episode_0046

53.

Rachel, who was in a solitary cell in the basement of the castle, was walking slowly around the room in a small circle.

While I was in solitary confinement, I kept a close eye on what was going on outside and overheard. As a result, I had a rough idea of what to do next, and now it was time to act.

Inhaling and exhaling, I checked my movements in my head once again. Finally, after lightly swallowing my breath, I leaned my back against the doorway and lifted my wrists with the magic seal handcuffs above my chest.

“Inhale!”

With a short burst of energy, he borrowed the hero’s power to tear off the magic seal handcuffs, and using the returned magic power and the hero’s power, he pushed the locked door from the outside with his back and opened it in one go.

Before the driver outside the door could make a sound, Rachel quickly grabbed her from behind and wrapped her arms around her neck, strangling her and causing her to faint.

As soon as I finished this in one breath, I immediately felt an obstacle coming in so that I could not use the warrior’s power.

People who can borrow and use the hero’s power can immediately tell when each other is using their power, so it was already expected that the hero’s power could only be used once and for all.

Just being able to break the magic seal handcuffs and subdue the knight who returned from the front line with the body of a maid so quickly and quietly was enough to fulfill the hero’s power.

There was no hope of fighting further without being able to use the hero’s power. Even if they made a surprise attack, it was impossible to suppress even one knight without making a sound, like now. Rachel left without any regrets.

The inside of the royal castle was very noisy.

The women who sensed the hero’s use of his power may have ordered this, but those who quickly realized Rachel’s escape were moving around the castle and continuing the search.

There were few people as knowledgeable as Rachel about the extremely complex structure of the castle.

Not only those who returned from the front lines and took control of the castle by replacing the royal knights and garrisons and moving with Anise’s limbs, but even Anise did not know the castle as well as Rachel.

Rachel actively used that fact to avoid the search and finally met the person she initially targeted before leaving solitary confinement.

“Rachel? How did you get here…”

Lorna, who saw Rachel suddenly appearing at the headquarters of the Knights Guards attached to the royal castle, looked surprised but quickly looked around, and led Rachel away, avoiding people’s gaze, so as not to be caught by anyone.

It was a warehouse-like place where miscellaneous items were roughly piled up within the headquarters of the Knights of the Guard, where no one would come.

Lorna closed the door to prevent any sound from leaking outside and asked Rachel.

“I heard that Anis came forward and caught him himself. What happened? Aside from the abuse of power, what about the suspicion of collusion with the Demon King’s army?”

“As you can see, he was captured until now, but when he saw an opportunity, he escaped and ran away. You probably know that the accusation of having an affair with the Demon King’s army makes no sense… You also guess the real reason, right? That’s why you didn’t arrest me as soon as you saw me.”

Hearing Rachel’s words, Lorna put her head down and sighed heavily.

“Ha…. It’s because of that with the hero, right?”

“Yes, I don’t know where it leaked out, but it seemed like he was confident about me. Seeing as you’re still fine, it seems like I don’t know about you yet, but it’s only a matter of time before I find out.”

“Wasn’t there something you did with the hero because you had a plan? How did this happen?”

“Well, I was planning to hide it well for now, and if it were normal, it would be impossible for those who went to subdue the demon lord, including Anis, to know the situation here… I don’t know what happened, but it seemed like they knew from the beginning and returned. . I was blocking the news of your return from being heard, isn’t it the same for you?”

“The Knights of the Guard only found out when Anis arrived at the castle. I thought it was strange, but maybe it was because of us. Don’t prepare for it…”

Lorna looked like she was about to get lost in thought with a serious face, but Rachel asked quickly as if to interrupt her.

“I heard that Anis caught a spy for the Demon King’s Army in Daejeon. And they say that they arrested large and small officials and nobles in the name of that. How long were they detained?”

“All.”

“Everything? Then wouldn’t it be possible to run the government?”

“It seems like things are going well as Anis has filled it in with personnel brought in from the front line. Among the generals at the forefront, some were originally officials serving in the royal castle, while others had experience running their own fiefs as territorial nobles, so there were no major problems with their abilities or experience, and they were already His Majesty’s successors, and most of the state affairs were handled by them. With the addition of Anis, who was involved in the project, there were minor problems, but they weren’t enough to cause a breakdown, and it didn’t seem difficult to resolve them.”

“You planned to bring in manpower from the beginning, what on earth were you aiming for?… What happened to His Majesty?”

“You said you felt tired from running state affairs and were taking a break, but I guess this is no different from confinement.”

“Isn’t that actually treason? It’s a garrison station, and its role is to block external enemies, so even if there was nothing they could do since they had already come in, what on earth do the Guards Knights do?”

“Who is the leader of the Knights of the Guard?”

