Female Novel
Chapter 719 The Collusion Had Begun (Part One)
Upon seeing that the tripod religiously followed Harper no matter where she went, the chief guard ofthe Secret Pavilion was deliriously heartbroken. She had put great effort in every object of the pavilion.But now, that useless tripod totally ignored her and stuck with Harper and even followed hereverywhere. There was nothing the guard could do to stop it from acting like that.
"Harper Chu, what did you do to it? Did you use some kind of spell?" the guard asked in anger. Shewas so exasperated that her voice turned more serious. As the chief guard of the pavilion, she shouldnot leave the premises. But it seemed like the object had thought of Harper as its master and wentaway with her. Therefore, the guard had no other choice but to leave the pavilion and chase after it.
Harper responded, "A spell? I can only hope that I mastered that skill. But if you're serious in askingthat, I didn't do anything to it. Come on. You can't blame me just because I entered the Secret Pavilionearlier. And, I didn't ask it to follow me. It just went out by itself and follows me wherever I go. You sawwhat happened. Why would you even question me?"
"But it's impossible for an inanimate object to—" The guard tried to protest but Harper cut her off.
"I wouldn't say that. Even an inanimate object can have intelligence. Believe it or not, I really didn't useany tricks. I swear it. I don't know what's going on with it either."
But no matter what Harper said, the guard didn't trust her words. Seeing Harper's serious expression,she didn't believe the princess would lie. But still, she was at a loss about how to deal with this trickysituation. Left without any other option, she decided to follow Harper wherever she went in order to findthe right opportunity to take the tripod back.
Meanwhile, Francis who had been seriously injured had just escaped from the imperial capital. He metup with Diana who came to pick up Hoffman. But she had not expected to see Francis instead ofHoffman.
"Where's Hoffman?" Diana asked.
In a sluggish tone, Francis responded, "He's dead. He was killed when the battle broke out in theImperial Palace. It was such a mess, and you should've seen it."
Upon hearing that, Diana frowned and refused to believe him at first. But when she thought about itmore thoroughly, she didn't think Francis would lie to her. After all, he didn't have any reason to do so,especially for such an important matter like that. "Well, now that Hoffman is dead, there's no need forme to stay here anymore," Diana nonchalantly stated and was immediately about to leave whenFrancis spoke once more.
"Princess Diana, hold on. Although Hoffman is dead, the deal is not over yet." Although Francis' woundhad been properly treated, his wound was still inflamed. The main reason was that he had run for sucha long time in order to escape. Aside from that, the country was experiencing such a very humid andhot climate. Over all, he wasn't in a very good condition.
Hearing Francis' words, Diana immediately understood what Francis truly wanted. She just smiled athim and asked, "Do you mean to say that you want to be my ally in Hoffman's place?"
"Why not? I'm sure you're well aware that a partnership with me is more advantageous than that withHoffman. Besides, he had been a useless man since a long time ago. I had removed all of his men inthe south domain. Are you sure you don't want to be allies with me?" Francis asked. Even though hewas having a fever, he would never show any weakness.
After thinking about his words carefully, Diana figured out something by reading along the lines. "Whatdo you mean by that? Are there members of the south domain's army that are yours?"
Francis gestured for her to come closer with his finger. Diana immediately obliged and listenedattentively. Francis whispered something in her ear. The moment he started talking, her face changed.
Francis was very satisfied to see how she reacted. He then asked, "So do you think I'm qualified to beyour ally?"
Diana's stare which was intense since they started talking immediately softened. "Of course yes. PrinceFrancis, I can see that you don't look well. It's fortunate that I happen to have some medical skills. Doyou mind if I check up what's wrong?"
"Oh? That would be great. Please do so."
Diana knew that Francis was having a fever but she was still shocked when she unwrapped thebandage around his belly. The wound was so deep and now it was festering with inflammation. It waswhy he had a very high fever. Diana was actually surprised that he could be so calm while they weretalking even though his body was in such a terrible condition. No wonder he was able to cause such ahuge stir in the Bright Dynasty. He was indeed capable.
With a cunning smile, Diana said, "Your wound has festered. I have to remove the slough and re-applythe medicine. It will hurt so badly once I remove it though. Do you need to—"
But before she could finish speaking, Francis interrupted her, "Just go ahead. I'm not afraid of pain."Despite the circumstance at hand, his voice was still very gentle. He even had a tender smile on hisface.
Diana only sneered in response. In her opinion, even though he was acting very brave and saying all ofthose things, he would groan miserably because of the tremendous pain when she began the process.novelbin
Without saying anything more, she took out a jar of wine from a secret drawer in the carriage. Then,she poured some alcohol on her dagger to sterilize it. Proving that she had the skills, she swiftlyremoved the rotten part of skin on Francis' wound.
Huge beads of sweat gathered on Francis' calm face. Even though he was suffering extreme pain andhis body was even shivering, he didn't utter a single word. The warm smile remained on his pale faceall throughout the procedure.
Diana noticed this and a flicker of newfound appreciation flashed in her eyes. "Prince Francis, you'rereally something. You can even have a decent smile on your face when you're suffering from suchsevere pain. I must admit that I'm starting to admire you."
"A smile is always better than a tear. What's more, I don't really like to cry in front of women," Francissaid. His voice still sounded calm. The pain of cutting his flesh was nothing compared to the pain in hisheart. The woman he loved the most had stabbed him.
"That's a great outlook! You are a tough man and I respect you for that," Diana exclaimed while shepoured a bowl of wine and handed it to him.
Francis took it and drank it off in one go. "Now that we have reached an agreement, what are you goingto do next?"
"First, I'm going back to the South Kingdom. I need to discuss with my father before making anysignificant move. Matthew is not easy to deal with. If we do anything against him without a good plan,he will dispatch his men to attack the South Kingdom. That would certainly be a great loss for us. I can'ttake that risk," Diana stated while she helped Francis to dress the wound and bandage it beforeapplying some medicine to prevent any kind of infection again.
"I have a plan to lure him to the South Kingdom. Once he's there, he'll be weak because he's not veryfamiliar with that place. It would be easy for you to kill him. Don't you think so? Moreover, as long asMatthew is dead, Lucas wouldn't be a threat to us at all," Francis said. The weariness was apparent inhis voice. His face had already turned red because of the fever. After the wound was bandaged, heleaned against the wall of the carriage.