The Regressed Princess - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Critical Moment

“Watch out behind the door.”

As Eleanor waved her hand, everyone nodded in understanding.

This secret passage was only wide enough for one person to pass through at a time. An assassin could not bypass the guards at the front and back; to assassinate the noble in the middle, they would have to hide in a secret chamber and wait for an opportunity.

Scarface walked ahead a short distance, intentionally leaving space in front of the hidden door. She signaled a servant to bypass her and gently press the mechanism.

Rattle, rattle—shua-sha!

The hidden door swung open, and the servant immediately performed a side roll into the room, vigorously slashing his dagger three times through the air!

Shua, shua, shua.

The blade struck nothing; the room was empty.

Scarface waited for the servant to circle the interior before entering to inspect it herself. After confirming it was safe, she turned back and said, “Your Highness, there are no assassins inside.”

“That’s good. Let’s look around then.”

Eleanor led her personal guards inside, letting Shanhu lead Manzhu to continue “investigating” the branching paths ahead and behind.

Manzhu had an excellent sense of space, while Shanhu possessed a superb memory. Together, they would record all the passages they passed, drawing them into clear and simple maps.

I wonder if the slaves outside have found a chance to escape?

Eleanor delayed for time intentionally, stopping before a pile of blankets stacked in a corner. She couldn’t resist half-squatting to flip through them.

With one flip, she noticed something was wrong: these rolled-up blankets weren’t simple felt, but exquisitely embroidered tapestries. The gold threads woven into them shimmered even in the dim light.

Eleanor ran her fingers over the surface of a blanket. It wasn’t just gold thread; it was also embellished with pearls and tiny gemstones, feeling slightly sharp to the touch.

She withdrew her hand thoughtfully.

She hadn’t had the chance to improve the weaving tools yet; such heavy fabrics woven with gold thread and wool required an immense amount of labor. With embroidery, pearls, and gems added, these were undoubtedly luxury goods.

That made things interesting… who would store such expensive tapestries in an underground passage for a long time?

“You keep these underground~ Ha, aren’t you afraid they’ll get moldy?” Eleanor smiled like a little fox.

Hmph. It was obvious they were placed here temporarily, ready to be transported out of the city today—or perhaps they had just been brought in from outside and hadn’t been delivered to the buyer yet.

No wonder such a secret tunnel was built; what a fine tax-evasion business.

Scarface’s face flushed. She darted her remaining eye around quickly, then finally gritted her teeth and said frankly, “These are gifts intended for friends. Since you like them, why not accept them?”

As she spoke, she picked up a roll of slightly musty but dazzling purple gold-woven blanket and shook it open forcefully toward Eleanor.

Clink, clank!

The crisp sound of clashing metal startled Eleanor, causing her to jump back. When she looked closely, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She had thought it was a dagger, but it was a pile of chopped-up gold and silver chunks and gemstones.

Eleanor initially thought Scarface was trying to bribe her, but when she looked up, Scarface looked more surprised than she was. Clearly, some servants or managers responsible for transport had betrayed their master.

Of course, it was also possible that some people yearning for freedom had temporarily stored them here; after all, once outside, money would be needed at every turn to pave the way.

Her smile deepened. Either way, it was a grand piece of news.

“Your Highness…”

“It’s nothing.” Eleanor smiled faintly, pretending not to see the pile of gold, silver, and jewels on the ground.

She walked toward Scarface. Though she was only a small child, her approaching aura made Scarface shiver.

The little princess stood on her tiptoes and whispered into the ear of the woman, who had instinctively leaned down: “Today… let’s consider this a gift for little Elsa.”

A gift? Does that mean she’s letting it slide?

Scarface could only interpret it this way but dared not define it herself. She thought back on past experiences: Her Highness likely didn’t want these vulgar objects, but rather a more precious payment, such as a favor?

She bared her teeth in a somewhat bitter smile and agreed, “Yes.”