Rachel was at a loss for words when Lorna asked back with a laugh.

There was no one who objected to the successor, who was so talented that she was said to be the best in the kingdom and who was certain to become the next queen in terms of lineage, take on the leadership of the Knights of the Guard.

Rather, since there was no need to verify loyalty, Anis becoming the leader of the Guard Knights was a welcome appointment for everyone. No one could have predicted that things would turn out like this.

“First of all, Anis ordered the Guard Knights, including me, to wait quietly and not to act rashly, and even within the knights’ order, there was an opinion that even if there was a rebellion, it was only a matter of time before Anis took over, so what was the problem? There were quite a few too. It may be radical, but if you are trying to inherit the throne a little quickly and fill in people for yourself, wouldn’t it be better to calmly accept the wishes of the leader who will become the next queen?”

Rona did not bother to mention that it was an opinion mixed with desire, as there were quite a few royal knights who thought that since Anis had been appointed as the leader, she would be one of ‘their people’. Rachel, who is listening, must already be aware of this situation.

As expected, Rachel immediately frowned and said, as if she immediately realized what Lorna had not said.

“Generally speaking, it’s not a wrong choice… but at least you know you can’t do that, right?”

I don’t know if it was the other members of the Guard Knights, but considering that Anis captured Rachel as soon as she returned, it was obvious what would happen if Lorna found out that she was leaving it alone because she didn’t know much about it yet.

“Even if you don’t check, I already know.”

As Lorna said that, complex emotions appeared on her face. Not long ago, Lorna herself would never have imagined that she, who was known to be stubborn and inflexible, would be separated from Anis, the lord she was supposed to serve as a knight before becoming leader, over a man, and even over a hero.

Lorna suppressed the guilt that was slowly rising from her heart with the weapon of her identity as a woman who was no longer a knight but a warrior’s bitch.

And Lorna, who was just one of the warrior’s bitches and not the vice-captain of the Knights Guard that served the royal family, asked Rachel, the warrior’s other bitch.

“So what are you going to do now? Do you have any ideas in mind?”

“Is it impossible to serve your Majesty or the Hero right now?”

“Anis will already be tightly guarded by those who have returned from the front lines, so neither option is possible. Even if we mobilized the entire Guard Knights, it would be difficult, and as I said before, there are quite a few people who sympathize with Anis, so that would not be possible.”

“Is that true as expected? Still, it would be possible to single out those who are not satisfied with the current situation among the Royal Guard knights, right? How much can you mobilize?”

“If you add the condition that you have to pay attention to security and summon them right away, the number will be a little over ten at most.”

“Then, the eight of us will secure a way out of here in advance, and the remaining two will infiltrate the castle with me, as I will guide the way so as not to be detected. With four of us, we can move without being noticed.”

“With that number of people, it’s not like you’re planning to do anything to your Majesty or the warrior, so what are you planning to do?”

“If we cannot secure Majesty or the warrior, we must at least steal Liana before it is too late.”

“Liana? Oh, you mean Princess Lee? But he…”

Rona couldn’t bear to speak. Even though he was a knight of the Royal Guard, he couldn’t bear to express the harsh criticism that was being publicly circulated about Liana, a member of the royal family.

“I know. Still, if we secure him, we can at least have a reason to resist. Without him, if we make a mistake, we would just be traitors against the royal family, but if Liana is here, there will be an opportunity to look like a victim caught up in the royal family’s power struggle.

“Now that Anis has taken over the castle by unreasonable force, it can serve as a flag to rally the opposition… It will certainly be easy to persuade the knights of the royal guard who will be gathered now.”

“Yes, it would be difficult to ask people to go along with something reckless no matter how dissatisfied or unconvinced it may be, but this is probably an acceptable goal.”

“Then from now on, it’s really a race against time. We need to quickly secure Liana while she’s not in the spotlight yet, but will she follow our lead? I don’t know if I can convince you…”

Looking at Lorna’s worried face, Rachel added something that she could understand right away.

“Liana, you are in the same situation as us.”

“What? Oh, I see, I heard you visit often.”

“You are too naive for not suspecting that until now. Anyway, let’s move quickly because like you said, it’s a race against time from now on. Hurry up.”

Lorna nodded at Rachel’s words and immediately turned around and started going around the headquarters of the Knights Guards, calling in those who would sympathize with her one by one. As promised, it didn’t take long for the ten guards to gather.

The gathered women were quite surprised to learn of Rachel’s existence, but were quickly persuaded by Lorna and Rachel’s explanation, excluding the topic of the hero.

As Rachel had planned, some of them decided to secure an escape route to escape from the royal castle in advance, and the two with the most skills joined Rona and Rachel and secretly infiltrated the royal castle, which was in full turmoil.