Archer walked in after I had been standing inside for a long time thinking.
Confirming that Alister was really not there he grunted before smacking his hand onto the table in fury.
"Archer lets go and see Ms Sophia for the last time." I kept up my stoic face and walked out.
I felt Archers gaze lingering on me before he sighed and followed me.
Opening the door I walked in followed by Archer who soon overtook me and stood between me and Sophia.
"Well hello there, sexy!" Sophia winked towards me.
"Wassup bitch!" I greeted back while pulling the empty chair next to the table back and sat down.
"Feisty... Feisty ones taste hot, smoking hot. I like you." She licked her lips.
"So how long are you going to hold me in here for my babe." Sophia asked as she leaned forward slightly exposing her cleavage.
"You do realise it won't be long before I get out, right?" She smirked towards me.
I knew that; on one side was Steven trying to get to her and the other side was Albert.
With both teams aiming for her it won't be long before one team succeeds in breaking in to capture her or let her escape.
I bet within the next 24 hours one of them is going to take the initiative.
*Yawn* "Archer what is the time?" Turning towards the worried tall man I asked.
He looked at me puzzledly before announcing the time "4 am, your highness."
Looking back to Sophia I asked "So do you know what time it is?
Both Archer and Sophia were confused at what I was playing at.
Smirking, I stood up pushing the chair behind me.
"It is time for me to sleep."
Walking toward the exit I ordered. "Archer release her and escort her out through the main entrance."
Archer was confused. "Your highness, she is a danger to ..."
I interrupted him. "She won't be a danger for a while. Not with what is about to happen." I turned around, facing them with my usual smiling face.
Both were confused, but Archer trusting me nodded his head.
I walked out and chose an empty room to crash in.
Archer soon walked in with a communication crystal; towards the sofa, I was lying on.
"Why did you release her?" Dexter asked me as soon as I took hold of the crystal.
"Did Archer inform you of the other two?" Instead of answering Dexters' question I asked another.
"He did." Dexter looked at me in visible discomfort.
"Soon, both Albert and Steven will learn about it as well. Then it won't be long before both of them walks out of the diplomatic path and goes for the fun path.
Now, what do you think will happen when I place her in the direct sight of both the agents of Albert and Steven- who for the matter is probably looking into new ways torture and kill a certain someone called Sophia?"
Hearing me, an understanding and relief passed through Dexter's eyes as he answered my question. "A hunt for her by Steven. Sophia desperately trying to escape his claws, while Albert trying to stop Steven from killing her or laying his hands on her."
"And while this happens, those idiots will completely deviate their resources and agents from interfering with me, when I am focusing on my other plans. Along with that, this should mean Sophia should be a barely any threat to me starting from now for roughly about 2 weeks." Archer who stood next to me, finally understood why I had released Sophia right in front of everyone after hearing my reply.
"Now onto the second important thing on my list of priorities: How is tracking Ellis going?" I asked.
"So far terrible, with the obstruction of several agents from Steven and Albert's side. We are trying to maintain a distance, while trying to evade them, before establishing contact with Ellis. But I guess this should be much easier with what you have done just now." Hearing Dexters answer I nodded.
"So, what is the first priority in your 'list'?" Dexter asked, seemingly relaxed a lot after having a huge burden taken off him.
"My beauty sleep." I responded before throwing the crystal towards the dumbfounded Archer.
Closing my eyes and ignoring Archer and Dexter, who seemed to not even have started his barrage of questions, as I entered my sleep.
-------------------------
{A Few hours later- 1 pm}
I could feel someone calling Johns' name out trying to wake me up; just when I was about to take the first bite of the juicy and sizzling piece of meat from the ouroboros dragon.
Opening my eyes in annoyance, I saw Ellis standing right behind Archer.
Seeing the excitement in both their eyes I stood up.
"One of you lead." I declared, before following Ellis who led the way.
Opening the door to one of the interrogation room I saw a tired and worn out Luke sat in front of 2 empty chairs.
I sat in front of Luke, whose eyes showed a tiny hint of confidence to survive whatever methods Archer and co, usually did to extract information.
