Princess of Victory - Guardians of Forewood [1]

Chapter 14: Righteous Escape

Day 20of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

The Royal Palace, Capital City of Naveland

VICTORIA wrinkled her forehead as she read the parchment on her hand.

This was ridiculous! What in the world did 'everything is fine here' supposed to mean? She sent the message to Southern Goldburg's military in hope that they could deal with the problems, but they said that everything was fine? Did they even check Nighweald Village and Duskbury Town as she commanded? Must she bring troops there herself?

She clenched her fist and punched the air in frustration. But she couldn't go out of the palace.

She had been thrust into working all these reports and paperwork, both from military and civil side. But most of them talked about the impending war with the Kingdom of Lirsk. How Lirsk was horrible and didn't have any justification for starting a war, how they hoped the military was competent and would handle this properly...

It was frustrating reading all these reports as the highest military command in name while not being able to do anything about it. Sure, she could give command, but... She preferred to check things on her own.

Or maybe it was just her desire to go out. She really hated being cooped up in the palace. Unfortunately, her own personal guards had been watching her very closely under the Queen's command and she found no chance to escape.

She stood from her desk and walked to the window. The study room was placed in the third floor of the west wing, and from there she could view the back garden was filled with beautiful greeneries. Unfortunately, it was also filled with castle guards patrolling. There were guards posted even right under her window. That meant she couldn't escape through the window.

When she was about to turn around, the wind picked up and entered through the opening. She looked up to the sky, and when she did that, she saw a white bird flew and landed on her arms.

Raising an eyebrow, Victoria took the small scroll tied on the bird's legs, then put the bird down on the window sill. She walked away from the window to unroll the piece of parchment and read the short sentence.

4th company trainees fell unconscious on the training ground for no reason. -C

Calathea, the Grizzle's Blades' leader, had given her what she paid for: information. Victoria's forehead was scrunched up in deliberation. Trainees? Was this part of Lirsk's plan?

But would trainees even be useful in their plan? They were young and inexperienced soldiers. Rendering them unconscious wouldn't be useful, would it?

This kind of thing wouldn't be big during normal days, and there would even be attempt of cover-ups and it wouldn't make it to the military report. During war was no different. People would be scared being implicated of being a traitor and tried to hide it as best as they could. She expected better this time, though, as the General of the Army were currently in Dustor's military compound.

But what else could she do beside wait for reports? What could she do after receiving the reports? Victoria felt restless. These kinds of feelings made her loathe being someone with responsibilities, but she knew she couldn't just discard everything.

Neither could she just stay here.

She burned the message from Calathea and wrote something on a small parchment. After rolling it up and secured it on the white bird, it flew away.

Heaving a sigh, she walked to the door, intending to go back to her bedroom, but suddenly Luz slammed the door open with a complicated expression. "Your Highness, there is an urgent missive from General Adefine!"