A series of sharp whipping sounds rang out—"Pa pa pa pa!"
Elara tensed up instinctively the moment she sensed something odd in the air, but she quickly forced herself to relax.
The next moment, a spiked whip landed heavily on her body with a loud crack.
Ever since she came to this world, Elara had never been hit before, let alone whipped with something this harsh.
At the moment the whip struck her, she used her inner power to protect the area of skin and flesh it landed on.
The force of the whip was fierce, but to her, it felt no different from an old itch.
Still, Elara glanced calmly at the palace maid who had whipped her.
The head maid was a woman in her early thirties, with sharp, harsh features that showed years of giving orders with a bitter attitude.
Although women were rare in this era, it was nearly impossible for anyone else to become a personal maid serving the emperor and rise to such a position.
The head maid's status in the palace was already second only to the royal family, and the favor she had earned from serving the emperor since childhood could not be compared to any small reward.
She had long gotten used to being superior, never giving a proper glance at the other palace maids, and hitting or scolding them was a daily routine.
The palace maids who were suddenly whipped didn't dare to show any resistance or dissatisfaction.
Elara gently touched the spot where she was whipped, lowered her gaze, and made herself look the same as the other palace maids.
Only when the head maid finally finished her harsh scolding and arrogantly ordered them all to start working, did Elara obediently step back with the other maids.
When she was sure no one else was around, she instantly melted into the shadows and disappeared.
Prince Leland had already given her a detailed map of all the patrol times and routes of the shadow guards and regular guards in the Salvia Palace.
After what she had just observed herself, Elara confirmed that the strength of these guards wouldn't pose a threat to her.
She easily avoided the detection of the shadow guards and slipped past the patrolling soldiers.
Then Elara took out a map tracker that had already marked the head maid's location and darted toward her like a phantom.
Uno had just used a bee-shaped Puppet Soldier to send her a message—
The top three assassins of the Blood Garment Tower were indeed taking turns guarding the emperor's sleeping quarters.
As long as she didn't get close to the emperor's bedroom hall, there was little chance she'd be discovered with her current skills.
Elara moved lightly and swiftly. After sneaking into the residence where the head maid was, she patiently watched from the beam above.
She saw the bitter woman finish scolding and beating another group of maids, then order them to get back to work.
After making sure the area was mostly clear, Elara dropped down from the beam without a sound and appeared behind the head maid like a shadow.
She first struck her mute and then, seeing the shock and fear in the woman's eyes, cut her whip-wielding hand.
She silently mouthed the words "Does it hurt?"
When the head maid nodded fiercely, her face filled with fear and regret, Elara stabbed a dagger directly into her heart.
As the head maid died, she moved her throat slightly, as if trying to swallow something.
But Elara, who had received detailed intel from Prince Leland, immediately dislocated the woman's jaw and clutched her throat—
Stopping her from swallowing the poison hidden in her mouth.
The palace servants who had served the Salvia Emperor since childhood all had poison in their bodies used for control and identification, and they kept another dose in their mouths at all times.
Once an emergency occurred, they only needed to bite and swallow the poison. Then, the Salvia Kingdom emperor could immediately receive the message through some means and know that something had happened in the palace, followed by taking defensive action to hide himself in the safest place.
After removing the poison hidden in the palace maid chief's throat, Elara dealt with the corpse. She stripped off the palace maid chief's outer robe and trousers, changed her hairstyle to match, then took out Emory's [Face Illusion] and swept it over the palace maid chief's body, then over her own.
In the next second, Elara gradually turned into the palace maid chief from head to toe.
Not only did her face and figure become exactly the same, but even her tone and aura changed into that harsh, arrogant manner.
Elara raised her brow and looked at the [Face Illusion] in her hand, silently praising it before putting it away. Footsteps approaching quickly could already be heard in the distance.
Elara adjusted her expression and listened as a palace servant outside spoke in a soft and fearful tone:
"Palace maid chief, His Majesty has almost finished his dinner. The items in the Forbidden Hall are already prepared. As soon as you finish verifying the last one, you can go report to His Majesty."
The Forbidden Hall was the old hall at the northernmost part of the palace, locked all year round. Only the royal family and the palace maid chief were allowed to enter.
Elara was curious about what was inside. Although Prince Leland Hanhé had told her about this Forbidden Hall, no one he had sent in had ever successfully entered it. He even suspected that the Divine Mirror or something equally important might be hidden there.
Elara mimicked the palace maid chief's sharp and impatient tone: "Got it."
After replying, Elara didn't wait for the palace servant outside to respond and arrogantly strode out of the hall, heading toward the hidden old hall in the far north of the palace.
The palace servant had no unusual reaction to her, becoming even more cautious, afraid that the "palace maid chief" might suddenly whip him for no reason.
When they were two hundred meters from the Forbidden Hall, the palace servant stopped walking and didn't dare go any farther. He bowed to Elara and then carefully backed away.
That fearful, secretive attitude, not even daring to approach, made Elara even more curious about what was hidden in the Forbidden Hall.
When she unlocked the door and pushed it open, the contents inside didn't disappoint her.
The room was filled with piles of ancestral memorial tablets stacked like mountains.
Even stranger was that the current emperor of Salvia Kingdom was supposedly the eighteenth-generation ruler named Jiingshi Yi.
But she actually saw Jiingshi Yi's memorial tablet already placed at the top of the altar.
The edges of that tablet were slightly worn from age.
Below Jiingshi Yi's memorial tablet, there was a dense layer of tablets from earlier generations.
Nineteenth generation… twentieth generation… thirty-first… thirty-ninth… forty-second…
Elara counted the number of generations in the altar of ancestral tablets and found that the memorial tablets reached up to the forty-ninth generation.
Then, who exactly was the emperor now sitting in the imperial palace?
Or rather, what generation was he from?