CH 114

As Yuliana recited Cecile’s information, the water began vibrating within the plate. It was a draftless room, but the water in the vessel splashed about like a stormy sea. Yuliana straightened her posture and rested her hand above the plate, releasing a brilliant flash of light.

Nervously, she glanced towards the window. The curtains were drawn tight, but she was still wary that the flash would be noticed. She’d be in a real pinch if her powers were discovered, whether others were to realize it was the power of the Archwitch or not. Likewise, it was important that the guardian witches remained oblivious about her travels to the empire. Luckily, they were uninterested in the affairs of humans and would never bother contacting her first. After hearing their advice, with a flip of the plate, the guardians would remain none the wiser about her situation.

Yuliana was warned to be careful since her succession of the Archwitch’s power was still incomplete, but she’d disregarded the warning in her impatience to come to the empire. She used to be displeased with her incomplete powers, but now she considered it fortunate. The guardian witches would never act for Yuliana since she was still only an heir, but at least she could seek their counsel.

“Who’s this?” A voice could suddenly be heard coming from the plate.

Yuliana’s ears perked at the sound. ‘This is definitely… the voice of someone who just woke up!’ The voice was hoarse and lethargic; the speaker who’d obviously just woken up made no attempt at hiding the drowsiness in their tone.

“Greetings, honorable guardian witch! My name is Yuliana, a recent heir to the Archwitch!” 

Yuliana’s reverent greeting was more vigorous and disciplined than that of the imperial guard. If there was one thing Yuliana had learned when gaining the right as heir, it was that the world of witches was strictly hierarchical. Until she obtained the title of Archwitch, she was simply one of many interchangeable heirs. 

“Huh? Ahh… I vaguely recall seeing you around before. So, what is the purpose of your call?” 

Yuliana sensed a heavy pressure from the guardian witch’s tone; it suggested that she’d be killed if the matter was trivial. She swallowed out of nervousness, before opening her mouth to speak. “A problem has occurred with my power.”

“Problem? What sort of problem? Didn’t we explain that most problems are explained in the book ‘FAQs About Succeeding The Archwitch’s Power (Finish Reading Before Asking Any Questions)’?”

“Of course, I consulted the book first. The situation I’ve encountered isn’t written in the book, so I urgently contacted you,” Yuliana replied. She glanced down at her bed, where the book laid atop the covers. Yuliana had read it cover to cover; it indeed covered many solutions to a variety of situations, but it did not address her current predicament.

“If I look through the book and find that it is listed, then… You catch my drift, right?”

“N-naturally!” The tremble in Yuliana’s voice belied her confident reply.

“Alright,” the guardian witch sighed, “so, what’s the problem?”

“To be brief… I came across someone unaffected by the Archwitch’s power. In fact, it seems like she negates the power completely.”

“What? That’s impossible!” The guardian witch shouted in denial. The surprise jolted the guardian witch fully awake, and Yuliana could hear the witch shouting at others behind her, “Hey! Hey! Wake up all of you! Don’t step on the bottle there! And you, please put away the snacks if you’re done with it?!”

Crashes, bangs and muffled shouts could be heard. Yuliana could make out the sounds of three voices—it seemed like the three guardian witches had gathered to hold a drinking party the night before.

“Oh, what’s the matter?” Another guardian witch chimed in.

“She says there’s somebody the Archwitch’s power doesn’t affect,” the first guardian witch replied.

“Don’t be silly. Was the new heir drinking yesterday too? The nonsense she’s spouting is worse than yours.”

“It’s true, honorable guardian witches,” Yuliana interrupted in a tone as polite as she could muster. She swallowed the urge to retort indignantly that she wasn’t the lush. “The person in question is the former princess known as Cecile Franvier Navitan, currently the empress of the emp—”

“Cecile?” One of the guardian witches interrupted with an exclamation.

“Y-yes. Do you know of Empress Cecile?” Yuliana asked puzzledly.

“I do. Yes, I do indeed. You said your name is Yuliana?”

“Yes, I am!”

Yuliana held her breath with anticipation. Now that the guardian witches were aware, they’d surely have the solution to her problem. However, contrary to her expectations, the firm voice of the guardian witch that spoke next crushed her hopes.

“You will never beat Cecile.”

* * *

“4,118.” Cecile muttered the number and heaved a big sigh. Likely in all of history, she was the only empress that had counted the number of wall patterns in not only the empress’s palace, but now also the emperor’s palace too! It was an impossible feat for other empresses—or rather, no other empress would have bothered making such an attempt.

‘It’s about time I return to my palace, but…’ Cecile’s gaze rolled to look at the other side of the room. ‘This place sure is dreary.’

Despite it being the emperor’s place of residence, the decorations in the main palace were scant compared to the empress’s palace. It was even more sparse than the empress palace’s storage room, where all her gifts from Estian were stored and organized. Every corner of her storage room was inlaid with pure gold, down to the doorknob, yet the emperor’s bedchambers lacked even that.

“He didn’t tell me not to look, so it should be fine to peek around, right?” Cecile wondered aloud. Wrapping herself in the bedsheets, Cecile stood and headed towards the nearby chest of drawers. Of course, Estian was privy to his privacy and she didn’t intend to open the drawers, but Cecile thought he’d have nothing to complain about if she was only looking at what sat atop of the chest.