Sigh, thank goodness she’s just a Princess and not a King’s Daughter; she won’t demand the most dangerous returns.

Scarface sighed inwardly. No matter how precious a treasure the little princess wanted even if it were a giant pearl from the bottom of the sea she would obediently obtain it.

Regardless, she could reap massive profits in a single year just through this smuggling tunnel.

Eleanor didn’t care about Scarface’s thoughts. After receiving the response, she walked back to the blankets to examine the pearls and gems.

The pearls were truly beautiful. In her previous life as Nolana’s most favored little princess and Hetuya’s most noble “Angi,” she had naturally owned all sorts of pearls.

Nearly perfect spheres, smooth, shimmering pearls strung on necklaces and hairnets… everyone said, “This matches your hair perfectly.”

Gentle and lovely that was the shared impression her mother and Andra had of both her and pearls.

However, after becoming Angi, Eleanor quickly grew to dislike pearls.

At that time, Andra had conquered Beilei, known as the Land of Lakes. As Angi, Eleanor naturally had to appease the officials and the populace.

Eleanor’s wisdom was well-known, so a gaunt pearl diver led her and her personal guards to the seaside.

“Angi, Great Angi, I beg for your mercy.” This pearl diver, whose ears and mouth appeared deformed and whose pupils were cloudy, led Eleanor to their settlement and lifted the flap of a damp shack—

A foul stench hit them. The guards drew their swords on the spot but were barked back by Eleanor.

This wasn’t an assassination.

This wasn’t an assassination…

Her tears wouldn’t stop falling. The pearls that the divers worked daily to provide were incredibly expensive, yet even after she had forcibly abolished slavery, their lives were no different from slaves.

“Angi, Angi.”

People of different ages and skin colors had only one thing in common: their emaciated forms. They prostrated at her feet, begging in low voices.

The pearl diver waved her hand to quiet the rising voices and called out, “We beg of you… reduce, reduce the pearl tax. Our children are still small… they truly cannot hold on anymore.”

“Alright, elder. Please tell me… what exactly was the situation with the previous pearl tax?” Eleanor took her old, wrinkled, and scarred hand, promising emotionally.

“I—I am not worthy!” The pearl diver hurriedly knelt on the ground. She didn’t dare shake off or pull at the noble Angi, so she swayed like a gourd hanging from a vine.

Her next sentence made Eleanor sway as well.

“Great Angi… I—I am only 35 years old this year.”

35? 35.

Younger than her.

Eleanor looked at her face, speechless. Every part of the diver’s skin revealed traces of old age.

That day, she listened for a long, long time.

She had long known that tax adjustments could not be achieved overnight. In a “modern” world lacking low-level officials and managers, she couldn’t make a single decree reach every corner of the country, especially in a newly occupied territory like Beilei.

But being unable to solve everything didn’t mean not solving anything.

Before her health was completely destroyed, Eleanor had personally visited every place Andra had conquered.

She and her gathered team of sages initiated vigorous reforms wherever they went, and through various connections, maintained the key points of those reforms as much as possible.

As for the pearl divers, their changes weren’t just about breaking the chains of slavery.

Eleanor abolished Beilei’s original pearl-household system, stopped collecting pearl taxes from the people, and proactively wore glass jewelry in public…

Unfortunately, she was never able to replicate pearl cultivation until the very end.

Placing foreign objects directly into pearl oysters only produced poor-quality, misshapen pearls; likely some key knowledge had not yet been mastered.

Eleanor released her fingers, no longer fiddling with the pearls on the ground.

She was just thinking of many things through these pearls, including the port of Beilei.

If only Beilei were also in my hands.

She couldn’t help but think so.

That way, she could not only save the suffering pearl divers faster but also gain a high-quality outlet to the sea.

Eleanor still remembered Andra’s evaluation of Beilei: strong on the outside but hollow on the inside.

Beilei’s navy was the best on the continent, yet its ground forces were pathetic.

