The Regressed Princess - Chapter 69

Chapter 69: The Third Killing Intent — “We will kill Andra in Belai…”

Time seemed to have an acceleration button pressed in Enlin; in this life, Eleanor held nothing back.

She extended olive branches to every talent worth recruiting, even if they hadn’t fully come of age yet, and even if doing so drew unwanted attention.

Eva did not step in to stop her, because in the first year, Eleanor was busy with the King’s affairs sending a medical team directly to the capital to begin a comprehensive diagnostic treatment for her.

“Mother, they will conduct constant research by your side. I guarantee with my life that they are the group most likely in this world to develop an antidote.”

In the first year, the little Princess’s guarantee was weak and frail. She seemed to be merely putting effort into gathering a bunch of people to play around with her. No one knew how she met them, no one knew why she made such eccentric promises to recruit them, and even fewer knew why they had all agreed.

The Princess said nothing; she simply focused on infrastructure.

She opened brickworks to fire massive quantities of bricks, using those square blocks to construct new buildings. Beyond factories, she built many strange facilities among which the mills and blast furnaces were the easiest to understand and were quickly promoted to surrounding city-states.

Eleanor had so much to do that the spies couldn’t even keep up with her rhythm. Their targets did something strange every day; which event were they supposed to report first?

In this era, transmitting information was time-consuming and laborious. Their masters did not build specialized courier stations like the Princess did. The spies didn’t want to work themselves to death on the road, so they simply accumulated long letters at the traditional pace, sending a massive roll of parchment whenever they did—not caring if it was intercepted. After all, the Princess wasn’t hiding what she was doing.

They sensed a fast-paced rhythm in the Princess’s actions, yet they couldn’t explain what these rhythms meant. The Princess seemed to strike here and there at random, and then, one by one, buildings and miracles would rise from the ground.

Was it a waste of labor and wealth? Naturally, it seemed that way. In the eyes of many city lords and their advisors, the Princess’s behavior was true extravagance.

She did not host banquets, but set up literacy classes for commoners and slaves. She did not purchase jewels, but recruited craftsmen to cast high-quality farm implements and improved tools, renting them out at low prices. She did not build magnificent palaces, but fired countless bricks to build workshops of unknown function.

Initially, rumors of tax cuts leaked from Enlin. These rumors kept the lords nervous for a long time, fearing an order that would send everyone fleeing to Enlin. They only breathed a sigh of relief when they found out the Princess hadn’t cut taxes—not until she actually collected them in full.

Of course, some spies noted in their reports: the Princess strictly forbade tax collectors from demanding “wastage fees” for any reason; she allowed for slight shortfalls during settlements and paid bonuses to the collectors out of her own pocket.

The Princess also distributed simple tools for free to those performing labor service, which were not reclaimed afterward. Even plow oxen were allowed to be rented by collective village units through loans at low rates.

Because Eleanor introduced a large number of oxen and new tools, farming efficiency skyrocketed. She provided two good meals a day to those in service, and as a result, labor service became a coveted opportunity in subsequent years.

The reports from the first year were mostly mocking; everyone thought the Princess would soon go bankrupt, that all those mouths would eat her out of house and home, and that the praise of commoners was worthless.

By the second year’s planting season, such talk had largely vanished. They began to question the Princess’s new farming methods and her means of making money.

By the second harvest season, no one questioned her anymore. The surplus of grain silenced every critic. Even the spies’ reports were replaced with a paper superior to papyrus light, flexible, and easy to smuggle.

Two years passed. The first batch of students actually learned to read through the classes, and the Princess began providing interest-free loans to commoners with good credit.

It’s hard to say what caused the city lords such a massive sense of crisis that they stopped focusing on the talents she recruited or her endless stream of inventions, turning instead to slandering her before the King.

But it was useless. When Eva was determined to protect someone, others felt only a deep sense of helplessness.

At the beginning of the third year, the Marigold Chamber of Commerce, which had been developing for three years, swelled into a colossus before everyone’s eyes. Many independent merchants suddenly raised their banners, indicating through various hints that they belonged to the Marigold Chamber of Commerce.

