Chapter 51 Hunter and Prey: Killing Andra?

Kill Andra?

It took everyone a while to realize which Andra it was: How could a ten-year-old princess and a princess from a neighboring country have any deep-seated hatred?

Kids really do have all sorts of unpredictable ideas.

Yesterday she was clamoring for Misella not to bully others and begging the king to send Andra to be her personal guard. How come she's threatening to kill her today?

Coral tripped and fell on the carpet. She rushed to Eleanor's side and vigorously rubbed the princess's head, saying repeatedly, "Oh dear, Your Highness...you scared me to death. You can't make jokes like that. Who taught you to say that?"

The young girl sat upright on the couch, her eyes slightly darkened, concealing a dangerous emotion.

Eleanor remained motionless until she finished rubbing against her before gently opening her lips: "I'm not joking. I had a dream, a dream in which I lived a long life."

Her voice was imbued with touching tenderness.

Coral instinctively grabbed the little princess's arm, wanting to hold her in her arms and lift her up.

She had barely lowered her head when she saw the princess's eyes, and was immediately stunned: so calm... yet so sorrowful. Tears welled in her bright eyes, about to fall.

"Coral, that was a very long... very real dream. Thorn and my sister are dead, Andra destroyed our country... everyone is gone."

Tears finally streamed down her face, and Eleanor's voice shattered in the air. "I—I married her."

The room was completely silent.

Knock knock.

Coral rushed to the windowsill, opened the window, peeked out, then quickly closed it and rushed back inside.

"Your Highness!"

She placed her hand on Eleanor's shoulder and said earnestly, "Don't worry, it's just a dream...dreams have nothing to do with reality! Don't be afraid..."

But I know it wasn't a dream.

In order to kill Andra as quickly as possible, she needs the full support of those around her.

Eleanor pressed her fingers against Coral's hand and squeezed out a voice from the depths of her heart.

"But I really did spend my whole life in my dreams... Coral."

Coral opened her mouth, wanting to wake the girl, who was still immersed in her dream, with a more serious tone.

But with just one glance, she was scalded by Eleanor's intense despair.

She knew Eleanor all too well.

The little princess was raised and watched by her side.

Her Highness has suffered from severe headaches since childhood. At first, she would whimper like a cat, hiding under the covers. Later, afraid that it would upset everyone, she would always stay silent and curl up under the covers, keeping her eyes closed whether she could sleep or not.

The clever, affectionate, innocent, and kind child in her eyes looked up.

Children's eyes are always clear and bright, and Princess Eleanor's smile makes one forget her frail health.

But now, all that greets Coral's eyes is a misty sorrow.

[It hurts so much, it hurts so much] The child who always endured pain opened his heart to her, which was covered with wounds.

It is no longer physical pain, but a trauma that requires more thought and more experience to be etched into the soul.

Coral's eyes welled with tears from the emotion she felt, but she held Eleanor's hand tightly and whispered, "Your Highness, the dream is over. Just treat it as a dream and don't dwell on it."

Eleanor looked into Coral's eyes and knew she had to come up with something more concrete to prove that dreams and reality were indeed connected.

Andra is not just a simple nightmare; she will continue to haunt their lives until everyone becomes history.

She beckoned Manzhu and Jingji to come closer and whispered, "Malonni is 23 years old and currently lives in the capital. She has a great talent for mechanical engineering..."

Under the astonished and uncertain gazes of the crowd, the little princess began to recite the names, addresses, and general information of the strangers one by one.

She recited ten items in a row before stopping to take a sip of water.

“They are the talents I recruited in my dreams. The ones I just mentioned are now living in the capital. You and Manzhu can send people from your families to check them out and see if I’m right.”

Coral's heart started racing.

Your Highness's idea is excellent. If these "talented individuals" truly exist, then the events in the dream will gain credibility and might even be considered prophecies.

But then she thought, what if someone had manipulated and guided the princess, and even given her a list?

Coral hesitated for a moment, and Eleanor immediately added another chip to the scales.

"Coral, I know that the mineral vein that your family values ​​most is almost exhausted. However, you will discover a richer mineral vein in two years. I can draw it for you on a map first."

She then turned to Manzhu. “Your family business is very large. I have a dream-based bookkeeping method here, which is much better than the one you used before.”

Coral and Manju looked at each other, their eyes shifting from surprise and doubt to determination.

Whether the improved accounting method will work well is still unknown, but the value of rich mineral veins far exceeds the lies fabricated to "kill Andra".

