The Villain Princess survived the Imperial Riot

"What kind of ceremony?" Hestia asked, suppressing her emotions.

"There's no way of knowing. The witch I encountered didn't have the ability to hunt secret cultivators. She chose to contract the ritual vessels used by secret cultivators for advancement. This could contain her disorderly power and slightly restrain her occasionally rampant 'predatory' instincts."

"Just a chance encounter?" Hestia stared at the old woman deeply.

"Fate is always wonderful. In the past forty years, I haven't met another witch. It's impossible for a group like that to leave any news behind." Aynive smiled. "Witches hide deeper than rats. Only a few can hunt down individual esoteric practitioners. After all, esoteric practitioners who embark on the path of cultivation are usually not alone."

The witch is alone?

Hestia complained inwardly.

There are so many secret hunting secrets; what's so difficult to dream of? There are also eight hundred in the Diling Kingdom (there are more than one thousand in the prison), so you can catch four in a handful. If she jumps in, it will be like a mouse sneaking into a rice jar.

The problem was, she had no idea about the rituals of the esoteric path of plundering.

Hestia was silent for a moment, then her eyebrows suddenly raised. She asked sharply, "You made up this story to make me sympathize with those heretics?"

"What you think is your business; I'm only stating the facts. This is all I know about the witches' deeds. Perhaps you can find some clues in some esoteric notes or adventurer journals." Aynive smiled. "As for the worms, I believe Lady Iyana has already learned enough. So... are there worms appearing in Cloudtop City? Is this related to the recent martial law?"

"You don't need to worry about that."

"But Ms. Iyana's concerns ultimately fall on me."

"How did she tell you?"

"She needs a secret cultivator familiar with the various sects of Cloudtop City to secretly investigate the recent corpse thefts and flesh alchemy," Aynive said. "This is the princess's order, right? Since they're not sending inquisitors or high knights, it means the empire doesn't want to make a big fuss about this matter. Considering Free Will's recent actions, there must be some hidden agenda behind this."

"You are quite curious," Hestia sneered.

"Are you not curious about who I would recommend?"

"I'm not curious. I only care about whether the dog under my command can play its due role...I need to arrange for that person to meet me to confirm whether he is reliable."

"This is against intermediary etiquette, Your Highness," Aynive used honorifics for the first time, emphasizing the meaning. "No ordinary mystic would have the courage to meet with such a fanatical God-Emperor believer."

"Are you worried that I'll put someone in jail?"

"I could before, but not now. You're more pragmatic than I thought. This might be my biggest deal ever. Risking my life personally would be a disgrace to someone like me." Aynive laughed self-deprecatingly. "As for whether I should meet with you, I need to ask the employee's opinion. She'll make the decision."

"she?"

"An outstanding rising star who will satisfy you."

Ainiwei jumped down from the study, and after a while, she rushed back like a bird, grabbing the bookshelf. She held her sleeves tightly, and her hunched back only reached the princess's chest.

She handed a plain piece of paper to the princess.

"If she agrees, the letter will show the time and area for the meeting. The specific location will only appear when you arrive near the area."

"So cautious?" Hestia took the letter. The paper exuded a hidden spirituality. If she was not a witch, she might have overlooked such a subtle trace.

"When dealing with a Celestial Dragon, one can never be too cautious." Aynive said with a hoarse laugh, revealing her sparse teeth. "After all, no one wants to sit in a cafe for a long time only to be met with the iron fist of the Tower instead of a contact person, right?"

Volume 19: Dreamers: . Perfume Club

Hestia originally thought that the contact person would consider it for several days before replying, but she didn't expect that that night, the letter paper left by Lady Aynive would reveal handwriting soaked in blue dye, and a light fragrance could be seen from the back of the paper.

The time was the evening of the next day, and the location was the seaside road of Leiding Island.

Iyana was still hesitant about this - this matter should have been her responsibility, and letting the princess do everything herself would make her seem useless.

Although Iyana still didn't understand what the princess was planning, she hoped to do her best as long as the princess changed her mind and gave her her full trust again.

Before leaving, the elf's eyes were filled with worry: "Your Highness, have you heard about the attacks these past two days?"

"That Baron Laurent's entire family was murdered and their bodies were found hanging from the tower? I heard that only a little girl of six or seven years old survived, but she was slashed in the face and almost died."