"I won't say anything about her, your highness!" He declared before I even spoke, while Archer sat next to me with Ellis standing behind me.
"You are mistaken, Luke. I don't need to know anything about her from you, Luke, because I already have in my grasp almost everything about her and you.
It will take roughly 3 days before they bring to me the list of all recently destroyed villages in the empire; and when it arrives, I will soon know about both of you siblings' background." Hearing my reply confused Luke a bit.
"Why do you think we come from a village, your highness?" Luke tried to manipulate me into thinking he wasn't from a village.
"Ellis, have you ever heard of the famous song called the 'The rotten Tanner'?" I asked, looking towards a confused Ellis.
"If I am right it a song about how a tanner refused to use the 'Rose Milk' to get rid of the rotten smell surrounding his workplace." Ellis replied.
I nodded as I looked back towards Luke while talking to Ellis. "You see Ellis, rose milk is not only famous for its ability to cover up the decaying smell of several hides in a tannery, with one tank lasting 2 weeks, but also for their extreme flammability.
This is one of the reasons why other than an official tanner no one else from a village is allowed to stock up on 'Rose Milk' when buying it from merchants. This has caused most tannery to often be not located right next to a blacksmith or any place that has risk of fire."
"So? What has this got to do with me from a village?" Luke asked back.
"You see Luke, there is a fact about rose milk that most people aren't aware of, or won't usually notice. Once they catch fire they release a special type of rotten fume that sticks to the skin of anyone nearby.
However, the good thing is that the smell is hardly discernible for any ordinary person, as it gets covered up by the smell of your body odour, and it only lasts on your skin for only about a month.
But the problem is I am not an ordinary person." Suddenly Luke's eyes changed to that of concern.
"You see the very first day that you met me I could distinguish that rotten smell on you." I could feel both the minds of Ellis and Archer racing to catch up with what I was saying
"Of course, this would mean nothing, as you can easily claim you were next to a burning rose milk. However, when you connect the fact that you aren't from Green Field Village- which we checked- and there is no existing record of you in any of the surrounding villages it only proves you are from a village that was recently destroyed in the last 1 month- due to the smell of fumes from rose milk lasting for 1 month.
Given the sheer scale of the empire, and the number of bandits usually lurking around villages, that we aren't able to protect, and the bandits occasionally loving razing some of them to the ground, I would say roughly 80 villages should come up on my list.
Further narrowing the villages down that were burned using 'Rose milk' that should shorten the numbers in the single digits." I smiled towards the visibly sweating Luke.
"Then all I need to look to pinpoint your village is see out of those villages, which of those don't have a recording crystal updating it about the attack on the village." At the mention of recording crystal, Luke froze up, along with Archer who was visibly shaken now.
"The moment you recognised our communication device, during your initial meeting with Archer, I had a suspicion you somehow knew most of the empires communication strategies including about the recording device placed in each village secretly.
Then when your sister arrived last night for whatever shenanigans she was there for I confirmed it. If she has access to network and contact regarding my meeting places and so on, then getting this information for her isn't so hard as well.
So, Luke, like I said I don't need to know anything about you or her, as I will soon know everything I need to in my own ways." Luke looking defeated leaned back and was silent for a while.
"What do you want?" Luke spoke up after a while.
Hearing the right question, I smiled. "You, Luke."
Luke frowned hearing my answer. "Your highness, I wouldn't advice going after her, using me. As limited I am in my knowledge about her dealings and works, I know one thing for sure." We all remained silent, waiting for him to finish.
"You will die if you go after her!" Luke stated as a matter of fact.
"Hahaha!" Ellis who was riled up hearing that was about to act in anger, before being stopped by my boisterous laughter.
Calming down I explained. "You are clearly mistaken, Luke. I have no intention of using you to get to your sister."
"Then?" Luke asked in confusion along with the other two people.
"Like I said I want you. Maybe I should make this clear before some romantic misunderstanding occurs. I want your service as my personal agent for the next 5 years, working alongside Ellis." I said with my usual smile.
"What!?!" All 3 people in the room looked at me in shock.
"Stop screaming into my ear." I poked my right pinkie into my right ear.