23 Smash Them All! (1/2)

The woman wore a silver mask that kept her entire face hidden and only allowed the sight of her slit sky-blue eyes. She was dressed in a provocative crimson dress that stopped above her knees and fully revealed her long, enthralling legs while her heart-shaped neckband showcased her ample bosom.

Yet, in her presence, those attributes were often disregarded for the sake of the innate aura of grandeur that shrouded her form.

And even though she could not see her face and her long ink-like hairs wore no ornaments, Jasmine couldn't help but feel that this woman was the most beautiful she had ever met. That under the vast blue sky, she was unrivaled.

The woman's back faced the assassin duo who stared at her with a growing sense of terror.

”Could it be…”

They began, but with her back still facing them, they didn't dare make guesses. In fact, they didn't dare be right. Even the eunuch whose arm had been lopped off and whose mangled face still dripped blood, could pay no attention to the pain. His eyes were solely focused on that woman's back.

But hers were on Konrad who had already passed out and could no longer see any of the ongoing events. There was no warmth in those eyes. The only thing hidden within were mixtures of annoyance, frustration, and suspicion.

”Who are you?”

Asked Jasmine while clinging on Konrad's unconscious body.

But the woman gave her no answer.

”Konrad…”

She whispered gentleness flashed within her eyes, and she turned to face the assassins.

”Olrich's cruelty truly knows no bounds. Even sending two royal eunuchs to cripple his son. But while that has nothing to do with me, you've harmed someone I care for. Thus, I cannot spare you.”

The Holy Flame Emperor Olrich Von Jurgen had nine sons, but none were born from the Holy Empress. While legitimacy was never an issue for the children of the emperor, due to not being pure imperial descendants, they all de facto bore a stigma. In times like these, it was easier for a younger son to snatch the eldest's right to rule.

Wenzel may not have had any desire for the crown, but his mother, the Noble Imperial Consort Yvonne Voight, had a different opinion and had been relying on her father's support to build a faction for him. This caused the emperor to become wary of the Voight and what he now saw as their pawn within his house.

Alongside the Kvass and the Metze, the Voight were one of the three princely houses, and even the emperor had to treat them with courtesy. Thus, he dispatched two royal eunuchs to monitor Wenzel's actions and at the first opportunity, cripple him as a man to not only ruin his ability to compete for the crown but also obtain a secret that could be used to suppress the Voight's unruliness.

He didn't mind the news of Wenzel's ”accident” being ”secretly” spread. But for Yvonne whose status within the harem relied on her having a prince…that was another story.

As for the two royal eunuchs. They had navigated court politics for hundreds of years and knew well that there was a critical difference between having personally crippled an imperial prince and having arrived too late to stop it from happening. Therefore, they had been racking their brains to find a way to push Wenzel into his own destruction.

Never did they expect that he would do it on his own! Now they could execute that eunuch boy with great pomp and report the situation to the emperor.

At least that was the plan…

But when the woman turned to face them, they immediately dropped onto their knees!

”Your…your…we…his majesty…we co-couldn't…”

They stuttered. From the current situation, it wasn't hard to deduce that the eunuch had a deep connection to her! That being the case, they could only beg for mercy.

”Your grace…we didn't know…please…mercy…!”

”They say ignorance is bliss. I disagree. It is a crime all the same. One I punish by…death.”

In a seemingly ordinary walk that tempered with principles of space and time, she moved past the eunuchs and vanished from the scene.

They were astonished, thinking that ultimately, she was giving the emperor face and sparing them. But then a shocking scene appeared, and the two eunuchs saw their bodies quickly turn into dust. From their feet, all the way to their heads, until nothing of them remained within the world.

Jasmine stared slack-jawed at that awe-inspiring display of might.

”I hate nothing more than whiny women. If you want to keep him for yourself, why not fight for him? A woman should never be afraid of fighting for what she craves and snatching it…from whoever stands in her way.”

The red dressed woman's voice echoed within Jasmine's mind.

...

Konrad's eyes opened to an unfamiliar room with his chest and legs cleanly bandaged. The lilac scent permeating the air leading him to assume that this was a female's quarters.

”You've awakened.”

Jasmine's voice came from his right, and he turned toward her sitting form with an incredulous gaze.

”We're neither dead nor in a torture room?”

”Why should we be?”

She chuckled to his inquiry.

”I seem to recall us being in a hopeless situation. How is it that…”