Some decisions were difficult, requiring hours of deliberate consideration, measuring every single advantage and disadvantage to give a nuanced and careful decision.
Some were not.
Luckily for me, watching a beautiful yet exhausted princess saunter toward the nearest pillow in a room blanketed by her own mana, enough to blind her to any kind of spell, firmly belonged to the letter category.
Especially since she sat down on the same pillow that I had been occupying moments ago. And, considering the amount of time I had spent on that pillow testing the limits of her puppets’ endurance, I wasn’t willing to write it off as accidental.
She was quick to confirm that when, rather than closing her eyes to sleep, to address her exhaustion, she parted her legs and placed her fingers on her panties, doing a familiar circular movement to address the aftereffects of her little subterfuge.
Though, considering the speed her fingers worked, I realized that I might have overdone the teasing aspect of my little trick a bit — or, misread her sensitivity to the pleasure.
Or, more accurately, I had forgotten it under the heat of the moment, I realized. After all, in the previous encounter I had with Delia, when I had first discovered her subterfuge, she was not using a puppet but was there physically under a disguise, and it didn’t take much to take her down then.
And that time, she had her fake skills to help.
I slipped through the wards and walked into the room once more, relying on the excessive mana that still filled the room to make my approach even more unnoticeable as I slowly closed in the distance.
The thick blanket of mana helped me adjust my clothing, and soon, my clothes turned into a long, oppressive robe, one that was designed in the exact style the headmistress wore in her attempt to look like a dark abomination, though with three differences.
The robe is way gray rather than black. I didn’t copy her fake hunchback. And most importantly, I didn’t copy the oppressive fake aura of her that had first made me mark her as a potential undead.
No need to kill the mood.
Still, the costume was a good choice to give the best of both words. It would allow me to confront the princess — which was a viable strategy now that I had a reasonable understanding of her capabilities and limitations — but also, depending on how our discussion developed, it gave me the chance to keep my other personality intact.
There was no harm in insurance.
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” I said as I stood directly in front of her, letting the illusion slowly disappear and revealing myself.
She said nothing, just freezing as she looked at me, fear in her eyes. I realized my mistake a moment later. She had clearly mistaken me for an assassin, which was a big problem considering her position.
I fixed that misunderstanding, but not before letting that moment stretch for a couple seconds, letting her taste the fear, not reacting immediately. Even her mana was immobile. “I’m here about the headmistress,” I said, using a different, calmer tone than my earlier speech.
A small adjustment in cadence and tone, and it was impossible for her to realize we were the same person.
“The headmistress sent you,” she said in an attempt to get herself some time. To her credit, despite the earlier scare, she managed to deliver those words with an impressive calm tone. If closed my eyes, I wouldn’t have guessed they came from a half-naked princess that just went through an assassination scare.
I had to admit, she had strong nerves, enough to push the fear back easily. That would have made me more annoyed if I was planning to rely on fear to unbalance her.
Luckily, she had already given me a much better tool to tease and manipulate her. “No, that implies I’m her junior,” I said even as I waved my hand and magically dragged a chair, enjoying the way she tensed even more. Not because of the spell itself, as it was simple enough for someone with just a novice Arcana capabilities to achieve, especially not under her wards. “I’m just here to talk about her.”
But doing so without leaking even the slightest bit of mana was more impressive, reinforcing the intimidating aura of my current disguise.
Not all threats need to be delivered directly.
As she tried to stand up, I gestured for her to stop, moving away from the intimidation to other aspects. “Please, don’t stop in my account. Interrupting you is rude enough.”
“N-not a problem,” she stammered, her earlier confidence suddenly staggering as I turned my attention to her carnal nature as she repositioned herself, closing her legs to hide the most revealing aspect of her clothing, but noticing my teasing smile, she stopped her attempts to fix her clothing, thinking that I wanted to leverage her dressing process to weaken her position.
She managed to suppress the outward signs of her shame quickly as she adjusted her stance, straightening her back even though doing so enhanced her cleavage even more.
This time, I let a momentary frown appear on my face, which earned a small display of satisfaction from her as she maintained her revealing stance.
