Chapter 33: The Prince’s Fury and a Puppy’s Plea

“What good are you to me? You can’t even protect the prince you serve!”

In the royal palace of Danga, Prince Gapp raged after hearing the report from Bruno’s guard. “Has this nation become so corrupt that it can’t even guarantee the prince’s safety?!”

The guard had no intention of defending himself. He slammed his head heavily against the floor, seeking only death.

“My crimes deserve a thousand deaths. I beg Your Majesty to punish me!”

Though he yearned to cut the man into a thousand pieces, Prince Gapp forcibly suppressed his fury.

He then asked, “Where is the contract signed with Jipp?”

“Prince Bruno always carried it with him, so…”

Prince Gapp sighed heavily. He understood profoundly that the contents of that contract must never be exposed.

Its revelation would be incredibly detrimental to his ascension. He couldn’t possibly make splitting the territory his first act as ruler, as it would severely cripple his authority.

Moreover, the former king’s death was highly suspicious. Not all the ministers in the kingdom were fools; they undoubtedly harbored doubts.

Daisy had also been the ideal successor for a long time. Even seeing Daisy holding the murder weapon, standing before the former king’s body, they hadn’t fully believed she was the culprit.

Many had previously hoped for a more detailed investigation into Daisy to avoid wrongfully accusing the princess.

If either the contract or Daisy were in his hands, he would now be able to rest easy.

Yet, both were now missing.

“Search! Go find them for me! If you don’t find them, don’t bother coming back!”

Gapp desperately wanted to kill, but he knew he couldn’t execute this guard. He was the only one who had seen Ellis’s face.

“Yes!”

The guard scrambled away.

Gapp sighed heavily, glancing at the piles of documents on his desk. He had no time to dwell on this matter; too many affairs of state demanded his attention.

“Don’t worry so much. Once our plan succeeds, any obstacles will be mere trifles.”

Just then, a wisp of black mist enveloped Gapp, and an ethereal voice echoed through the room.

Gapp paused, then nodded, and began to attend to his official duties.

“Your Highness, I’ve brought the person you were looking for.”

Larry, disguised as Daisy, was hunched over his desk. Hearing someone call out, he lifted his head, and a smile he couldn’t hide spread across his face when he saw Ellis.

“Thank you for your hard work, Bart. You may go rest now.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As Bart left, he thoughtfully closed the door, leaving Ellis and ‘Daisy’ alone to talk.

Once the outsider was gone, Ellis relaxed considerably. She found a seat, crossed her legs, and asked, “What kind of situation leads you to attract the enemy’s attention, only to become the head of an underground organization? And with such an old-fashioned secret code! It’s hilarious! Hahahaha!”

Larry’s forehead was lined with dark veins as he watched Ellis burst into laughter. However, he suddenly noticed that Ellis dared to sit in such a posture while wearing a skirt, and he shamelessly enjoyed the view between her legs.

“What are you looking at?”

Ellis noticed Larry’s strange gaze and immediately put her legs down, asking suspiciously.

“Ahem, nothing.”

Larry quickly changed the subject. “If I wasn’t considering certain people’s intelligence, I would have used something sophisticated like Morse code for our secret signal. But certain people limit my potential, you see.”

Ellis retorted defiantly, “What Morse code? Let me tell you, I actually understand everything; I just don’t want to show off!”

Larry rolled his eyes dismissively. Then he asked, “I’m not joking around anymore. Have you found Daisy?”

“Yes, I’ve placed her in a temporarily safe location.”

Larry’s expression remained unchanged, as if Ellis had merely picked up something that had fallen.

“Excellent. We’ll go bring her back in a bit.”

Ellis leaned back in the soft armchair. “You have thousands of subordinates now. Couldn’t you just rally them and bring Daisy back?”

“Then, when they see a second Daisy, they’ll probably all go mad,” Larry retorted, rolling his eyes.

“These aren’t my followers; they are Daisy’s. They’re contacts left by the former king and some of Daisy’s trusted confidantes. I’ve been actively stirring things up here, attracting them all, thinking that if I made a bigger commotion, it would be easier for you all to act. So, I organized them and made this our resistance stronghold.”

Ellis looked around. Through the window, she could see the busy resistance fighters outside.

There was no confusion in their eyes. Clearly, Larry, as their leader, had given them a clear objective and shown them hope.

“It seems you’ve managed things quite well.”

Larry didn’t think much of it. “It’s alright. I have time now; let’s go retrieve Daisy together. This is her inheritance; I’m just managing it on her behalf.”

Ellis said thoughtfully, “Daisy probably won’t want to switch places with you when she sees this. No, she’ll probably be wondering where to get a marriage certificate and make your relationship official so she can keep you by her side forever.”

Upon hearing this, Larry involuntarily shivered.

“That, that shouldn’t be the case, right?!”

Seeing Larry’s worried and fearful expression, Ellis’s interest was piqued. “Perhaps.”

“Then, then I’ll hide. You just bring her here. I’ll work on some documents here to facilitate her next arrangements.”

Seeing Larry instantly cave, Ellis said exasperatedly, “Alright, I told Daisy I was your fiancée, so she’s already given up on pursuing you. She probably understands that it’s impossible to make Verona feel emotions.”

“Ellis, you’re truly amazing. I don’t know how to thank you.”

Larry gripped Ellis’s slender hands, moved.

This was a perfectly normal action, and Ellis hadn’t thought much of it, but Larry showed no sign of letting go, and…

Ellis: ‘-_-#’

“What are you squeezing?”

Larry exclaimed, “Your little hands have become so small, so humble. They feel like marshmallows when I squeeze them. I feel like I could play with these hands for a year.”

“Is that so? You want to play with them for a year? How about this?”

Ellis suddenly clenched her fist and swung it directly at Larry’s chin.

Larry felt stars explode before his eyes, then his body shot into the air, finally falling headfirst. But before he hit the ground, Larry was caught.

It turned out Ellis had intervened to stop his freefall, preventing him from making too much noise.

“How does that punch taste?”

“Very authentic. It definitely feels like you.”

“Then, can we go see Daisy now?”

“Yes, yes, your humble servant listens to your every command.”

Along the way, Ellis told Larry about Bruno.

“So? Do you see any room for maneuver in this situation?”

“Of course, there’s a lot of room for maneuver!”

Larry said with a hint of surprise. “I was already racking my brain, wondering under what pretext Daisy could shake the public’s belief that she murdered the king and her parents, and successfully rise to power. I never expected someone to deliver a pillow right to our heads.

National righteousness trumps all else. That Prince Gapp did such a thing, and his own son is such a good-for-nothing. By the way, what’s Bruno’s relationship with his father? Can we get him to be a witness?”

Ellis said confidently, “I didn’t ask about their relationship, but getting him to be a witness shouldn’t be a problem.”

“How did you manage that? Did you manipulate his mind?”

“Manipulate his mind? Not even a dog would use that kind of術式 [TL note: a type of magical technique or spell].”

The kind of primal art Larry mentioned, which relied on manipulating minds to control others, did exist.

However, unless one had special affinities or had extensively researched and practiced in that area, rashly using such an element caused significant damage to a person’s psyche. Even if control was achieved, the person’s abnormality would be immediately apparent.

Ellis looked at Larry with a mischievous grin. “Want to know? How about I try it on you directly? Maybe then you’ll want to be my little puppy.”

Larry involuntarily shivered, suddenly remembering what had happened at the inn between them. He probably understood what Bruno had endured.

“Let’s keep going. I’m not curious anymore.”