Lei Lou walked through the dim feylight torches of the servants corridors, a bundle of towels in her arms and head bowed. No one paid attention to her eyes dancing feverishly around or how her right hand appeared to be holding something under the towels rather than the towels themselves. No one ever paid attention to the hired help.
She had snuck into Tianshao castle days earlier during a diplomatic visit from the Yakushiri kingdom to the east entering whilst the normally peaceful castle was thrown into the controlled chaos that the foreign diplomats provoked. Over the next several days she had posed as a maid doing as large a variety of tasks as possible as she mapped out the interior of the castle for her bosses as she tried to locate her target. For obvious reasons the Tianshao Dynasty took great pains to make sure that only the most trusted of servants were allowed to enter the personal rooms of the royals. This should have made locating her target fairly easy however princess Dianne the fourth in line was quite disliked and therefore shunned by the emperor for reasons only he knew. However rumors ran through the servants quarters with the most common being that she was blessed enough to be provided with a class (As expected of a royal) but did not know how to unlock it. Her coming out ball in two weeks would prove that one way or another, with the common identification abilities not working on those under 18. Or it would however if it wasn’t for the fact that Lei was planning on slitting her throat tonight where she stood.
After two days of subtle interrogation of the servants Lei finally managed to locate the singular servant that served Dianne, a thin middle aged woman only known as lady Xing, and after following her carrying dinner she finally managed to locate the princesses bedroom. Surprisingly it was located on the opposite side of the castle to where the other royalty lived, up the old western tower the section of the castle that was the oldest and was in serious need of modernisation, an area clearly designed purely for defence with thick granite walls and minimal decoration. In contrast the much more modern eastern wing was made with comfort and the aim to impress much more in mind complete with all modern touches.
Exiting the servants corridor Lei strode confidently down the last few meters to a thick but otherwise plain wooden door standing alone on the eighth floor where a single guard stood leaning lazily on his spear, with his leather chestplate fastened poorly over what was clearly a bulging stomach. He was clearly paying significantly more attention to the storm raging outside rather than down the corridor as he should. But really few would blame him with it being an easy job, standing in a corridor only letting through the princesses servants, her few friends and other royalty. However no one else was allowed in this section of the castle and none would bother. It wasn’t as if this princess had any significant political sway, nor was she often seen or even engaged with. Someone would have better luck with any of her other siblings who were much more popular, powerful and politically active.
“Oh I didn’t see you there” the guard said startlingly as Lei cleared her throat as she walked up to the door, the [silent footsteps] Skill making her nearly unnoticeable until she made herself known. “Who are you?” He asked, looking at her up and down, leering down at her, the maid uniform she wore barely concealing even her minimal assets. “I haven’t seen you here before.”
Barely concealing her shudder and debating the merits of killing him said quietly “I’m providing towels for her majesty” as she dipped into a curtsy.
The guard, his eyes firmly fixed on her chest idly queried her “oh and what happened to the princesses lady in waiting? I saw her this morning but she hasn’t returned since.”
“She has fallen unwell sir” Lin said looking straight ahead to not give away any details in her expression. This was the truth however what she neglected to mention was that she was the cause of that, having slipped a mild poison into the servant’s meals to make Lady Xing and several other servants feel violently ill earlier that day. The cooks were rightfully terrified hoping that none of this contaminated food had found its way to more important lips. “I have heard that there seems to have been some severe food poisoning and several maids have needed to be reassigned”
“Is that so?” The guard said his eyebrows raising “well if that’s the case” his lips twisting into a cruel smile as he walked towards her, leaving his spear leaning against the wall “I have no choice but to pat you down, security concerns and all” roughly with no attempts to actually check Lei for anything concerning he pawed at her, his hands lingering particularly around her chest and waist. Conveniently the man didn’t bother searching through the towels. Well conveniently for him Lei thought, it might make her life slightly more inconvenient depending on whether anyone walked up the stairs later that night, but she was perfectly prepared to stab him through the eye if he risked her mission.
