If it had been in Riezel's previous life, waiting for a woman to get herself ready would have taken at least an hour or two.
In this regard, Lizbeth and Euryale were surprisingly fast.
Riezel had only just returned to his room for a few minutes before the two of them came knocking.
"Haahh..."
Dragged along by Lizbeth, Euryale yawned with a sleepy look on her face—her clothes were loose and careless, making Riezel feel both helpless and amused at the sight.
"Seriously, you don't even need to sleep, yet you act like you're really sleep-deprived?" Riezel remarked, rolling his eyes.
From this perspective, perhaps Euryale was still rather human-like.
"How're you feeling, Euryale?" Riezel asked, his tone full of cautious probing.
"?"
Unfortunately, the queen only tilted her head with a confused expression, staring at Riezel as though she couldn't quite understand his meaning.
"Alright then..." Riezel sighed softly.
"Miss Euryale really can't communicate with us at all..." Lizbeth, who was holding Euryale's hand, said while looking a little regretful.
It had already been some time since they brought Euryale out of that ancient ruin, yet this queen still behaved like a newborn child.
Forget about holding a conversation—she couldn't even say a single word.
However, to say she was completely unable to understand others didn't seem entirely true either.
'It feels like sometimes she actually understands what we're saying, given that there are even moments where she acts on her own, but maybe she doesn't even know why she's doing it?'
Riezel gazed at Euryale, recalling the moment when Lizbeth awakened her bloodline.
Back then, he still remembered that this queen had held him back, refusing to let him interfere with the process. At that time, she must have understood exactly what was happening to Lizbeth, which was why she would not allow him to stop her.
"Euryale Reinnail."
Riezel spoke Euryale's full name once, causing her to react.
"..."
Euryale raised her eyes to him, only to tilt her head again after a moment, wearing the same look of puzzlement.
"Forget it." Riezel gave up on trying to communicate with the ancient queen and turned to Lizbeth. "You take care of her, Lizbeth. Don't let her run around."
"Got it, Master." Lizbeth nodded, having no objections.
With that, the three of them then left the room together, planning to wait for Yuri to return so they could talk.
However, before Yuri came back, Riezel received a sudden message.
"King Hendrick summoned Lizbeth?"
In the main hall of the Frenzel residence, Riezel heard the message and froze.
"Father… summoned me?" Lizbeth, still holding Euryale's hand, looked stunned.
"Yes."
Standing respectfully before Riezel, the steward reported with his head lowered.
"An envoy from the palace is outside right now. He says he's here to escort the Ninth Princess back to the palace."
"Hmm, that's a little interesting..." Riezel muttered, silent for a moment before continuing. "Didn't he already send his daughter away, no longer treating her as part of the royal family? Why is he suddenly summoning her now, even bringing back the old title of 'Ninth Princess'?"
Upon hearing this, Lizbeth's expression grew complicated.
It was only natural.
When she was first sent to Riezel's side, the royal family had declared that no one could ever know about a princess becoming someone else's attendant, so from then on, she would no longer be regarded as a princess of the royal family.
Her royal surname, Jinas, had even been stripped away, forcing her to return to her old surname, Reinnail.
When Lizbeth once sought out Hendrick to ask about her mother, he had dodged the topic every time, only caring about her rare and valuable master. As for her own treatment or how her life was going after becoming Riezel's attendant, he had shown not the slightest concern.
And now, not only had he suddenly summoned her, but she was even called the 'Ninth Princess' again.
How could Lizbeth not feel conflicted?
"I... I don't really know, sir..."
At Riezel's question, the steward looked troubled, answering him with anxious humility.
He had no way to guess at the royal family's affairs, nor did he dare to. Even if Riezel openly criticized them in front of him, all he could feel was fear, since he did not know the real reasons.
Riezel understood he was making things difficult for the steward, but telling him would be useless anyway, so he let it go.
"Did the envoy say why the King summoned the Ninth Princess?"
"No." The steward shook his head. "He only said it was a direct order from His Majesty."
"Is that so...?" Riezel narrowed his eyes. "Only the Ninth Princess was summoned?"
"Yes." The steward bowed again. "He said His Majesty only summoned the Ninth Princess, sir."
