Chapter 376

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Chapter 376: The Emperor’s Blessing, Eternal Victory, and Glorious Prosperity

Her name is Sophia.

She is the third daughter of the imperial duke.

Living in a noble family often means worry-free life necessities, but it also means strict discipline and lack of personal freedom.

She grew up suppressed, like a doll being manipulated by her mother and father’s desires.

She accepted the aristocratic elite education and learned some refined hobbies.

Despite being in the noble class, she didn’t enjoy this feeling at all; she felt devoid of self and oppressed.

But she had no other choice because she understood the difficulties of life in the commoner class.

During her girlhood, she had only a few rebellious experiences, which also instilled fear of the empire’s common class.

She used to secretly leave home to work when she was in her early teens, but she hid her identity and pretended to be an orphan.

At first, she thought she could survive by working hard with her own hands for a week, but she underestimated how bad society had become in the empire.

Just a week later, the owner of the work shop noticed her beauty, and the landlady also realized this and wanted to dismiss her and make her leave. People from the nearby knight group also set their eyes on her, and there was a constant harassment from some scoundrels, all because she left the noble class and secretly escaped, just like a sheep jumping into a pack of wolves.

She had to change places over and over again. After a month, she sadly found out that she had become completely bankrupt. Even though she brought some savings, she barely had any other expenses aside from buying food and renting a room. She became bankrupt because her income was deducted multiple times, and she had to constantly pay for various things like the customers and the security teams, all in order to protect herself.

The result was complete bankruptcy.

The trouble didn’t end there. When she considered whether to go back home or not, she encountered a kidnapping. Because she accidentally revealed her identity as a noble lady, she was immediately seen as a fat sheep. And the person who kidnapped her was not just anyone, it was a member of a powerful noble family’s black glove group, who controlled a considerable portion of underground assets. Kidnapping nobles was also one of their regular trades.

The noble class also eat each other, they are not a united front.

In fact, the other party had no intention of letting her go. They said to her face that they planned to sell her as a slave to another duchy.

She couldn’t escape. During the three days she was imprisoned, she thought of suicide countless times.

Just as the hopeless flames were about to engulf her completely, she was rescued.

It wasn’t anyone else who saved her, but the seventh prince, who she had only met briefly.

Saving her was just a side effect. His Royal Highness the prince discovered this large-scale black market and destroyed it out of anger. Of course, there was definitely a deeper intention behind it, but Sophia had no idea.

She was still in shock when she was saved, but the seventh prince didn’t pay attention to her identity. She was dressed like an ordinary person, but still received the gentleman’s care from him and was escorted all the way home with the other victims.

This experience deeply shocked Sophia. She put an end to her runaway and returned home. Instead of being psychologically scarred as expected, she quickly regained her composure and quickly became infatuated with this prince who had quite a good reputation in the empire.

The seventh prince showed exceptional artistic talent from a young age. Since he posed no threat to the throne, he could focus his energy on creating. His artwork was of a very high artistic level, and it was said that he was wealthier than other princes and princesses by selling his paintings.

Occasionally, the seventh prince would also participate in noble banquets, but mostly he lived a secluded life. Sophia desperately tried to find out about him, but every time he showed up, his iconic golden eyes would push her, a little fish, to the sidelines.

Sophia was determined and tried various ways to attract his attention, even daringly pretending to be lost in order to find the location of the seventh prince’s art studio in the Palace of Versailles. However, she ultimately failed and was caught by the Royal Guard.

Sophia’s crazy infatuation frustrated her parents. Several arranged marriages failed completely because the duke’s status was too low, making it difficult to marry into the royal family. Even if she willingly accepted a lower status as a mistress, it was uncertain if the seventh prince would even consider her.

Sophia pondered for a long time and decided to go back to her old ways. She became really smart, convinced others, obtained a fake identity, and started eating less. She transformed from an admired Koi Fish (female) to a skinny Mackerel. The girl, who had become extremely thin, changed her fake identity and applied to be a maid in the palace. She knew how dangerous and embarrassing this was; if she was caught, the consequences would be severe. However, she went ahead without hesitation.

Because she bribed, she was chosen, and then she had to endure endless torture of hard work.

The maids in the palace bore the majority of the laborious tasks. The intensity of their work was so high that it could cause many people to collapse and die.

Being a noble lady, she couldn’t bear it. Numerous times, she worked herself to exhaustion, relying solely on her astonishing willpower to persist.

Because she could see the Seventh Prince at least once a month here, she felt satisfied even if she could only see him among the maids.

Unfortunately, good things never last. Sophia soon developed jealousy because the Seventh Prince chose one of the maids to be his exclusive servant.

The chosen maid was a charming Victorian-style maid who handled all kinds of work with ease.