Princess's dream may be false, but as long as the mine is real, the family will definitely be willing to take the risk.

Manzhu stepped forward and bowed respectfully. "Your Highness, since you have made this decision, shall I begin contacting assassins tomorrow?"

Assassinating a neighboring princess is certainly a serious crime, but fortunately, King Aguno of Hertuya is still young, and she is not likely to turn against Nolana for the sake of a child. The danger is manageable.

Unexpectedly, Eleanor waved her hand and refused outright.

"No, hiring assassins is too slow. It will take at least half a month for them to finalize their plans before they take action."

Is half a month too slow? Assassinating a princess living in the palace requires careful planning.

The family is only willing to help with the killing, not to take the blame, so they'll definitely plan carefully to clear themselves of the blame. If they can't find a good scapegoat, it'll take at least half a year to get out of the situation.

Manzhu asked疑惑地问道：“Your Highness, do you mean... ”

Eleanor held up one finger.

"One week, I'll give you a maximum of one week."

"?!"

"During this week, everyone has only one goal: to kill Andra with all their might. Whether it's poisoning her, setting a trap, or even luring her out and hacking her to death, it's all good."

How is that possible?!

Manzhu suppressed her inner roar and lowered her head, saying, "Your Highness, time is too tight. We must clear our names afterward, otherwise the King will not forgive us."

Eleanor nodded. "I know, that's why I asked everyone to kill Andra within seven days. As long as the mission is completed within this timeframe, I can guarantee that all risks will disappear."

Seven days? Guaranteed no risk? No one understands the logic behind the little princess's statement. Even a king can't completely guarantee that the murderer of the neighboring princess will escape unscathed.

Eleanor was aware of everyone's concerns, but this adventure was necessary.

The reason for the seven-day limit is that her single retrospective limit is six days. People generally need to set aside one day for preparation, so counting from the second day onwards makes it exactly seven days.

She wanted to see if she could kill Andra from the very beginning, given that everyone had exhausted all means.

If she finds a relatively stable method of assassination within these seven days, she can rely on multiple backtracking steps to find a way to kill Andra without being discovered or at least not by Eva.

The air felt somewhat stagnant, and all you could hear was the sound of everyone breathing.

Coral slowly knelt down and gently advised her, "Your Highness, why are you in such a hurry? Even if it really is a premonition... nothing has happened yet. You can try to influence her first. Mother Goddess certainly doesn't want you to be addicted to fighting and killing."

"Because I've tried it, Coral."

Eleanor shook her head hoarsely. "I didn't want to hurt anyone. I tried to please her, helped her, let her go... and in the end..."

The girl clutched her collar, finally revealing her childlike vulnerability.

"It hurts so much, she left such a deep wound on me... It hurts so much!"

The girl, whom they had raised since childhood, let out a mournful cry.

Coral could tell that it wasn't a childish whining when she had a headache; it was filled with an indescribable sense of collapse.

She put her arm around the little princess's shoulder and hurriedly helped her straighten her disheveled collar, but suddenly stopped pointing.

"Your Highness... what is this?!"

As the coral trailed, the hem of her dress spread out to both sides.

"Your Highness Eleanor!"

"Your Highness..."

Manzhu and Jingji gasped in surprise, and then Jingji began to sob softly.

Eleanor lowered her head; a blood-red scar now marked the spot where she had been stabbed by a sword in her past life.

This scar is closer to a birthmark than a wound, but its outline radiates outwards, somewhat resembling a four-pointed star.

There was a clear, deep red border around the scar, which enveloped the fissure, as if it were constricting all the blood and wound into the star-shaped fissure, preventing it from spreading all over the body.

It's the Mother Goddess...

Eleanor calmed down, and the piercing cries of "Andra, Andra" in her mind finally stopped.

She covered her wound and quietly leaned against Coral's shoulder.

"Help."

"good."

......

Half an hour later, Manzhu and Shanhu hid the parchment scroll that Eleanor had just written on on their person. It was filled with valuable information. With this information, they could obtain some help from their home without having to explain too much.

However, both families are the type to act only after seeing tangible benefits; they won't actually take action unless the potential gains are certain, at most they'll help with some preparatory work.

A week is too short, and Andra is always staying in the palace, so assassins aren't taking orders.

Everyone was at a loss as to how to succeed in the assassination, until Eleanor provided an idea.

"Isolate her first. Andra was just chosen by me as my guardian knight, so it's normal for my personal guards to be hostile towards her."

