“Wilhelm…what are you cooking up again?” Alexa narrowed her eyes.

  “Nothing, Your Highness,” Wilhelm said, standing stiffly in front of Alexa’s desk.

  “...Really now?”

  “And even if I am doing something sneaky, I wouldn’t tell you,” a lazy grin grew on his face. “You should have eliminated me when you had the chance.”

  “You damned peasant, you really are a massive headache.”

  “I shall take that as a compliment, Lady Alexa.”

  “Don’t.”

  Adele glared at Wilhelm while Alexa picked up a macaroon and chewed on it. She recalled both Alfred and Wilhelm to talk to them about the news happening in the new capital, Ostend.

  But, for now, it was just Wilhelm here.

  “Both Count Reitz von Veringen and Marquise Severin von Huser are dead, both from related ‘banditry incidents’,” Alexa frowned. “I am not convinced that things are as simple as that.”

  “Surprising. You’re using your brain.”

  “Why, thank you so much, good sir. Consider your pay docked by twenty percent. Anyhow, I want to figure out what is happening here. You, Wilhelm, and your brother, will now therefore be tasked to do just that.”

  “I see…”

  How did he even take my pay cut without a hitch? Seriously, this guy, sacrificing his wage just to insult me…he’s impossible to decipher…

  That idea in particular triggered Alexa badly. She worked with this guy a lot already, and he had been nothing but completely competent, but it was these small things that got her nerves!

  “If there’s a conspiracy afoot,” Adele looked at Wilhelm. “Isn’t it a possibility that this man is a part of it?”

  “Unlikely,” Alexa said. “But it’s very likely he’s doing some ridiculous plan right now to exploit whatever’s happening. Whether that’s to my benefit, or his, I don’t know.”

  “You make me sound so scary,” Wilhelm laughed a bit. “But, rest assured, I swore an oath to you. I will say that you might disapprove of a lot of things I might do, but I already have a plan to deal with this.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Though, it’s up to you to choose. Do you want the bloody path with the best chances of victory, or do you want the least bloody path with a high chance of failure?”

  Suddenly, Alexa’s eyes widened, as she remembered a passage from the novel.

  “Do you want the bloody path with the best chances of victory, or do you want the least bloody path with a high chance of failure?”

  Wilhelm didn’t say that to Alexa in the last version of Iron Saintess, because the novel was in Phoebe’s POV, but he did say that to Phoebe when she asked about the string of violence happening in the new capital.

  When she wondered out loud if Wilhelm and Alexa had it under control, Wilhelm asked that enigmatic question, and she answered, as with Phoebe’s nature, that she wanted the least violent path.

  Their discussion of that particular subject ended with that.

  What…should I pick?

  Alexa weighed her options. The least bloody option must have been what Wilhelm tried in the timeline she read, and it ended up failing. Indeed, during that timeline, even after Henry took over, Alexa and Phoebe tried their best to be diplomatic and cooperative.

  It only ended up with Alexa and Phoebe dead.

  The bloody option on the other hand was something she didn’t know what it entailed. While Alexa had seen a lot of deaths already, with her own eyes, her heart instinctively rejected that option. No matter what anyone said, her subjects were her subjects.

  She could accept sacrifices when it was done for mankind’s defense, somewhat, but when it was like this, man against man…

  “You cannot decide,” Wilhelm suddenly said.

  “U-um, I was just thinking—!”

  “And you don’t need to decide yet,” Wilhelm continued. “I can simply lay out the situation first to you and let you parse it. Right now, you’re no Empress. You’re not the leader of the nation. All of us still technically only report to the Regency Council, and they won’t listen to you.

  “Secondarily, both the Imperial Army and the Defense Forces are disloyal to you. You’ve got a massive problem there. All three major factions of the Empire right now that have armed organizations are wary of you.

  “Your popularity however with the commoners and even nobility is rising. They see a potential Empress that may bring a good future for this world when no one believes there will be a future, so you won’t ever be stomped out either way without a fight.

  “In such an event, no matter what happens, blood will be drawn. That’s just a fact. The question is, how far do you want to go to get what you want? You don’t need to answer that right now.”

  Alexa fell silent, as she took every word that came out of Wilhelm’s mouth seriously. Even Adele, who had been wary of the man, seemed to have listened and absorbed what he said fully. The gravity of the situation was simply so big, that…

  “I really just want to get my herbs and second magic circle,” Alexa whined. “I don’t know how to deal with this…”

  I know who’s plotting against me already, so why can’t I?

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  No.

  “Wilhelm! I need you to investigate Henry,” Alexa suddenly stood up. “I need you to deal with Henry Richard von Hecker.”

  “I won’t.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t.”

  “B-but you said, you’re—”

  “If you’re asking me to defeat an army he commands, I can probably wipe them out just fine, with decent casualty ratios,” Wilhelm said. “But I won’t be able to defeat him. No one can.”

  “I don’t get you,” Alexa curled her fist. “How is a man impossible to defeat? Are you kidding me?”

  “I don’t think even Phoebe can defeat him,” Wilhelm said. “If I send someone, anyone, even myself, to directly confront him, they’ll be dead by the time Henry Richard figures things out. I do not recommend direct confrontation.”

  “Is…i-is that man the plotter against the Regency Council?” Adele asked, her face turning red. “So you both know already?”

  “I don’t,” Wilhelm said, before turning to Alexa. “But now that Lady Alexa ordered me to investigate him out of nowhere, I know. And I won’t be able to do what she wants me to do.”