Hestia spoke casually. Her hair was long, and she was wearing gloves and a hooded hat. Under her black bearskin coat were two alchemical percussion guns and a revolver.

"There's more to it than that." Iyana shook her head slightly. "The rebels' demonstrative attacks on the nobles and wealthy have intensified. They plunder their victims' homes and then, at night, throw the money bags into the homes of the poor."

"It seems someone wants to use the Iron Army as a weapon." Hestia, wearing wine-red lip gloss, made her look less girlish and more like a cold and beautiful huntress. She asked, "Anything else?"

"After you lifted martial law, there were several explosions in the upper city, including at the Invalides... The Governor sent a letter asking if the city's control could be tightened."

"Haha, the Upper City has never been under martial law. You could say the checkpoints from the Lower City to the Upper City have always been strict." Hestia's gaze darkened as she suddenly thought of something and muttered to herself, "The borders are patrolled daily by Iron Guards. It might seem peaceful, but everything is under the control of the military. How could those attackers have carried explosives through the checkpoints?... Iyana, what happened to the civilians to whom the stolen money was distributed?"

"It seems he was rigorously interrogated by the police and treated as a traitor to the party, and his property was confiscated..."

"So that's it?"

"Your Highness, what did you say?" Iyana didn't understand the princess's mumbling.

"Some are desperate, desperate for the Empire to unleash a bloodbath." Hestia's lips curled, recalling the Yunling Massacre in official history. "Perhaps there's some kind of ritual hidden behind this, or perhaps they're simply handing the Empire a knife. They pretend to be chivalrous thieves who fight the strong and support the weak, but they're constantly directing the Empire's blade towards the weak and untouchables. If that's the case, it would be more direct to assassinate me directly. Perhaps it would ignite conflict within the Southern Council and hasten the disintegration of the leaderless Southern Empire by twenty years."

"Hestia... Your Highness." Iyana called the princess' name softly.

How could such outrageous words come out of the mouth of the princess?

"Actually, I'm also worried that those rebels will do something bad to you," Iyana added.

"We're still here, aren't we? Have the High Knight lead a group of plainclothes guards to lie dormant within 200 meters of the seaside road. If there are any rebels, they'll be killed."

"Yes." Iyana nodded, observing the princess dressing herself in the mirror from the corner of her eye. "It's rare for Your Highness to take her dressing so seriously."

"Shouldn't the princess be more serious when attending various occasions?"

"You weren't this thorough when you went to the Invalides. And Madame Aynive said that the person taking on the investigation this time is a woman."

"Iyana is not a woman?"

Hestia left the dressing table and approached the elf seriously. The fifteen-year-old girl had grown into a mature woman, and her forehead was taller than the maid-mother's.

She put her finger close to Iyana's pointed ear, placed it on her navel, and moved it ambiguously through the silk fabric.

"Your Highness... is also a woman." The elf opened her mouth somewhat weakly. Her whole body was itchy, as if ten thousand poisonous ants were crawling on her body, and her fair skin was red and hot.

"Not entirely true," Hestia said, "I am a Celestial Dragon first, and you are their property."

"……Well!"

Iyana remained silent, but the princess's lipstick stained the top of her lips red. Her eyes widened in shock. Even though she had replayed the princess's hint countless times in her mind, she had never imagined that His Highness, who had devoted all her affection and loyalty to the Divine Emperor and the Empire, would kiss her personal maid so directly.

"Put on some makeup and come out with me later." Hestia pinched the elf's ears, which were as red as cooked crabs, and walked out the door. Before leaving, she suddenly paused and looked back with a playful look. "When I get close to other women, you won't feel jealous, will you, Aunt Iyana?"

"Your Highness, what are you talking about... I am just your servant..."

Iyana clutched the hem of her skirt tightly, lowered her head, and her words were filled with heavy and suppressed breathing.

……

In the northwest of Laibading (the island is Yunsanding City), there is an island covered in dense forests and surrounded by mountains on three sides. It is connected to the valley estuary of Mengshang City and is usually only accessible by a high bridge over a hundred meters long.

This place is a spiritual haven of wind, flowers, clothes, snow, and moon. It boasts the largest casino and club community on the Yunling Long Coast. No uninitiated people come and go here seriously; even the servants who clean the dishes are ordinary people who have gone through seven or eight rounds of identity screening and received a few years of education, pursuing their dreams.

