After Fara, more than a dozen maids in the castle arrived one after another. Some, like Fara, brought intelligence to pledge their loyalty, while others had their sons, who served in the city, cut off their own little fingers to show their devotion.
After listening to all the intelligence brought by the maids, Ye Tang confirmed once again: Fara was the maid who held nothing back from her. The information she brought was the most accurate, detailed, and useful. Ye Tang also noted down those maids who tried to fob her off with trivial, expendable intelligence. These fence-sitters could be useful in confusing Osborne I’s line of sight if handled well, so she naturally welcomed them.
The one who had truly cut off her own little toe was a cook, whose eyes had already been ruined by constant exposure to smoke and fire.
Fearing she would be driven out of the castle, she gritted her teeth and went to her son, asking him to chop off the little toe on her left foot. Her son actually had the heart to do it.
Ye Tang did not think this cook was foolish. Such stubbornly loyal people should not be treated as a joke. Ye Tang turned and promoted the cook to her personal maid—giving her money and goods would only see them taken by her son and husband. After being promoted to Ye Tang’s personal maid, the cook’s salary was three times what it had been, though it would still be taken. But because she could stay by Ye Tang’s side, she could partake in all the fine food, drink, clothing, and supplies that Ye Tang enjoyed.
As soon as Osborne I opened his eyes in the morning, he heard the servants whispering in his ear about how vicious and perverse the queen was, actually demanding people cut off their little fingers to pledge loyalty—and that there were even fools who offered up their little fingers to the queen.
Osborne I, who had never realized men could be so loose-tongued, heard it from the moment he got out of bed until breakfast, and from breakfast until his morning bath. He finally lost his patience.
‘Cut out the tongues of these long-tongued fellows!!’
With those words, Osborne I, whose morning bath was only halfway done, angrily stepped out of the wooden tub.
Thus, the son of Ye Tang’s personal maid became a tongueless mute from then on.
His mood ruined first thing in the morning, Osborne I had no mind for state affairs and decided to go see Snow White.
As he passed through his palace, however, he saw his nominal queen draped in a red velvet cloak, looking as if she were about to leave the castle.
‘Queen, did I give you permission to leave the castle?’
‘Ah, Your Majesty, does that mean I cannot leave the castle without your command?’
Ye Tang’s tone was as impertinent as it had been the night before. She flashed a smile at Osborne I, who had subconsciously been about to answer ‘Yes!’
‘Am I under house arrest? Heh, so I’m not the queen who married from Saint Rubifalist to Castellion, but a hostage sent by Saint Ruby to Castellion?’
Stung by Ye Tang’s smile, veins bulged on Osborne I’s hands. He was truly coming to hate this woman, Marinfield, more and more. He hated her to the point where seeing her face or hearing her voice made him want her to vanish!
‘No one is placing you under house arrest! …I’m just worried about you as your husband. Kay, Eric, you will accompany the queen. Remember, you must protect her without leaving her side for a moment.’
Hearing Osborne I’s order, the two knights behind him were somewhat stunned.
But the king’s command was absolute. Kay and Eric immediately nodded to acknowledge it and hurried to catch up with Ye Tang.
‘Thank you, Your Majesty.’
Ye Tang said as she lifted her skirt and curtsied.
She did not believe a single word from Osborne I.
Worried about her? Protect her without leaving her side?
‘Surveil her without leaving her side’ was more like it.
Her inner thoughts did not show on her face as Ye Tang led the group toward the castle gates.
Ye Tang had not brought many people; Tracy, who was missing a toe, had been left in the castle. Fara had not openly sided with Ye Tang on the surface, so she remained behind as well. Those leaving the castle with Ye Tang were a few young, bold maids who were full of curiosity about the world outside.
There were not many such maids, but with the knights joining, what had been a small group of two or three cats instantly became a grand procession.
Kay and Eric’s fathers and brothers were founding heroes. Those who had shed blood and laid down their lives alongside Osborne I had either returned to their hometowns in old age or handed off their duties to their sons to enjoy a debauched and luxurious final years.
Kay was the older one, around twenty-five or twenty-six. He had a head of naturally curly, fluffy golden hair and emerald-green eyes. His voice was steady when he spoke, rarely tinged with personal emotion—a mature and composed young man overall.
