Chapter 25 Unraveling the Mystery: Eleanor couldn't bear to bring down someone like that...

"Ugh, cough cough cough! I, I'm fine, I just woke up... my legs, my legs are a little weak, cough cough cough."

The little princess suddenly lifted her face out of the basin, coughing as she tried to soothe the anxious Coral.

"Oh dear! I'll definitely help you more carefully next time..."

Coral picked up a towel with remorse and helped wipe the water droplets from her nose, muttering to herself, "Really, I should have held on tighter."

"It's not your fault... Haaah~"

Eleanor took a deep breath. She hadn't just felt weak in the knees; she had just experienced another dizzying, time-reversing sensation.

She touched the six-petaled flower pendant on her chest; the bloodline on the first petal had faded again.

How could there be a rebellion near the capital?

No matter how greedy and lazy Mother was, her past power alone could not have allowed the rebels to storm the capital... After her death, only the traitor and Andra managed to do so.

Eleanor licked her lips and touched her intact left shoulder.

The spot where I was hit by the arrow still seems to ache. Ugh, while a rollback can change what happened in the past, it can't erase the pain I suffered.

and......

"Hoo~" She took another deep breath.

Being shot in the shoulder with an arrow is not actually a fatal wound, but it means risking infection and potential long-term effects.

However, when she saw one of the princess's guards' children being slashed to the ground, a rollback was inevitable.

Eleanor picked up a spoon and began to eat the tasteless starchy porridge, reminiscing about the events of the day.

Everything was normal this morning.

Because she wanted to try some street food with everyone, she deliberately delayed until almost noon before taking Thorn and some members of the Princess Guard to the market to find young Hudora.

They searched for a while but couldn't find the person.

This is normal, after all, there is a two-year difference between now and when I actually met Hudora in my previous life.

I wonder what kind of butterfly effect will occur if I go back in two years? Sigh~

After Eleanor finished eating the starch paste, she gulped down some honey water.

Think back to the specifics of your encounter with Hudora in your past life... I remember now, how could I forget?

That year she was twelve years old, having just celebrated her birthday, and excitedly took Andra's hand to stroll through the market, hoping to find some wise men from the common people.

Hudora, on the other hand, was guilty of a verbal offense and was whipped and thrown into a cage to die by her slave owner.

"Andra, look how pitiful that person is..."

The little princess tugged at the knight's hand and then rescued the slave from the cage.

Part of her kindness was pure compassion, pity for the dying. Another part was because of the deep purple name that shimmered above Hudora's head.

The little princess took several sheepskins from the servants and personally exchanged them with the smiling slave owner for the badly injured Hudora.

Eleanor felt somewhat embarrassed.

Whenever he recalled his first encounter with Hudora in his past life, he felt it was a romantic and fateful one.

When they were young, the king and queen redeemed the life of a virtuous minister with a sheepskin, and later avenged her with gold and power, thus gaining her unwavering loyalty for life.

This memory, which was as romantic as a fairy tale to her, was also incredibly painful and unbearable in Hudora's midnight dreams.

Eleanor knew all about Hudora's past.

This proud woman sold herself for the safety of her wife and daughter.

However, the slave owner did not abandon his beautiful wife and young daughter. After she became a slave, he tried every means to harm her family.

When Hudora returned to her hometown years later with the gold coins bestowed upon her by the princess, she found only a group of embarrassed relatives and a wooden house that had long since changed beyond recognition.

Eleanor looked somber.

From the very beginning of this life, she wanted to rescue Hudora ahead of time and change the fate of her previous life, in which her wife and daughter both perished.

However, this kindness is not based on empathy, but merely on the instinct of "it's better this way".

Whew~ Don't think about that too much for now, let's continue thinking about what happened during today's rebellion!

"Better" is enough. If Hudora knew, she certainly wouldn't blame me.

Eleanor shook her head, thinking as she ate the apple slice Coral offered her.

First of all, no rebellion occurred in the royal city on this day in the previous life.

So, is the rebellion in this life a butterfly effect caused by my rebirth?

A sense of unease welled up inside her, and she quickly shook her head: No, that's impossible.

During the major events, she only changed the "hunting or not" option, which had nothing to do with the rebellion.

Since this line of thinking doesn't work, then the fundamental premise is wrong.

A rebellion also occurred in the royal city on this day in my past life, but I was unaware of it.

Assuming this happened on this day in a past life, why don't I remember it? If it were something as big as a rebellion, I would definitely remember it.

So—people from the previous life didn't consider this a rebellion.

A thread suddenly came undone, and Alice realized what had happened.

The conflicts between nobles would severely affect the royal family, thus leaving her with some memories from her childhood.

However, she had no recollection of this, which suggests that the "rebellion" in her previous life should have been quelled quickly and did not involve any high-ranking nobles.

The event took place in a slave market, so it was essentially a slave uprising!

Eleanor's expression instantly relaxed.

For her, slave revolts possessed an inherent sense of justice.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing; she doesn't necessarily need to interfere, and can even offer some help.

A slave revolt that failed and the insurrection occurred?

These two keywords finally activated a part of my memory.

Eleanor recalled some fragmented images.

