"As for the seeds to come, Her Majesty has already personally blessed them in the Palace using 'Secret Arts'."
Irene lowered her voice, creating a mysterious atmosphere that easily bluffed these commoners who had little experience with the world.
"Those seeds are extremely precious. The yield of every single grain will be several times that of what you planted before. Furthermore, they grow relatively quickly and can bear fruit before early winter. Therefore, they have not been brought here yet, to avoid them being ruined by you bumbling fools."
"Once we return to the Palace and confirm that you have rectified this land according to the requirements, Her Majesty will send the most elite soldiers to escort that batch of holy seeds here."
The villagers kowtowed mechanically, their foreheads making dull thumping sounds against the muddy ground.
In their view, this was not some planting guidance, but a contract concerning life and death. Having handed over all their grain, if that batch of 'holy seeds' did not arrive, the entire village would turn into a mass grave before spring came.
"Very good."
Seeing that the task was handed over, Sophia gave a brief evaluation.
She turned around, her black skirt sweeping across the withered grass of the field ridges.
"Done. Now let's see if these seeds can strive a bit and let me get rid of sawdust bread sooner rather than later."
Sophia let out a long sigh in her heart.
It wasn't that she was delicate, but the gap in food quality between the Imperial Capital and the Kingdom of Mason was simply too vast.
On the carriage back to the city.
Sophia was resting with her eyes closed, outlining the future map of the Kingdom of Mason in her mind—or rather, outlining the dishes that might appear on her future dining table.
As the carriage drove slowly on the dirt road approaching the outskirts of the Royal City, the convoy's speed suddenly dropped.
"Your Majesty, an unconscious young girl has been found by the roadside ahead."
Victor's voice rang out from outside the carriage window, carrying a trace of caution. "She looks like a traveler in distress."
Sophia slowly lifted the curtain, revealing that exquisite face that was so cold it seemed devoid of any human warmth.
By a pile of rubble not far from the carriage, Delilah was curled up 'weakly'.
Her tattered cloak was half-covering her, revealing a face that appeared pale from 'hunger' yet still retained a heroic spirit. To make the act realistic, she had even smeared a layer of wall ash on her fair skin beforehand; she indeed looked like a refugee who had fainted from exhaustion after a long trek.
Come on, Girl Tyrant.
Delilah held her breath, silently deducing in her heart.
If you are a butcher who views commoners as grass, you will certainly order your men to throw me to the roadside, or even run right over me. If you are an ambitious schemer who knows how to camouflage herself, you should show your hypocritical mercy right now.
So, what will you do?
Sophia's pale golden eyes rested coldly on Delilah.
However, the moment the curtain was lifted, Sophia's vision—sharp to the point of instinct—captured a detail.
Because of the mountain wind blowing against the hem of the young girl's cloak, a section of a jet-black sword hilt was faintly revealed, along with an extremely hidden callus on the web of her thumb—something only those who held a sword for a long time would possess.
'Hm?'
Sophia's heart stirred slightly.
A faint, delicate refugee, yet she has a sword tucked at her waist that looks like it cost a fortune? That hilt material looks much better than what my soldiers use. And that breathing frequency... isn't it a bit too steady?
Sophia stared at Delilah for a full five seconds, staring until Delilah felt a chill down her spine and nearly broke character.
"Bring her along."
Sophia lowered the curtain, her tone flat.
"Your Majesty, this person is of unknown origin. In case..." Victor hesitated.
"Hm?"
Sophia's simple syllable directly stopped Victor's mouth.
Sophia did not do this out of attraction to beauty, but rather thought that since this person had clearly come for her, it was better to keep her in plain sight than to leave her in the dark.
If she had malicious intent, it would be easier to control her alongside three hundred troops. Moreover, since the 'Sophia' on the surface didn't take the bait this time, it was better to accept the move now than to have her secretly pull some stunt later.
Inside the carriage, Irene, who had been lying by the window observing, suddenly remembered something and abruptly leaned into Sophia's ear.
"Your Majesty! I suddenly remembered seeing this in those strange storybooks... oh no, I mean in the miscellaneous notes of some ancient alchemy tomes!"
Irene lowered her voice, her expression as serious as if she were discussing a new invention.
"You absolutely must not carelessly pick up this kind of beautiful wild woman found by the roadside! That is very likely a thorny, wicked woman! She might even be the kind of villainess side character who lurks first, backstabs later, and finally snatches everything from the Queen!"
Sophia turned her head slightly, looking at Irene's overly imaginative appearance.
Although Irene's words were full of some inexplicable theatrical sense, Sophia unexpectedly agreed with the logic therein.
"It is indeed so." Sophia nodded silently in her heart. "Why didn't she faint earlier or later? Why did she just happen to faint here exactly on my way back from suppressing bandits? This probability is even lower than Irene making a musket that doesn't explode."
A trace of contemplation flitted across Sophia's cold, mask-like face.
Of course, in Irene's view, this was a signal that Her Majesty the Queen had already seen through the assassin's conspiracy and was preparing to play a game of "cat and mouse."
Wait, no—what did she mean by 'lower probability than her making a musket that doesn't explode'!
Irene puffed up her cheeks and looked askance at her own Tyrant, swearing in her heart that she would research it out the moment she got back!
"Victor." Sophia spoke in a cool, clear voice.
"Your humble servant is here."
"After returning to the Palace, settle her in the remote wing room on the bottom floor of the East Tower. That is the place furthest from my bedchamber, and it will not allow her to come into contact with Irene. Dispatch a small squad of musketeers to guard outside, nominally to 'protect her while she recovers'."
"Your Majesty is wise."
Victor felt a surge of solemn respect.
As expected, His Majesty had long since seen through this woman's disguise. Deliberately bringing her back was not only to win over her body, but to catch a turtle in a jar. Confining her in a remote place was to cut off all her connections with the outside world.
When the convoy entered the Royal City of Mason, Delilah was being settled onto a supply cart at the rear.
Listening to the sound of carriage wheels rolling over the stone road, her heart was also experiencing turbulent waves.
"She actually really brought me back? And after looking at me with that kind of gaze for so long... did she see through me or not?"
"If she didn't see through me, it means she indeed has a tiny weakness named 'mercy'. If she saw through me yet still dared to bring me back to the Palace, that can only mean one thing... this Girl Tyrant has become arrogant to the extreme regarding her own power and control."
Delilah gripped the dagger under her cloak tightly, feeling the oppression radiating from those soldiers carrying tubes outside the carriage.
At this moment, Sophia sat in the carriage, looking at the faintly visible spires of the Palace. She rubbed her waist and sighed again in her heart.
"Irene, if your blueprints for the shock absorbers aren't drawn up yet, I'm going to cut the funding for your glowing alchemy lamp in half."
"Don't, Your Majesty! I will definitely speed up the research!" Irene said hurriedly.
Once night fell, everywhere except the rooms with simple oil lamps was pitch black. Yet Irene couldn't shake her habit of being a night owl, so doing research at night was exceptionally strenuous. She wanted to build a Palace that could be brightly lit even at night!
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