Princess Lia darted her eyes toward the shadow, grinning. "Do you think you can kill me?"
The person's shadow, however, didn't fluster at her reaction. He didn't even want to know whether there was something wrong with this girl. He just wanted to murder her in the prison's darkness. This person was covered with a black suit from head to toe, not revealing his skin. Only his eyes shone in the moonlight coming in the room from the ventilator below the prison's ceiling.
Before the shadow man's sword could reach the girl's neck, she instantly stood on her feet, and her body swirled around on her toes, dodging the attack. Her dress fluttered when she continued to avoid the attack without a drop of sweat on her forehead. She smiled, but there was an icy glint in her glance.
It seemed as if this girl was so skillful that she was even enjoying the minor act of fighting. Her actions of dodging the attacks made it looked like she had been playing with the man who wanted to kill her. After a long time of attacking and dodging, even the shadow man realized that Princess Lia enjoyed this!
He gritted his teeth and rushed to her with a deadly attack. His hands took out another sword hidden in his belt as he aimed at the girl's heart.
The girl had expected this man to use a second sword. So she dodged on time when the second sword was about to pierce her heart. Her body flashed back as she skillfully reached behind the shadow man and held his neck from a knife she took out from God knows where.
The shadow man's forehead was covered with cold sweat as he stared at the knife on his neck. Where did she take out this knife from?! His eyes were constantly on her form, but he still couldn't tell where she was hiding this knife!
The princess knew what was going on in the shadow man's head. A dark chuckle escaped her lips. "You don't need to care about this. If you want to live, get me out of here!"
But the shadow man's face was pale as white, and he didn't know what to do. The instructions given to him were clear. If he failed in his mission to kill the princess tonight, he should kill himself rather than getting caught.
Since he knew he had to die, what was there to be afraid of? His shoulders relaxed, and his body moved forward as his neck slashed against the sharp weapon. A gush of blood spurted out in an instant.
Princess Lia was stunned after seeing this action before she sneered and put down the knife on the ground. After that, the sound of footsteps was coming toward the cell, and Princess Lia realized what had happened. If she were to get caught here with a dead body like this, they would consider her a murderer, according to her father, since she had 'killed' someone else earlier. So it shouldn't matter if she 'killed' another person in her cell either.
So no one would listen to her pleas about how she was defending against the assassin. But she was a princess who had survived this long for a reason. Ever since she was a child, her brothers and sisters were dying one after another because of an unexpected accident or sickness. She could only save herself because of her intelligent mind.
So Lia messed up her appearance and scooted in one corner of the prison, curling her body up as fast as she could, and screamed in a horrifying manner. Her voice was so loud that even the guards outside jolted.
When they opened the door, they caught the scene of the princess trembling from head to toe. Her limbs were covered with injuries as tears poured down her cheeks. "H-He was trying to kill me!"
She wasn't afraid, but her acting was so spot on that for a moment, even guards felt sympathy for her.
After that, they cleared the cell ,and transferred the princess to a more secure prison. If the assassin's attempt hadn't occurred, the King wouldn't have even imagined that someone wanted to frame the princess. After all, one of his trusted subordinates had seen Lia killing her brother. So how could his trusted subordinate lie to him?
But after this assassin attempt, the King frowned. Did he make the right decision?
Before he could ponder more, a guard walked inside hurriedly, with an anxious expression on his face. Sweat drops accumulated on his forehead as he glanced at the King, wanting to open his mouth but unable to say a single word.
The King assumed that the news wasn't good when he saw this person's expression, and waved his hand. He should hear and be done with it.
"Your Majesty, I-I, I-I… I…"
"Speak human language!" The King got a headache because of the guard's stuttering.
The guard gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, we confiscated the Princess' properties and servants, but we can't find one person."
The King frowned at this. "Who?"
"Servant 52."
The King's brows furrowed deeper. It shouldn't matter if a servant went missing. But when he glanced at his guard, he felt something was strange. Why did this guard act as if he had seen a ghost? "Then didn't you scout people to look for him?"
"We did, but we can't find a trace of that person. But we found a dead body, and some people identified him as servant 52."
The King had many things to think about now, and this lowly guard was wasting his time. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Get to the point!"
"Your Majesty, I received the news that someone had seen servant 52 strolling outside the late crown prince's mansion. But that's not the worst thing." The guard opened his mouth, and his face became visibly pale when he thought of something. "A rumor has circulated recently that the servant 52's soul is still wandering in the mansion, seeKing revenge for plotting against Princess Lia. It was said that he loved the princess dearly, and when she was caught, that servant committed suicide. And now, his ghost is out to take revenge."
The guard's teeth chattered in fright when he thought of this and instantly lowered his head, trying to hide his trembling limbs. There was one thing he didn't tell the King. It was that he had not only seen this 'ghost' but also negotiated with the latter so that it would not kill him. Under the direction of that servant 52, the guard was the first person who skillfully spread that rumor.
But he wouldn't tell this to anyone even if he were to be imprisoned for spreading such a rumor—for a prison life was way better than to die a tragic death because of a violent ghost!