The boisterous room came to a sudden silence soon after they had made their entrance.

Talia felt the gazes of everyone in the room first acknowledge Sir Gregory with wariness and fear, but these feelings evaporated as soon as they looked at her figure behind Sir Gregory as she saw a clear mixture of emotions from them, which was a mix of disdain, surprise and lust.

Are these truly her most ‘loyal’ and ‘competent’ advisors to help her run the Kingdom until she comes of age? Her expectations of them crumbled straight away at the sight of them not even bothering to cover up their feelings towards her at all or not doing a good job of hiding it, the only man who she couldn’t gouge their current thoughts at the moment was the man sitting at the end of the table, one who she could instantly guess the identity too.

“So, Sir Gregory, may I ask why you have brought the Princess here in her current state? I would expect you should know better than to let her be involved in the management of the Kingdom and apart of these discussions in her current state.” A podgy looking noble haughtily said.

The rest of the table nodded in agreement at the comment of the noble leading to a frown of dissatisfaction to surface upon his face.

However, before he interrupted, Talia spoke before him, and said, “I can ensure you I am perfectly capable of here, and I don’t need you or others to express their opinions on whether or not I’m suitable to be here.”

A look of shock appeared on every noble present in the rooms face as soon as they heard Talia speak, a fidgety looking noble-man nervously said, “Ugh… your back Princess…? Well, I for one can say I’m overjoyed at your recovery!”

It would have been a somewhat flattering comment to Talia if she hadn’t seen the very man a moment ago agreeing with the earlier nobles opinion and the fact that he, among those present, is clearly looking down on her. And if that isn’t enough whilst even talking, his eyes were flickering to the nobles present as if to seek their approval, or to indicate whether what he is saying is acceptable to those present, clearly not truly sincere about what he is saying.

“Well, thank you for you the kind words …” Talia paused a moment, realising she didn’t even know the nobles name, so she blanked that part out casually in an effort to conceal her error, not that she wanted to anyway, why would show any respect to these fellows at all?

“I was just in the midst of recovering for the past few days, I don’t know what happened previously, but all of a sudden my head feels clear and I feel better than I’ve felt for a long time. So, whilst I was having a discussion with Sir Gregory here, he ended up mentioning this meeting, so sorry if I interrupted any important matters going on here, but it should be fine if I interject, right?” Continued Talia.

She could clearly view a noble about to make a fuss about her being here, probably along the lines of her not being fit to make decisions for people in her current state, but the man at the end of the table waved his hand at the man instantly causing his silence.

Inwardly feeling a tad surprised about how much control this man has, she could already guess his identity. In fact, she was planning on concealing herself for a while, but she wanted to do some investigation of her own as it would give her the best idea on what she is dealing with. Although it is risky in making herself known here showing that she had seemingly recovered, and additionally refuting that noble earlier, she couldn’t help herself after seeing how conceited, snobbish these nobles are.

She was not known for being a patient and calm person in her previous life, otherwise, she wouldn’t have embarrassed Rachel for crossing her numerous times, she was not a person who is quick to anger or particularly rash in her actions. Though if someone treated her like dirt and is repeatedly looking down on her, she is going to retaliate.

This whole situation of their treatment of the Princess has already angered her greatly, never mind when she sees just how bad it is when she meets them face-to-face, these are probably a bunch of the slimiest and disloyal people in the Kingdom, how did such a bunch of incompetent fools even get involved in an official meeting which decides how to run the country?

However, that question answered itself when she saw the middle-aged man who even till now had not shown a hint of emotion on his face. The appearance of the Governor was completely different to what she expected, unlike his son Edward, he had the bearing of a proper noble, and had some unknown quality about him which would lead to people believing he is a natural leader.

But, the one thing which concerned her the most was that even until now she could not tell what his true feelings at are at all, in fact, she cannot gather anything from him at the moment.

She didn’t know if he was angered about the confrontation with her nobles, or whether to not he did not care, at the same time she was in front of the very man who may be responsible for the poisoning of the Princess, yet even until now she had not garnered a single response from him, as if he was not related to her in any way at all.

