When the young girl in front of him claimed to be the missing Princess Claire, Paul felt his heart skip a beat.
Upon closely examining the girl’s face and demeanor, Paul quickly believed her; having lived long in the royal capital, he had even had the fortune of seeing the Queen at events and had glimpsed Claire from afar.
However, this was followed by more questions—why had the missing princess appeared in the Outer District and been pursued by assassins?
“Do you not believe me?”
Looking at Claire’s tearful eyes, Paul immediately knelt down, saying, “No, of course, I believe you, Your Highness. But why have you appeared in the Outer District? And why are you being chased?”
Claire helped Paul to his feet and said, “You can just call me Claire. I am no longer a princess.”
“This is a long story.”
Claire took out a handkerchief from her bosom, wiping her tears as she said, “I am being hunted by the current Majesty.”
Upon hearing this, Paul felt as if his mind had short-circuited. He had never doubted Claire, but the reputation of the current Majesty, Lilith, was indeed quite vicious, making it hard for Paul to believe what he was hearing. Indeed, as Claire had said, just knowing this fact put one at risk.
“See? I knew no one would believe me…”
Looking at the fragile Claire, Paul immediately replied, “Your Highness, I certainly want to believe you. So what exactly has happened?”
Tears shimmered in Claire’s eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, her whole body seemed to curl up out of nervousness, giving off an impression of fragility and helplessness.
“My friend, my sister-in-law, the Majesty has deceived everyone.”
A flicker of barely noticeable pride passed through Claire’s gaze, as if she were very satisfied with her performance so far.
“She is the instigator of everything; she killed my father and murdered my brother Klan.”
At this point, Claire was sobbing uncontrollably, leaving Paul dumbfounded.
The current Majesty killed her own father-in-law and husband?
“The deaths of my father and brother were suspicious. I have been investigating in secret, and I didn’t expect to trace it back to the Majesty. I wanted to confront her in person, but I didn’t expect her to want my life directly.”
In a few sentences, Claire painted Lilith as merciless and sinister, while portraying herself as brave, even somewhat foolish, to confront Lilith after finding the clues, which only heightened Paul’s protective instincts and made him find her more credible.
“I had someone from my family sheltering me, which allowed me to escape from the palace. Yet, the Majesty still pursued me relentlessly. I thought I had escaped, but recently the Majesty colluded with the Northern Border and the Demon Clan, aiming to overthrow our kingdom. I must stop her.”
“Who would have thought I would be discovered shortly after arriving in the royal capital, and it was you who helped me avoid the pursuit.”
A conspiracy; Paul sensed a massive whirlpool of intrigue from Claire’s words. One misstep could lead to complete ruin.
What could be more epic than a princess’s tale of vengeance?
However, there were also flaws in Claire’s narrative. Paul asked, “But she is the Majesty and also the Saintess, and she can use the Holy Word Technique. Could it be that even the Goddess has been deceived by her?”
“No, that is all a lie.”
Claire appeared well-prepared, saying, “It is the Majesty; Lilith performed a play to solidify her position. Why did that ordinary couple manage to appear before her, overcoming numerous obstacles?”
Claire encouraged Paul to think carefully, but was actually guiding him to envision the scenario she was describing: “Moreover, the Majesty’s divine skills have always been subpar; the entire royal capital knows this. So how did she suddenly learn the Holy Word Technique? This was all meticulously plotted by the Majesty in collusion with some degenerates in the Church. They even cursed innocent children to make it seem more real.”
After saying this, Claire lowered her gaze, her intentions unclear—whether to pray for the innocent child or to weep, as if she were the truly concerned Saintess of the nation.
Upon hearing this, Paul felt increasingly outraged at the unsuspected nature of the current Majesty, realizing how deeply manipulative she was.
“And how does colluding with the Northern Border and the Demon Clan fit into this?”
Paul had completely aligned himself with Claire’s narrative and was ready to invest himself wholeheartedly in the princess’s tale of revenge.
Seeing Paul’s concern for the nation, Claire, with her head down, could not help but smirk subtly. She had finally found someone with both power and influence, a fool who was now hooked.
But she couldn’t laugh just yet; not until she personally pulled her dear friend’s little legs down from the throne.
“After escaping from the royal capital, I investigated the Queen’s former home and discovered that she had long known the Northern Border Governor. The group behind the murder of my father is the cult ‘Lantern Dream,’ and they are now operating in the Northern Border under the Northern Border Governor. Lilith, she is even too lazy to cover it up now.”
Claire’s tone wavered, suppressing laughter, but to Paul, it sounded like she was crying for her father who had been killed by Lilith.
Paul began brainstorming; he had only occasionally heard about this matter in the Adventurer’s Guild, but now everything connected, and he started to believe he had grasped the truth, fully trusting Claire’s words.
“Moreover, Lilith has secretly colluded with the Demon Clan. The Eastern Border has already fallen. Next, Lilith plans to sell the central region and the royal capital to the Demon Clan!”
The Queen intends to sell out the country!?
Slightly shocked, Paul grew increasingly furious, never imagining that the Queen he once wanted to serve was such a scoundrel.
“Paul, are you willing to be my blade, my shield?”
At this moment, Claire made her invitation, and Paul’s anger instantly transformed into excitement; his chest heaved violently as he knelt on one knee, excitedly saying, “Your Highness, I am willing to be your blade, your shield, your final knight. I vow to guard you with my life.”
Claire stood before Paul, gently helping him up, saying, “Rise, my knight. We will fight for this kingdom.”
As Paul rose with Claire’s gentle support, he was completely unaware of the calculations and lies behind that gentleness.
“For the sake of this kingdom, I need you, and the strength of those adventurers. We must find some reliable adventurers; we need to save this kingdom!”
Upon hearing Claire’s words, Paul felt his dreams were coming to reality, immediately nodding in agreement.
After Paul left, Claire said to the shadows behind her, “Spread what I just said.”
The Shadow Guards behind Claire hurriedly took their leave.
