body to the beasts of the forest, but instead did her an honor by sending her to the sea.

Elmer’s breathing hitched for a moment at that. But it did not stop there.

Ever since that day the southern sea had been termed the foggy sea, as a great, thick fog had suddenly surrounded it a week after Princess Aria’s ashes had been cast into it.

Fishermen even ceased to grace the sea anymore, saying that the abundance of fishes it always had never came any longer. And that during their night exploits they always glimpsed a young lady dressed in a milky white undergarment, ethereal in nature, walking along its banks within the fog.

The royal scholars had brought this discovery to the first emperor, Emperor Athelstan, claiming that it was the spirit of Princess Aria roaming the sea and she had to be exorcized.

But even that had not solved it. No matter how many sorcery practitioners were sent to the foggy sea no one ever came back with good news. All they brought back with them were requests of the emperor to personally visit the sea and partake in the exorcism, claiming that it was the spirit of his daughter and she would not leave until he came in person to see her.

Emperor Athelstan always disagreed though, stating that he would never step his feet on the banks of that sea ever again. Until, eventually, he simply termed the sea out of bounds forever, deciding to allow his deceased daughter to roam it to her satisfaction for as long as she wanted.

What a waste of a father… The bridge of Elmer’s nose squeezed erratically. How can he treat his own daughter that way… Crazy things in the medieval era… Elmer shrugged. Not like I can talk though; I don’t even have a father to know how things like this work… And there’s the high possibility that the documentation had been tampered with; it's the history of a thousand years past after all…

Elmer licked his lips and went to a new page. This time he was completely done with that which involved Princess Aria, and he was now moving on to the rest of her siblings and their exploits.

Considering he had been the one who had jotted down the summarized history of Fitzroy, even though he hadn’t placed his full attention on it then, he recalled that he had not seen anything similar to Princess Aria’s end involving the other princesses.

That’s a good thing, right…? Elmer intoned to himself through the loud ruckus in the library, which was a mixture of overwhelming voices and snores—especially that of the middle aged man beside him. But that also proves why the southern kingdom fell the easiest; Princess Aria did a lot more for her father than the rest, even though she did not live to enjoy the fruits of her own labor; she’s even suffering after death… I wonder if she’s still roaming that bank…? Where even is it located…? Hmm… I don’t think I jotted anything related to that… Well, it’s not like I’m going to pay it any visit…

All of a sudden Elmer’s eyebrows raised up. The actions of Princess Aria somehow now seemed quite similar to that of a certain young man at the moment.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. Then he pinched the bridge of his nose just beneath that of his glasses and chuckled below his breath, causing the snores of the man beside him to turn into snorts for a second.

Fruits of my labor, huh…? Elmer scoffed. I will make sure to enjoy it to my satisfaction… I’m not going to end up like Princess Aria; and even if that is my fate, then I just have to twist it to favor me… After all, that is what a leech would do; that is what a fake prodigy would do…