Chapter 33

"Thud!"

Another black-cloth-wrapped corpse dropped down, and the maids nearby didn't even flinch.

A moment later, two or three guards dragged the body away.

Ever since word spread that the Imperial Advisor would personally preside over Duke Peter's consecration ceremony, assassins had been showing up at Peter's manor every few days.

The people in Peter's manor had more or less gotten used to it.

Duke Peter had been all smiles lately. He placed great importance on this ceremony—its scale far exceeding that of the previous Human Emperor's.

No one voiced any objections openly, but what they said in private was anyone's guess.

Peter, however, clearly didn't care, busying himself with preparations for the most glorious and important ritual of his life.

Meanwhile, Rao Ke, Kalisa, Phylosain, and the others were deep in the shop's expansion.

To strengthen his ties with Rao Ke, Duke Peter often visited the shop to buy things and promote it.

Amid this tense and strange atmosphere, Peter's consecration ceremony arrived quietly.

In the palace, the upcoming consecration festival made the place lively, with servants bustling about.

In the banquet hall, nobles in resplendent attire, adorned with gold and jade, gathered in small groups, whispering among themselves.

Rao Ke, clad in a black robe, sat in the farthest corner, sipping a glass of red wine.

Mo Duoya chatted with a striking woman with long brown hair and a gown threaded with gold, exchanging a glance with Rao Ke across the crowd.

Rao Ke slightly raised her glass, and Mo Duoya raised hers in return.

"So that's the owner of Keke Shop?" the brown-haired woman said, eyeing Rao Ke with interest.

Mo Duoya clinked her glass and gave her a playful wink. "Yes, Babaka. The things in her shop are truly amazing—you'll love them."

Babaka was indeed curious about Rao Ke's goods, but right now she was more worried about her friend.

She leaned in close and whispered in Mo Duoya's ear, "What are we going to do about the Human Emperor's death?"

Mo Duoya's smile never wavered; she only said mysteriously, "You'll see in a moment. The show is about to begin."

Babaka had grown up with Mo Duoya and knew her temperament well. If Mo Duoya was this confident, it meant she had a solid plan and a trump card up her sleeve.

"Then I'll wait and see," Babaka said, clinking glasses with Mo Duoya.

The glasses clinked crisply, wine swirling in smooth arcs.

Meanwhile, Peter, the man everyone was thinking about, had changed into the Human Emperor's ceremonial robes and arrived at Anier's bedchamber.

"Anier, do you still hate me? When you reach my age, you'll understand that everything I've done was right," Peter murmured to his daughter, whose eyes were shut.

Anier kept her eyes closed, refusing to acknowledge him.

Peter checked the time, found it was about right, and prepared to leave.

Just then, Anier suddenly spoke.

"Father, though I still hate you, as your daughter, I must warn you—watch out for the Seventh Princess. She's anything but ordinary."

Her words made Peter pause, then he chuckled lightly.

"Don't worry. Once I'm Human Emperor, I'll send her to the grave to join her brother. No matter how capable she is, right now she's just a fledgling."

With that, he swept his sleeve and left.

Anier opened her eyes, gazing at the direction Peter had gone, and a faint smile crept across her pale face.

From somewhere, she produced a dagger and thrust it into her own heart.

She met death with a smile on her face.

Duke Peter arrived at the banquet hall with a smile, but for no reason at all, he felt a pang of dread, as if he had lost something very important.

The moment Duke Peter entered, the room fell silent for a beat, then buzzed back to life.

Nobles crowded around him with congratulations.

Mo Duoya stood in a corner, watching Duke Peter from the shadows.

"Ding—ding—"

With the resounding chime of bells, the consecration ceremony began.

Whatever they truly felt, everyone walked up the steps and stood waiting in deference.

Duke Peter stood on the highest platform, awaiting the Imperial Advisor.

"Boom—"

The knights pushed open the heavy double doors. The Imperial Advisor still didn't show his face, but his black robe had been traded for a white-and-gold ceremonial gown.

In his hands, he held a jade platter covered in red velvet, upon which rested the scepter and crown that symbolized the Human Emperor.

The Imperial Advisor walked step by step toward Duke Peter, whose smile grew brighter and brighter.

As the Imperial Advisor drew closer, Peter felt the throne drawing nearer too.

"The consecration ceremony now officially begins!" The Imperial Advisor announced solemnly, accompanied by a majestic symphony.

After several tedious steps, they finally reached the crowning.