"Interesting..." Riezel chuckled. "To summon only an attendant, while skipping over her master—what's he trying to do?"
Although Lizbeth was once a princess and Hendrick's daughter, she was now Riezel's attendant. Even if an attendant was not a slave, it should've been impossible to meet her without consulting her master first.
All the more so since her master was Riezel Brynhart, one of the Sword Saints recognized across the world—a man whose position carried weight even in the greatest of nations.
Hendrick had always tried to win Riezel over, yet now he bypassed him and summoned his attendant, which was undoubtedly improper and disrespectful—it was as if he no longer cared about Riezel's opinion at all.
Just as Riezel was about to say something, Lizbeth spoke first.
"Master..." Lizbeth hesitated for a moment before continuing. "May I go to the palace… to see my father—to see His Majesty?"
Hearing this, Riezel immediately knew what she was thinking.
"You still wanna hear about your origins from him?" Riezel looked at her, voicing the thought in her heart.
"Maybe he remembered something—that's why he suddenly summoned me..." Lizbeth couldn't help holding onto this hope, gazing at her master with pleading eyes.
"Are you sure you wanna go alone?" Riezel asked to make sure, feeling the whole matter was far from simple.
He could not believe Hendrick would suddenly remember something and summon Lizbeth just to tell her.
From the coldness he had shown until now, Hendrick was clearly a competent king, but not a competent father. Even if he truly recalled something important, he would likely put it aside instead of hurrying to summon his daughter and tell her.
Such was the impression Hendrick had left on Riezel.
One should remember that Hendrick had not even cared when his son nearly died at Riezel's hands.
Instead, afterwards, he continued to extend olive branches to Riezel—especially after learning Riezel could use teleportation magic and had defeated Raven Mavros—Hendrick had become even more enthusiastic, never once treating his son's near-death as a grudge.
In his eyes, there was only Jinas.
He remembered only that he was the King of Jinas—everything else, if it did not benefit Jinas, could be pushed aside.
Because of this reason, for such a man to suddenly act this strangely by summoning Lizbeth, there couldn't be any ulterior motive. Even if she were to enter the royal palace, it would be safer if Riezel went along rather than letting her go alone.
But Lizbeth already knew what Riezel was worried about.
"Don't worry, Master." Lizbeth lowered her voice. "Even if it's only for your sake, he won't dare to do anything to me."
Her reasoning, surprisingly, convinced Riezel.
If Lizbeth had spoken of father-daughter feelings, insisting her father would never harm her, Riezel would not have believed it.
However, when she used this reasoning instead, it actually made sense.
To harm Lizbeth and provoke Riezel, a Sword Saint and Tactical-Class Magician of limitless potential, would be far too costly in Hendrick's eyes.
Riezel knew Hendrick's way of doing things—he would never take such a risk.
"Alright..."
At last, under Lizbeth's pleading gaze, Riezel reluctantly nodded.
"Go ahead and see him. Maybe he really did remember something important that he wants to tell you."
Upon hearing this, Lizbeth's face lit up.
"Thank you, Master!" Lizbeth exclaimed, quickly bowing in gratitude.
Riezel then turned to the steward.
"Take Lizbeth to meet the envoy."
"Yes, sir."
At Riezel's command, the steward quickly lowered his head in reply, then led Lizbeth out of the main hall.
As Lizbeth left, Euryale stared blankly for a moment before trying to follow her, but Riezel quickly stopped her and shook his head.
Euryale looked at Riezel, then at Lizbeth's departing figure, and finally stayed put by his side.
Not long after, Lizbeth was taken away by the envoy from the royal palace—but Riezel had no idea that once she left, she would never return.
And in the royal palace, her return was already stirring up a great storm.
===
By noon, when the sun reached its highest point in the sky, Yuri finally returned to the Frenzel residence.
In the past few days, she had spent her time in the royal palace, poring over ancient texts of a lost magical civilization, so when Riezel went up to the top-floor office to see her, the fatigue in her eyes was impossible to hide.
But before he could say anything in concern, both Yuri and Marilyn immediately focused on the woman Riezel was leading by the hand.
"Your Highness?"
"Lizbeth?"
Yuri and Marilyn froze in disbelief.
Lizbeth… had she grown up?
Both women exchanged bewildered glances.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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