Taking shelter under the Princess’s wing required no extra “bloodletting”; they could reap more profit by trading the trendy items created by the Princess. Only the payment of membership and courier fees caused them any pain. Great merchants and the nouveau riche acted like blood vessels, finally converging into a river that could not be ignored.

The city lords snapped awake from their dreams of easy money. You really couldn’t blame them how many years had it been?! This was an era where one technique could sustain a master for a lifetime and their apprentices for another!

They had initially thought the Marigold Chamber of Commerce was a tool used by the Princess to numb or please them; they never expected it to become this. They were panicked, but none could bear to part with the massive benefits brought by new looms, brewing techniques, bricks, mills, and farm tools.

These gathered creations were no longer just money-making trinkets; they were like a divine touch from the God of Prosperity, a miracle for minting gold coins!

Things had reached a point beyond repair. Since Her Majesty pretended not to see, they wouldn’t hesitate to send more assassins, more refugees, and more bandits to the Princess!

They waited for Eleanor to send someone to apologize and cede more benefits. Eleanor, however, said nothing and unleashed Andra.

At first, the city lords laughed loudly, claiming the Princess had raised a fine hound, letting the little wild dog run all over the mountains. Within six months, they were gnashing their teeth and cursing, “May that filthy Hetuyan with her brainless slaves die in the mountains soon!”

It turned out that Andra’s fists and sword were much easier to understand than Eleanor’s gold and wisdom. When she carried the Princess’s banner to “patrol” surrounding territories and incidentally wiped out several “smuggling teams,” the boisterous city lords learned to shut their mouths.

By the end of the fourth year, no city lord dared to close their gates when Andra came for “diplomacy.” They would open the gates, sweep the streets clean, and respectfully invite her to the seat of honor, seeing the “Plague God” off with concessions amidst a flurry of flattery.

On a winter day in the fifth year, the little Princess sat before the fireplace holding a letter.

The letter was from the capital. The scholars had made new progress in medical research, and the rate of Eva’s physical decline had slowed. However, they were much more honest with the Princess than with the King, stating bluntly.

“Your Highness, if you hope to have the antidote ready before the King dies, you must pray to the gods to let a miracle herb grow from the earth that cures with one bite.”

The King was terminally ill, and they lacked time. In the bottom right corner of the letter, a small “8” was written within the pattern using a pre-arranged symbol. This meant eight years; the doctors believed Eva could live for about eight more years roughly five years longer than in the original timeline.

Eleanor frowned. This amount of time wouldn’t delay things until the start of the Great Frost. It seemed she couldn’t rely on using Eva to deal with Atilla. Fortunately, in this life, she never intended to let Eva or even Andra deal with Atilla.

However, if the Great Frost appeared right at the end of Eva’s reign, perhaps she could really try to succeed the throne as a Princess through some miraculous maneuvers…

“Eleanor~” someone pushed open the door.

The announcement of “Her Highness Andra arrives” came almost simultaneously with the long legs stepping inside.

Eleanor turned to look. The youth of the past had shed the last trace of greenness, moving toward a steady adulthood, with only her gaze still carrying a hint of childishness.

She stared blankly into Andra’s eyes: this touch of childishness had remained until the end in the first life, but vanished quickly in the second.

Is it because of me… is it because of love?

“What is it?” Andra blinked innocently, cupping Eleanor’s face in her hands.

“Nothing.” The lost look in Eleanor’s eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by renewed vitality. She wrapped her arms around her lover’s neck, nesting in the crook of her neck like a little bird.

Andra kissed the girl’s forehead. In her eyes, Eleanor gave off the sweet, heart-refreshing fragrance of ripening fruit. Her lips slid from the forehead toward the ear, only to be pushed away with a light tap by the shy Princess.

“Alright, come see the new jewelry I had made for you~” Eleanor straightened her collar and rang a bell. Heidi and a slave attendant walked into the study carrying a large gift box.

