In peacetime, there are often more than one way to destroy a family or a power, and rumors are one of them.
Spreading rumors is just as effective in the magical world, but most ordinary people have no way to resist and can only keep them to themselves.
But what if... the information they received wasn't a rumor, but the truth?
Even if they have powerful backers, the backlash will be even stronger than in peacetime.
"Why! The Elixir of Life is actually such a poison!"
"The creators of this potion are the Zefner family. They want to paralyze us, render us incapable of resistance, and enslave us!"
"The Zefnia family also traded slaves, many of whom were innocent civilians!"
I don't know when it started, but messages began to fall like snowflakes from the sky. At first, they were very small, but they would melt into water as soon as they hit the ground and disappear without a trace.
But as more and more people learned the truth, the rumors gradually escalated from a light snowfall to a heavy, swirling snowflake.
Even if you try to hide it, you can't stop the snow from falling. Resentment will only accumulate and eventually turn into an avalanche, burying the person who caused all of this.
"Your Highness, won't you alert the enemy by doing this?"
Gloria was in charge of this part of the work. After achieving some results, she returned to Maggie to report, though her expression carried a hint of worry.
Manipulating public opinion could backfire, and the Duke's mansion is not a useless bunch that will sit idly by and wait to die.
She was worried that Her Highness would be harmed as a result.
"It doesn't matter."
Maggie shook her head, her tone flat.
She has always had only one goal: the Duke, no, the Duke whose body has been possessed by a demon.
She only wanted the fire to burn brighter, until the Duke had nowhere to hide and nowhere to retreat.
This forced him to confront her directly.
As Maggie and Gloria were planning their next move in the meeting room, the key character of this drama finally made his appearance.
Princess Eve Beard has come to visit.
Suddenly, a nun's respectful inquiry came from outside the door, causing Maggie to look up and interrupt her discussion with Gloria.
"Enter."
Maggie's voice softened as she thought about seeing the little princess she hadn't seen in a long time.
As soon as the door opened, the once glamorous and eccentric little princess in Maggie's memory now looked as disheveled as a pitiful little refugee.
The moment Eve saw Maggie, glistening tears welled up in her eyes, as if she had suffered a great injustice.
"Waaaaah, Your Highness, I miss you so much!"
Her voice trembled with sobs as she rushed into the conference room, ignoring Gloria's complicated gaze, and went straight to Maggie's side.
"..."
Gloria looked at this scene with a complicated expression, feeling as if she had seen it somewhere before.
for example....
That elf, who seemed to have no sense of boundaries, appeared to have a similar reaction to Her Highness the Saintess.
Sure enough, Her Highness is bisexual, isn't she?
She thought about it carefully again and became more and more convinced that her guess was true.
Including but not limited to the Paladin Commander, elves, suspicious mermaids, and so on, Gloria felt she had discovered the truth.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Maggie's expression softened, because Eve had really tried her best and worked very hard this time.
Normal letters wouldn't contain that much content, but it's likely that Asa noticed his youngest daughter's particular fondness for the saint, and thus focused on describing Eve's efforts and sacrifices.
They even wanted to include every little detail.
If the letter had been longer, Asa probably could have written more.
"But this! I brought it back to Your Highness perfectly intact. With this, will Your Highness be able to completely destroy the Duke's mansion?"
Eve didn't care how dirty she was. She eagerly pulled out the most important thing from her pocket. Her eyes were still red from crying, but her face was full of anticipation.
Whether it was because of Maggie or his own father, the emperor.
Eve wished the Duke's mansion would be destroyed in the next second, so that Her Highness the Saintess would be happy, and her father would be happy too.
"Yes, it definitely will."
Maggie looked at the intact ledger of evidence Eve had pulled out, her tone firm and powerful.
"That's good."
Eve seemed to relax completely, but after saying those words, she collapsed in front of Maggie and fainted on the spot.
It even startled Gloria, who was standing nearby.
She took two steps forward and checked Eve to make sure she was still breathing before she felt relieved. Then she looked up at Maggie with a helpless expression.
"Your Highness, what do we do now?"
Maggie also sighed, feeling both sorry for Eve and amused by her fainting.
The little princess seems to have never encountered such a difficult situation before. She had to travel a long distance without any maids to serve her and had to ride a horse alone.
It must have been really tough on her.
"Have a maid take her to rest."
Maggie sighed as well. It seemed that some questions could only be asked after Eve came to her senses.
Just when Maggie thought there was no clue about the matter of the etiquette officer, she unexpectedly found something right outside the conference room door.
Mandel, whom she wanted to see, was actually standing at the door the whole time.
He didn't come in immediately, perhaps because Eve was too excited.
Since he was positioned to the side, neither Maggie nor Gloria noticed his presence.
Mandel noticed Maggie's somewhat surprised gaze, then gave an awkward but polite smile and slowly walked into the conference room from outside.
"Your Highness..."
He lowered his head, his voice tinged with caution.
"Um, His Majesty arranged for me to accompany the princess. Is there anything you need?"
Maggie remained silent.
Oh, so she was wrong. It seems His Majesty the Emperor still cares about his daughter and has arranged for someone to accompany and take care of her.
However, looking at Mandel, who was hanging his head and dared not look at her, she felt that something was wrong, and there was an inexplicable sense of unease.
This is a temple, not a palace, and he's just a minor official in charge of etiquette. It's understandable that he doesn't dare to look her in the eye, but there's something indescribable about it.
She didn't answer Mandel's question, but instead stepped forward and carefully examined him.
An official of etiquette assigned by Asa to accompany and care for Eve—it's possible that Emperor Asa wanted to do Maggie a favor by sending the person she wanted along with her.
but.......
Eve was filthy, like a famine-stricken child, but this etiquette officer... was perfectly clean.
At first glance, his clothes were rather disheveled, much like Eve's, but upon closer inspection, something seemed amiss.
"Are you in charge of the kingdom's royal library?"
Maggie thought for a moment, then casually asked, pretending to be nonchalant.
Unexpectedly, this simple probing question caused the atmosphere in the entire conference room to change drastically, and even Gloria, who had originally planned to take Eve away, changed her expression.
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