"Tap tap tap tap..."
Rapid footsteps rang out beneath Yelena's feet. After escaping through the back door, she sprinted toward the nearest wall while assessing the situation.
For Rieka to set this trap for her, Grandmother's tacit approval alone would not have been enough.
Under normal circumstances, her father would have attended this birthday banquet as well, yet he had not come. Had Rieka deliberately lured him away, or had he also silently approved of this trap?
...Probably not.
Yelena did not believe her father would permit Rieka to do this.
If her father had truly already decided on an heir, he could have simply said so. There was no need to resort to such despicable methods.
Just as Grandmother had said, Father was a very proud man. Even if time had made him more composed, it would not change his true nature.
She believed her father had been lured away by Grandmother and Rieka working together. The two of them wanted to exploit the time gap and turn it into a fait accompli.
They probably believed that as long as she lost her right to inherit, even if Father flew into a rage afterward, he would be unable to punish Rieka severely for the sake of the country.
So what she needed to do now was...
Whoosh!
Just as she reached the wall, someone climbed in from outside.
Yelena was about to go on guard when she saw that it was her bodyguard, Sigaoxin.
"Princess, are you hurt?"
"No, but you... your shoulder!"
Yelena noticed that a large section of Sigaoxin's left shoulder clothing had been torn open. The wound underneath had to be serious.
"Just a minor injury," Sigaoxin said.
To reach Yelena's side as quickly as possible, she had used a fight-for-life style to swiftly take down