Inside the Carriage on their way back sat Eleonora with Drak, Seria and Alice. While the travel was harmonic the Servants on Eleonora’s side just started to nod away.
“Now, what do we do with-”
“Shh, esteemed Drak. Inside this Carriage are multiple surveillance devices.”
“Already taken care of, and now I want to know what is going on.”
“Sir Drak. I… I will not tell anyone about you, I promise on my Families blood to never tell anything.”
“Figured you were the Seer. So many problems and it is only the second week of School. This can not further go on like this. Then I have to end-”
“Please wait! Albeit I know about you, the Empire does not! As long as I do not say anything, there will be no problem with anything. I am in charge in surveillance of you, and as long as I skew the Information, there will be no danger of being found out!”
“She has a point Master.”
The ever changing bird… no, Seria said quietly in the Carriage. Time was short, as the travel will be over in a few minutes, so Eleonora was in a hurry to lay down her thoughts.
“Inside the School I can help you with anything, as I am ordered to be close to you and sway you. Our Network believes you to be connected to the Black Merchant… No you might be the one, as we want to keep the supply of the artificial Magic Stones in check. They are beneficial, but could be a risk in the wrong hands, so by keeping you, the Empire only wanted to have a stable supply of them. Nothing more!”
“...~”
“Ah, wait! You are also treated as Calamity Class emergency, as some Prophecies were calculated and saw a dangerous Individual or Beast roaming the whole Empire! That’s it I swear!”
“...~”
Listening to all the talks Drak was silent for a while, as Eleonora was sweating bullets for a long time.
“A Behemoth, am I really that scary?”
‘He knows about my Vision? Ah, that Maid Alice might have-’
Looking at Alice grinning broadly and nodding made her realize, there was nothing she could hide. Everything was now in the palm of their Master. The one she at first thought harmless, no maybe even was suggested harmless by some ability of that Maid Alice.
“What to do… She will be obviously checked for curses, so enslavement will not work… Contract Magic? I do not have the Supplies on me.”
“...~”
“Could work but her privacy… Ah, well she will have to live with it. [Secret Peering]”
Drak took out an ordinary ring and used magic to connect Eleonora to the ring with a Magic she never heard of.
‘Through all my defences without breaking them. How strong is he?’
Eleonora had more questions today than she had in a Month, but kept shut as she knew her life was on a small string and this string was fraying.
“This will work until School. Please make a meeting with me for Tea or anything, so we can make proper arrangements. Otherwise-”
“No worries, I will ask you right before we part ways at your Home!”
“Fine, breathe deep once. Alice removes the warding in a Second.”
A small breath was taken from Eleonora and the napping Servants woke up.
‘Instant nap? I have to rest properly, if noticed I was out for a second I might lose my job!’
Not saying anything the Servants just looked if someone had noticed. Afterward all relax and did their job more diligently to make them less suspect of accidentally lazing off.
-
“Drak, thank you for your time. It was nice to go out without being too rigid. We should do this more often, can I thank you with a piece of cake next School day, in the Mensa privately?”
“Eleo… Elly, I thank you for the time. I would love to eat something over tea with you in the School. Just say where we meet and I will try my best to be punctual.”
“Okay, then let’s depart. Next time I hope you would take me somewhere. Just please try to get a better Carriage or borrow one. Yours would be a bit… cramped.”
“I am not a favoured Son, but I will see what I can do. Until School, Elly.”
“Until School, farewell.”
-
Inside the Carriage
“Princess, what was that in the Boutique? You just froze out of nowhere for a short while.”
“I… I accidentally just took his hand like he is a real friend of mine. For a second I forgot my Image and was not working fully on my Mission. It made me shocked by my own doing for a while and needed to find my bearings.”
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After a small while one of her servants spoke up.
“Working in intrigue and spy work there is a need to be more open for some targets. Being open and yourself without shackles might be the way to have the best effect. The only thing is to keep the core of the mission deep inside the heart. Switching between emotion and Mission will become easier with time. Best use that waste as a training dummy for a more carefree approach.”
“Thanks for the Guidance. I will think about it. Keep an eye on him through the surveillance Crystals in his Mansion. If he makes strange moves, tell me.”
“As long as they are working we will document everything.”
‘As if you will get any Informations. If they can deactivate the ones in the Carriage without even flinching, how can those work in their Mansion? Well, I am now on his side, so better for him to be able.’
“Still try to work harder on your steady Personality Princess, you’ve sweat rather strongly at diverse points and those can be noticed as mistakes in your appearance.”
“Will work on it!”
Feeling like a cat that got stepped on its tail, Eleonora answered with an affirmative tone and swallowed her unease.
-
“Everything goes downhill. If it does get any worse, I will have to make a cut with all of this and make it work by brute force.”
Laying on the couch Drak got pampered by his Maids. While Celia was kneading his ankles and calves through the pants for his relaxation, Raja was giving him her lap to rest and brushed his hair with her fingers.
“Do not be discouraged Master, having Eleonora on our side is a rather good thing. She is the main source of Information of us to the Empire.”
