Chapter 9 The Impending Conspiracy
◎Ani mustered up the courage to raise her head, and a pair of bright eyes met her heart.◎
"Hiss—Ahhh, be gentle, be gentle..."
Melia tilted her neck in a funny way, and Ani dipped a brush in honey and mixed it with herbs and applied it. Soon, the base of her cheek and half of her neck were painted green.
Damn it, she didn't hit me in the face, she just hit me by the neck like an animal! I wasn't on all fours...
The wet towel stuck to his face with a hiss, and he couldn't help but let out a series of high-pitched cries: "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
Ani pursed her lips and said, "Master, please don't tease that princess anymore. I heard she can eat people."
Melia had a bitter face and didn't know where to start.
Who is teasing whom? The rumor that the Dragon Girl eats people is also unfounded. If the heroine really likes to eat people, "Rose Princess" will definitely not be published.
"Oh." She slowly lay down on the bed and raised one hand: "What did the person who followed me this morning say?"
As Ani was applying a facial mask on her, she whispered in her ear, "It involves several elders, and there are quite a few partners who have done business with Lord Muala."
As expected, Ali is not a fool and it is impossible for him to let his men go straight to the mastermind.
But time is so tight that we can't delay even for half a day. The mastermind is most likely among the first people we contact today.
Fortunately, "The Rose Princess" was in her mind. As long as she compared it with the later villains and those who had betrayed the original owner, it would not be difficult to find them one by one by using the method of elimination and exhaustive enumeration.
"Okay, write your name to me."
"Yes, Master."
Melia closed her eyes. Annie waved to the door and a girl in a pink dress hurried over.
She was barefoot, and each step she took was on the carpet, keeping the dust off her soles.
The girl held a roll of sun-dried fur in her hands, her skin freshly smeared with perfume, emitting a rich, tangerine scent. Under Ani's guidance, she gently turned over the rolled-up blanket and slowly stretched her calves into the furry blanket...
"Ughh ...
A scream erupted in the room: "Snake, snake snake snake snake--"
"Miss!" Taffy kicked the screen open and rushed to the bed in a few steps, standing in front of Melia.
Holding the dagger in one hand, she rolled up the blanket and turned it over to the floor, revealing the fine fabric underneath.
Where are the snakes?
Several people searched anxiously for a long time but couldn't find even a bug.
"Huh... I'm so scared, who are you?" Melia covered her face with her hands, feeling a headache.
The girl blushed and lowered her head to her bird-like chest: "My name is Mili. Yes, yes, Lord Muala bought me a while ago, and I have been staying in the back..."
No wonder there was only shyness and no fear in his expression. It turned out that he was a lucky newcomer.
But it's not that lucky. Muala definitely had no intention of taking a concubine when he was seriously ill. Mili was most likely a new one that Ali bought regularly according to the custom of Muala's family.
Slaves were consumables and would die suddenly or need to be sold, so he would buy some spare slaves and put them in the low building at the back.
I learned this knowledge yesterday while I was taking care of household chores, and I didn't have time to process it at all.
"So it's the one behind..."
[Then let him go. It was all an unprovoked disaster anyway.]
Just as the words were about to come out of her mouth, she suddenly saw Mili's timid yet hopeful eyes.
Is it really good for the slaves to just let them go?
Many of the slaves of the Muala family were prisoners of war captured by the defeated countries. These people could never escape from this class in their lifetime and could not be redeemed.
If they were sold, they could still find their next owner; releasing them was like letting them die. Many bored Roman youths took to armed pursuit to find these unsightly "runaway slaves."
After yesterday's incident, Ani also indirectly made her understand one thing: many people sold themselves to Muala's house, and when the year turned bad, the poor simply could not survive.
Even though Rome had not paid war reparations for many years under Caesar's leadership, it was still impossible to feed everyone, and the gap between the rich and the poor was getting wider and wider.
Although she was prepared to stab the slave-owning class in the back, if she mindlessly raised the banner of rebellion, even the most insignificant slave in the family might poison her for reasons that modern people could never imagine.
Melia blinked. "I'm past the age of needing sex. As for my father's concubines... they should learn arithmetic and reading first."
"Yes." Annie immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed gently with Mili.
Arithmetic and reading were not something that everyone could learn, and poor farmers could not afford them. On the contrary, some wealthy merchants would let their slaves learn basic reading and writing so that they could help with accounting and reading.
"Yawn~ Let the teacher at home get busy first. Don't be lazy, those who have nothing to do should go to class... Taffy, you should go back to sleep too." Melia patted Taffy's tense back and pulled a new blanket to cover herself.
Annie took Miri's hand, and the two of them picked up the things on the ground and left the room quietly.
Taffy hesitated to speak. She glanced at the corner of the bed, but the lady did not signal her to go to sleep. At least she obeyed the last instruction and slowly returned to the screen.
Whoosh~ The candle went out, and the quiet darkness enveloped me.
Do you want to try and see what "Rose Princess" can achieve?
Melia closed her eyes and began to scroll through the names of the elders in her mind, silently reciting the names of the other five most distinguished guys.
Surah, Proshyut, Manaha...
【Take me to see... the most dangerous person.】
My consciousness returned to the surface again, and a cat-shaped mist whizzed across the sky, unseen by anyone.
…
The cat's paw landed lightly on the steps, and Melia shook her head, her whiskers tentatively poking out of the shadows.
Great, Elena isn't around, maybe my idea just now worked.
She crouched on the grass, taking cover of the bushes as she scurried away. This place was also covered in grass and trees, but fortunately there weren't many insects, and the soil was dry.
