The Serpent.
It was a secret Anti-emperor faction residing underground in the Capital City of Sol.
This faction attacked the Imperial family under the guise of many powerful or weak nobles, thus hitting two birds with one stone. They currently have been using the mask of Ivy and are thus finding their own sweet escape with every rendezvous they attempted.
This faction was exposed later on, when Azure was freshly out of the academy and had to face an assasination attempt from this group. He was successful in subjugating this group and cutting off all its roots. But until then, many nobles were brought down by this group, most of the nobles were innocent or framed by other powerful nobles. It was said that by then, the group was powerful enough to form a country on its own.
"Controlling Palace guards and maids," Eve thought to herself, "It can only be done by them. They must have threatened them in various ways like kidnapping their family or threatening their job. Seeing how they were laced with powerful magic, they seem to be in their prime days already."
Along with Lily, Evelina headed towards the Montreal Pub down the Roseville alley.
"Welcome ladies," The bartender greeted them, "What may I entertain you with?"
"A roast chicken with some beer please." Eve ordered with a smile.
"Gladly." The bartender replied,"Please head to the seat over there."
Eve nodded and headed over to the seat. Meanwhile Lily felt flabbergasted with the order that was given.
"Young Miss!" Lily hissed as they took their seat at the table, " You are prohibited from indulging in alcohol. The Duke will have my head for this!"
"Calm down, Lily." Eve said, giving a tug on her hood and checking out the atmosphere, "I ordered that as I wanted some hot, roasted news."
Lily looked blankly at Evelina, "News, Miss?"
"You'll understand soon enough." Evelina replied, and after a short while, the food had arrived.
The Montreal pub wasn't any regular pub. Every word spoken in this pub were hidden codes and each code led to a different outcome. Any regular customer would be unaware of this and just come here to have a hearty meal. Just in case they did stay back, they would be asked a question after their meal, the answer to which would lead them to their desired destination.
"How was the meal, my ladies?" a waiter came up and asked, as soon as the plates were cleared and the mug was empty.
"Splendid." Eve replied with a smile and continued,
"It's a shame that I have no means to pay."
Even as Eve said those words confidently, she had no clue if what she said was correct. Though she was a die-hard fan of the Novel, it wasn't possible for her to remember every code that existed in this mystery novel. All she knew was that she had to state her purpose indirectly.
"That won't do, my Lady." The waiter replied.
Eve suspected her answer didn't hit the mark, which made the waiter pry further.
"The Rose is withering, yet the Phoenix flies high." Eve confidently blabbered nonsense. She wanted to indirectly say that the suspicion on House Ivy is no more, yet the real question is, how did the princess escape the poison.
To this the waiter gave off a calm smile and replied,
"The Hiss comes from room 4, second floor."
"Room 4?" Eve thought to herself as she calmly left for the said location while an anxious Lily followed close by.
Though Evelina didn't know the exact codes, she knew for a fact that the real deal was in room 1. Thus, she had to have her guard held up high to avoid any unforeseen situation.Thankfully she had Lune with her. She had recently learned the basic ways to conceal herself as well as disguise herself. Thus, she was relieved of the burden of her true identity getting exposed.
Finding the room with the number 4 engraved on it, Evelina knocked on the door. The door opened and revealed a man in his late teens. He was dressed in a modest way that made him look neither like a commoner nor like a noble. His pale brown hair indicated his origin from the borders while his purple eyes indicated his connection with the House of Mauve. There was a serene beauty in his face which was quite an eye-catcher.
"Ah!" Eve thought to herself mesmerised, "He is pretty."
"Greetings, Ladies." The man greeted them respectfully, "My name is Jeremy and I am at your aid."
"Greetings," Evelina bowed, "My name is Eve and this is my trusted friend, Lily. We are here to request for a mission."
"Ah! Do you wish to hire mercenaries?" Jeremy asked.
"Not just any mercenaries," Eve replied, " I wish to protect the young phoenix."
Jeremy flinched ever so slightly at this while determination shone in Evelina's eyes. Jeremy coughed and said,
"We are no royal knights, Mam. The Phoenix can't be protected by mercenaries like us."
"Infiltrating the Royal Guards isn't as impossible as it seems though. It's not your first time anyway, is it?" Eve tilted her head as she spoke with a straight face, making Jeremy feel even more flustered.
"Miss," Jeremy sighed, "Do you know where you are at present?"
"Ofcourse!" Evelina gave a soft smile and replied,
"The Serpent's Burrow."
…
"Do you have any idea what you're saying right now?" Azure sighed as he sat face-to-face with Renard.
Stuck in the Prince's study room at the Imperial Palace, Azure and Renard had collected their individual investigation results and had them gathered to discuss the next step. While Azure investigated every soul even distinctly involved with the incident, Renard worked on extracting information from those who were laced with magic. After their respective investigations, they came to separate conclusions, for instance, Azure concluded that House of Ivy was being falsely targeted and that their foes needed to be looked into further.
Renard, on the other hand, had a completely different opinion.
"The poison laced in her tea was a 'Soul-killing' poison," Renard explained, "Of Course it means exactly what it says."
"But still," Azure groaned, "The Princess can not be possessed. There has to be another explanation."
"How are you so sure that she isn't possessed?" Renard asked, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Because," Azure started just to find himself speechless, "Just because."
"You haven't known her that well to know how she used to be," Renard said, " I propose you look further into this."
"Alright, if you say so." Azure sighed, "Though it might be difficult to actually do that."
"Why?" Renard asked, confused.
"I heard she never had any permanent maids around her." Azure replied, " I was surprised to see her arrive at the palace without a single personal maid. So I had already looked further into it at that time."
"And?" Renard asked.
"It seems that she has a trauma related to the maids," Azure said, " I couldn't pry any further, for the Duke requested not to do so."
The air went grim for a moment. Renard seemed more curious now about what trauma the otherwise perfect princess could ever face.
"Should I look into it?" Renard asked.
Azure took a moment of thought and replied, "You can look into it. Though, I have a feeling that none other than the Crown Princess herself knows the true reason for her trauma."
"True," Renard nodded, "I will try my best not to get in touch with her regarding this, but if I need to ask her something, can I steal her from you?"
"You can try," Azure smirked at this playful remark, "Though I have to say, I am not an easy opponent."
"Neither am I."
Renard replied with a mischievous smile before disappearing into thin air.
…