“Who knows if she is really on our side. Saying one thing and doing another is human behaviour. With her, we might be even in more danger than before.”
“Right now she is not doing anything against us Master~”
Wearing the ring Drak enchanted with his magic, Alice is sitting in a comfortable chair and monitoring what Eleonora is doing.
“Maybe we should just do what you were suggesting earlier.”
“We… we were just joking, Master. Eliminating those people would cause trouble.”
“I would do it and was not joking.”
“Raja, not helping! Master your plans need a bit reconstruction, but it would be better to not make it too big of an incident. It would be hard to repair the damage afterwards. These two days, please relax and let us try to think of a better way than making a move yourself, okay?”
“...okay. I need some rest. Gonna doze of a bit, thanks for caring for me Celia, Raja.”
“No worries!”
“My pleasure, Master.”
After a little bit Seira relaxed and sat down herself.
“Hah. What a pain that Eleonora is. This complicates things, but it can also make things in later stages go more smoothly.”
“She is behaving like a well trained puppy~”
“One thing going fine this day at least. One false move and detonate the Peeper and eradicate her with it.”
“Roger~”
With that in place all of them rest a bit. Celia is still massaging the legs of Drak while Raja would not stop grooming his hair. Seria was a little bit envious, but collected her thoughts.
“So the next thing is to make that mess into a good thing. A double Spy in such a high position might be not that bad. Especially if the Prophecy that bi… Eleonora saw is keeping her at bay. Birds, do we look like poultry to her?”
“Bladed feathers, maybe I can remake my knives into that form? Should help with throwing precision.”
“Raja, still not helping. The first thing is cleaning up and sorting the issues. While we watch her for anything suspicious, we need to make a few amends. The hiding in the shade is crumbling, and we should use more effective strategies. Master’s plan is a bit too simple.”
“I am still awake, you know.”
“Did I say something untruthful Master?”
“...no?”
“Then rest a bit, we will help you achieve the goal, as it would make us also happy.”
“Okay, but remember I am also here.”
“Everything is revolving around you Master, we would never forget you.”
“I mean in work I can do.”
“Your work is learning for School. Do not think I do not know, you want to try evading hitting the books.”
“Aww…”
-
While the talk is going on Eleonora worked hard to not look any different. While she was trained to put the Empire first, she does rationalize it as helping, as awakening that… thing would be worse than it just lazing around. He was not a Calamity Class, as he broke through Disaster right to Extinction Class.
Even if he would get exposed, the Empire would practically presenting him a Kingdom for him, as long as they could borrow time for a way to eliminate or use him. His danger Level in Eleonora’s heart was already that high and she felt she could not see all of it with only one look.
“What a day. Maybe I should lessen my schedule a bit. It feels like I am overworked.”
Eleonora finally able to relax in her luxurious bed felt still shaken, but was able to fall asleep in short notice.
“...another Vision? Please give me a break, I am already at my limit!”
Standing inside the cage on the chessboard she heard the distant * clack * of pieces getting shuffled around. The only difference was her being watched by eyes. Every way she looks there were those eyes and they watched every move and every breath of her.
She knew it meant ‘he’ was spying on her, but could do nothing at all. If she fought, she would die. If she would tell about it, she would die. If she made one wrong move, death, death and more death. So the only thing she could possibly do in this situation was… wait.
And waiting she did, but this time the vision did not end. After Minutes only the clacking of the pieces were noticed.
“Some hint anywhere? Maybe because I touched him or switched sides I am now seeing another perspective?”
She was in no delusion of ever coming out safe, as her betrayal was already a fact. Deliberately hiding crucial Information in an official Imperial Mission is always a death sentence. Even if it was beneficial to hide something from the Empire, the person would be beheaded and afterwards honoured post mortem. No exceptions, ever.
But while she was looking there were only her, the Chess board and the Cage.
“Wait a second, the cage has small writings on them. Nearly illegible but I might find a clue there. Let me see… Imperia… Optimus… Serving… Honour… Sacrifice… So many illegible words but I feel like they are important.”
Reading for a long time she noticed all those little words strung a cord with her Patriotism. They show her honour and pride to be of the Imperial Family and helping to keep the Empire stable.
“But they are caging me here, that does not make sense. I know I am not implanted with magical memes, as checking for them is a prerequisite of going on a Mission. Those words are more like what I was always taught.”
Thinking long and hard she had no Idea what it meant. It was just what she learned since she was a child, but now those words were hindering her to even walk outside.
“To be honest I can not move on my own, as I am an Imperial Princess. I have my duty and have to uphold it, as I am true blood of the first Emperor. My Conviction holds true in the end.”
Noticing the watchful eyes in her peripheral vision she noticed they are radiating some emotions as of her conjecture. The emotions those Eyes were radiating felt like sadness and disappointment while the darkness came slowly closer.
“Wait, that felt like the wrong answer. I must have overlooked something, damn it!”
The darkness engulfed her and in the end she could only sleep peacefully until the next morning.