The carriage drove from the Leiding Bridge all the way to the main road of the island. The magnificent lighthouse building stood like a giant peak, and below it was a palace built during the reign of the Divine Emperor.

Arriving at the seaside road, young gentlemen and ladies strolled on the promenade of the embankment. The princess stepped out of the carriage and bathed in the salty sea breeze at dusk, and could vaguely smell the fragrance of marine vegetation.

Iyana reminded: "Your Highness, the address is on Madam Ainiwei's letterhead."

Hestia looked and saw that the blue dye of the elegant calligraphy was spreading across the paper again, finally settling on the words "Perfume Club, 172 Seaside Road, Claire Rousseau".

"Perfume Club?"

"It's a leisure place serving celebrities and noble ladies. I've seen it in fashion magazine... It has a strong scent of cosmetics." Iyana used the princess's previous evaluation and couldn't help but look at the silver-haired beauty twice.

Despite her light lip makeup, the princess's straight figure under the bear cloak still did not show much trace of makeup. Instead, she exuded a strange and cold aura, a handsomeness that had nothing to do with her gender.

Iyana suddenly felt that the princess didn't dislike women with makeup, but she just didn't like to have thick makeup applied on herself.

The princess has indeed reached the age when lotus flowers begin to bloom, but when did she start to be interested in women... in her?

Could it be that the princess's bullying of the maid and exclusion a few years ago was a struggle between devout faith and personal feelings?

If His Highness never hated her and was just restraining his desire to have an inappropriate relationship with his maid, then everything would make sense.

After all, she is a ten-year-old girl who lost her mother at a young age and then received a period of military education in the palace. It is normal that she would not face her budding emotions.

Iyana felt ashamed of her narcissistic thoughts, but the more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

Your Highness has always had me in his heart.

Thinking of this, the usually cautious elf maid raised her neck for the first time in her life and showed great confidence.

"Why do I have flowers on my face? Why do I look so pretty?" Hestia asked ambiguously. "Or do you mean that you have always had some improper thoughts about the young master?"

"Your Highness!"

The trick was broken in a second. The elf maid, who was nearly thirty years older than her young master, was more like a young girl who had just fallen in love. She had no resistance to the teasing flirting.

The princess has become more mature and sophisticated, and her thoughts are hard to guess.

It was hard for Iyana to say whether this was better.

When I arrived at the address provided on the letter, I found myself at a busy fashion street. The dome was a cross-shaped indoor arcade covered with exquisite cast iron and transparent glass, stretching over 200 meters and connecting several landmark buildings such as the Genting Opera House and the Sacred Heart Cathedral.

The people who come and go are all noble ladies with servants and friends, well-mannered intellectual women, and occasionally one or two strong female guards of the Yilan tribe - mercenaries with canine ears who live on distant islands.

Compared to the filthy fish market a few kilometers away that runs day and night, the scenery here is like heaven on earth.

The Perfume Club is located outside the west corner of the arcade. It is a three-story off-white building with four shops. The eaves are carved with exotic bird and animal reliefs. The windows display a wide range of perfumes and introductions. At the door is a bulletin board with a silhouette of a beauty and the words "Show the beauty of your true self".

"It doesn't look like a proper place," Hestia said.

She recalled the fashion store she ran when she was an electronics practitioner. It was also all show and no substance.

The shop looked like a perfume shop, but upon entering, Hestia felt like she had stumbled into a bookworm's den. The antique wood interiors were shrouded in the lingering scent of incense. The latest periodicals and newspapers were prominently displayed on shelves. In private spaces, both open and enclosed, women of varying intelligence, maturity, and youthful energy gathered around small tables to converse. A young, bespectacled novelist, covered with a thin blanket, read at her desk, either with a folding fan or a book. Her long legs, accentuated by a fitted dress, evoked the elegance of a scholarly family.

"I feel good." Iyana likes such elegant places, peaceful and tranquil.

"I'm overthinking it."

Hestia shrugged. She almost thought this was some secret training place.

Ok?

The princess saw a graceful female guest touching the hand of a female guest wearing glasses. The witch had a keen hearing and could hear them discussing the literary works of a Thai writer.

The female guest with glasses seemed unaware and listened to the graceful female guest's detailed analysis, and then had her shoulders put on her.