They opened the lid, and a brilliant golden light reflected before the fireplace. A full set of gold jewelry lay quietly inside: armbands, a collar, a belt, thigh rings, and anklets. Every clasp was sturdily fastened together, forming a massive array of solid gold.

“Do you like it?” Eleanor looked at Andra happily, her eyes sparkling.

“Uh…”

Andra suppressed a twitch of her lips helplessly. To this day, she didn’t understand why the Princess liked such thick, clunky gold jewelry. She liked gold, but the thought of hanging all this gold on her body for an entire day made her feel no joy whatsoever.

Andra let out a deliberate sigh, though she didn’t suspect anything. After all, the Princess had shown a preference for clunky gold jewelry as early as their first shopping trip years ago; it had simply blossomed fully in Enlin.

Eleanor surely knew gold was heavy and uncomfortable to wear. That was why she never wore it herself, but loved hanging it on her lover like she was playing with a doll.

“Sigh~” Andra spread her arms in resignation, letting Eleanor hang the gold on her. Anyway, she only had to wear it for a day before she could take it off and tuck it away.

“There, there.” Seeing her lover’s expression, the little Princess smiled gently. “If you really don’t like it… we can melt it down after we’re married and you can do whatever you want with it.”

Click. The locks snapped together.

Andra’s whole body shivered; this was the first time Eleanor had explicitly mentioned marriage. A radiant brilliance appeared on her face. She happily hooked the little Princess’s finger with her right hand. “Good, you said it. Even if I melt the gold into chains?”

“Of course. But you have to wear them yourself.”

The two played affectionately, like two long-haired kittens with intertwined tails.

After playing for a while, Eleanor stopped first. She leaned on Andra’s lap and said coaxingly, “When spring comes next year, let’s go play in another country, shall we?”

“You want to go to Belai?” Andra toyed with her lover’s long hair.

“Yes, I hear the summers there are beautiful.”

The little Princess’s eyes were full of longing, so Andra naturally agreed: “Alright, we’ll pick some elites to follow us then.”

“Mm, and we can let Messara temporarily take charge of the hunting party.”

The Princess was smiling sweetly, but Andra couldn’t smile. She hissed for a long while before she couldn’t help but say, “How about you let Manzhu stay instead?”

To be fair, Messara wasn’t that bad. Under the “stick” of Andra’s training, the Third Princess could at least be called “decent” at swordsmanship now. As for leadership… Messara as a Nolannan Royal daughter would certainly have a morale bonus leading a Nolannan army.

Among the talents Eleanor recruited, there were many generals. With their diligent assistance, even a pig mounted on a horse wouldn’t be too terrible. But long-term training had not only given Messara an instinctive fear of Andra, but also made Andra feel weak all over just looking at her, feeling like things were going to go wrong again.

Unfortunately, blood might be a deep curse; the usually discerning Eleanor blinked and said flatly, “Oh, we have to give Messara a chance to prove herself.”

Andra gritted her teeth and thought carefully: anyway, the nearby bandits were all dead, and those city lords wouldn’t dare move in the short term. As for touring the world… life on the road wasn’t as beautiful as imagined; the delicate Princess would probably only last six months.

She nodded and said a cautious “Okay.”

“Hahaha~ don’t worry.” Eleanor giggled, not a shred of gloom in her eyes.

Half an hour later, the Princess saw off the clinking Andra and continued to pass the time by the fire with a book.

After an unknown amount of time, Manzhu, Jīngjí, and Coral arrived one after another, sitting quietly in the chairs beside her. The more people there were, the heavier the atmosphere became. They couldn’t help but look at each other’s faces; seeing all three present, they knew the matter to be discussed was extraordinary.

What kind of matter required the three of them to work together? What required the Princess to gather them in the study many days in advance using different excuses? It certainly wasn’t just “traveling abroad.”

“Alright, time’s up.”

Eleanor didn’t keep them in suspense. She closed her book and leaned down, whispering in their ears:

“We are going to kill Andra in Belai.”

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