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“Hold it right there!”
“Q-Quick, seize her!”
“Team two, where’s team two? Go in from the left!”

The solemn silence of the royal palace was broken by chaotic noises.

Maids armed with various weapons swept through the palace corridors effortlessly. They weaved through the pillar and got into their respective positions, creating a formation to surround the place. Even the most powerful pirate would have no choice but to surrender to such a well-trained team of maids.

Unfortunately, their opponent this time was not someone who could be compared to a powerful pirate.

“Wahaha, come chase me~ If you catch me, I’ll let you do whatever you want~”

The criminal took the little princess away and ran away. Not only that, she was constantly mocking and taunting the proud maids. Even the powerful maids could only chase the trail of dust she left behind her.

Human-shaped T-Rex was the right word to describe the criminal. She completely ignored the complex hallways and barged through the walls, windows and doors. And those did little to slow her down.

Since she was petite, the human-shaped holes she made in the wall were not big enough for the maids, who were all of average size, to pass through. Hence, they could only follow the complex hallways.

The leader of the Maids of White Stockings grew anxious. The crown princess would be attending the Great Celestial Rite in the Holy Dragon Empire as the representative of Macedonian Empire. Today was an important day and there was no room for any error. Yet the little princess was abducted under their noses! If news of this got out, the reputation of the Maids of White Stocking would be completely ruined!

“Oh no, she’s headed to the main hall!”
“What?”
“The crown princess’ reception room is in that direction!”
“Damn it!”

At this point in time, there was no time to care about reputation. The leader gritted her teeth, then ordered, “Quick, inform the head of maidservants and the royal knights! Cut off all escape routes so that the criminal has nowhere to run!”

“Roger!”

……

“Looks like we’ve lost them for the time being.”

Upon arriving at an empty small courtyard, Lilith made sure that she had lost the maids before putting the silver-haired girl down. She dusted her dress, then looked at her surroundings.

It was a small but well-decorated space. The little garden looked like it had been tended with care, and was filled with little purple flowers that Lilith did not know the name of. The nice fragrant they were giving off gave her a sense of comfort.

In the middle of the garden was a small pavilion.

”Let’s sit there.”

Lilith patted the little girl’s shoulder, then went to the pavilion and sat down. However, the little girl did not follow her.

The silver-haired girl glared at Lilith with her huge eyes and said, “You’re a baddie.”

“Of course not. Big Sis is the best person in this world,” Lilith answered her with a smile.

“That’s not true! You created holes in my palace! My sister told me people who destroy things are baddies!”

“No, no, no, I’m different.”

Lilith wagged her finger. “I may look like I’ve done something bad, but I’m actually doing a good thing!”

“Huh?”

The little girl furrowed her brows, looking obviously confused.

“Look, I’ve destroyed your home. What’s going to happen next?”
“Someone will…”
“Someone will come and fix it, right?”

The little girl blinked.

“Your home’s a palace, so the repairs are going to cost a lot, right?”

The little girl nodded with uncertainty.

“That means the people who come to repair the palace will get a lot of money, right?”

The little girl tilted her head to the side. She thought hard for a moment before saying, “I’ve no idea.”

“Of course you don’t.” Lilith clapped and said, “Then Big Sis shall tell you all about it… Those people… will take that money… then buy lots and lots of… candied fruit skewers!”

The little girl’s eyes instantly lit up.

Lilith continued speaking in a serious manner, “And then, those vendors who sold lots and lots of candied fruit skewers will get the money, and then they will use it to buy more ingredients and make even more candied fruit skewers!”

The little girl was shocked. She wiggled her fingers in an effort to smooth out the twists and turns of all this.

Lilith smiled at her, then took out a few candied fruit skewers between her fingers and said, “See? I may look like I’m destroying stuff, but I’m actually indirectly creating your favorite candied fruit skewers!”

“And all this is known as increasing domestic demand and developing the market economy. It benefits the society, the empire and its people!”

“(⊙o⊙) Wow, amazing! Big Sis is amazing!” The little girl did not understand what Lilith was rambling about, but it sounded impressive to her.

“Hoho, do you still think I’m a baddie now?”

The little girl shook her head fervently.

“Big Sis is super duper good!”
“Good girl~ Here, these are yours now.”
“Yay!”
“Call me Big Sis.”
“Big Sis!”

……

“What? Someone abducted Leniah?” Lesiah’s beautiful eyes widened in surprise. Although her poker face had been perfected due to her position as the crown princess, she was still visibly shaken by the news. After all, Leniah was the last of her family.

