Hey, how old is—

Still eleven. All that excitement only took place in four months. Although, her Eleanor persona should be around the princess’ age.

Which is…

Thirteen.

Gotcha.

The convoy reaches the royal palace. Princess Grace reunites with her majesty the queen who is the splitting image of Duchess Gilda.

“Gilda, Ashton, thank you for bringing Grace back to me. I wouldn’t know what to do if… if… Oh, Gilda, I’m not as strong as you are.”

“I’m glad we could help, Gloria. I have wonderful news to tell you, but let’s talk inside, Eleanor here can’t stand the wind.”

“Mother, is father still busy with work?”

“Yes, Grace. He really wanted to be here but he’s stuck in a meeting.”

“That… a relief. I don’t want him to cause a scene in front of all these people—”

“MEILING!”

A shout echoes throughout the royal palace. Princess Grace’s face turns pale.

“Oh no…”

“Meiling, you’ve returned to me!”

A figure soars across the sky and swoops Grace into his arms.

“Oh, Ling’er, papa worried sick about you!”

His majesty the king says as he rubs cheeks with his daughter.

“R-royal father, let me go! Stop it, it tickles!”

“Ling’er, Ling’er, my beloved Ling’er, you must have been frightened without me! It’s okay now, papa is here! He won’t let any vermin lay a finger on you! If they try, I will kill seven generations of their family and soak the earth with their blood to applease your spirit!”

“I’m fine, so let me go! I said let me go, beardy!”

…The king is… eccentric as always…

Looking at him… it’s hard to imagine he’s one of the nine elders…

Five. Amelia murdered half of them.

Oh, yeah. How did that happen?

Who knows. Watch and find out.

His royal majesty King Zhu Zhen eventually releases the princess. They all move to a reception room.

“I’m indebted to you, Duke Ashton.”

“No, your majesty, I barely did anything.”

“You didn’t?! Why, you pink skin western pig, you—”

“Father, the duke was being polite! He defeated the bad guy and accompanied me home!”

“Oh! Then why didn’t you say so? Come, come, let’s drink and celebrate to good health!”

“Darling, you know what the doctor said about your liver.”

“Pei! If a man can’t drink, how can he call himself a man! Plus, if something goes wrong, I can always call your western holy man over.”

“Oh, darling, the priests have a lot on their plate. We shouldn’t increase their work load unnecessarily.”

“Bah! What’s the point of being king if you can’t make people do what you want exactly when you want?”

“True, true.” Eleanor nods in agreement. “Power without authority is no power at all.”

“Ha! You speak my language, cripple. Come, pour me a glass of wine.”

“Immediately, your majesty.”

Eleanor pours the wine and Duke Ambrose takes the chance to introduce his step daughter to her.

“So you say this cripple was the one who slew the vermin who threatened my daughter?! Why didn’t you say so! To sacrifice yourself for Meiling, is an achievement worthy of praise! Come, drink with me, girl. Get drunk! And tomorrow I’ll bestow upon you boons worthy of a lord!”

“With honor, your majesty!”

These two sure get along well—like peas in a pod.

The duke prevents Eleanor from drinking due to her age and health. After leaving the palace, the Ambroses arrive at a manor in the noble district. Eleanor is given a room and several servants and nurses. For the next few days, the duke and duchess are visited by the big wigs in the capital as our young devil formulates her evil scheme in her room.

“Hmm… What to do, what to do? I can’t move. I can’t use magic. Tate and Declan are busy researching a mana container and Gael is absolutely useless. What’s a girl to do to create hell on earth?”

Okay guys, it’s that time again. What would you do in her shoes?

Eh… I honestly don’t know. Play the waiting game, I guess.

I suppose I can act like a spoiled brat and abuse the help. But with the duchess there, I doubt it’ll work.

I’d sit on my hands and enjoy the good life.

So we can all agree she should focus on recuperating her health?

Sure.

You could say that.

Okay… then why the heck is she wheeling herself to the kitchen?

“Young miss?! What are you doing here?”

“I feel useless sitting around doing nothing all day, so I want to bake cookies for my parents.”

“Aww. How sweet. Do you know how to cook, miss?”

“No… C-can you teach me how? If… if it’s not too much of a bother.”

“Of course! We’ll be happy to help you!”

Hey, doesn’t Amelia already know how to cook?

Yup. Literally fed an entire village for years.

Then why is she…

Eleanor follows the chef’s instructions to the letter, yet her cookies turn out… not pretty. The chef looks at the cookie with an ashen face as Eleanor begs him to taste it. He gulps and takes a bite. His face turns blue, then purple and he rushes to the toilet.

“I can’t murder them… But a little poison won’t kill anybody. Kukukuku! Hehehe hehe!

Eleanor stir a pot of chocolate as she crackles like a witch.

For the next few days she uses the servants as lab rats to perfect her formula. Eventually, she arrives at sweets that look beautiful on the outside but hides danger within.

She sneaks out of the manor before dawn and hires a horse cart to bring her to the slums.

“Just you wait, my pretties. You’ll soon learn why you shouldn’t accept candies from strangers. Hehehe! Ha haha haha haaa!