Volume 1 Chapter 124

Volume 1 + Chapter 124: Departure

“Alright, I’ll go!”

Alice answered without the slightest hesitation, her tone and eyes both noticeably brighter and more cheerful.

She had not expected her mother to agree so easily.

In the past, her mother would never have allowed her to get involved in such matters, not even a little.

She had originally prepared a whole arsenal of persistence and persuasion, including her most powerful trump card for entering the inner circle of the Empire’s three great figures—acting cute.

Relentless, all-out acting cute.

Alice was born beautiful, and acting cute was her greatest advantage. Sometimes, just puffing out her cheeks and putting on that adorable expression was enough to make countless people fall for her.

No matter how outrageous the thing she did, as long as she spoke softly and blinked those beautiful big eyes a few times, she would almost always be forgiven.

After all, she was Chancelianne’s daughter—and Chancelianne’s beauty was universally acknowledged, so much so that she could even go head-to-head with Eve, the Great Witch.

“Just keep in mind, the journey is long, and we must remain low-profile. No one will indulge your little temper.”

“Food, clothing, lodging, and travel will all have to be handled on your own. We’ll only bring a few guards—no maids.”

Chancelianne said this without lifting her head. A map lay beside her hand, in another world like this, travel depended almost entirely on maps.

And maps were not updated in real time. Roads could become impassable due to lack of maintenance or other reasons, and such changes were impossible to discern from maps that were updated only once every year or so.

The farther the journey, the more troublesome and time-consuming it became.

Alice glanced at the map and saw the route Chancelianne had planned—it would nearly cut across half the empire’s territory.

It even included harsh environments such as forests, swamps, and deserts.

Just this trip alone, sitting in a carriage the whole way, would probably be enough to jolt Alice’s delicate backside into eight pieces.

Meanwhile, Chancelianne was still frowning as she refined the route, designing the shortest and safest path.

She held three maps in her hands, all imperial maps re-surveyed within the last three years. Other regions were manageable, but terrain around rivers changed almost yearly.

Due to erosion, fluctuations in rainfall, and various other factors, the conditions of roads in those areas could change from one day to the next.

No one could be certain whether a particular bridge was still usable. If it was not, the delay could be significant.

Chancelianne had promised Eve that they would return in a short time.

“Oh, okay. No problem.”

Alice withdrew her gaze and agreed without hesitation.

As long as she could go with Eve, all of these issues could be overcome.

If she traveled far with Eve, Eve would have to sleep at night, right? And since her mother had said they needed to stay low-profile, there certainly wouldn’t be many carriages prepared for rest. They would definitely be staying at inns along the way.

When the time came, Alice would use the universal unlocking spell she had just learned to sneak into Eve’s room.

And then—this and that, that and this… hehehe.

Right, she would need to bring that decisive sleepwear set—the black sheer one, plus the cute yet sexy little camisole.

“Mother, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go pack my luggage.”

“Don’t bring too much,” Chancelianne reminded her.

“Got it!”

Alice ran off quickly. In her mind, there was no way she would bring too much—after all, the core equipment was black stockings, sleepwear, and a cute, sexy camisole.

Even if she brought a hundred sets, how heavy could that be?

Still, considering wear and tear, getting wet, damage, and so on, it would be safer to bring two or three extra sets.

She would also need her makeup kit. During the day, she could do a sweet, innocent look, at night, a pure-yet-alluring style to appear more mature.

Alice felt she was nothing short of a genius.

When she returned to her room, Eve was already waiting for her.

Seeing Alice come back, a hint of confusion appeared on Eve’s face.

“Did using the restroom really take that long?”

“I made a quick trip to Mother’s place as well. Let’s continue—teach me that universal unlocking spell again.”

…………

The day of departure arrived quickly. Eve had originally planned to arrange things for the children at home before leaving.

But before she could say anything, Zhizhi announced that she would return to the Lorraine family for a few days, saying she had important matters to attend to. She also took Pipim and Maodou with her.

Over the past two days, Zhizhi and Pipim had grown increasingly close. She had been busy investigating Pipim’s situation, and the conclusions she reached were largely the same as what Chancelianne had told Eve.

Pipim’s mother was not a bad person—she had simply been forced to live under an assumed identity for nearly a lifetime for the sake of the empire.

After learning this, Zhizhi and Pipim grew even closer. Zhizhi also strongly supported Eve accompanying Chancelianne to personally investigate why, despite imperial support and assistance, Pipim had still ended up scavenging in the imperial capital.

Clearly, both her mother and father had devoted themselves to the empire. Her father had even given his life for it, while her mother bore heavy psychological scars and sacrifice as a result.

If they knew that their daughter had spent so long picking through trash in the imperial capital, their hearts would probably shatter on the spot.

Thus, Zhizhi fully supported Eve’s plan and was willing to help take care of Pipim and Leah.

As for Leah, she was busy escorting trade routes. Recently, she had become obsessed with making money, as if she were determined to save up a sum quickly to buy something.

So she did not leave with Zhizhi, instead choosing to stay temporarily with Umi’s family. She woke early in the morning to help Umi’s mother transport goods to the Reynolds family for extra pay, spent the day patrolling the trade routes for her regular wages, and even tutored Umi in basic magic studies in the evenings.

That girl seemed to have boundless energy.

In any case, the children had been taken care of, and Eve could finally feel at ease.

As for the mode of travel, it was indeed as low-profile as Chancelianne had described.

Two carriages—nothing that looked particularly luxurious, even somewhat plain. Yet inside, they were anything but simple.

Ordinary carriages rarely considered ride quality, suspension, or comfort, simply because the technology did not allow for it.

But the carriage carrying Eve, Chancelianne, and Alice concealed, beneath its modest exterior, the culmination of the empire’s research into carriage design.

One could say that comfort and safety had been pushed to their absolute limits.

Naturally, the cost was anything but cheap. In fact, in the carriage following behind—besides several carefully selected female knights—there was also a specially trained female carriage maintenance engineer.

All in all, excellent. All women… knight—ahem, women.

For this journey, Chancelianne had truly considered everything thoroughly.

Yet just as the carriages had barely left the imperial capital, they seemed to encounter a problem.

It was not an issue with the convoy itself, but with the map.

The route Chancelianne had painstakingly planned according to the maps turned out not to be very passable after all. They had only just set out when a large number of fallen rocks blocked their path.