The little girl sat on her mother's lap, acting spoiled, and gestured to Eva that she wanted to grow a watermelon as big as possible to present to her.

"The watermelons aren't sweet enough these days!" the little girl said sweetly. "I'll work hard with those scholar aunties to grow bigger and sweeter watermelons for my mother!"

"Hahaha." Eva laughed heartily. "Okay, then I'll wait and see. Pfft, but won't they hate it if you send them to the field to plant melons?"

"No way~" The little princess squirmed in the king's arms.

“Your Majesty.” Favored courtier Manhani entered the inner chamber and placed her hand on her chest: “Giants were causing trouble in the city, but fortunately, they have been quelled by your brave city guards and several kind citizens.”

"Giants? You're not trying to mess with me, are you?" Eva raised an eyebrow. Giants still exist these days?

“How dare I!” Manhani hurriedly knelt on the ground and said softly, “They want to offer you the head of the red-haired giant.”

"Oh? Then bring it here quickly."

Eva immediately became interested. She sat casually on the couch, glanced at the little princess next to her, reached out and affectionately patted her head, and said, "Sweetie, go to the next room first. Children shouldn't look around."

“Okay~” Eleanor nodded obediently, walked out the door and took Andra’s hand.

However, at that time she still felt that the world possessed magic and wanted to see how big real giants were.

So instead of hiding in the next room, she used her right hand to pull Andra along, and half of her body rubbed against the door frame to look inside.

A nobleman's attendant, carrying a silver tray, lifted the veil covering the king—

Revealed was a grotesque human head, its eyes wide open in death, mouth agape as if roaring in fury. Her crimson hair, like tangled seaweed, swayed with the screams of the human face.

"Waaaaah!" The little princess cried loudly in fear and couldn't stop.

Eva rushed over, snatched her from Andra's arms, and scooped her up, soothing her while yelling towards the door, "Enough! Do you think I can't tell if it's a human head or a giant's head? Kill all the liars!"

Looking at the sobbing little princess, the king gritted his teeth and said, "...throw her out."

......

Thinking of Eva's face, Eleanor clutched her chest sadly.

She was very close to her mother in her past life, but that relationship can never be the same again.

"Sigh..." She had basically sorted out her thoughts.

The slave rebellion in the previous life was easily suppressed, so the officials directly reported that they had fought against giants and killed one of them.

The head in the plate, which was larger than a normal human head... probably belonged to the red-haired leader who was standing in the crowd opposite him.

It's not difficult to avoid this.

The simplest way is to stay home and rest today, and someone will offer up a human head for the king tomorrow or the day after. Then you can go to the market in a few days.

Even if she has OCD and insists on going out today, she can go now. If she arrives in the early morning or at noon, the other side should not have dealt with the slave owners' weapons yet.

She could buy and run, or she could help the slave owners suppress slaves on the spot, and maybe she could make a bunch of slaves and gifts for free.

No, I don't want either of those options.

Eleanor refused from the bottom of her heart.

Although she didn't know the red-haired woman, the other woman shared the same yearning for freedom and was even willing to sacrifice herself for the future of others.

Eleanor couldn't bear to bring such a person down to earth.

In that case, perhaps... a vague idea was born in my mind.

Eleanor jumped up from her chair: "Coral, call Andra and Manju over, and everyone else—call them all over!"

"Yes." Coral smiled as she walked out of the palace.

About ten minutes later, a large group of dozens of young girls walked in a line onto the corridor of the palace. They wore simple armor and had sheathed short swords hanging at their waists.

Eleanor looked closely and saw that even the swordsmanship instructor had come with the team. Wasn't that perfect!

She walked up to the instructor and said loudly, "Instructor Vivian, I may encounter danger on my trip to the slave market. I hope you can lead the team."

A hint of doubt flashed in the gray-haired tutor's eyes, but she did not question the princess. Instead, she nodded and gave a cool "okay."

That should be about right.

Eleanor silently assessed the fighting strength on her side.

The difference in strength among martial artists in this world is enormous.

Vivian is a top fighter in both one-on-one combat and small-scale brawls, and the members of the Princess Guard are also exceptionally strong.

With the help of this group of people, the feasibility of the splitting operation she wants to build is very high.

Eleanor was about to take a step when she quickly turned back and ordered, "Everyone, go to the armory and change into your gear. Cover your armor with the outer cover. Me—I'm going too!"

The warriors of the Moonlit Continent have very high physical strength, but that doesn't mean their armor is useless—they can wear armor for long periods of time while marching quickly, and the iron armor can effectively protect them from arrows and blade cuts.

Iron armor? Even the little princess has to wear specially made soft armor? Just how dangerous is that?

The guards exchanged uneasy glances: they would surely secretly instruct the servants to send a message home. But before that, they had to obey the princess's orders.

At dawn, a group of several dozen people set off from the palace.

The girls rode on horseback, their dark cloaks clattering rhythmically with the rise and fall of their saddles. Attendants followed behind, leading spare horses and carrying longswords and replacement bows and arrows.

They deliberately chose a side street with few pedestrians.

Every now and then, citizens would close their doors tightly, then peek out from the window cracks, letting the whispers behind the doors gradually fade into the receding sound of horses' hooves.