Princess, Please Fall in Love with Me-Chapter 57 : Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Another Reversal, The Mastermind Hidden in the Shadows
"So, you’re now my personal wish-granting genie? Or maybe a fairy godmother who can give me a magic carriage and dress before midnight?"
"No, hurry up and run, or I’ll leave you here."
The two darted through countless corridors, weaving in and out of rooms to hide.
Thanks to the Emperor’s vanity, every time a distinguished guest visited, a new guest room was specially prepared, leaving the palace with an unknown number of rooms.
"Alright, this is the end of the line. You hide here, and I’ll draw them away."
After evading the relentless pursuers for who-knows-how-long, the two finally huddled in a corner room.
Being a servants’ storage closet, it seemed well-concealed.
Yiwen told Yileta to stay put.
Yileta initially wanted to go with her, but Yiwen locked the door.
Moving now would only cause more noise, so Yileta relented.
"If you don’t come back for me, I’ll curse you to never eat cupcakes again."
"What a vicious curse... I’m going. Don’t make a sound."
As expected, when Yiwen left the storage room and deliberately made noise in the corridor, all the assassins’ attention shifted to her.
Free from worrying about someone nearby, Yiwen bolted downstairs, blending into the chaos of the fire.
When the assassins rushed down, they saw only a sea of flames, with no trace of Yiwen.
Suddenly, a scream rang out.
Unbeknownst to them, Yiwen had wounded an assassin at her feet, the sharp pain sending him to the ground.
Before he could make a sound, Yiwen cleanly slit his throat.
By the time his comrades followed the scream, they found only his corpse and a look of despair.
"Have you seen the Sixth Princess?"
In the palace banquet hall, Loka, nearly knocked over by the panicked crowd upon entering, grabbed a disoriented noble.
With her silver sword pressed to his face, she interrogated him menacingly, while he looked ready to faint.
"Who... who’s that? Oh, oh, oh! The Sixth Princess ran off, she must have run off!"
Grabbing a useless one, Loka tossed the innocent noble aside in disgust.
Seeing he was unharmed, he scrambled to his feet and fled, not caring who had grabbed him or why.
The center of the banquet hall was already a sea of fire.
Noble corpses were carelessly kicked into corners, while some assassins scavenged priceless decorations and treasures from the hall.
Seeing Loka burst into the banquet hall, everyone drew their weapons, eyeing her warily.
Seemingly under orders, no one dared attack her directly.
As the Beautiful Woman had said, the Duke had ordered them all to bring her to him personally.
If she could delay just a bit longer, it might give Her Highness the Princess a chance to escape.
Touching her still-throbbing wound, Loka knew even at her best, she couldn’t take on so many assassins alone.
Since they weren’t attacking, she’d stall as long as she could.
"Let her through. This is the Duke’s order."
A commanding voice came from behind the main seat in the banquet hall.
A masked leader slowly emerged, looking at Loka with disdain.
The masked leader casually cleared a path.
Seeing the row of eyes fixed on her, Loka knew she had no choice but to enter this wolf’s den.
Following the leader’s gaze, she pushed open the door to a second-floor guest room.
"Loka, you didn’t heed my warning and came here anyway."
As expected, the black-clad Duke stood with his back to Loka, as leisurely as ever.
He toyed with a dagger in his hand like it was a plaything.
"But since you’re here, it’s perfect. I’ll let you witness my plan, but the price is—your death!"
The Duke slowly rose.
Assassins suddenly stormed into the room, surrounding Loka.
The Duke gripped his dagger, touching a scar Loka had once given him, smiling as he approached.
"This scar... it really hurts. I’ll carve a cut on you, then sever your limbs and tongue, letting you watch my final plan before dying without regrets."
The Duke seemed intent on personal revenge.
At his signal, the surrounding assassins stood still, preventing Loka’s escape, quietly enjoying this unusual spectacle.
But Loka suddenly dropped all the daggers hidden at her waist.
"Given up resisting already? No matter, I won’t go easy."
The Duke wore a triumphant expression, his cautious movements relaxing.
Loka had no weapons left, save for that silver sword she only swung clumsily.
But this oversight proved costly.
In the next second, a flash of silver sliced through, and the Duke’s hand was gashed with a bloody wound.
Loka wiped the blood from the sword’s edge, smirking mockingly,
"Sorry, my skills are rusty. I didn’t manage to kill you in one strike."
Time flashed back to a certain day.
After Yiwen was recognized by the Saito’s Grand Duke, Loka had gone from sneaking in to boldly striding through the front door, practically taking over.
Yiwen, in a nightgown, leisurely tended to flowers in the garden, while Loka curiously toyed with Yiwen’s silver sword, lounging on the sofa.
"Hey, old butler, why did Saito's Grand Duke give Her Highness’s mother a silver sword as a birthday gift? Wouldn’t something more practical be better?"
Kafu, now a resident butler at the Amethyst Palace, solemnly explained the Caesar Family’s swordsmanship history to Loka, including but not limited to their legendary techniques refined through generations and the Saito’s Grand Duke’s greatest achievements.
Tired of Kafu’s reverent retelling of legendary tales, Loka waved him off and went to help Lina, who was preparing lunch, carry plates.
But something suddenly struck her.
Setting the plates down, she ran back to Kafu, lost in his reminiscing.
"Hey, old butler, can you teach me a couple of moves?"
It had been a spur-of-the-moment whim back then, but she hadn’t expected to actually use the move this time.
Fortunately, the Duke, as in her previous life, grew cocky when victory seemed assured, making it easier to catch him off guard.
Looking at the Duke clutching his bleeding arm, Loka quickly darted behind him, pressing the silver sword to his back.
With a sharp thrust, she pushed him off balance, then leaped toward the window.
His men rushed to check the Duke’s injury.
The Duke, face darkened, shoved them aside, staring at the shattered window and Loka’s vanished figure with ruthless eyes.
"Is everything over there settled?"
"All personnel are in place, Lord Duke."
The Duke left the room, glancing at corpses carelessly strewn on the ground, some with faces he’d once known.
Now lifeless, he suddenly burst into laughter, blood from his arm spurting with his excitement.
"Any loose ends?"
"None. All who knew and opposed you have been dealt with."
"Good. Let’s go perform the final act."