"Follow your usual way of speaking and protect them," Hel ordered softly.
Although she was already accustomed to life and death and never showed mercy to her enemies, that didn't mean she was willing to see innocent people get dragged down because of her actions.
Thus, under Hel's command, the Second Princess shouted in panic:
"Since when does this princess take orders from a mere court mage? Tell him to get lost!"
"But, Your Highness, the loss of a Netherworld Flower…" The maid tried to argue, but the princess roared again:
"If you don't want to become fertilizer in my garden along with him, then do your job and leave!"
Unfortunately, the Second Princess clearly didn't command much authority. Not only did the maid fail to leave, she even said:
"The court mage said that if Your Highness refuses, he will have no choice but to report this to Lord Spur."
The moment that name was mentioned, the Second Princess fell silent.
Hel asked curiously, "Who's that?"
Her personal maid explained:
"Lord Spur is the Chief Royal Botanist. Every plant in the palace is cultivated by him. Even His Majesty treats him with great respect.
When the Second Princess was young, she once broke a flower personally grown by Lord Spur, and His Majesty immediately punished her severely. Since then, everyone in the Gordon Kingdom knows that it's better to offend the king than to damage one of Lord Spur's flowers."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Hel smiled.
So this was one of those "accidental success" situations. She had unexpectedly found the hidden caster.
Without hesitation, Hel ordered:
"Since this is such a serious matter, shouldn't you, as the leader, take the blame?"
The Second Princess felt a chill run through her body as Hel smiled while saying something so cold.
How could words that cold come from a mouth at 36 degrees?
Yet no matter how unwilling she was, her body still obeyed:
"Fine."
She stopped responding to the maid outside, and the noise soon faded away.
After a moment, Hel asked:
"So what punishment will you face? Will you meet that botanist?"
"Probably just confinement. I won't meet him."
"I see…"
Hel rubbed her chin. That kind of mild punishment wouldn't bring out Lord Spur.
"So how can we make him come in person?"
Both the princess and the maid shook their heads.
"Why?" Hel asked again.
The maid replied:
"Lord Spur never leaves the Sky Garden. To him, nothing is more important than breeding new flower species. Even the princess's past punishment was personally ordered by His Majesty."
"I see. Then can I meet the king through her?"
"No. A princess's maid cannot leave the princess's chambers, and even the princess herself needs multiple approvals to see the king."
"So the Second Princess really isn't favored."
Hel smiled, glanced at the princess, then at the maid's status panel—lingering on the bright 'Loyal to the First Princess' trait.
So the Second Princess was nothing more than a decorative figurehead.
In that case, Hel would squeeze out every last bit of her remaining value.
"Then, dear Second Princess, if you destroy the flowerbed below and fall from the balcony, do you think that would summon your father?"
"What?!" The princess looked at Hel in horror, but her body moved faster than her mind.
"Remember—make it convincing," Hel reminded her from behind.
The princess's face twisted in fury as she shoved open the balcony doors and rushed out.
Below, the maids had already been escorted away by palace guards. A middle-aged mage and an elderly maid were speaking with the squad leader.
When the Second Princess suddenly appeared, everyone looked up.
With an enraged expression, she stormed onto the balcony, pulled out dozens of magic scrolls from her spatial ring, and threw them down like trash.
Explosions erupted across the garden, quickly reducing it to ruins.
The spells weren't high-tier, but the autumn crocuses were even weaker. Plants that could be eaten by ordinary insects had pitiful defense no matter their rank.
By the time the court mage reacted, most of the garden was already destroyed.
"No… damn it! What have you done?!"
The mage stared at the princess in despair.
As a royal, the princess wouldn't bear the main responsibility. The maids weren't important enough either.
That meant the scapegoat would be him.
He had only used Lord Spur's name to pressure the easygoing princess so he could cover up the fact that he accidentally killed the Netherworld Flower through excessive casting.
But instead, the princess escalated everything.
As an unimportant marquis's second son stuck at Tier 3, he could already imagine the miserable fate awaiting him.
Then—
Whether from the magical shockwaves below, or the pressure of the princess leaning on it, the marble balcony railing suddenly cracked.
The Second Princess lost her footing and fell straight down.
Directly beneath the balcony, one lone crocus—hidden in a blind spot—had survived the devastation.
Seeing its "lunch" fall from the sky, it opened its massive maw without hesitation and swallowed the gift of nature whole.