Ever since Hel entered this room, the Second Princess and her personal maid had been playing the classic "good cop, bad cop" routine, bombarding Hel with nonstop psychological manipulation.
However, Hel hadn't been paying them much attention.
Her focus had remained on communicating with Niv in secret.
Once Niv's undead insects had thoroughly scanned the entire room and confirmed that there was no magical dust inside, and after Niv had seized control of the room's barrier through those insects, Hel decided there was no need to keep pretending anymore.
She casually sat down on the luxurious walnut sofa, cushioned with silk-wrapped velvet, and asked bluntly:
"So, tell me. Why exactly did you bring me here?"
A fourth-tier weakling and a second-tier nobody—If Hel still let them push her around, she'd just be a masochist.
"How dare you! Who told you to sit down? Is that a place for someone like you?"
The personal maid, seeing Hel suddenly act so disrespectfully, instantly flared up with anger.
She rushed over, planning to grab Hel by the collar and throw her out.
But what she met instead were Hel's radiant golden eyes.
"Kneel. Shut up."
In an instant, the maid lost all control over her body and dropped to her knees without hesitation.
Her wide eyes were filled with fear of the unknown.
The Second Princess, sitting across from Hel, turned pale when she saw this.
"T-This kind of power… Who are you?"
"You still haven't answered my question. Why did you bring me here?"
Hel ignored her and calmly used her authority to take control of the Princess's body.
"I planned to have Delphine destroy your self-worth, make you feel inferior. Then I'd give you just a little bit of kindness, make you depend on me, fall in love with me. After that, I'd personally throw you into the dungeon. And when you were drowning in betrayal and despair, I'd peel your face off with my own hands, and then I could…"
"Collect negative emotions?" Hel interrupted her.
"That sounds like something from the Corruption lineage."
From Hel's perspective, the goal was obvious: use some unknown alchemical method to refine a potion using negative emotions and pieces of flesh.
But looking at the Princess's Water Mage and Alchemist skills, Hel couldn't figure out how she was even collecting those emotions.
"No, I'm not making potions."
Seeing Hel's confused expression—and knowing she couldn't resist anyway—the Second Princess dropped the act.
She burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha! I just think your face is pretty. I'm jealous. So I want to cut it off and keep it. What did you think? Potion brewing?
I'm the most beautiful woman in the entire Gordon Kingdom. If I want any magic potion, people will bring it to me. Why would I ever make one myself?"
"…Wow."
Hel was genuinely stunned by her insanity.
So this was the outside world? Did it really have to be this horrifying?
She sighed and asked the real question:
"How many Saint-tier experts are in Gordon City? And how many King-tier experts does the royal family have?"
"Saint-tier? I don't know."
"What about sixth-tier Kings? Don't tell me you don't know that either."
Hel looked at her speechlessly.
Seeing the Princess's blank stare, Hel realized she had asked the wrong person.
The so-called "Flower of Gordon" was just a spoiled brat who never had to care about anything—she simply enjoyed her privileges.
Meanwhile, the personal maid showed a subtle change in expression.
A flicker of guilt.
It was brief, but Niv's insects caught it—and relayed the information to Hel.
"You tell me."
Hel turned to the maid.
Her face stiffened.
No matter how much she resisted internally, her body spoke honestly:
"I don't know about Saint-tier experts. I only know about the royal family's sixth-tier Kings.
There are nine in total: The current king, Rowan III; Prince Bobby; The First Princess, Licorice…"
After her explanation, Hel learned that six of them were currently in the capital.
Three were the active royals, and the other three were former kings forming the Royal Elders' Council—the kingdom's foundation and also a check on the current king's power.
If a foolish king was ever misled by nobles, these elders could intervene to preserve royal authority.
The remaining three King-tier royals were not part of the main bloodline.
They had been stationed at the Watchtower Wall to fight for the kingdom.
If lucky, they would return injured and retire like Prince Bobby. If unlucky, they would die in battle.
As for crucial assets like the Witch-Sealing Grounds' authority, those were always kept within the main royal bloodline.
That narrowed Hel's suspects down to five people.
If she could control even one of them, she'd likely learn who truly held the authority.
"The current king is the most likely—but also the hardest to control. The former kings are hard to even find. The First Princess is the easiest target, but she probably doesn't know anything."
Just as Hel was thinking, a knock came from outside.
A mature female voice followed:
"Princess Belladonna, the court mage has arrived and subdued the rampaging Netherworld Flower. However, he says it was badly eaten by insects and has already died.
He believes the maids were negligent in their duties and requests that you execute them."
There was no response.
After a moment, the woman called again:
"Princess Belladonna?"
Inside the room, the Second Princess stared at Hel in pure terror.
She tried to cry for help.
But no matter how hard she opened her mouth, no words of rescue would come out.
Her last shred of hope vanished.
She couldn't even choose to die together with Hel anymore.