A light cough escaped the Governor lips gaining the rooms attention immediately, for the first time she heard the man spoke, “Hmm. Welcome back Princess, I already knew from my dearest son Edward that you will likely be back with us today, if I may do so, I will apologise on behalf of my foolish son for putting you in such a situation yesterday. And Sir Gregory, I would like to thank you on his behalf for showing such leniency despite his idiotic actions, and if no one at the table minds, I trust that the dearest Princess is perfectly fine in sitting in on our discussion today?”

After he spoke, the nobles jumped straight away in reaffirmation agreeing profusely to the Governor speech as if they were worried he would not see them obeying his every word.

Talia's eyes narrowed at the comment, ‘Looks like my guess was right, it was pointless if I went into hiding anyways, as from what occurred with Edward, the whole castle would likely know eventually that their Princess has recovered, well even if they don’t, the only man which matters in such a situation, and the one with the most control here will do. So it would be pointless to go into hiding inside my room, forbidding myself from meeting anyone, if anything that may make them more suspicious that I may prove a threat, after all, I’m acting right now how the Princess would be right? In a normal scenario the Princess wouldn’t have a hint of mistrust to the Governor, they may suspect something if I attempt to avoid the man, at the same time, someone like him wouldn’t even view me as a threat, after all the true danger is Sir Gregory who wields actual power, they don’t view me as a threat at all, only a mere hindrance. Also, if die unexpectedly, Sir Gregory would become a loose factor as he could act how he wishes without fear of the harm which would befall me, and the dangers brought of a last-ditch effort from him could pose a great deal of peril for the Governor and his son, from his actions so far he must be far too cautious to make a move unless he knows that everything is under his control, including Sir Gregory. An impatient man who has no concerns for such things would have acted a long time ago, something which the Governor is clearly not.’

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

She paused for a moment to fully take in the thoughts of the nobles as she and Sir Gregory sat down, whilst they began to continue the meeting, which she didn’t know if it was due to her, but it just became some political unrealistic nonsense, involving no actual information, her thoughts couldn’t help but wonder again to the Governor.

Looking over at his face, as he sat there in the meeting as if he wasn’t apart of it all, he rarely made a point in the discussion, and if he did it was to reprimand a noble for making an inappropriate comment, or going off-topic. Nevertheless, she could see straight away that this ‘official meeting’ must have been some form of pretence, because as time continued to go by, nothing was seemingly achieved at all, in fact, they spent the whole time more arguing with each other than actually talking about problems.

And when they do talk about them, it is something which holds not to many benefits to the Kingdom, or it wasn’t really something that was necessary at all, such as the proposed idea to ‘modernise’ and ‘beautify’ the castle by slathering it with more riches, in fact, this could be seen as the actions of a spendthrift, one which will surely be pointed back to her instead of these idiots.

Maybe that’s the point, to villainize me to the populace? For what gain though? And why do it so openly while I’m directly here?

Nonetheless, when she noticed the Governors hawk-like-eyes gleaming at her, she instantly knew the goal, he wanted her to see this as a means of testing her, after all, if she acted up, would that suggest she was on to something about him? Or maybe this was just some means of revenge for his son? Or could they have been doing this for the past year to make her reputation plummet?

After more and more wild guesses came, she decided that she was not going to play this guys game any longer, after all, she is the only one who knows that she has a trump card at the moment, one which he wouldn’t expect in his wildest dream.

As long as she grew her games character power to a suitable state, then what can the Governor even do to her if she has the power equivalent to Sir Gregory, or maybe even greater?

Therefore, she just sat in silence for the rest of the meeting, ignoring the nobles inwardly, but outwardly showing her best ‘interested’ face.

After the meeting ended, the nobles exited first, whilst the Governor called her before leaving, kissing her hand as a form of greeting, before with a bright grin on his face he said, “Ah, once again sorry for my son if he had offended you, but I’m sure you can reconcile with each other, and makeup. After all, I expect you both of you to be far closer in the immediate future.”

His closing statement was full of hidden meaning as he walked past, before he has done so, she realised that for the first time two men, presumably his bodyguards followed behind him. They were dressed from head to toe in black armour, although they didn’t have as strong as an aura as Sir Gregory, even she a complete greenhorn could tell that there was not that big of a gap between their strength.