She said with a glint in her eyes, "We don't need to let them kill anyone, although they can if they want to. The main purpose is to harass them, to prevent Andra from seeing the real danger, and to make her think that all around her are just mosquito bites."

Then what?

Then... she thought of kites.

That valley is a good choice; it can be used in conjunction with poison. After all, Andra suffered a considerable injury in her first life, and she even tenderly cleaned her wounds and prepared medicine for her.

"Coral, do you know of any subtle poisons...?"

Bang!

The sound of the door being banged on startled them, but thankfully the person outside exclaimed "Ouch!" It turned out to be Misella.

Eleanor nodded, and Coral ran to open the door.

Mysella walked in, covering her head, looking around curiously. This little thing had slunk off to class in the morning, but after a day of classes, she was lively again.

She rolled onto the bed and howled, tossing and turning.

"I'm so tired, I need to sleep!"

Mysella waited for Coral to lift her up for a bath, and then she could sleep with her soft little sister and hug her pillow.

“No, you have to go back to sleep from now on.” Eleanor sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over to look at her.

Mysella's waving arms froze in mid-air: she had no desire to return to her cold, impersonal palace, and quickly glared at her sister, protesting, "Why? I don't want to!"

The younger sister shook her head coldly. "I'll have to sleep with Andra from now on."

"Ugh—"

Mysella was blown away. She jumped up like a firecracker, yelling, "No! No! No! You can't sleep with that jerk!"

Eleanor looked at her sister rolling around on the bed and suddenly remembered that it had been like this in her first life.

She directly announced Andra as the Guardian Knight, which Manju and Thorn naturally strongly opposed.

But their opposition did not last long in the open.

Andra was a natural-born warrior, and he quickly won over all the guards with his superb swordsmanship, earning everyone's recognition through his strength.

Mysella, however, disregarded all of this and began to secretly follow Andra, seizing the occasional opportunity when she was alone.

In the first incarnation of Andra, Mysella actually managed to exploit a weakness.

She would sneak out every night to practice her swordsmanship.

One day, Myrcella gathered a group of idle noble servants and, while Andra was on the bridge, shoved her into the pool and beat her mercilessly with wooden poles, preventing her from getting ashore...

Drowning!

Eleanor's eyes lit up.

The first Andra was not a good swimmer before going to Enlin. Because there were few rivers deep enough on the grasslands, Andra had never learned to swim.

"Eleanor, I can swim as soon as I get in the water! That guy was poking me with a pole from up there!"

Back then, Andra finally managed to get ashore, snatched the pole, and fought ten men by himself. After returning, he sat on the bed and complained to Eleanor.

Her little princess sobbed pitifully as she applied the ointment to the wound, "Waaah, if only I were there..."

yes.

Eleanor nodded in agreement: If I were there, I would hold your head down so tightly that I wouldn't let you come up even if I became a ghost!

Eleanor kept the inspiration from the drowning incident in her heart.

Andra has great athletic talent, so the flooding tactic can only be used once.

In the first life, Mysera stood by with a pole, constantly whipping it down, but couldn't kill Andra. This time, she needs to think things through carefully; she can't be so careless.

"Stop howling!" Eleanor suddenly raised her voice and slapped Myrcella hard on the back.

This startled the older sister so much that she choked and started hiccuping.

"What are you doing~ hiccup, oh, so fierce hiccup!"

Seeing her sister's cold face, Misella was reminded of the feeling of being dominated by fear that morning, and immediately curled up into a ball, howling and shrinking back.

Eleanor grabbed her shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, I won't like Andra more than you. Come fly kites with us in a few days, and do me a favor while you're at it."

Phew... It seems my sister is back to normal. She still cares about me as her older sister!

Misella sniffed, straightened her back, and pretended that the person who had just been terrified wasn't her. "Speak, what is it?"

Eleanor put her arm around her back and leaned on her shoulder as usual. "Help me push Andra down the hill, and don't forget to bring some more stones."

The little princess affectionately tapped her older sister's head. "I want a rock bigger than your head!"

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The author's note: Actually, a week and a month in the Moonlit Continent are different from those on Blue Star. The Great Mother Goddess's sacred number is 6. They count a week in 6 days, a short month in 24 days, a long month in 36 days, and a year of 360 days is the cycle of the four seasons.

Of course, there are still 12 months in a year, each governed by one of the twelve original daughters of the Great Mother Goddess.

Eleanor's assumption here is correct—she actually meant seven days (one day more than a week). However, for the sake of easier reading and understanding, the weeks and months in the text will be synchronized with Earth from now on.