A frown that was the exact opposite of what I was feeling. In certain situations, I loved dealing with experts. Their instinctual expertise made it even easier to manipulate them. I just need to give the slightest implication of my strategy, and she already ‘countered’ it perfectly.
A response that not only locked her to a weaker and uncomfortable position, but also gave me an amazing view. And, to make things even better, I saw that realization in her gaze a moment later, realizing the absurdity of her reaction, driven by a combination of her political reflexes and her lingering arousal.
“How can I help an exalted guest, strong enough to refer her as his junior,” she said even as she took a stock of the way I dressed. A light of recognition appeared on her gaze, showing that she didn’t miss the stylistic choices I made on my robe.
Yet, she was still careful enough not to utter anything about that. After all, my appearance was sufficiently mysterious, and if her information about the headmistress was as limited as I assumed, it was not out of question for the headmistress to be a part of a group, at least not to a point of calling me out.
Her subtle yet growing tenseness confirmed that guess.
How interesting, I thought even as I rapidly adjusted my plan, which took only a couple of seconds, a time that worked wonders to increase her stress.
“So,” I murmured slowly. “You’re the little annoyance that was giving all that trouble to my coworker, what a naughty girl.” I did my best to push a careless attitude as I turned my gaze on her cleavage, acting like revealing my identity was an act of distraction that could only come from supreme confidence, ‘revealing’ an important clue about my identity.
“Giving trouble to your coworker?” she asked with a trembling voice. “Sorry if it sounds disrespectful, but I don’t remember doing anything.”
“Oh, you’re saying that breaking into her office, or trying to suborn her employees for dangerous missions with extreme political consequences that would pit her against a mysterious organization that dismantled your power base completely is an accident.”
I loved the way she tensed despite her best efforts. She was good, but not good enough to completely hide the emotional weight of revealing two of her most important undercover activities at the same time, a combination that was enough to turn her into an enemy of Silver Spires — not exactly a welcome outcome in her current situation.
Our current level difference just enhanced the hopelessness of her situation.
And, the beauty of those words was the impact was not limited to it. I also confirmed that I was at the same level as the headmistress while also implying that both of us were a part of the bigger, more mysterious organization.
I wasn’t shocked by her willingness to believe that fact, considering her own powerbase was dismantled completely by a similarly mysterious organization.
Yet, as I waited, I could feel her shock getting more intense than I was expecting, though only when I noticed signs of fear, did I realize the nature of her misunderstanding.
I was tempted to let her simmer with that misunderstanding, but seeing her fear despite her resistance to it, it was clear that pushing her in that direction had the risk of shattering her completely.
And I certainly didn’t want to break my first royal ‘friend’. She had so much potential for fun.
I still waited a second before dispelling her growing fear. “No need to fear, I’m not from that organization that ruined your little sibling rivalry,” I said, not missing the opportunity to trivialize her political challenges.
Ironically, unlike most other things I managed to lie in quick succession, it was actually the truth. If the information I managed to collect about the Imperial family was even half-accurate, barring an intervention of the Eternals, it would take me less than a week to put her on her throne, considering her brothers had to ask for outside assistance despite the restrictions of her power.
The potential intervention of the Eternals, naturally, complicated any precision significantly. Clearly, I wouldn’t have a hope of resisting the full might of the organization, but the same didn’t apply if it was only an undercover operation.
And, considering their strategies against Janelor, I was willing to believe that the latter was the likelier option.
However, as I watched the princess shuffle in discomfort, trying to process my daring reveals, I decided to focus on the present.
We still had a lot to talk about.
[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 630000
Strength: 46 Charisma: 63
Precision: 40 Perception: 42
Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45
Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49
Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51
HP: 7334 / 7334 Mana: 9000 / 9000 ]
SKILLS
Grandmaster Tantric [114/140]
Master Melee [100/100]
Master Biomancy [100/100]
Master Elemental [100/100]
Master Arcana [100/100]
Master Subterfuge [100/100]
Master Craft [85/100]
Expert Speech [75/75]
PERKS
Mana Regeneration
Skill Share
Empowerment (0/1)
Teleportation
COMPANIONS
[Titania - Level 35/38]
[Cornelia - Level 22/26]
[Helga - Level 22/26]
[Marianne - Level 21/29]