The Imperial Advisor picked up the crown, and Duke Peter lowered his head. At that very moment—

"Hold on!"

Mo Duoya stepped forward, raising a sword in one hand and lifting her skirt with the other. Every eye in the room fell on her.

"Is something the matter, Princess Mo Duoya?" The Imperial Advisor withdrew the crown and looked at her.

Duke Peter gave her a sinister glare.

Mo Duoya, under the weight of countless stares, curled her lips into a smile. "I simply think that letting the man who murdered the previous Human Emperor take the throne is hardly a good thing for the empire."

The words caused an immediate uproar, with whispers spreading through the crowd.

Duke Peter's face darkened, and he exchanged a glance with a noble from his faction below.

Someone immediately stepped forward to attack Mo Duoya, but she couldn't be bothered to argue. She casually tossed something, and a recording of Peter and Anier's conversation played out in midair.

Mo Duoya watched Duke Peter's shifting expression, finding it more entertaining than any play.

"The former Human Emperor's tyranny weakened the empire, and I saw it with my own eyes, grieved..." Duke Peter's speech was utterly hollow, but with so many supporters present, he scraped by.

Mo Duoya smiled. "And what about the Lord's Heart?"

At her words, even the neutral nobles voiced their agreement.

Peter nervously looked at the Imperial Advisor, who calmly withdrew a ball of light from his sleeve.

The orb floated toward Peter, whose face lit up with joy. He reached out to take it.

But the orb darted aside cleverly, snatching up the crown and scepter from the Imperial Advisor's hands as it went, then flew straight to Mo Duoya.

The orb merged into Mo Duoya's body, and the crown settled upon her head.

Duke Peter's eyes bulged with rage as he glared at the Imperial Advisor, whose face was hidden beneath his hood. The Advisor merely said one line, sending Peter into an even greater fury.

"The Lord's Heart has chosen Princess Mo Duoya. She is the new Human Emperor."

"Impossible..." Duke Peter roared, and with a wave of his hand, knights bearing the Peter family crest surrounded the entire hall.

Panic erupted on the spot.

Mo Duoya, completely unruffled, held the scepter and said lightly, "Earl, why so worked up~"

Under Peter's furious glare, Mo Duoya waved a hand, and a troop of knights in full armor surged in, taking control of the scene.

Mo Duoya looked at the stunned Peter and said playfully, "I told you, no need to be so hot-headed~"

"The Knights of Light! How is that possible?!" Peter stared in disbelief at the knights below, then turned to Mo Duoya. "You dare to forge the legacy of Emperor Peibaibi!"

Facing Peter's accusation, Mo Duoya merely said lightly, "Duke, you seem to be raving. How could I possibly deceive Captain Gracie?"

Gracie, standing beside Mo Duoya, remained silent, merely guarding her.

To be honest, when Mo Duoya first produced a parchment claiming to be Emperor Peibaibi's legacy, Gracie had been furious and wanted to arrest her on the spot.

But upon closer inspection, it really was the Emperor's relic, so he agreed to assist Mo Duoya in her bid for the throne.

With even the Knights of Light mobilized, Peter could clearly feel the tide turning against him, and he sagged in defeat.

"I can die, but Anier is innocent." Peter knelt on the ground.

How touching, that familial love. Mo Duoya smiled faintly, then looked at Peter and said, word by word,

"Anier died just now—suicide. Though I'd say it's more accurate to say you killed her." Her words cut through Peter's heart like a blade.

Peter's face flushed crimson, and in the end, he died on the spot—choked to death by his own rage.

Mo Duoya looked at Peter's corpse and simply had the Knights of Light take it away.

She walked up to the dais and surveyed the nobles hemmed in by the Knights of Light, letting out a soft laugh.

Truly a pack of rats...

"Everyone, since the Lord's Heart has acknowledged me, I will not fail that trust. I shall lead the Human Empire to new heights." Mo Duoya raised the scepter high.

"The stage is set, so let's not waste it." She simply turned Peter's consecration into her own.

Whether they were sincere or not, the assembled nobles dutifully watched the ceremony to its end, then hurried into their carriages and fled the palace.

Word of what happened in the palace spread through the capital like wildfire, then raced across the entire Kachisha Continent.

Kalisa felt the glow of the red jade bracelet on her wrist and said quietly to Rao Ke, who had witnessed everything from the corner, "Shopkeeper, I need to take care of something."

Rao Ke paused. "Go ahead. Be careful."

Kalisa nodded and slipped away unnoticed.

