Chapter 68

“Changes.”

Temple of light. Kingdom of Balsac.

Darla paced back and forth in her spacious, luxurious room as she bit her thumbnail.

Her long white dress accentuated her hips and voluptuous figure, even if there was no one else there to appreciate it.

“That fucking idiot!” she growled under her breath. “I can’t believe that after all I’ve done for him, Medhas has taken Tathiana’s side!” she groaned. And the taste of her own blood filled her mouth as she bit too hard on her fingernail.

If it were up to me, I would have already punched him in that ugly freckled nose!

Darla was about to continue cursing the king when a shadow passed by her balcony window and a whistle, similar to the sound of a bird, echoed in the air. Forcing her to stop.

“Jhil!” she whispered, healing her injured fingernail and making it as good as new. Her brow furrowed slightly, as she remembered that since the punishment the goddess imposed on all humans, she, like the rest of the people on the continent, could no longer level up. And she was stuck at level fifteen. “Damn idiots! Why do I have to pay for other people’s mistakes? I wasn’t the one who came up with the idea of using the inventory to kidnap people!” she growled under her breath.

Deep down, Darla hoped that everyone else on the planet suffered from the same problem. But it was impossible for anyone who wasn’t a dragon to survive the journey from one continent to another when the sea was infested with monsters over level seventy. She had once heard that someone had seen a monster with a level of one hundred and twenty in the northern sea. But she had no way of confirming it.

Just as they had no way of receiving news of what was happening on other continents, beyond knowing they existed thanks to the ancient manuscripts the temple had, when priests and a group of dragons disguised as human travelers, hundreds of years ago, tried to trade maps of other lands.

Darla took a handkerchief from the nightstand beside her wide bed and wiped her hand before walking to the doors of her balcony and opening them wide.

In one corner, under the shade of a leafy tree with pale pink blossoms, stood one of her informants with half of his face well covered under a black mask. His face bathed in shadows thanks to the thick hood of his dark cloak.

“What do you have for me?” She questioned him as soon as she approached him. And took a seat on the delicate chair in front of the glass table she used to take tea in the mornings when she didn’t want to leave her room.

“The daughter of the Marquis of Tehro is pregnant. According to the royal physician’s records, it is a boy," reported her spy. And Darla smiled as she took the pitcher full of fresh water and poured herself some in a cut-glass tumbler.

So the medicine I gave Medhas really did the trick. She was delighted.

“So Lethicia finally got it... What did the queen say about it?” She asked curiously, but the mischievous gleam in her eyes betrayed her interest.

She detested Tathiana.

And while most of the aristocrats in the kingdom believed it was because Darla had been one of the king’s mistresses for months, the truth was that she had hated her for years.

“It doesn’t look like the queen has heard the news yet. Perhaps she has been too busy after the assassination attempt she received recently.”

“Did someone try to kill her?” She worried. Fearing they would blame her for it after the queen sent her to prison. “Have they arrested the culprit yet?”

“The maid and the two guards involved are dead, but the duke suspects that they received outside help to get to the queen’s room in the middle of the night. So the Duke of Brincy changed the entire palace staff, from the maids to the guards. Now everyone who works in the queen’s palace is part of the duke’s personal army." Darla grimaced at his words. That meant she would have no chance to plant spies among her maidservants as the king had been doing so far.

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The gentle afternoon breeze stirred the leaves on the trees as a heavy silence settled between them, broken only by the steady sound of Darla’s fingernail tapping the glass of the table in a steady rhythm.

“I doubt very much that King Medhas is happy to have his father-in-law’s army so close.”

“They have increased the number of guards at the king’s palace in response. Which has led some nobles to suspect that if the king is fearing retaliation from the duke, it means he had something to do with the attack on the queen.” Darla could feel she would get a severe headache very soon.

How can he be such an idiot when he wears a crown on his head? She questioned. If it wasn’t because he’s the king, I wouldn’t even bother to help him.

The problem was that until Galythe, the crown princess and eldest daughter of the king and Tathiana’s only offspring, ascended the throne, Darla would still need Medhas’ help to secure her position.

But that was not her only problem.

The influence she had had over him had begun to crumble. Darla could feel it the last time they saw each other in that poorly lit cell. Even the fact that it had taken him so long to get her out of there was already alarming.

With the death of the pope, much of the influence she had on the temple died with him. And with the disappearance of the temple’s high priest, after he traveled to the south for a vacation less than a month ago, Darla had lost her main backers inside the temple.

I need a new plan. She thought. After the previous one failed spectacularly after pressuring Irdas, the former duke of Lanish, and a month later Logan, the current duke, with the king’s backing to marry her thus ceding her power over one of the two most powerful military forces in the kingdom in exchange for giving her a bottle of holy water to cure Irdas. Who had been poisoned by Darla’s spy as revenge for refusing to marry the high priestess.

She was running out of ideas.

Though not all is lost. She assured herself. And though she knew the young duke had a mistress, that was something she didn’t care about. It is well known that Logan is very concerned about his father’s steadily deteriorating health. It is only a matter of time before he realizes that there is no other means to save him and he ends up giving in to me. Maybe I should just push him. A mischievous smile came across her face.

“Tell Leyla to increase the dosage of the poison of Irdas and to keep me informed of the situation in the east. And be sure to spread the rumor in and out of the duchy that the black plague has returned. So the few who still possess some holy water will refuse to sell it to the young duke” That stupid old decrepit old man, how dare you refuse me? She wanted to growl, but to tell the truth, it would be much better to marry the handsome young duke than the old man. “What have you found out about the high priest? Have you found him yet?”

“No, ma’am. But apparently a new dungeon was opened near the farm where he was staying. The knights of the temple who had gone to investigate asked for his help, and they have not been heard from since.”

Most likely, they are all dead.

“How come I wasn’t informed about this before?” she complained, feeling her headache increasing.

“It happened only three days ago. The news must have reached the temple by now. But with the wave of monsters that escaped from the dungeon and those that are invading the south of the kingdom, I doubt the king will take long to find out.”

“And in demanding help." Darla growled. Regretting having spent so many resources on the summoning, especially since she had to send a group of knights from the temple to help the mages of the tower and imperial knights hunt the black dragon and the monsters that came out of the summoning ritual.

“Damn it!” she complained. Too many things have gone wrong in the last few days. Never mind the comments I will receive from my opponents in the temple when they find out that I was sent to prison by the queen’s orders!

“High priestess! We have a problem!” One of the minor priestesses, who used to run her errands, entered her room without knocking, opening the doors wide.

“Retreat!” Darla whispered to her spy, who immediately melted into his own shadow and quietly disappeared.

Darla had been very lucky to meet them several years ago. Duncan, a mage of the shadow element, had been on the verge of death after surviving a monster attack while his younger sister, Leyla, was infected with the plague. Darla had cured them both, who, grateful that she had saved their lives, had begun working for her ever since.

“What the hell is going on? What’s all the fuss about?” She growled at her, not hiding her annoyance at her lack of good manners.

However, the young priestess was unfazed by her bad temper. On the contrary, she had long since become accustomed to the fickle moods of the temple’s only saintess. And with her pale face covered with sweat, she approached the balcony of the high priestess as she caught her breath.

“A new saintess has been brought to the temple!”