Chapter 17 Task Assignment Should I start as your personal bodyguard to become the king...?

The palace complex of the Norlana royal family is located in the upper left corner of the capital, with about one-fifth of its edge connected to the mountains.

It is said that the royal family of Norlana hunted, reproduced, and held banquets in the mountains for a long time in ancient times, thus giving rise to many myths and legends related to the mountains. They are also considered to be the oldest ancestors of the gods.

However, in modern times, whether it was royal palaces or the residences of nobles in the capital, they were mostly distributed along the main roads, creating a prosperous city-state in the shape of a hexagon on the vast plains.

Compared to the main urban area extending from the plains and the historical remnants of the "sacred mountain," the area where the royal family currently resides is not large.

A large portion of the palace complex was designated for officials to conduct their business, hold court assemblies and banquets, and for the living quarters of favored officials and vassals.

A princess born to an unfavored princess or queen cannot have her own private palace.

They could only choose a two-story hut on the edge of the palace complex, where they would live on one floor and their sisters upstairs or downstairs would share the other floor.

However, as a princess with special privileges, Eleanor not only had a private palace near the Sky Gardens, but also a princess guard of dozens of people.

The princess guard may appear to be smaller than the princesses' guards, but every member is a nobleman.

Because of the possibility of rising to the top in one step, the highest-ranking women were even daughters of great noble families, each of whom could pull out a whole team from their homes.

The so-called powerful clans and landlords are nothing more than this.

Therefore, these noble ladies, known as guards, have a special small building outside the princess's palace, the Garden of Marigolds, located between the Sky Garden and the training ground.

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

The waiters rang a clear bell, and the women reflexively opened their eyes. Some had already moved their hands to fold the blankets: even in a large building, dozens of people were crammed in.

The waiters only help with the group cleaning; you still have to take care of your personal hygiene.

"What are we eating today?" Batina asked her roommate, yawning.

"Eat, eat, all you do is eat! Go get me some water." Her roommate kicked her in annoyance.

She tossed several handkerchiefs and socks out of the box before finally finding her pants, which she quickly pulled out and carefully put on.

"Oh~" Batina walked to the ceramic water pipe at the corner and squatted down, filling the water pipe while wondering, "Your Highness is usually very generous, why won't you replace the water pipe with a lead one for us? The water from the lead pipe at my house is quite sweet."

"Mind your own business. We don't use piped water here. If we switch to well water, are you going to fetch buckets?"

"Aren't there waiters...?"

They were chatting enthusiastically in the dormitory.

Bang!

Suddenly, a short girl bumped into the door and shouted, "Hehehe - did you hear? Andra moved into Manju's room yesterday!"

"Oh ho~" Everyone let out a strange cry in unison.

One person, who had a particularly fast tongue, laughed loudly: "That kid wants to marry a princess, doesn't he?! Who hit me?"

"I'm hitting you! Don't make jokes about His Highness like that!" Batina punched her again in annoyance, her pink hair exploding in anger and scattering into a fluffy mess.

"Tch, who doesn't know you?" Caroline, quick to speak, stuck out her tongue at the fist the size of a sandbag and dared not argue with Batina any longer.

"..." Manzhu appeared at the door at some point.

She grabbed the kid who had just tipped her off and scanned the room.

She only glanced at the room in front of her, but the entire hallway fell silent.

After confirming that no one was chattering anymore, she slowly spoke: "His Highness said that the rotational guard duties for members of the Princess Guard under the age of 18 will be abolished, so that we can concentrate on training."

"Huh—?"

Even with Manzhu suppressing them, people couldn't help but voice their doubts.

You should know that joining the Princess Guard is like being a royal tutor; studying is one thing, but the underlying purpose is another.

Even if there is only one position for a prince, it would be excellent to cultivate a good relationship with the princess so that one can become an official in the territory or be recommended to the crown prince or to the court after the princess gets married.

Can you focus on your studies?

The princess meant well, but we can't get to know the royal family members anymore.

Besides, they are all 13 or 14-year-old boys. How many of them have the patience for grueling training all day long? They would love to have a rotation so they can rest by the princess's side.

Manzhu knew what they were thinking, so she gently comforted them, "Don't worry, His Highness has promised to get you more subsidies, and... the opportunity to accompany him."

This is a promise to help them get more exposure in the future.

The soft, fluctuating "hey" sounds in the room finally subsided, and everyone stared blankly at Manzhu, clearly wanting to wait until she left before chattering away.

"Alright, you guys eat first. Rest for a bit and then head to the training ground. I'll be there soon too." Manzhu didn't explain further, and turned to leave with the thorns behind her.

They stopped in the hallway and waited for about five minutes.

Andra jogged down from upstairs.

Today, she wore her long hair elegantly tied back, and a high-quality camel-colored cloak draped over her shoulders, making her walk with a graceful gait.

"Good morning." Andra nodded naturally as she looked at them.

She is above and the thorns are below. Whether it is her nonchalant attitude or the confident and beautiful face of the girl in the sunlight, the composition at this moment creates a rather ambiguous difference.

The thorns seemed oblivious. Manzhu gritted her teeth uncomfortably: Never mind, this hostage is completely overwhelming in terms of skill and talent.