  “...I, uh,” Alexa felt cold sweat. “What is he hiding?”

  “His perspective of our world might be very different from ours,” Wilhelm said, frowning. “Until I figure that out, I have no way of countering him.”

  +++

  Alexa…couldn’t do anything at the moment.

  Instead, she poured hours and hours into Wilhelm’s glyph instruction books as she chased to improve her [GLYPH DRAWING II] skill instead. Alexa needed something to calm her mind, and studying glyphs and perfecting them was an easy balm for the soul.

  It made her feel more in control.

  Alexa hated things out of her control. To her, as the Crown Princess, every situation happening in her Empire was something that she had to have influence in.

  Why?

  Because her role was to nudge everything into an advantageous outcome, not just for Alexa and her friends and family, but for all of her subjects.

  While the fact that she would die at this current rate—that was something she was used to—on the other hand, reading more about how many people would die because of Henry’s power-hungry coup, it made Alexa feel more distressed.

  Her hand began working overtime, so that every five minutes, she was finishing a practice glyph paper on her desk. Her goal today was to master five glyph paper spells.

  First was an improved fireball spell that fired four fireballs instead of three.

  Second was a cleaning vortex made out of tiny amounts of water.

  Third was a drying vortex using wind magic, connected to the first part—because last time, she got her dress dirtied by mud and it annoyed her.

  Fourth was a spell about levitation.

  Each of them was difficult, and she doubted that even if she placed effort to reproduce a hundred from each of them as practice would lead to mastery, but she kept up on it, slowly improving her glyphs as she did.

  If for nothing else, she should face this Henry person, Alexa wanted to be as strong as possible to confront him. First was the fireball spell to blast his face. Then the cleaning spells should she get dirty in the fight—because if Alexa was to die, she wanted to die pretty and well-dressed—and lastly, the levitation spell to run away.

  Copying the actual flight spell at the end of Wilhelm’s glyph instruction book was something Alexa considered, but it was simply so complex her mind couldn’t possibly do it, nor could her hand drawing skills.

  So she started with its more limited version, levitation.

  Come on, if you’re planning to confront him, at least get good first—!

  Alexa’s musings were suddenly interrupted when someone knocked and opened her door. She looked behind her, before seeing her cute little sister—Anastasia. The twelve-year-old girl seemed to be teary-eyed as she looked at Alexa.

  “Hey, uh—”

  Alexa noticed a bunch of notifications in the corner of her eyes.

  “Sister, sister!” Anastasia suddenly ran toward Alexa. “Ms Phoebe is leaving!”

  “And you’re crying, why?”

  “Who’s going to teach me light magic after all this! Without her, I might not be able to qualify for the Grand Academy once I enroll…”

  The young girl swirled around as if she were going to faint. Of course, it was exaggerated, but Alexa could see what her little sister was trying to pull on her. She was definitely trying to get Alexa to tell Phoebe to stay.

  She visited earlier after all, after Phoebe finished an expedition to the sick and wounded while being escorted by Alfred’s knights. At this point, with Phoebe repeatedly visiting the Monile Palace, she cultivated quite a positive reputation among the palace’s residents.

  Just as the staff found her a girl so nice they couldn’t do anything but adore her, Anastasia found the ‘saintess’ as a fictional heroine of sorts to follow and emulate. She wanted light magic too, which was close to holy magic, and became someone like Phoebe.

  Mostly, because unlike the original timeline, Alexa and Phoebe weren’t enemies, so Anastasia had no reason to dislike the girl in the first place. In fact, when Anastasia first met Phoebe, it was after she saved Perlenstadt from Sloth, and after the church officially venerated her as Saintess Phoebe.

  Needless to say, since then, Anastasia had been pestering Phoebe for her attention and mentorship.

  “Please, please, dear sister of mine. Can’t Ms Phoebe stay for a few more days? Please?”

  Alexa looked at her little sister’s puppy dog eyes, which she imagined she had already used on Phoebe earlier, but Alexa just smiled a bit.

  “Come on,” Alexa shook her head. “She’s still too busy. She said earlier that there’s a nearby dungeon that became unstable, so she’ll have to deal with that with Alfred.”

  “No way. How is some no-name dungeon more important than me, Princess Anastasia,” Anastasia whined. “She’s your best friend, so just ask her to stay!”

  “No can do. You’re way too demanding. That’s not a good thing, okay,” Alexa chastised, her voice stern, and Anastasia looked down like a child who did something bad. Fidgeting with her fingers, Anastasia teared up a bit again.

  “A-at least tell her to visit quickly afterward,” Anastasia mumbled.

  “Of course—”

  “Yay! Thanks so much. You’re the best, big sis!”

  Geez, this girl, she’s way too energetic nowadays, and she shifts her tone too fast for my liking…

  Alexa found herself pinched by a tight hug from Anastasia, and she had a blank face, before she smiled and patted the ecstatic girl on the back.

  At least, unlike in the novel, she won’t be a villain’s accomplice at school. But instead, a little friend of the saintess.

  It was these kinds of changes that made Alexa feel a little bit better, because her goal had always been to change things for the better.

  Now that she thought about it, she’d been trying her best to strengthen herself, even when Wilhelm said direct confrontation with Henry was probably suicidal.

  I wonder then…Can I befriend him instead like Phoebe?

  After all, if Phoebe started as a character responsible for Alexa’s eventual death, but now her closest friend and ally, could Henry be the same?

  That question made her hug her little sister harder, until the girl squealed like a little squirrel.