"Miss, Princess Anle has arrived and entered the reception."
In a lounge within Hall Number Six, Mesaes listened to the servant's report, a playful expression appearing on her beautiful face.
"It seems she really keeps a tight hold on her private property... Li Guo."
Mesaes casually swirled her wineglass.
She knew very well what was happening inside the Imperial Clan Council. However, Raphael's return had been personally pushed through by the Princess, and there was no reason that could stop it—not even the all-powerful Queen.
This was a very important meeting, yet Li Guo had decisively hurried over the moment it ended—something that genuinely surprised Mesaes.
But that was good too.
The more Li Guo cared, the angrier she would be when betrayal came.
"Is everything ready?" Mesaes asked coolly, turning her head toward the side.
A short figure in a black robe and mask stood nearby... At her words, a hoarse male voice came from beneath the mask.
"Please rest assured. This sort of commission is unprecedentedly easy for me."
Mesaes gave him a once-over. He was a family retainer her father, Lord Babilon, had hired at great expense. He was not skilled in combat, but possessed an exceedingly strange power of curses. She only knew that he came from the Fantasy Side and was called Imbas; she knew nothing else about him.
"Can it really be done without anyone noticing?" Before acting, Mesaes wanted to confirm it once more. "Even afterward, there'll be no way to trace it?"
"Unless someone possesses the ability to rewind time," the black-robed Imbas said flatly. "But abilities from the domain of gods like that are rare in the void."
As he spoke, Imbas extended a withered hand. In his palm, a pink Crystal Ball emitted an eerie glow.
He gave a sinister