Chapter 1351: The real and fake princess

Following the maids’ lead, Gu Qing Shan went by himself to the sky garden to meet princess Maria face to face.

At the same time.

Crow was led by a few other maids towards a reception room, where she was responsible for accepting everything that the Roland empire would bestow Rhode.

“The list is here, please take a look and confirm everything” one of the maids said.

“Ah, I understand” Crow received the list.

The maids respectfully bowed, then left.

Looking around, Crow found that they had all left after closing the door.

She had no choice but to take the list and examine each item one by one.

—–this couldn’t be helped, she was the Count’s only official knight and aide, since he hadn’t hired a butler yet, she had to be the one who did this.

Crow took a look at the land deeds, then carefully examined the official conferring certificates and documents of the empire.

While she was doing that, the door was opened.

Princess Maria had entered with a few of her maids.

Crow indifferently glanced over, then bowed: “Greetings, your Royal Highness”

Maria evaluated her a bit, then muttered: “You are very beautiful”

“Thank you, from the past up until now, I have gone through much hardship, but this opinion of yours had always been unanimously agreed upon” Crow proudly agreed.

Princess Maria’s expression twitched a bit, then asked: “Back in Ramon village, were you responsible for all of Count Rhode’s personal matters?”

Crow nodded: “Ah, yes indeed, I naturally had to be the one to do these things”

“For what reason?”

“Because he had no one else”

“The two of you seem to have quite a good relationship” the princess commented to her.

Crow appeared a bit embarrassed, then shook her head: “No, we’re actually sworn siblings”

“Is that true?”

“Naturally”

“Hm, I can feel the sincerity of your words”

The princess’s expression loosened somewhat, then grabbed Crow’s hand: “However, if the Count were to ask you to marry him, how would you react?”

Crow affirmed beyond any doubts: “He would never do such a thing”

The princess smiled.

Suddenly, Crow’s eyes dilated, and immediately put a hand on her rapier.

The atmosphere instantly changed.

Several maids swiftly rushed forward, shielding the princess.

“It is fine”

The princess dismissed them while still holding onto Crow’s hand and asked: “Why did you suddenly hold killing intent against me?”

Crow said with a serious voice: “You are not the princess”

She had drawn her rapier.

Princess Maria looked at her with intrigue, asking: “What proof do you have to say that I’m not the princess?”

“I’ve come into contact with more women than you’ve ever met in your entire life, so I’ve gained an ability to distinguish between them. Every woman gives off a unique smell, and I can tell the difference” Crow explained.

This time, it was princess Maria’s expression that changed.

“That’s impossible… I clearly left the changing room as soon as I could… and haven’t appeared until now” she muttered.

“There’s no way you can deceive me, you are a completely different person from the princess earlier” Crow coldly snorted.

Both of them paused.

They were able to tell that something was off from the other party’s words.

Earlier?

Princess Maria’s mind quickly moved, slowly realizing something.

Haven’t appeared until now?

Crow recalled everything that happened up to this point and realized the situation.

A second later.

Both of them questioned the other party: “”Where is the Count?””

“Oh no!”

Princess Maria quickly took out a small golden bell and rang it with all her strength.

The sound of the bell echoed across the entire palace.

…

Let us rewind time a bit.

While Crow was examining the list of items by herself, Gu Qing Shan was with princess Maria in the sky garden, about to ‘conduct a short sparring session’.

The sound of a clear slap resounded through the air.

Princess Maria was stunned.

Gu Qing Shan was also surprised, but quickly understood.

——-this was the Red Dragon Origin Hex’s effect.

Sure enough, lines of glowing text had appeared on the War God UI to explain the current combat situation:

[The other party had been affected by Red Dragon Origin Hex – Twist, using the attack they were about to unleash against you on themselves]

Tch!

What a potent ability.

Gu Qing Shan was silently pleased, but showed nothing on his face and asked: “Your Royal Highness, would you consider our sparring session finished?”

Princess Maria remained silent for a while, then muttered: “If I remember correctly, the rare black dragon does not have the power of a red dragon, and the Red Dragon Hex that the Magic Scale Dragon had was only at the level of ‘Shadow’, the effects of which was to weaken the senses”

In front of Gu Qing Shan’s surprised gaze, princess Maria continued: “I’ve read through many books, dragons were a race that suddenly appeared in the space vortex of the void. They normally do not possess the power of Hexes, only truly talented and powerful dragons would hold the power of a Shadow Hex, while dragons who hold an Origin Hex are nothing short of elites among their elites”

“But you, Count Rhode, not only managed to gain the power of that Magic Scale Dragon after killing it but also sublime that ability to the level of an Origin Hex…”

Princess Maria clapped her hand: “How extraordinary”

“So you’ve also seen the process of our battle, your Highness” Gu Qing Shan said.