Not long after Kalisa left, a Knight of Light approached Mo Duoya and whispered something in her ear.

Mo Duoya's expression remained calm. "No matter. Someone else will deal with him."

Rao Ke sensed Mo Duoya's gaze and smiled, lifting her glass in salute, then in the next second, she was back at Peter's manor.

The manor was in chaos, servants looting gold, silver, jewelry, potions, and weapons.

Phylosain stood off to the side watching with amusement, beside a trembling mage who even held a small peacock in his arms.

"Come on, let's head back to the room," Rao Ke instructed, and Phylosain took the small peacock from the mage's arms.

The mage took off running immediately.

The little peacock lay quietly in Phylosain's arms, breathing shallowly, looking like an exquisite doll.

Back in the room, Rao Ke urgently purchased a baby cradle and had Phylosain place the peacock inside.

Phylosain carefully set it down, adjusted its sleeping position, and then gently tucked a blanket over it.

"Sorry for the trouble," Rao Ke said, sinking into a plush chair.

Phylosain settled into the chair beside her, complaining, "You all got to go to the palace and watch the fun, but I had to stay here babysitting that little chick."

"There's no helping it—someone had to stay, and you're a demon. Peter wouldn't have invited you anyway," Rao Ke explained, though Phylosain remained sulky.

"Hmph, that's why he never became Human Emperor. Let someone that short-sighted take the throne, and the empire would probably fall apart," Phylosain sniffed.

Rao Ke smiled, agreeing with him, subtly smoothing his feathers.

Meanwhile, Kalisa had arrived at the outskirts of the city, where Peter's "corpse" sat atop a pile of bodies.

"Duke Peter." Kalisa looked at the "corpse" and called out softly.

After a moment, the corpse's eyes snapped open.

Peter staggered to his feet. If it weren't for some special life-preserving trick, he'd have been done for back there.

"Why did only you come? What about that witch?" Peter frowned.

Kalisa kept her head down and said quietly, "She won't be coming."

Peter looked at her, fists clenching. "What do you mean?"

Kalisa drew a dagger and lunged at him. "I mean it's time for you to join the dead!"

Peter, still weak from his escape spell, could only clumsily cast his magic, desperately trying to control Kalisa through the red jade bracelet.

Kalisa smiled, stopping in her tracks, and said with feigned surprise, "Oh, right—didn't you know? The bracelet is controlled by whoever is stronger. You can't control me now."

Peter was horrified. "Then why did you come back?"

Kalisa clicked her tongue, looking at him as if he were a dim-witted child. "If I didn't come, how would you die?"

Seeing the terror in Peter's eyes, she smiled again—a smile that only made him more frightened. "Oh, and if you weren't so arrogant, I'd never have found you~"

Peter stammered, "You might not care about me, but what about your sister? Without my secret arts, she'll die!"

At the mention of that, Kalisa, who had been calm, flared with anger. "You dare bring her up? You think I don't know?"

Peter deflated, realizing there was no escape. "Hmph."

He had been so careful not to trust Kalisa with power, precisely because he couldn't trust someone whose family he had destroyed.

"Since you don't want to die so easily, let's play a little game," Kalisa chuckled.

Peter was petrified.

"Alright, time's up. Time for you to go," Kalisa said, yanking the weakened Peter toward her and plunging the dagger into his heart.

She gave the wicked man his final send-off.

Watching Peter go limp and topple over, Kalisa lit a fire, burning him to ash, then walked away without a backward glance.

...

"You're back." Rao Ke sat in the plush chair, watching Kalisa return, travel-worn.

Kalisa nodded softly, then walked to the cradle, her gaze softening as she looked at the sleeping little peacock.

"Go get cleaned up. We're having hotpot tonight," Rao Ke said, flipping through a comic book.

"Mm." Kalisa acknowledged quietly, then turned to wash up.

The moment Kalisa left, Phylosain wheeled a cart of supplies over.

"Alright, let's set this up. A little gathering tonight," Rao Ke said, getting up to pull out a small round table and start arranging things.

When Kalisa came out, everything was ready, just waiting for her to sit down for dinner.

"Don't be shy. It's just the three of us, a private little get-together," Rao Ke said, casually blanching a slice of potato.

Kalisa took her seat, and Phylosain immediately piled a mountain of food onto his plate.

"Click!"

With nothing better to do, Rao Ke snapped a bunch of photos and sent them all to the shop's employee group chat.

Rao Ke: Private hotpot dinner (attached: group photo of three)