Melia followed the light to find the entrance, easily jumped onto the windowsill, and pressed her cat face against it.
She went to bed early for this investigation.
Sure enough, you can see the people inside from the window.
The man was wearing a gorgeous robe and lying on the couch. It was at least 9 o'clock in the evening, but he was drinking with his friends and had no intention of falling asleep.
On the contrary, the atmosphere in the room was quite lively, and silent servants would bring new snacks and wine from time to time.
Some people would hold Tao Weng and wait for any noble to stretch his neck before pushing him to the side, letting him vomit as much as he wanted, and then eat him after he had vomited.
Oh, I can’t help but eat so much!
Melia twitched her ears and focused her attention on the robed man. She had a hunch that this old man wearing a golden tassel crown must be one of the masterminds.
"Lord Sura, let me offer you a drink. The news this morning was really shocking." A man with a flattering face walked over from behind the couch. He leaned his arm on the armrest and poured wine for the man in the robe.
Sura laughed: "Don't worry, I'm not Manaha, those things have been prepared long ago."
"Well, the amount on the IOU isn't enough. Those losers didn't get the crucial one..."
Their heads touched each other, and the sound was very low.
Melia listened for a while and was basically sure that they were talking about the forged IOU and the contract that could not be obtained.
The other part of the contract seemed to be kept by Sura's men to prevent Muala from discovering the clues before his death. The value was not high, far from enough to make Melia a debt slave.
Melia couldn't hear what happened next, and she felt anxious. She pressed herself against the window, and suddenly the furry little head passed through the closed glass, and the whole body squeezed into the room.
She looked around warily and found that only one slave stared at her for a moment, then quickly looked away:
Apparently, Sura didn't hate cats that much, but he certainly hated the servants who spoke at the banquet.
Melia relaxed her body, raised her tail, and stepped on the checkered carpet with the soft steps of a cat. She suddenly crawled under the table and leaned against a pile of gold-studded slippers.
No one dared to interrupt the masters' conversation, and she could easily hear what was going on.
"…Will the gladiators stop them?"
"Impossible. The animals used in the death fight would only wish Melia bad luck."
"That's good, Lord Sura. Leave this matter to me. My brother has some connections with those barbarians."
…
What the hell! Melia twitched her tail irritably. It seemed like the two of them were planning to hire someone to cause trouble on the last day, and then use an assassin to kill her!
Although this idea is reckless, it is very feasible.
There was no surveillance in ancient Rome, and even in modern times, there are merchants who directly rob contracts. It seems risky, but the success rate is not low.
Muala left Melia with many slaves with outstanding abilities, but as for the relationship between these slaves and her...if an assassin really came, probably only Taffi would protect her with all his strength.
"Which relative of Muro or Muara will be the next heir?"
"Most likely Muro. Marcus and the Second Prince are both very close to him."
"Will he bleed?"
"I'll make him willing."
…
What? Muro is the heir, and you only extort money from me. Now that I am the heir, you want me dead?
Melia gritted her teeth and listened attentively.
Their conversation gradually turned to witchcraft, which left her confused.
Witchcraft does exist in "The Rose Princess", and there are many humans with inhuman traits like Elena.
However, the existence of witchcraft is very ambiguous and has a very high level of pretense, but its actual effect is questionable.
At least the heroine has never used witchcraft, and there are no witches among her friends. Her enemies are all torn apart by hand, and they will not be killed by curses.
Sura seemed to know a famous wizard. If the assassination failed, he would consider asking the wizard for help.
It's really frustrating!
…
"Yawn... I'm so tired. It's delicious. Use less honey and maybe some berries."
Melia sat listlessly on the bed and opened her mouth to take the cake that Annie fed her.
"Did you not sleep well last night?" Annie put the cake aside and reached out to massage her forehead and cheeks.
"It's fine... By the way, did father mention hiring gladiators?"
Hearing this, Ani paused her fingers and forced a fake smile: "Every noble man will invite gladiators to his funeral."
"Oh, let them perform?"
Ani lowered her head and nodded slowly. "Yes, Lord Muala specifically instructed Ali to invite 64 young and powerful gladiators."
"64? Were they supposed to fight for seven consecutive days?" Melia exclaimed in amazement and scooped a piece of apple from the plate.
Ani fell silent. She licked her lips and said, "No... They will die on the third day. Lord Muala has arranged for someone to... bring white lions and cheetahs to eat them. Then they will collect their bones and bury them with Lord Muala."
This has been a custom of burying people alive with the dead since ancient times. For the elderly and powerful people, it was an indescribable enjoyment to let young, energetic, and preferably somewhat famous gladiators die at their funerals.
This would certainly require a large sum of money, a sum to buy out future profits, but Muala could afford it.
Ani lowered her head and didn't get any answer.
She didn't know what she was expecting. After all, let alone the young lady who had just been in a good mood recently, even if she herself faced such a situation and such a serious tradition, what could she do?
"Ani, I'm thinking."
"yes."
"This kind of thing is really a waste."
Annie mustered up the courage to raise her head, and a pair of bright eyes met her heart.
Melia smiled brightly and put the apple in her mouth. "He has earned money all his life. As a filial son, of course I have to take good care of it for him."
The author has something to say:
Thanks to Lei Lei from Luchen_piuma, and thanks to Luomuxiaoxiaoxia and Siye for their irrigation~
Because I need to reduce the word count and wait for the ranking, I will take a two-day break. I will update as usual on Thursday. Mmm~
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