In her previous life, with the help of excellent shipbuilders and captains recommended by Eleanor, Andra quickly closed the gap between the two fleets and won easily with a blitzkrieg, leaving hardly any impression.

The thought of acquiring Beilei quickly subsided in her mind; after all, she didn’t even have a shipyard now, let alone an Andra-style leader.

While her mind wandered, Eleanor led everyone to continue touring the secret passage.

Unknowingly, she moved toward the front of the group, nearly level with Scarface.

Her walking posture was too natural, and Shanhu was investigating a side path on the other side, so no one noticed.

Drip, drop.

She thought she heard the sound of dripping water. Eleanor looked up and to the sides but saw no water stains.

“What is it, Your Highness?”

Scarface thought she was tired of walking and explained, “This is a path that loops back; I can’t exactly take you outside the city to play.”

“Alright. We can loop back to the starting point through these side paths?”

Eleanor turned to look. She was standing right next to a fork in the road.

“Yes… WATCH OUT!!!”

At the same moment Scarface screamed, Eleanor instinctively gripped her pendant and threw her body downward.

She was only a little over 10 years old; by lowering her center of gravity, she immediately curled into a tiny ball.

Whoosh.

A gust of sharp wind brushed past her scalp. The arrowhead pierced into the passage with a pfft, firmly wedging itself between the cracks of two stone slabs.

Eleanor twisted her body, pushed off with her feet, and bolted back the way she came.

“Your Highness!” “Highness Eleanor!”

Manzhu’s voice was very close; Bramble’s was a bit further away. Just a little faster, a little faster, and she’d be safe!

Pasha, pat-pat.

The extremely light footsteps behind her suddenly became heavy as a figure closed in on her rapidly.

That was definitely no ordinary killer, not the type who could be briefly bought with a bowl of noodles or a few gold coins.

The name crystallized in Eleanor’s eyes: the deep blue text of Torna.

Ugh, she couldn’t afford to waste a “reload” opportunity!

Eleanor gritted her teeth and pulled the dagger from her waist. She had nowhere to hide, and with her current physical strength, she couldn’t outrun the pursuer.

The little princess stumbled, and as she lunged forward, she forced her body to turn, pointing the tip of the blade upward.

This was her final struggle. A highly skilled assassin would naturally not run into a blade at a time like this, unless.

“YAAAAAA—”

A youth with eyes wide with fury suddenly charged out from the dark passage.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and she brandished a wooden stick she had picked up from somewhere, swinging it viciously straight ahead!

Crack.

The wooden stick snapped upon striking the assassin’s shoulder.

The assassin stumbled, looking back in disbelief. It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard the trailing footsteps at all, she just didn’t have time to care; after all, it was just a slave… how did she dare?

“Ha, ha, ha.” Hudora held the broken stick across her chest, her eyes filled with the thrill of her guess coming true.

Heh… what achievement is greater than rescuing a noble? Even if she dies, she must leave wealth for her family, rather than being thrown into a mass grave as an executed rebel!

The little princess would likely take the chance to escape—both Hudora and the assassin thought so.

But in the next second, at the very moment the assassin instinctively turned to resume her pursuit of the princess, she suddenly touched something soft.

It was the princess’s forehead hair, and.

A sharp blade!

The little princess did not let out the scream of a first-time killer; she didn’t even close her eyes.

Torna saw those amber eyes, clear as a lake, suddenly ripple.

It was a look of determination, pity, and… joy?

Shasha.

The dagger sank into the soft abdomen with the help of momentum. To play the role of a “contact person,” the assassin was not wearing any armor.

But it didn’t matter. As expected, the princess had no experience in killing; a stab at this angle wouldn’t kill someone in a short time.

The well-trained Torna coldly raised her hand.

The Master said the princess’s body must remain intact; then, she would just snap her neck.

Don’t worry, Your Highness, I’ll be quick.

Eleanor looked up, as a pair of large hands lunged from above!

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