Ephraim and Nate still had other duties to take care of. They escorted Veronica back to her room and said their farewells. Nate was a little upset to leave her side but knew that he needed to convince Emperor Isaac to train the princess. Veronica appreciated his passion and saw them off as soon as she entered her room. Once alone, she sighed heavily.

This just got more troublesome, didn’t it? Veronica pinched her temple. How am I supposed to prove that the empress was suppressing Genevieve?

Scaring her, the system popped up in front of her face with a message.

Announcement!

You’re such a smart cookie! You found out what Empress Delilah was poisoning Princess Genevieve with by just context clues alone!

You get a bonus gift box for rapid completion!

Reward:

Gift box x2

“Now you show up…” A bead of sweat appeared on her cheek. “I wonder what could be inside of these.”

Before she could even tell the system to have her open them, banging could be heard at her door. She saw red.

“You better have a good fucking reason for banging on an imperial princess’ door like that!” She screamed.

There was silence. It irritated her further so she swung the door open, slamming it against Genevieve’s beautifully done bedroom walls. She may have slammed it a bit too hard. She swore she heard a crack.

Standing in front of Veronica was a different maid, trembling from her sudden outburst. “Y-Your highness, Princess Genevieve-!”

“What do you want?” Veronica questioned her, crossing her arms.

“I j-just wanted to make sure that you t-took your medicine before your afternoon n-nap…” The maid stuttered.

In her hands was a bowl with dark brown liquid. Its viscosity was unknown. Veronica stared at it hard.

“It’s darker than usual,” Veronica pointed out.

“It’s your first day waking up from a month long slumber, your highness…” The maid averted her eyes from her. “The empress made sure to up your dose so you can feel better.”

More like to kill me quicker…

“I’m not taking a nap,” Veronica shook her head. “Besides, I haven't eaten anything yet. I’m not about to take medicine on an empty stomach.”

She protested. “But the empress-”

Veronica cut her off, “The empress mother will understand when I say I refuse to take this sedative without having something to eat. I’ve already gone the whole morning without so much as a smidge of bacon or egg.”

“Your highness-!”

“If you understand where I’m coming from, come back to my room with an assortment of platters to placate this hunger. Only then will I take the medicine.”

She wanted to protest further but decided not to. The brazen maid thought for a second. Veronica was studying her face to see what she’ll say next.

Surprisingly, her next words were satisfactory, “Then, I’ll come back with a tray of food for you to eat, your highness. Afterwards, please take your medicine.”

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Veronica smiled at the maid. “Please feed me a large selection so I can nap happily.”

“As you wish, princess.” The maid turned away with the liquid suppressant, heading down the steps.

Satisfied, Veronica gently closed the door, “She must be out of her gods-damned mind if she thinks I’m going to drink that.”

The system appeared beside her and propped up a message.

Attention!

Would you like to open your gift boxes?

Yes No

“Oh, thank you for reminding me.” She pressed ‘Yes.’ “If it weren’t for the fact that I was rudely interrupted, I would’ve opened them already.”

Two gift boxes appeared in front of her. She immediately pulled on the ribbons. Once they disappeared, two unique items took their place. One was a glass, diamond-shaped phial of red liquid and another was a ticket.

Veronica reached out to grab them and looked at the ticket first, “What am I supposed to do with this? I doubt that movies exist in this time period.”

The system giggled while answering her.

Announcement!

This ticket allows entry into a gate that’s already in progress! The gate will reopen and allow one person to cross over upon use.

After the person gets in the gated instance, the ticket will dissipate.

“I don’t even know what you mean by a gate.” She looked at the system confused. “The only gates I know are fences that surround your property.”

The system loaded another message.

Announcement!

First, we will explain what a gate is in this world’s terms.

A gate is an instance that’s created through the corpse of a human or other animal. This phenomenon happens when a necromancer attempts at reviving something higher than their rank.

The deceased creature lets out a miasma before inevitably transforming into a gate. The rank of the gate depends on the rank of the creature. The higher the rank, the higher the gate, the higher the rewards upon completion!

Sometimes, necromancers go too far and try to revive humans. Due to the human’s complicated anatomy and physiology, it’s impossible for a human to be revived without error. The human corpse will always turn into a gate. The rank of the gate depends on the human’s past. The harder their life, the higher the gate’s rank.

The human will chant, as if being possessed, hold their arms out, and inevitably let out miasma before turning into a gate.

Veronica checked the door every now and then for sounds of footsteps. The last thing she wanted was for the maid to come back and hear her talking to herself when there’s no other human inside the room.

“If gates are made from corpses, and necromancers are making them, wouldn’t it be best to just stop trying to resurrect every little thing?” She was confused by the logic.

Another message appeared.

Announcement!

That would be too easy now, wouldn’t it?

Necromancers have to use their skill ‘Resurrection’ in order to harbor familiars. The more familiars a necromancer has, the higher their rank. Due to this fact, telling a necromancer to simply ‘stop’ is the same as stagnating their growth.

However, it’s because they need familiars to get stronger the reason why gates appear in the first place. Most accidentally create a gate. Some purposely create gates just to stir conflict.

It’s become such a problem that the Ulrich Empire bans necromancy for anything other than research purposes. That research is conducted in any of the four necromancy towers placed in each direction on the far corners of each border, away from the empire’s citizens.

“If it’s so bad, why build towers for research purposes? What are they possibly researching with necromancy?” Veronica kept an ear at the door for safekeeping. “It just sounds like an excuse to create more gates.”

She had a lot of questions. It just didn’t make sense why something is being researched when it’s so devastating to surrounding lifeforms. She could stand here and contemplate on this all day if it weren’t for the fact that she doesn’t have much time to begin with.

That maid will come back any minute now.

It can’t be helped. I’ll have to find out more later.

She motioned to the phial in her hands, “And what about this?”

The system message loaded another message.

Announcement!

This is a mana enhancing potion! One sip will enhance your mana by 10% for one hour. There are ten sips in this phial!

Take a sip before taking the suppressant to cancel out its effects.

“Oh?” Veronica smirked. “How convenient.”

As if on cue, a few polite knocks came at the door, “Princess, your meal is ready!”

Veronica didn’t realize the girl’s footsteps because of how distracted she was. She popped the cork off the phial and took a quick swig.

The system appeared before her with another message.

Announcement!

Your mana has been enhanced by 10%!

Time remaining:

00:59:55

“Nice.” She made her way over to the couch and laid on it comfortably, legs sprawled in two different directions.

Before she knew it, both her potion and gate entry ticket had vanished. Confused, she looked at her hands where they used to be. The system quickly popped up in front of her with a message.

Announcement!

Your items were stashed away in your inventory! If you want to access it, just say, ‘inventory!”

“Princess?” the maid called out from behind the door again, knocking again.

Veronica nodded in acknowledgement to the system’s message and shouted back, “So you learned your lesson, then?! Enter!”

The system vanished and the maid entered the room with a cart full of food and snacks. From steak and cakes to oodles of noodles with a side of snickerdoodles. Veronica was practically eating with her eyes before the food was placed in front of her.

“I present to you, your meal, Princess Genevieve,” The maid bowed in respect. “Today, the chef made blue rare, wagyu steak with mashed potatoes sprinkled with gravy and cheddar. On your side is a mandarin orange salad and a tall glass of sparkling strawberry water, skinned and juiced.”