15. Men can be lost, let my sister climb
Kephier’s perspective.
Theoretically excellent, gifted, a daughter of a prestigious family, a young genius. With numerous honors, Kephier always believed that no matter what difficulties she encountered, she could easily overcome them with her advantages. However, this time, Kephier discovered that when it came to a crisis, she couldn’t even fulfill the most basic promise immediately.
Because, even after calming down from the initial “shock” and “anger,” realizing that Ogilid might have been “set up” by the queen, Kephier was horrified to find that even if she knew, she could do nothing.
To be precise, she couldn’t think of anything. Finally, on the second day, she had a bit of an idea: to snatch Ogilid from the small dark room and escape the Great Ying Empire with him. However, this thought made Kephier realize, under Ogilid’s reminder, that it was very foolish and impulsive—could a planless action really succeed?
The final result was that not only did she fail to fulfill her promise, but it was also Ogilid who reminded her to keep playing along, leaving her with nothing but an “I will definitely go back to save you” vague and empty promise. For several days after that, Kephier felt that her hand, which had slapped him for the sake of acting, was still burning with pain.
Moreover, in terms of behavior, although she deliberately didn’t tell her father and mother about this matter, she ultimately couldn’t hide it from her maid Nilu, who lived and ate with her.
“Miss, Mr. Ogilid is trapped with the queen, right?”
“!”
Finally, as the night approached bedtime, Nilu, who had not left as usual, voiced her suspicion.
Nilu was no fool; the fact that Oujilide, who had been circling around her and making flirtatious remarks, hadn’t returned since she and he went to the palace spoke for itself.
Kephiel, who had been holding back and could hardly contain herself any longer, simply had no strength left to continue hiding the truth.
“I don’t know what the princess is thinking, but she found an excuse to lock Oujilide away.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Kephiel realized: in her emotional turmoil, she had spoken too bluntly!
If it had been the old Nilu, she would have probably been scared half to death and rushed to tell her parents about this matter overnight! However, just as Kephiel was about to remind Nilu not to leak the information, she was surprised to see…
Nilu’s reaction didn’t seem as intense as she had imagined; after a moment of painful silence, she slowly asked.
“Miss, do you want to save Mr. Oujilide?”
Kephiel lowered her head deeply: “I’m sorry, at that time I really couldn’t do anything…”
“No, I’m asking, do you want to save him? Or have you just been muddling through these past two days like a troubled girl, not thinking about anything?”
“…”
Kephiel looked up in surprise. Although she was curious about why Nilu seemed so… different today, she couldn’t come up with any rebuttal when she thought about her own listlessness over the past two days.
Of course, she had thought of ways to rescue Oujilide, but she hesitated about whether she should act. Because if she were to rescue Oujilide before figuring out the princess’s intentions towards him, the princess would not simply turn a blind eye. Sometimes, the princess could be quite terrifying.
“Miss, can I come with you?”
Nilu’s voice was slightly lowered. Unable to comprehend why Nilu was being so “proactive” today, Kephiel decided to set that aside for now; having an extra helper was always good.
“Follow me to the study.”
“…Yes.”
Kephiel could easily think of the reason why the princess would suddenly “move against” Oujilide. It was a simple and pure one: previously in the Rosia Empire, Professor Moriarty must have grasped some clue that led to Oujilide revealing his identity to the princess.
If Professor Moriarty wanted to “dispose of Oujilide,” then Kephiel believed her dear princess might want to use that charlatan.
Such a thing Kephiel certainly could not allow! Not to mention, the method the princess was using was… “engagement,” a way that Kephiel could not pretend not to see! Her disappointment in the princess and anger towards the professor could wait; right Now, Kephiel just wanted to retrieve that charlatan!
Normal means would not work, so Kephiel had already prepared to “act like a thief.”
“Later, there will be an election regarding the ‘vote count’ of the council members in the palace. To put it simply, several council members will be elected first, and as a noble member, I also have an important vote. This is one of the few opportunities I have recently to be close to the princess.”
“If the princess wants to utilize Oujilide’s ‘prophetic’ abilities, she definitely won’t miss this chance. If we want to save him, it can only be then.”
Kephiel handed Nilu an invitation.
“The invitation can indeed allow a retinue, Nilu, write your name on it.”
“Yes.”
Clearly, this was a dangerous act that could ruin her family and life if it went awry, yet Kephiel found that her Nilu didn’t hesitate at all and immediately wrote her name down.
While writing, she asked.
“Miss, do you have any plans? I can cooperate with you.”
“Uh… Ah, um! I’ve already pretended in front of Sister Wang that my relationship with Oujili De is not good. As long as Oujili De shows up that day, I will go to Sister Wang and cry to her, holding her back. At that time, although the charlatan can’t escape, he can at least move freely. I need you to make an excuse to take Oujili De to rest, and then cooperate with him to go to Sister Wang’s palace.”
Since she had decided to save someone, Ke Fei Er didn’t want to hold anything back and poured out all her thoughts.
“In fact, there’s a secret passage in Sister Wang’s palace for her to escape in case of danger. However, because that idiot Oujili De casually went to deliver a message to Sister Wang and scared her, the passage has been blocked. Coincidentally, the one who blocked it was my mother. Although I’m not sure if I can unblock it, that’s all I can do. Once you arrive, I’ll find an excuse to meet up with you.”
After a rather self-righteous and reckless explanation from Ke Fei Er, she looked at Ni Lu with concern.
“Ni Lu, this is very dangerous. If you…”
But before she could even finish her words of persuasion, Ni Lu had already readily agreed.
“It’s okay, Miss. I will… assist you in rescuing Mr. Oujili De.”
Even though it was night, under the dim light, Ke Fei Er felt Ni Lu’s gaze was so kind, yet dangerous…
“Like you, I also want to save Mr. Oujili De.”
In fact, Ke Fei Er felt that Ni Lu didn’t seem nervous at all; instead, she was… excited?
But given the circumstances, Ke Fei Er felt she had no right to comment on her adventurous maid’s strange behavior.
“Um, then I’ll leave the escorting and cooperating to you.”
Temporarily suppressing her doubts, Ke Fei Er nodded.