“Has the criminal been apprehended yet? …I guess not, right?”

Lesiah rubbed her temples. If the Maids of White Stockings had done that, the criminal would have been brought to her by now to receive his punishment, rather than a maid suddenly coming to report about it.

“Please punish me for my subordinates’ incompetency, Your Highness!”
“Never mind that.”

Lesiah waved her hand and frowned. “An enemy who could infiltrate this palace so discreetly is not someone you all can deal with.”

The princess looked at the head of the maidservant, who was already prepared to receive her order. “I can only rely on you now, Miss Sheila,” she said softly.

“This is my duty.” Sheila bowed slightly. She turned around, about to leave so that she could rip that little thief apart and reestablish the honor of Maids of White Stockings, but Lesiah suddenly called out to her again.

“Wait. Something isn’t right.”

Why would someone suddenly break into the palace and abduct Leniah at this time?

Putting aside the risk of getting caught, why did the great formation outside the palace not react in the slightest when that person broke in?

If that person could conceal his presence so flawlessly that he could go undetected by the great formation, why did he not directly come for her but choose to expose himself by targeting Leniah instead?

Was Leniah the target?

Or could it be…

Lesiah took a deep breath and concentrated. She delved deep into her mind, carefully looking for any details that she might have overlooked.

Miss Sheila thought that Lesiah was trying to focus, so she motioned for everyone to try their best to hold their breath, to minimize distractions around the Princess.

All of a sudden, Lesiah’s eyes snapped open. There was nothing but happiness and surprise in her lovely eyes because for a moment, the blood in her body that belonged to someone else reacted after being dormant for a long time.

“No need to go, Miss Sheila.”
“Huh?”
“Withdraw the maids and knights as well.”
“Wait, what is the meaning of all this, Princess?”

Sheila looked at her in confusion, unable to understand why the princess would withdraw everyone at a time like this. Was she deliberately letting the criminal get away?

“Don’t worry about it, everything is under control. It’s not an enemy.”
“Not an enemy…?”

Sheila was still rather confused, because the smile on Lesiah’s face turned even more dazzling and beautiful right now.

What was happening?

While Sehila was still trying to figure out the situation, Lesiah was already impatiently collecting more information from the maid.

“Where is that person now…?”
“H-Huh?”

It took the maid a few seconds to understand who the princess was referring to, in such an affectionate tone. She meant the criminal who abducted the little princess.

“I… I think she’s in the reception room in the main hall. The maids and knights have that place surrounded for now, but they’re all on stand by and awaiting your orders.”

“The reception room? She’s got quite a good taste.”

Under Sheila and the maid’s surprised gaze, Lesiah picked up her gorgeous dress with a smile and started making her way toward the reception room eagerly.

“U-Umm…”

The maid summoned her courage to stop the princess because she had another important report to make.

“Hm? Is there something else?”
“Lord Gregory, the duke, seems to be waiting for Your Highness in that room… I’m afraid that by now…”
“Is that so? That’s big trouble then…”

Lesiah frowned once again, looking obviously very worried.

Sheila and the maid were relieved instead. Although the princess was acting a little weird right now, she was the same kind and considerate princess they knew.

However, the next thing that came out of Princess Lesiah’s mouth nearly destroyed their outlook on life.

“If Lord Gregory acted hastily and my precious purple vetches were bloodied, then that’ll be big trouble.”

……

“Princess Leniah?”

Lilith was playing house with the little girl in the pavilion, a game in which she was her big sister. Then, someone suddenly came out of the ancient building on the side of the garden. It was an old man wearing a gorgeous, long black coat.

“Oh, why are you here, Princess Leniah? And… who’s this?”

The old man’s slightly dark gaze swept over Lilith and the silver-haired girl. The glint he had in his eyes, especially when looking at Lilith, was akin to that of a falcon staring at its prey. It was making Lilith rather uncomfortable.

It lasted only a moment because the old man quickly concealed it. It was so quick that Lilith nearly thought she had imagined all of that earlier.

Leniah was sitting in Lilith’s arms, her feet dangling in the air. She turned her head around and said in her high-pitched young voice, “She’s Big Sis.”

Hearing her response, Lilith nodded approvingly. It seemed like her training (more like conditioning) was very successful.

“Good girl~” She patted the little girl’s head.
“Hehe~” (＊￣︶￣＊) The girl had a satisfied look on her face.
“Big Sis?”

The old man was obviously upset.

“But Princess Leniah, isn’t your only sister…the crown princess?”

He turned his wary gaze to Lilith. “And who are you? Why have I never seen you before?”