Sophia looked at the chaotic crowd, feeling a wave of dizziness wash over her.
Blood loss and excessive tension had finally pushed her to her limit, yet she maintained that upright, indifferent silhouette.
"Victor, seal off the West Tower.
Throw the corpses of these rogue bandits outside the city walls. Tell those who are restless..."
Sophia endured the severe pain, gritting her teeth as she spoke:
"Daring to trespass into my Palace—this is the price."
Only after finishing her sentence did she allow Delilah to pick her up, closing her eyes.
Inside the Bedchamber.
The heavy velvet curtains were drawn tight, allowing only a few subtle strands of morning light to seep through the gaps, falling onto the large bed spread with precious silk.
Sophia lay there quietly, her face so pale it was nearly transparent, her pale silver long hair scattered across the pillow.
If not for the faint rise and fall of her chest, she would look like a perfectly carved, cold jade statue.
Outside the bedchamber, however, the air of the entire Royal City seemed to have congealed.
"Seal the news.
Everyone, seal the news of His Majesty's injury!"
As Sophia's personal maidservant, Willow displayed unprecedented decisiveness at this moment.
This little maidservant, who usually only responsible for serving tea and water—and who, in Sophia's view, was even prone to 'overactive imagination'—now stood at the door of the bedchamber. She revealed a gaze as sharp as a blade directed at Victor and Valery, two important ministers of the Kingdom.
"If those restless nobles outside, or those hungry wolves in neighboring countries spying on us, learn that Her Majesty has fallen into a coma..."
Willow's voice was suppressed very low, yet it carried an unquestionable gloominess.
"The Kingdom of Mason would collapse in an instant.
To the outside world, you are only allowed to say that Her Majesty is personally supervising experiments in the West Tower and will not see anyone in the near future!"
Her gaze lingered on the two men.
Valery was a Chancellor with significant influence in the Kingdom of Mason and was the person the Old King had trusted most.
Victor was the butler whom Her Majesty the Queen trusted most, promoted to Minister after Her Majesty ascended the throne.
When the Queen first returned, these two, like her, held fear toward Her Majesty.
Therefore, Willow also feared that these two might harbor disloyal thoughts at such a time.
Fortunately, they had no such intentions.
Valery and Victor looked at each other, and both saw the cold sweat on the other's forehead.
With only three hundred troops, and a small squad currently in Kree Village, the remaining military force within the Palace was less than three hundred.
The daily patrol teams were arranged by Valery.
There had never been a precedent of thieves attacking the Palace at night before, so the night patrols and guards on duty were few, and the schedule was not tight.
Now that such a great disaster had occurred, if it were the Old King or any other monarch, Valery's head would have already been removed from his shoulders.
And Valery did not believe that the Girl Tyrant lying on the bed would spare him lightly once she woke up.
"We understand."
Valery, this old fox, also restrained all his thoughts at this moment, responding in a deep voice:
"In accordance with Her Majesty's command, the corpses of those rogue bandits have already been hung in the most conspicuous position on the city wall overnight.
Those remnant forces that haven't been cleaned up yet are currently scared out of their wits."
There were simply no excess troops available to chase down those remnants; they could only strengthen the patrols within the Palace.
Yes, this was the final order Sophia had left before falling into a coma.
In the eyes of ordinary citizens and lurking spies, this was yet another typical 'demonstration by the Tyrant'.
Outside the city walls, when commoners passed by, they all lowered their heads and walked quickly, not even daring to take a second look at those bloody corpses.
In their imaginations, this Girl Tyrant must have created some terrifying slaughter weapon in the West Tower again, and then casually crushed a few unlucky bandits in passing.
"It's too terrifying. Did even fully armed rogue knights die so miserably at the Queen's hands?"
"I heard they had their heads blown off directly by some kind of 'Divine Punishment'. The entire West Tower was emitting a foul stench last night; I don't know what kind of strange weapon it was."
"What crime did these people commit? Will anyone who commits a crime be punished like this from now on?"
"I heard they trespassed into the Palace at night and offended the Tyrant..."
Panic was spreading, but this fear conversely became the most solid moat for the Kingdom of Mason.
No one dared to pull any small stunts during the 'Demon Tyrant's' reckoning.
Inside the bedchamber, however, the atmosphere was completely different from the iron-bloodedness of the outside world, permeating with a heartbreaking grief and guilt.
By the bedside, Irene was curled up almost into a ball, her pair of originally lively aqua-blue almond eyes now swollen like two overripe peaches.
She clutched a piece of gauze soaked in strong spirits in her hand, yet hesitated to bring it down, fearing she might disturb the soul that had been injured protecting her.
"How could it leave a scar... in this era without cosmetic lasers and scar removal creams..."
Irene's voice choked with quiet sobs.
As a Transmigrator, she knew deeply what flawless skin meant for a woman, let alone a young girl as exquisite as a divinely favored being like Sophia.
The Medical Officer had shaken his head helplessly after treating the wound.
The wound was too deep. Even if it healed, that circle of grotesque pink granulation tissue would forever remain on the Queen's pale, flawless arm.
"It's all because of me. If not to save a stupid woman like me..."
Irene's nose stung with acidity. Watching the corners of Sophia's lips, which remained tightly pursed even in her coma, the thing named 'faith' in her heart completely burned through her rationality.
"Your Majesty, please wake up quickly, okay..."
Irene sat on the carpet by the bed, cupping her cheeks with her hands, and began an endless stream of muttering to offset the fear in her heart.
"I promise, when you wake up, I will not only make the softest white bread for you, but I will also build steam engines and generators. Do you know what a generator is?
With electricity, we can do many things. Although I can't research it immediately, I will definitely do my best.
How can I make you wake up? I hate that I don't know medicine. If only I knew medicine, I wouldn't be so powerless at a time like this."
Meanwhile, in the shadowed corner, Delilah was hugging her long sword, standing motionless as a statue.
She had been guarding here for a whole day. She could only watch Irene curled up crying by Sophia's bed through the crack in the door, vaguely hearing her whimpering, though she roughly knew she was constantly muttering something to the Tyrant.
Whenever she saw Irene weeping, Delilah's fingers gripping the sword would unconsciously tighten.
As one who had been Reborn, she was originally supposed to be the fated terminator of this 'Tyrant', but now, her heart was as chaotic as a ball of hemp fibers.
Why didn't she dodge?
She clearly could have just watched that inventor die. That way, she would not only have remained unharmed but also conveniently disposed of someone who knew too many of her secrets.
After all, Irene has already invented many useful things, hasn't she?
Next, she would just need to raise another batch of people to learn and research.
Delilah had seen countless rulers in her past life.
Those people spoke full of benevolence, yet would not hesitate to pull a nearby attendant to block a blade when a rain of arrows struck.
But Sophia, this lunatic rumored to have killed her own father and brother, actually pushed herself toward the blade of death for a humble girl from a foreign land.
Delilah's gaze fell upon the thick bandages on Sophia's arm.
There lay a scar; it would be the only blemish in this Queen's life.
"Sophia Mason."
Delilah whispered in her heart, her eyes complicated to the extreme.
"If you really are a Tyrant, then this world has probably truly gone mad."
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