Sophia’s ability to work was not outstanding, so she wasn’t chosen. She was extremely disappointed.

However, she still wanted to find a way to get a job close to the Seventh Prince. These small improvements satisfied her.

The sudden and huge changes came unexpectedly. The king and his family fought for power, the princesses and princes killed each other. Even the seventh prince found it difficult to live in peace.

The maid team also split apart, and there was even an attempt to poison the little princess.

Sophia’s peaceful life came to an end, and she was almost caught up in the chaos and got expelled.

The seventh prince was the one who saved her in the end, not with words, but with his authority.

Because the seventh prince was crowned… he became the emperor!

And everything changed again. Life in the palace became calm after the purge, but the seventh prince became cruel and violent. He killed all the royal bloodlines except for himself. Although most of them were already dead before this, the reputation of a tyrant had started to spread.

Then he started a war, destroying five countries and secretly fighting against the Sacred Religion. He even cut down the golden trees of the past to build an aircraft carrier.

The continuous wars and massive construction projects consumed a lot of resources and forced the nobles, who had already suffered losses, to exploit the lower class even more urgently.

This didn’t matter to Sophia. Her only concern was whether she could see the seventh prince, or rather, the emperor.

She didn’t know if it was a stroke of luck, but as the old maid retired, she gradually started to upgrade and became eligible to participate in the king’s chamber.

Although she couldn’t participate in the most important parts, she always had the elegant Victorian maid by her side.

Even if it was just airing the blankets, she was content. Occasionally, she could accompany the maid on outings, and she was always eager to volunteer for maid duties.

Even though she didn’t care about the outside world, Sophia still heard many rumors.

Later, she received a letter, informing her of a rebellion in her estate.

She immediately sought information, and a month later, a letter arrived. It revealed that her family had split and rebelled, her parents were missing, and her older brother, the rebel, had joined the resistance army. He now commanded eight thousand men and faced off against several noble families in the southern part of the empire.

This news shocked Sophia. She wanted to go back and see for herself, but she couldn’t gather the courage. If she went back, she couldn’t come back here, and what could she do if she returned? She knew her brother’s character too well. Even the letter was delivered by someone else on his behalf, asking her to stay in the palace and wait for the opportunity to leave. It seemed like her brother wanted her to become a spy in the palace. She refused her brother and cut off all ties with him.

Sophia would never betray the king. He was her savior, and from this moment on, the emperor became her everything.

At first, the war was intense, and the king was absent from the court for a long time. But as the situation became critical, especially after the mentor of the resistance army was killed, he seemed to lose all interest and returned to the palace.

Afterward, more and more time passed. She saw the emperor sitting alone on a golden throne, daydreaming. He only spent a few hours a day receiving courtiers, and started to spend more time on art creation instead.

At this time, Sophia went through several cleanings in the palace and was absolutely clean. She could now stand quietly and gaze at the king’s paintings from a close distance, along with a few other maids. Although his painting style had changed slightly, his gentle brush strokes remained the same.

There was also one time when the king had an impulse and used the maids as models. He painted a picture of them, then cut it into pieces and gave them as gifts.

That period of time, perhaps the last gasp of the crumbling empire, was the happiest time of Sophia’s life.

She knew that even if the empire was destroyed, the emperor would not vanish. His power even surpassed that of the empire’s founding leader. How could he fail?

Therefore, when all the maids were ordered to leave Versailles, she looked at the collapsing White City and felt as if she was waking up from a dream.

The king is dead?

How is that possible?

The still elegant maid calmly organized the servants to evacuate, without showing a hint of sadness on her face.

Sophia grew completely tired of this cruel woman and left the group on her own, wearing a maid costume, and walked through the cheering crowd.

Everyone was shouting in celebration of the victory, celebrating the death of the tyrant, but she bent over, tears streaming down her face, her voice choked with sobs.

Sophia walked into the ruined hall and saw the deep red blood stains on the floor.

She knelt in front of the throne, overwhelmed with silence.

Footsteps could be heard from behind, and Sophia turned around to see the elegant maid walking in, seeming to want to say something.

But Sophia didn’t want to listen anymore. Her life had come to an end now that the king was gone. Why should she stay?

She carefully took out the canvas she always carried with her, picked up a broken piece of glass from the ground, and stabbed it into her own chest.

Blood gushed out, staining the canvas, staining the throne, staining her long dress.

She closed her eyes, as if transported back to the day the emperor returned from battle. It was a day filled with dazzling golden light and rose petals floating down the streets.

He walked through the grand hall, she stood at the edge, and all the people knelt respectfully, singing a triumphant song together.

Sophia leaned against the throne and softly spoke her final words.

"May the heavens bless our king… always victorious… basking in glory…"