A week has passed while the king and queen were investigating, and they found quite a few things!
For example, the plan to use insane prisoners—which went terribly wrong—revealed that the destruction was actually caused by the prince.
There were also several schemes to harm the princess. But it's all a bit blurry because the princess herself made plans on top of—or rather beneath—those. Since both were at fault, their wrongdoings were nullified but stored away in a corner of their minds.
But then, after all that, they discovered, the princess, that she had done nothing wrong. On the contrary, she had spent every day studying in the library and even helped the gardeners by buying them tools or anything else they needed.
Even though she's also connected by friendship to a woman named Naturia—perhaps even more than just friendship—the king and queen turn a blind eye. A simple youthful fling; who hasn't had one?
But aside from that, nothing major. An animal park, but that's all—just little schemes here and there, but in royalty, things like that are perfectly normal.
As for Léno, the prince, things are more complicated. Clearly wanting to be king, he started scheming to gain the support of the nobles, but after several failed attempts against the princess, some abandoned him.
But yes, the most serious thing—after interrogating Isolde—is that the prince wanted to use the contract against Rosia and even use them, his own parents, to make sure Rosia had no chance left.
How could their own son want to use them like that?! And especially selling market shares of the kingdom and even offering land to the kingdom of Célarion?!
Now, the real question is: how could he mess up and give away his own contract?
Well, that, the king and queen have no idea about—and rightly so! How could they possibly know that a little Zerg queen like me, still newborn, orchestrated all that? Especially when they don't even know what a Zerg is! Do they even know such a race exists?
Anyway, this all took a week using their personal assassins and spies—whom I conveniently parasitized along the way... It was easy with the new Parasite Illusion effect!
By the way, Jon Conrade, the head of Rosia's knights, who had been stuck at 99% parasitization, finally hit 100% after learning what the prince planned to do to Rosia. Out of pity and sympathy for her, the last resistance broke!
At last, all of Rosia's personal knights are now fully parasitized. Jon really held out for a while—damn!
As for the prince, he used Hemlock Blossom to spy on Rosia, revealing all her movements to him, but he now seems to take those reports with a grain of salt, clearly trusting no one anymore—not even Hemlock Blossom.
Finally, after a week, the king and queen summoned Rosia and the foolish prince.
The two appeared in the throne room.
"We've investigated… Léno, you've truly disappointed us! Not only did you wreak havoc in our city, killing many of our people…"
The king picked up where the queen left off. Did they rehearse this?
"But you also sold shares of our kingdom's market, putting our economy in Célarion's hands, and on top of that, you wanted to give them land once you became king?!"
"How could you do something so foolish, weakening our realm?!"
Impressive—when one finishes, the other continues. They definitely practiced!
"And as for you, Rosia…"
"Although making plans against one of our royal gardeners isn't something we can condone!"
"It seems that after your brother used those plans and your reputation was ruined, you calmed down."
"We know you've been studying in the royal library and reconciled with the gardener, even starting a relationship with her."
"For now, we're not concerned. Everyone has youthful flings—we had them too, right my love?"
"Yes, my dear. Rosia, we both had our share."
While they were speaking, the prince ground his teeth, glaring at Rosia for being in a relationship with Naturia! If looks could kill, Rosia would have died a hundred times over.
"But why study in the royal library when you had no chance of becoming queen?"
"Mother, Father... I must admit that at first, I was just bored. With my ruined reputation, no one wanted to be around me, so I started studying…"
"But now, I do it because I enjoy it."
"I see," said the queen, nodding, satisfied that Rosia was telling the truth.
"Rosia, from now on, you may return and fight for the right to become queen!"
"What?! Mother! Why give her the right again when you took it away before?!"
"Rosia has changed! Now silence, Léno!"
"Furthermore, we are giving you one last chance to become king! You should be grateful we're not stripping you of that right!"
Though furious—extremely furious—the prince could only thank them.
"Thank you, Mother, for your consideration."
"You may leave, Léno. We have things to discuss with Rosia in private."
"Yes, Father."
Once Léno had left in anger, the king continued.
"Rosia, we are assigning you two individuals who will answer only to your commands."
The queen continued the sentence.
"An assassin and a spy."
As she spoke, two masked women appeared in the room, kneeling before Rosia.
"This is your assassin. Her name: Belladonna Blossom."
A tall and slender woman, every movement silent. Her jet-black hair, cut into a sharp bob that brushes her jawline, frames a face with fine, angular features. Pale skin contrasts with the deep violet eyes peeking through the black mask.
"And this is your spy. Her name: Amaryllis Blossom."
Of average height with harmonious curves, her auburn hair with coppery highlights is long but can be shortened at will—right now styled short around the eye mask. Her sun-kissed skin is dotted with freckles that give her an almost innocent look. Her emerald green eyes, visible through the mask, appear sweet at first glance. Her smile is gentle—but full of danger.
"They are yours now, Rosia."
"Thank you, Mother, Father."
"You may go now. We look forward to seeing your actions."
"I will do my best to make you proud!"
Oh yes, they'll be very proud of our plan! Or not!
Once in her quarters, Rosia served tea to her two new attendants—tea filled with Love Parasite ~
"Drink, and tell me a little about yourselves."
The two sat down—normally they wouldn't, but how could they refuse an invitation from their mistress?
Once seated and after drinking the entire tea, chatting with their new mistress, they vanished into the shadows, awaiting orders.