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At this point I might even appreciate him discovering the knife but his death will likely be significantly more painful when it’s discovered a princess, even a useless one like this was killed on his watch, Lei thought to himself still feeling repulsed at his ‘examination’. “Am I allowed to go in now?” she said softly, her tone barely hiding her simmering rage.
“Of course” he said, nodding towards the door and smirking at her. “Be my guest and feel free to come back later”
Ignoring him as best she could she opened her door and quietly walked inside, her eyes quickly searching the room, examining the massive four poster bed, the scarred wooden desk covered in writing implements and a wilted set of flowers in a large glass vase. Seated in a plush chair at the desk was A young woman with short black hair, and a highly expressive face, thick black eyebrows pulling up and lips pursing in puzzlement as she turned at the creaking sound of her door opening unexpectedly. “Who are you”, princess Dianne asked, stumbling out of her chair and managing to bump the vase of flowers from the desk in her rush. The sound of glass water and wilted lilies spilling all over the ground sounded like thunder in Lei’s ears. “Why are you here? I didn’t ask for towels.”
Lei winced at the sound of shattering glass and quickly walked to the bed. gently she placed the towels down making sure to remove her dagger and slip place it behind her into her belt. Glancing quickly to make sure the guard didn’t enter at the unexpected noise she quickly replied “I appologise your highness.” she said as she cast a silencing array around the room with her hands behind her back to hide the movements.
As her ears popped Diannes eyes widened in shock, “what was that magic? Who are you? Maids don’t have magic like that.” Smiling viciously as she drew her dagger Lei started to pace towards the princess, the blade seemingly absorbing the feylight light around it.
“Unfortunately princess your time is up” Lei said as she quickly crossed the room as the princess backed into her chair. Lei lunged the dagger outstretched, aiming to place the dagger in Dianne’s throat. Dianne managed to lean backwards over her desk and out of the way escaping with a small cut on her neck. Rolling to the side she picked up her chair and swung it at Lin’s legs.
The slippery ground betrayed Lin as her momentum carried through her swing and she struggled to maintain her footing on the slick ground, and she was unable to manger out of the way as the chair took her legs out from under her, the dagger skidding out of her grip.
Dianne brought the chair down on her again however Lin wasn’t an assassin for nothing, managing to get her hand around Dianne’s ankle as she swung, pulling her to the ground and quickly rolling on top of her Lin wrapped her hands around Dianne’s neck and squeezed.
***
As I struggled on the ground beneath the implacable gaze of the woman atop of me trying desperately to suck it another breath I saw my pathetic life flickering in front of me, I saw my awakening day at 12, the horror of a never before seen class. The last five years of struggle to try to awaken it trying to absorb different elements, eating different food, trying techniques from every other known class. Watching others clearly awaken their class in front of me and the envy and dread I saw as it happened. The sneers from the rest of my family as they watched and saw no evidence of improvement, and with no attempts to help her. My self imposed isolation as I looked for any possible solution.
I’m dying, I realised as I tried to push the assassin off me with one hand as my other groped the ground, trying to grab something, anything to possibly get her off. Her hands were like iron around my neck cutting off air and no matter how hard I bucked I was unable to throw her off. My right hand brushed against something sharp. Desperately I grabbed it and swung, managing to cut the woman just above her eye, the improvised weapon in my hand caused her to jerk back and I managed to suck in a desperate breath and jerked back before she knocked away the shard of pottery and resumed the slow suffocation.
Desperately I scanned the room with my eyes as I looked around for anything to escape this increasingly desperate situation, and there I saw it, the knife that had somehow ended up under my desk. However I was clearly out of reach. In a panic I bucked and twisted and drove my body backwards as it screamed out for air, the assassin's dark eyes implacable and her grip unfaltering as she slowly asphyxiated me.
With one last monumental heave on the still slick ground I shoved myself far enough backwards. With my last remaining breath I grabbed the knife, flipped it up and firmly drove it into her left eye. She gasped her hands loosening around my throat and I watched as the light left her remaining eye.
I attempted to scream as I sucked in wheezing breaths, the assassin’s body collapsing upon me as a burning pain surrounded my throat. However the pain and fear turned to shock as words I never expected to see flashed across my vision.
System initiated, Class “Absorber” has awoken.
Preparing…