The brown-haired Eric was his father’s sixth son. Having only just come of age, his face still held a hint of youthful immaturity. However, he was very tall and did not seem much shorter than the burly Kay when standing beside him.
From the way these two could move swiftly and lightly despite wearing barrel-like plate armor and heavy greatswords at their waists, it was clear they were among the elite in martial prowess.
‘Your Highness the Queen, may I ask where we are headed?’
Marinfield had a good impression of Kay, Eric, and the other knights because they had never belittled her in front of her like the other ministers.
That said, Kay, Eric, and the others had never helped Marinfield either. Their attitude toward her had always been one of ignoring her.
‘Can’t you tell?’
Ye Tang, who had led out her horse, mounted it in full view of everyone and patted the bow and quiver hanging from the horse’s neck. ‘I’m going hunting in the nearby forest.’
Kay and Eric were astonished that the queen could ride a horse—and mount without assistance, with movements as fluid as a knight’s.
The two soon recalled the queen’s origins, however—for a princess of the great nation Saint Rubifalist, horsemanship was probably just one of the required royal lessons.
‘Your Highness… forgive my bluntness. Have you—ever hunted before? Are you sure you won’t hurt yourself?’
If he could help it, Kay did not want to nag like an old nanny. But good horsemanship did not mean good hunting skills. If the queen suddenly fell from her horse while hunting, or injured herself drawing her bow, he and Eric would be the ones in trouble in the end.
Kay’s answer was an arrow.
This arrow directly shattered the cloak clasp on Kay’s armor, causing the long cloak he wore over it to fall to the ground.
Ye Tang offered no explanation after loosing the arrow. She smiled openly, put away her bow, patted her horse’s mane, and said, ‘Hyah!’
Hooves flew, crushing snowflakes and splashing through mud.
The small copper mirror hanging at Ye Tang’s waist was nearly splattered with muck several times.
Diesel, who had been transferred into the small copper mirror by Ye Tang’s authority as owner, was not used to the jolting at first. Later, remembering that his wings had been healed by Ye Tang’s essence, he floated within the mirror’s space, no longer affected by the bumps.
‘…Why did you provoke those two knights?’
Diesel’s voice transmitted directly into her ear. This was also something Ye Tang had permitted him to do with her authority as owner. At the moment, the human and demon were in a linked voice chat.
‘Because it’s fun.’
”Because it’s fun’… Aren’t you afraid of angering them? What if they kill you in some remote wilderness? I can’t protect you.’
Diesel grew anxious inwardly.
After forming the contract with Ye Tang, he had received nourishment from her essence and grown a little stronger, with slightly improved resistance to hypnosis and brainwashing. But that did not mean he could break the self-hypnosis making him love Ye Tang.
He could now only suppress that near-mad love, appearing normal on the surface.
This was something Ye Tang did not know.
Whether the hypnosis on Little Nightmare was lifted or not made no difference to her—as long as the slave contract was in place, Little Nightmare would not betray her. As long as he did not betray her, she did not care what he thought.
‘Don’t worry. Kay and Eric won’t do that. Because the order Osborne I gave them was to “protect” me without leaving my side.’
‘At least today, Kay and Eric will make sure I return to the castle without a single hair out of place.’
Ye Tang had dealt with “knights” before. She knew that communicating with these robot-like, pigheaded types with words was futile—like playing a lute to a cow.
Knights only submitted to two kinds of people.
One was their master, and the other was someone who could defeat and crush them squarely.
Wasting breath on knights was pointless. To rank higher than their master Osborne I in a knight’s heart, she had to demonstrate strength surpassing Osborne I’s.
Marinfield had put in no small effort to maintain her figure beautifully. With nothing to do in the castle and no one to associate with, she did physical and postural training indoors every day. These exercises could not build muscle, but they kept up her stamina and endurance.
When Ye Tang had loosed that arrow earlier, she had felt it: Marinfield’s body had good endurance but lacked explosive power. And her skin was too tender; the recoil from just one shot had made her fingers ache.
Ye Tang knew it was not yet time to fully conquer the knights and win their allegiance. But that did not stop her from showing a little of her hand, letting Kay and Eric wonder just how much she was hiding.
‘You’re going hunting… to train your skills?’
‘Not just to train my skills.’
Among the information Fara had told Ye Tang, the most valuable was this: Marinfield’s confidante brought to Castellion—the one person she fully trusted—was now in the forest.