‘Could be that be the reassurance that Edward was talking about when he said they have the means to deal with Sir Gregory?’ She thought as they walked past, she couldn’t help but shiver slightly as the cold, apathetic glares of the two men focused on her on their way out.

‘Yes! I really need to grow stronger, as soon as I return to my room, I’m going to need to try to return to that game world, I got a feeling that I need to get the strength needed to defend myself fast, as I’m running out of time, I have a feeling that the Governor is going to make his move, far sooner than I imagined.’

Talia already felt that the official meeting was a worthwhile just based on what she gleaned from the Governor's actions, she could not tell that he was both intelligent and calculating, far more scheming than may ever be.

However, her one advantage is that at the moment he is greatly underestimating her at the moment, after all since the Princesses illness she was rumoured to have been crippled, she was confident that the man thought she was hopeless at the moment and had no means of recovery.

But, even if she did, she knew that he wouldn’t believe she could grow sufficiently to threaten him, after all, she would have needed to be a great prodigy to achieve Sir Gregory’s stage at her current age, and that was through training at a fairly young age, with her possessing an illness which ruined her body for a long period of time, he would never expect in his wildest dreams for her to ever come close to that level of power in this time.

Thus, Talia knew that the game world was her one prospect for turning this situation around, allowing her to take control of the Kingdom which should have belonged to the Princess in the first place.

She did not know why she had such feelings, but the thought of allowing the Governor take control of the Kingdom deeply upset her, maybe it was the remnant feelings of the body or the thought of such a nefarious man taking over the Kingdom which was loved deeply by the previous bodies parents, but she knew that she would do whatever it takes to prevent this from happening.

Leaving the official meeting room, she did not bother to speak to any of the nobles on the way out, and if they did they were only cursory conversations, as she knew that none of these men is her allies, they are just a bunch of ‘yes men’ who would go with the flow of whoever could benefit them the most, which at the moment was not her, but the Governor. So why would she bother wasting time on such people?

Returning to her room, she found Kaelyn once again arriving to provide her dinner, which she didn’t realise how needed it was, before the gurgling of her stomach was loudly heard at the sight of the fragrant looking meal causing an embarrassing redness to spread across her face, and leading to a big grin spreading across Kaelyn’s face before she could control it, returning to the standard of a professional maid.

Once afternoon went, and she ended up flickering through the system testing what other features she could use, allowing her to discover the option of actually being able to equip the gear which was currently on her game character, a function which would especially be useful in a time were her enemies would believe her un-armed, and also at the fact that some of the equipment she knew from ‘Dawn of the Corrupted’ had comparable counterparts in the game world then there was the prospect of bringing back equipment of astonishing quality, greatly delighting her.

She also found the magic tome in her equipment but decided to use it if she can return to the game world, as she did not know if it would cause any phenomenon or something, which would definitely be unadvisable as she is in very much hostile territory at the moment, with the Governor's possessing a tight grip of this place, she doesn’t want him to make his move before she had the means to defend herself.

For this reason, she was now going to make an attempt to re-enter the game world.

Mediating on the bed, she tried to concentrate on the best of her ability to recall the feelings which she had before she was transported to the game world the first time. After further inspection, she decided to try and communicate with the mechanical voice which sounded inside her head.

And the result astonished Talia, as the reaction was actually immediate.

*Player ’Talia’ is requesting approval to enter ‘Dawn of the Corrupted’ World… Scanning Soul… Game time verifying… Game time available… Approval accepted. Entering World in 3…. 2… 1… * The mechanical voice spoke once again.

And once again Talia experienced the wonderful feeling of transportation as the mysterious feeling spread through her body once more, as she felt her body re-appearing in a completely new location, a room she was familiar in.

’I’m in exactly where I was previously in Thornrock Inn’ She thought, looking around she saw that stood in front of her stood Priestess Anita, who stood there smiling at her.

“Ah! Welcome back I was wondering once you would get here, was worried I wouldn’t be here once you arrived, that would ruin my great image!” Said Anita.

“Wait, have you been standing there since I left?” Talia responded.

“No comment.” The Priestess immediately answered.