The Queen's solar was a sanctum of lace and light. Sunlight poured through colored windows, throwing gold and rose across the silken walls. It smelled of lavender and jasmine—fragrant, soft, deceptively sweet.
A perfect place for poison.
Seraphina adjusted the neckline of her pale blue gown—innocent, delicate—and stepped into the room with a bow of practiced grace.
The Queen raised a thin brow.
"Well. The ghost of the court returns."
"I come not as a ghost, Your Majesty," Seraphina said, curtsying. "But as your humble servant."
The Queen smiled faintly. "Then let us see how useful a shadow can be."
---
> Quest Triggered: Operation Crownfall – Step 2: Turn the Queen's Handmaiden
Target: Lia of Larkhall – Secret keeper, message runner, and rumored former spy.
Goal: Recruit or eliminate.
Reward: Access to Queen's correspondence. Bonus: Royal family scandal file.
---
Lia stood behind the Queen—young, plain, and forgettable by design. Her hair was always tied back, her clothes always gray. But her eyes?
Sharp. Calculating.
Seraphina caught her glance for only a second. It was enough.
That night, under the guise of a spilled tray and a servant's apology, Seraphina slipped a folded note into Lia's sleeve.
Midnight. Garden of Ashes. Come alone.
---
The Garden of Ashes was where roses were once burned to the ground in a failed assassination plot. Nothing grew there anymore—only white gravel and stone statues, long cracked by age.
Lia arrived exactly on time. Silent. Cautious.
Seraphina didn't bother with greetings.
"I know you send messages to the Queen's brother in Aldryn."
Lia's eyes flickered.
"I know you replaced the Queen's sleeping tonic with a diluted version last week."
A sharper breath.
"I also know you've been passing notes to the King's physician."
Now, fear.
"What do you want?" Lia whispered.
"To save you from what's coming."
Seraphina held out a small scroll. Sealed in black wax.
"Read this. When you're ready to survive instead of serve, burn it."
---
> System Prompt: Loyalty Test Initiated
Chance of Recruitment: 56% (based on fear, ambition, and current leverage)
Outcome pending…
---
Three days passed.
Seraphina returned to the court, acting as a liaison between Kaelrith's border faction and the capital's ministries. All part of the show. The nobles gossiped, the Queen pretended not to listen.
But in her chamber that evening, Seraphina found a single white feather on her pillow.
The symbol of acceptance.
Lia was in.
---
> Quest Complete: Queen's Handmaiden Recruited
New Trait Unlocked: Royal Correspondence Spy
Bonus Acquired: Secret Scandal File – "The Queen's Firstborn"
Operation Crownfall Progress: 2/5 Targets Flipped
---
She unsealed the file that night.
> Confidential: Her Majesty gave birth to a stillborn daughter twelve years ago. But rumor persists… the child survived. Hidden. Named Liliana.
Currently presumed dead or concealed within one of the noble houses.
Seraphina's hands trembled slightly as she read.
A secret child?
A hidden heir?
This wasn't just power. This was leverage against the entire royal bloodline.
She looked at Kaelrith across the table, his eyes shadowed with suspicion and heat.
"You found something," he said.
"I found everything."
---
> System Update: New Subplot Branch Unlocked – "Heir of Ashes"
Investigate the secret child of the Queen to gain ultimate leverage over the throne.
Caution: Interfering with royal bloodlines triggers political assassination attempts.
---
Seraphina sat back, thinking.
The kingdom had five pillars of power: the Crown, the Council, the Military, the Church… and blood.
And now she had her hand on all five.
The Queen would never see her coming.