“Indeed, I could not feel safe with a stranger entering the empire, so my monitoring of you was quite tight. I hope you can understand”

Saying so, princess Maria stood up and said: “Would you like to come with me to the Chasm world now to take a look?”

Gu Qing Shan also stood up.

A sense of danger appeared in his spirit sense.

—–that place is a world being corroded by the Plague Apocalypse, so it was naturally dangerous.

With that in mind, Gu Qing Shan relaxed.

“Of course” he replied.

“Then let us go together”

Princess Maria formed a hand seal with her hands inside her sleeves.

An unusual fluctuation began to exude from her body, quickly changing the state of their surrounding space.

The royal palace, the garden, the peaceful world receded in front of their eyes.

Darkness.

Following that, a foreign and unclear world appeared at the end of their visions.

It was rapidly approaching them.

Gu Qing Shan scowled, then abruptly drew the Earth sword and propped it against princess Maria’s neck.

“Who exactly are you?” he asked

Princess Maria appeared to be confused.

Gu Qing Shan put his sword away and instead wielded the Six Paths Great Mountain sword, once again pushing it against the other party’s neck.

——[Law Breaker]!

Fresh red blood began to flow from the princess’s pearl-white neck.

Following that, her appearance suddenly changed and turned into a maid.

The maid laughed, then asked: “Rhode, I did not utter a single lie earlier, so how did you notice that I wasn’t the princess?”

Gu Qing Shan continued to keep his sword against her neck, casually replying: “You and I hadn’t formed any sort of covenant, so according to what you said, we couldn’t have possibly entered the Chasm world due to not being old enough, this was the first clue”

“Secondly, the spatial technique you performed earlier was a cultivation-type technique”

The maid sighed, then replied: “I can’t afford to wait any longer, Rhode. I need to act as fast as possible, even if I have to use up this maid pawn I’ve hidden for numerous years, I have to kill you”

A figure of a man wearing a red yaksha mask appeared from her body.

Red Wraith.

Him again!

Who would’ve thought that he managed to arrange a pawn in the Roland empire’s royal palace!

“That can’t be right” Gu Qing Shan spoke in a low tone: “Every person in the royal palace had been thoroughly examined, no one was under the effects of your technique”

「 Of course there weren’t, these few maids were completely clean, people that I personally raised for many years. It was only after they had passed the examination in the palace that they contacted me 」Red Wraith replied.

Gu Qing Shan muttered: “Such a precious hidden pawn, and yet you used her up on me…”

Red Wraith watched him with a complicated expression: 「 It couldn’t be helped, the more I come into contact with you, the more terrifying I sense you to be, which is why I can’t afford to wait any longer 」

「 Rhode, you should be proud, this was a trap I originally laid for emperor Roland 」

「 ——-die 」

As soon as he declared so, Red Wraith’s figure disappeared from Gu Qing Shan’s sight.

The maid began to chant a strange incantation.

Boom!

Her body exploded into a mass of blood, which manifested a red talisman in the void of space.

Seeing that talisman, Gu Qing Shan instantly knew that things were turning bad.

The shadow of death had consumed his spirit sense.

But this place had no sky or ground, only a world that was quickly approaching him and a bloody wraith talisman that was quickly manifesting.

In a single instance, Gu Qing Shan pondered many solutions, only to realize that he didn’t know what kind of world was on the other side, nor what kind of effects would that talisman have on him.

——-how could he prepare against that?

Who could have predicted that such a deathtrap was hidden in the middle of the Roland empire’s royal palace?

Without any other solutions, Gu Qing Shan could only come up with a single thing.

Instantly, an intertwining silver and golden glow appeared inside his body, flowed along his arm, then manifested on top of his palm.

A hologram of a coin was in his hand.

The Coin of the Earth!

As soon as the coin appeared, the bloody talisman had begun moving.

The bloody glow entered Gu Qing Shan’s body in a flash.

Sensing his consciousness slipping away, Gu Qing Shan seized what little time he had to say: “I will probably need some luck”

Oong—-

The Coin of the Earth uttered a resounding reply.

[True Luck], activated!

A golden glow appeared from the coin to envelop Gu Qing Shan, then slowly entered his body.

A second later, the world in the distance had surrounded Gu Qing Shan and took him inside.

Gu Qing Shan began falling to the ground, unconscious.