Whether they were her peers or older so-called "geniuses," no one could withstand three moves from her.

Yesterday in class, someone tried to mock her by calling her "Crown Princess Hetuya," but that person accepted it without any qualms and wasn't affected at all...

“Manju-and Thorns, right?” Andra walked down the stairs and casually patted Thorns on the shoulder, as if she were the big sister who controlled everything.

Thorn, caught off guard, failed to dodge and immediately clenched his fists in a grimace, only to be blocked behind him by Manzhu.

"His Highness will be here soon."

It's unclear who Manzhu was trying to convince: "She said she has a very important task for the three of us. It's a very difficult task, and we must work together."

She kept her voice very low as she led the two out of the dormitory.

Manju had been observing Andra's reaction, trying to figure out how much he knew about His Highness's plan, or if he was as clueless as they were.

However, Andra simply smiled, revealing no flaw whatsoever.

What exactly is she after? Does she really want to get engaged to His Highness?!

Manzhu was resentful, but she didn't show it on her face; she simply quickened her pace.

The three of them walked faster and faster along the road, starting as a brisk walk, then turning into a jog and then a run. As if in a fit of pique, they rushed towards the Sky Garden.

Ta-da, ta-da-da.

Manzhu led the way, her long legs taking two steps at a time, and she ran onto the stone bridge with exceptional agility.

Across the long bridge stood an exquisite pavilion, where the princess sat sideways, her ethereal figure peeking through the thin curtains.

A smile appeared on Manzhu's face. "Your Highness," she began, but a gust of wind brushed against her cheek.

Golden-red hair swirled in the wind, and thorns rushed toward the center, but Andra did not choose that path.

What was that sound?

Eleanor instinctively looked up, just as the wind lifted one side of the gauze curtain.

The agile young girl leaped high like an antelope, using the pure white fence to fly towards the pavilion.

Hula—Andra brushed aside the fluttering fabric with one hand, her eyes full of smiles: "Good morning, Your Highness."

Eleanor couldn't help but smile, then quickly composed herself, deliberately putting on a stern face as she said, "Alright, be more normal next time."

"Yes, sir." Andra bowed respectfully, but then winked mischievously as he stood up.

Now Eleanor completely stopped looking at her.

The little princess blushed and sat up straight, greeting Manzhu and Jingji who had rushed over, "Good morning~ Come, sit down quickly."

"Yes, Your Highness." The three of them sat down, and Andra, who was stretching out his legs, was completely blocked in the middle by Manju and Thorns.

After they were all seated upright, Eleanor put down her teacup and said softly, "Someone wants to kill me."

"!"

"who?!"

Manju and Jingji's expressions changed drastically, and they didn't even bother to observe Andra's expression. Almost simultaneously, they leaned forward, nearly standing up.

Eleanor clapped her hands reassuringly, showing no fear on her face. "Don't worry, since I know these things, I can take precautions in advance."

As long as the variables can be accurately controlled, the enemy will eventually reveal a weakness after several rollbacks.

After much deliberation, Eleanor was the first to share the information she knew.

“There are two people who are very suspicious: Heidi, who is next to me, and the clerk, Manhani.”

Because she couldn't reveal her ability to rewind time, she didn't mention any more distant suspects, such as the prince. That would be too complicated to explain and would disrupt everyone's train of thought.

“Heidi? Then I can—” Manju had some recollection of her and was about to volunteer to investigate when she saw the princess wave her hand.

“No need. If you and Thorn question or threaten her, you'll only alert her. She's probably just a pawn. I'll have Coral observe her first.”

Eleanor told her to calm down.

She was 80% certain that Heidi had a problem.

After all, given Coral's personality, no matter who was on night duty that night, it would be Coral who brought the water.

The fact that Heidi was temporarily replaced was either due to a low-probability event like Coral getting diarrhea, or... someone behind Heidi harmed Coral.

Coral, Manju, Thorns, and... Andra—these four are constants she absolutely doesn't need to experiment with when controlling variables.

Eleanor looked into Manju's eyes and said sincerely, "I'm actually more concerned about Mentor Manhani, but she lives in a rather remote location, so it might be necessary for someone from your family to keep an eye on her."

“...Okay. Now?” Manzhu nodded solemnly.

"Yes, the sooner the better."

As long as you can grasp the person behind you, even if you don't have time to become a princess in this life, you can definitely make use of it in the next.

Having received the princess's approval, Manzhu immediately stood up with her younger sister.

She turned and took a few steps outside, then noticed that Andra hadn't followed. She asked casually, "Your Highness, how can Andra help you?"

"Andra-"

Before Eleanor could speak, Andra put a finger to her lips and whispered, "It's a secret."

"..." Manzhu pursed her lips and left dejectedly under Eleanor's apologetic gaze.

Now only the two of them remained in the pavilion, and Andra immediately dropped his sullen look.

She straightened up and asked curiously, "Oh right, I'd also like to know how I can help. Does becoming the king start as your personal bodyguard?"

When the topic of personal guards came up, she leaned back again, only to be slapped back down by the little princess.

Eleanor pointed to the Sky Garden, then to the gardener's warehouse not far away: "Quick, get me two hoes first."

"?"

A note from the author:

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