Chapter 120: Putting Order in the Knights

Calm sounds could be heard from the window. Ziriel slept through the night without waking once. It was the first time she had truly slept without any troubles disturbing her slumber since returning to life in Umbral. She hadn't rested even once. What she thought about every day was how she could go to her wives.

Her heart was in her hand, and the guilt of being killed when she was still Dante ran through every vein.

"Ah," a loud sigh escaped as she settled. Her tiredness was still evident, but her head was clearer. Regardless, she was already acting early in the day, heading for her goal today.

Ziriel got up and put on the clothes she wanted. This time, however, she wore normal attire: a white button-up shirt and black leather pants with boots. It was something everyday knights wore for training. The first thing she really wanted to do now was to perfect herself. At the moment, she had no equipment or any kind of advantage to use against what she was about to face: an army of royal knights.

Another sigh echoed through the closet hallway where she looked at herself in the mirror, her hair tied in a ponytail. "You can do it," she told herself, turning to the door and making her way out.

Upon leaving, she encountered the same maid as before. This time, however, the atmosphere around her was completely different. She was more cheerful, her aura gentler. Previously, she was completely nervous and afraid, but now she seemed almost natural. Her bright smile filled Ziriel's eyes, who agreed with her words. The excited little maid wanted to take Ziriel to the breakfast Velryna had organized.

Of course, she already expected something like this, but she didn't know that just one compliment and something simple for a maid would make her seem like a different person. Despite the pretext of manipulation and increasing status within the Palace, Ziriel's personality remained steadfast when it came to those who treated her well.

"Treat me well and you'll be treated well, treat me badly and hell will chase after you." Those were the words Valentina would use in these situations, something that made her feel closer to her wife, something that reminded her of the times when the coexistence between them in a room every night was normal.

Thinking now, Ziriel was afraid she might never be able to lie down and sleep with her beloved Vampire again, or with her Mage. Even her Viper, who never slept with him, left him fearful.

The happy maid led Ziriel out of the palace where she saw the common appearance of Velryna, who wore the same outfit as Ziriel, coincidentally. Ziriel approached and smiled, Velryna returned it and waved for her to sit in the chair.

"Did you sleep well?" It was the first thing Velryna asked. Ziriel nodded and asked her the same. "And you?"

"It took me a while to fall asleep, I heard some noises and set some traps. Fortunately, I caught three rats in the morning." Velryna replied, of course, it was a code.

"I see, did you kill the rats?" Ziriel questioned as she drank a cup of coffee and one of the maids cut a slice of cake.

"Yes, I asked one of my men to kill them. They looked disgusting, I almost vomited!" She said, continuing the act.

"Understandable, it must be difficult for a princess," Ziriel replied. "It's all right, for the maids, it must be difficult to keep this place clean," she said, looking at the maids; the happy maid had already left, so Ziriel didn't mind. Velryna was clearly intimidating the maids who were not under her command, in this case, the three who were present at this breakfast.

That's why she mentioned three rats; it was a code, referring to three spies.

"Do you have any plans for today, Princess? As your escort, I can help in exterminating some rats," Ziriel said with a menacing smile that left all the maids frightened.

"Oh, don't worry, you can train with the knights today. They would love to spar with you, of course, if I'm present," she said with a mischievous and frightening smile as Ziriel's.

"Then let's do that, shall we? Knowing our strengths is the best we can do. After all, you're the Princess, you need to know what they are capable of, right?" Ziriel said.

Both of them were enjoying this performance in front of the repugnant maids who worked under the Emperor's orders. It took only a few minutes for them to leave one by one, saying they had things to do. Velryna nodded gently until only the two of them were left alone.

"That was disgusting, don't make me do that again," Ziriel said with a smile, and Velryna nodded. "It's all right, I can't even stand to do so much nonsense like that."

"Good to know that killing the Emperor will be easy; I only see useless knights around." Ziriel said. Immediately, everyone looked at her with such great hatred. Unlike before, now Ziriel had directly offended the Emperor, and that was unforgivable.

"Oh, now you're looking at me properly. Who's going to be the first to take a beating?" Ziriel said.

Finally, a knight had the courage to stand up against her. Slowly, he approached the ring with his wooden sword.

"I am Zhahar Mirton, Knight of the Seven Stars," he introduced himself, surprisingly gentle compared to the others.

"I'm Ziriel Azure, Knight without rank," she said, and everyone blinked. Again, laughter; a knight without even a rank? What a joke! Were the rumors about her being a captain false?

Holding the sword firmly in an attacking position, they both looked at each other without wasting much time. Ziriel had already assessed Zhahar, in fact, she had assessed all the knights the moment she saw them. Although her mana core wasn't functioning properly yet due to the lack of "cultivation," her martial skills remained the same.

Although now, after ten years, they had increased significantly, especially her fencing, which was already at the Specialist level, bordering on Master, as well as her spear, which was nearing the Master stage, one step away from Grandmaster.

"Shall we?" Ziriel questioned, and the Knight nodded.

The first strike came from Zhahar, instantly lunging the moment Ziriel asked him, a dirty move coming from a knight.

But it was in vain. Despite the "advantage," Ziriel blocked him as if his sword were a child's plastic toy.

Unable to help but find it impressive how determined the knight was, Ziriel decided to give him a taste of true skill.

She stood still, not even dodging, just defending. It looked like an adult fighting against a child.

Yawn.

Ziriel, in the midst of battle, began to yawn. She was bored. The knight in front of her was... truly a child.

"I'm sorry, I need to end this; you're very disappointing," she said. The moment his sword was knocked aside, Ziriel cut it vertically, effortlessly destroying the sword.

ARGH!!

The knight screamed in pain. He felt Ziriel's sword hit his own, and as it broke, unfortunately, Ziriel's sword didn't stop, hitting his hand and breaking it too.

"How disappointing," Ziriel said and looked at the others as the Knight fell to the ground, holding his hand, completely red and bleeding.

"Help him, you useless bunch," Ziriel ordered, and as if she were an empress, two of them immediately followed her orders and lifted Zhahar's body, helping him to stand.

"Hey, you slackers, bring me someone strong," she said, looking at everyone with even worse looks of hatred than before.

Velryna, behind her, just kept thinking about who Ziriel was. A woman stronger than an Imperial Knight. Someone who was trained by the Empire's relentless fencing. She destroyed him in just one move, without even moving from her spot.

'You're hiding something, and I need to find out what it is.' She swore to herself, watching how Ziriel was handling the situation.