Someone has been here!

Very quickly, the hidden guard took the envelope and hurriedly stepped back into the room before locking the door and handing the envelope to Ezenia.

"Everyone, come out."

~Swish!

6 more clouds appeared from their hiding positions and went down on bended knees: "Mistress."

"Stand."

The rest joined the 7th Cloud and waited calmly at the side.

Seeing the envelope, Ezenia's heart sank in uncertainty.

"So you couldn't detect the person? "

"No, mistress.

Whoever dropped it off was too good.

It might be my imagination, but I don't think such a person with those skills can belong to any assassin guilds within Deiferus.

The guilds here are unworthy of such a skilled person."

Ezenia's pupils dilated at what one of her Clouds had said.

The person talking was amongst the top 18 highest-ranked assassins in Deiferus.

.

Assassins!

The profession alone was as popular and serious as being a knight.

And because Assassins were more liable to die daily, as opposed to knights who might have to guard areas or wait for war or disputes before attacking.

So the number of assassins dying daily was a lot.

But just like in any occupation, there would be people terrible, others slightly better than being terrible, others normal, others somewhat better, some great, some geniuses, some powerful, and so on.

That said, there were more than 30,000 assassins of different ranks and positions all around Deiferus.

And her men just happened to be amongst the best of the best.

Don't look at her like some weak chicken.

Unbeknownst to her mother and many, she was a powerful secret boss who commanded 14,000 men.

This was a secret between her maternal Grandfather and herself.

That's right.

From the moment she got engaged to Ulrich at birth, her grandfather had already started making plans.

After all, at that time, and even until recently, everyone knew that Ulrich had more odds in sitting on the throne than anyone else.

For sure, there were always opposition parties here and there.

But she had been secretly working alongside Ulrich to clear his path.

She had already professed her love for him ages ago, and they both agreed on their next plan of action.

She was always to lay low and become his eyes and ears when he wasn't in the Capital.

She knew that she loved Ulrich more than he loved her.

At times, he would seem very disinterested in her.

But so what?

That was a risk she was willing to take.

She firmly believed that it was his constant fighting for the throne that made him sometimes disinterested.

So she was sure that after helping and cleaning up things for him, they would live happily ever after in the palace with her being his queen.

That was one of the things that motivated her to work harder.

She controlled the men her maternal grandfather gave her and even took in more over the years.

And now, she controlled 19,000 knights within her secret bases.

Of course, she never made her move on anyone here... Not even the 3rd son's family.

She didn't want any chance for her strength to be revealed.

.

Anyway, earlier on, she had lent 16,000 of her men to Ulrich to use and fight for the throne.

But who would've known that he would lose, crippling her power?

Of course, she would never blame Ulrich for anything. That's why the blame all fell on Henry.

If not for him, how could she be left with only a measly 3,000 men?

This was too small!

She couldn't even rescue Ulrich, even if she wanted to.

That's why she had been focusing heavily on recruiting, kidnapping and training more men fast.

Over the months, only about 80 people had been kidnapped.

Dammit! With the new protection laws for these peasants and former slaves, things were getting harder.

Again, this number was too low and ridiculous!

She couldn't do anything with the number.

So she had no choice but to beg her grandfather for men.

She should've been sitting on the Queen's throne by now.

But because of Henry, her fate was miserable.

The more time she wastes, the more time her enemy has to grow stronger.

She needed help, and she needed it fast!

.

Hearing that the person who dropped off the envelope was so skillful, everyone couldn't help but fall into silence for a bit.

The air grew tense, as everyone's eyes fell onto the beautifully designed pale brownish envelope that had a golden stamp on it.

The stand had the image of two daggers crossing one another.

And under that were the letters: 'T.O.E.P' on it.

Again, on the other side of the envelope was her name, written with very beautiful strokes that seemed to mesmerize her.

The writing itself was like a work of art.

Holding the envelope, Ezenia felt like it suddenly weighed a ton.

Who dropped the strange envelope?

And what did they want?

Her heart drummed chaotically as she stood motionlessly staring at the envelope in her hands.

T.O.E.P... T.O.E.P...

She had never heard of that abbreviation or name before.

What was going on here?

Ezenia took a big whiff before carefully opening up the envelope.

Instead, were 5 letters with numbers written on them: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Looking at it all, she decided to open up the letter with the number '1' on it.

.

[Dear Miss Ezenia K. Madison.

You have been accepted into The Order Of Extraordinary Power, as per recommendation from a member.

Your acts over the last 7 years have fallen in the eyes of our Order.

Join us, and you will get immense power, respect and riches that will satisfy your eldest dreams.

Whatever you desire, we will grant all members one Novice wish after acceptance.

Of course, the wish has to be in line with the rules in letter 5.

Miss Ezenia... Should you accept, follow the instructions in letter 3 and send in your reply the same way you got your letter.

We will be waiting.

---T.O.E.P----]