Chapter 138: Chapter 46. Visit to the palace

After Camilla and Jeremy decided to go their separate ways from now on, the baron’s youngest son took his life into his own hands. It had been several days since he left the capital, and he had continued to travel ever since.

Finding a new safe place to stay was not as easy a task as it might seem at first glance. But at least the guy still had enough money and time to do it.

Before going on his way, Jeremy decided to stop for a short time in the nearest village to take a break. It was a small residential settlement, which, due to its inaccessibility, was not popular and because of this there were almost no other visitors except local residents. Quiet and peaceful. But it just turned out to be in the guy’s favor.

Since there wasn’t even a single hotel in this village, Jeremy managed to ask to spend the night with a kind old lady who agreed to take him in and didn’t even ask for money for it. Nevertheless, the baron’s youngest son still couldn’t help but thank her, and paid her even a symbolic sum.

The day of his stay in this village was already coming to an end, and in the evening Jeremy intended to set off on his way. Before the trip, the guy decided to have a snack and went into one of the few local eateries.

Having occupied one of the outdoor tables on the veranda, the guy slowly devoured his meal. Just watching what was happening around him, Jeremy continued to dwell on his own thoughts, which were far from this place. Until at some point, something suddenly caught his attention.

Just watching the passers-by from the side, the guy suddenly noticed that something small and shiny had fallen out of the pocket of a passing girl. Despite the fact that it was an accident, Jeremy couldn’t just ignore it and hurried to pick it up.

«Excuse me...!» he called softly to the girl, who seemed vaguely familiar to him from behind.

At that moment, for the first time, Jeremy looked down and examined this little thing in his palm. And imagine his surprise when he was able to identify her.

«It can’t be! It’s a ring... How can it look so much like my mother’s ring?!»

At this moment, the baron’s youngest son looked up with a strange premonition and looked at this girl in front of him. She also turned around when she heard his scream and looked directly at him. To be honest, at that moment it seemed to him that the ground literally caved in from under his feet.

Jeremy asked, stunned, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

***

Looking at the golden gate of the imperial palace, which was right in front of me, I just sighed softly.

In the end, despite all the doubts that continued to overwhelm me throughout this time, but my feet still brought me here.

«Well, anyway, I’ve already come here anyway.» — thinking that it would be pointless to step back now, I got rid of the last remnants of my doubts and took a step forward.

The main gate of the palace was guarded by several guards on patrol, which I approached.

«I’m sorry...» I awkwardly addressed one of the guards who was standing at the gate.

— What do you need?» The knight gave me a disapproving look.

I hesitated, then continued:

«I...I came to meet Her Majesty.»

«.......»

However, when the guard heard about the purpose of my visit, he only frowned even more, as if some annoying insect continued to distract him from his work.

— what? With Her Majesty?» he asked.

The guards looked at each other with displeasure.

— This is ridiculous! — said the guard, — Who are you to say such a thing? Do you think every crook can meet a member of the imperial family?

Although it sounded completely justified, and these people really had every right not to let me in, but since I had to get into the palace anyway, I used the only excuse I had for this.

«My name is Camille de Walt,» I introduced myself, «I am the youngest daughter of the de Walt family, and my father used to be one of the members of parliament at the court. This... still not enough?

«......»

Upon hearing my name, the guards’ reaction changed with lightning speed. The former disdain in their behavior and expressions evaporated in the blink of an eye.

«Are you a lady from the de Walt family...?» asked the guard, who had been rather rude to me before. But this time he even stuttered when he asked me about it.

I confirmed his words with a nod.

«......»

After a pause, the guards also exchanged ambiguous glances among themselves. In the end, the guard hesitated and said:

«I apologize for not recognizing a lady from a noble family right away. In that case... Let my partner walk you out.»

«Very well, thank you.»

At that moment, I chuckled involuntarily, though I didn’t show it.

As expected, the Empress was expecting my visit, and even the guards at the gate had been warned about it. However, this only increased my sense of excitement.

I followed this guard and soon we were walking along the corridor of the Imperial palace.

At that moment, I couldn’t stop thinking about what exactly was waiting for me there. Although I knew that I was initially targeted by the Empress precisely because of the connection with the Crown Princess, but in fact, I still did not know what exactly she wanted from me. Rather, I couldn’t even make any assumptions and just kept getting lost in guesses.

We continued walking along the corridor for some time before reaching the wing of the central palace where the Empress’ chambers were located.

However...

At some point, I was suddenly grabbed from behind and dragged around the corner. Before I could even make a sound, a hand covered my mouth.

«Hmm!»

To be honest, I couldn’t figure out what was going on right now.

Meanwhile, the guard who had been leading me before and was walking a little ahead of me turned around abruptly, as if sensing something was amiss.

— what? Where did she go?!

The guard immediately rushed everywhere to look for me, unaware that in fact they continued to forcibly hold me behind the nearest column.

«!!!»

While I was in real turmoil because of what was happening, and I didn’t even know who exactly could suddenly attack me in the imperial palace in the middle of the day, a familiar soft voice suddenly reached my ears.

«Don’t worry, Lady de Walt. It’s me.»

At that moment, the palm on my mouth, which had been preventing me from screaming, gradually weakened. I was completely speechless when I turned and looked at her.

To my own surprise, the person who did this was none other than the main character of the novel.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read