In the early spring of the Year 845, the air still retained a biting chill and at this time, only one week remained until the Colossal Titan kicked open the gates of Shiganshina District.
Ellie hugged the shadows of the grass and sneaked toward Rod Reiss’s chapel.
Today, the Reiss Family was going to hold a deeply taboo secret ritual in the underground chapel and to ensure the ritual was not disturbed, most of the elite guards and stewards in the Reiss Estate were transferred there.
“A secret ritual…”
Ellie frowned.
She had spent four years finally figuring out the guards’ shift rotation pattern!
She knew very well that this was her only and last chance!
At this time, the chapel door was half-open, so as Ellie glanced left and right and, confirmed that no one was nearby, she immediately slipped inside.
To find this place, she had spent a full four years piecing together the location of the secret compartment bit by bit from the servants’ idle chatter, the priest’s activity routes, and a few unremarkable supply records!
If her intelligence was correct, the item should be hidden right here!
Ellie walked quickly to the old bookshelf on the side of the chapel and lifted the heavy blanket spread on the floor.
“The third column on the left, the fourth shelf…”
She stood on tiptoe and laboriously pulled out a church scripture from the bookshelf that was thick enough to be used as a brick and behind the book, an inconspicuous wooden protrusion was indeed hidden!
“Found it!”
Ellie’s heart leaped with joy, and she hurriedly reached out to press the mechanism.
“Click.”
A soft sound came!
The floor in front of the bookshelf revealed a gap only as wide as a finger but beneath the gap, a secret interlayer was obviously hidden!
It’s really here!
Overjoyed, Ellie was just about to lift the wooden board when footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.
“Damn it!”
She hurriedly pressed the wooden board back into place and kicked the blanket flat with her foot.
Afterward, she crawled into the space beneath the cabinet next to her, pulled the hanging curtain in front of her, and shrank into the shadows.
As the footsteps grew closer and closer, Ellie began to hold her breath, not even daring to breathe heavily.
Fortunately, the person outside stopped in the hallway.
“My lord, the guards at the underground chapel are all in place.”
“Mhm, thank you for your hard work.”
Rod Reiss said somewhat tiredly.
“Is there anything unusual on Marta’s side recently?”
“No, Lady Marta is as well-behaved as ever.
As for Miss Ellie…
Her recent coursework remains excellent, and she seems very attentive to horseback riding and self-defense, and Instructor Traute’s evaluation of her is quite good.”
Rod chuckled lowly and said with rare gentleness, “Ellie…
This child is indeed smart, even more quick-witted than several of my legitimate children.”
“To be honest, as a father, I quite like her.”
Ellie, hiding under the table, curled her lips.
Knowing Rod’s personality well, she knew that Rod’s affection would definitely not be without a price and sure enough, Rod’s tone changed next.
“However, the inheritance of the Power of the Titans cannot afford a single mistake.”
“If Frieda or any of the other children suffer some irreversible accident…
Ellie flows with the royal blood of the Reiss Family, after all.
I believe that with her clever mind, she will surely understand the mission she was born for.”
Ellie couldn’t help but frown.
Hearing the meaning of these words…
Could that old bastard Rod already be starting to treat her as a spare vessel for the Founding Titan?
Damn it…
She tightly clenched her small fists in the dark.
Ellie had always known what kind of person Rod was.
Without exaggeration, Rod was selfish, cowardly, and terrified of dying!
He clearly possessing royal blood himself, he had never even thought of inheriting the Founding Titan personally!
As long as the power of the Founding Titan could be continued, whether younger brothers or daughters, they were merely vessels that could be replaced at any time!
Ellie had known all of these things originally but knowing it was one thing, hearing it with her own ears was another matter.
Truly disgusting!
“You don’t dare to shoulder the power yourself, so you want to push your lovely daughter up to die in your place?”
As the footsteps gradually faded away, and Rod and his confidant left the corridor after confirming it was safe, Ellie crawled out from under the cabinet and reached her hand into the secret compartment in the floor.
From that secret compartment, she felt out a glass syringe filled with pale white liquid.
Inside this syringe was precisely the spinal fluid that could turn someone into a Pure Titan!
Unexpectedly, the spinal fluid she had been yearning for was actually hidden in this place!
To be fair, this was completely different from the location where the syringe was stored in her memory…
But after a brief moment of astonishment, Ellie quickly let it go, with Rod Reiss’s cautious, suspicious, and cowardly personality, how could he possibly keep such a treasure related to royal inheritance in the same place year-round?
Periodically transferring locations, and even preparing several hiding spots known only to himself, was much more fitting for that guy’s style.
“No wonder I couldn’t find it no matter how I looked before…”
Ellie held the precious syringe and said with pleasant surprise.
“This cheap dad of mine has really given me a huge surprise!”
She carefully hid the syringe close to her body inside the interlayer of her undergarments, and then quickly restored the secret compartment to its original state and before leaving the door, she glanced at the full-length mirror in the corner of the chapel.
The ten-year-old girl in the mirror wore an exquisite lace-trimmed long dress, her short golden hair soft and docile, looking like a delicate rose carefully nurtured in a greenhouse but who would have thought that inside this little girl’s arms was a secret weapon capable of overturning the entire kingdom?
“Since you can decide to let me inherit the Power of the Titans…”
Ellie smiled at herself in the mirror, a trace of ruthlessness flashing in her eyes.
“Then I’m sorry, I choose to inherit the Colossal Titan!”
…
That afternoon, the sunlight was warm and mild.
Frieda came to Ellie’s room as usual but today, she didn’t bring the storybook Ellie liked to hear, but instead pulled out a small silver ring from her pocket.
“Ellie, this is for you.”
Frieda took Ellie’s hand and gently placed the ring on her thumb.
“This is something Big Sister wore when she was a child; it can serve as an amulet.”
“If you encounter danger in the future, just grip it tightly, and Big Sister will definitely protect you.”
Ellie looked at Frieda’s clear violet eyes and lowered her head with a guilty conscience, the day the wall was breached was next week, and this was probably the last time the two sisters would meet.
“Big Sister…”
Ellie suddenly threw herself into Frieda’s arms, tightly wrapping her arms around her neck, making Frieda somewhat surprised.
“Oh my, what’s wrong?
Do you want to eat something delicious again?”
Frieda gently patted her back, her smile full of doting affection.
“No…
I just want…
to have Big Sister stay with me a little longer.”
Ellie buried her face deeply in the fragrant crook of Frieda’s neck and Marta, standing nearby, who was tidying up Ellie’s outdoor cloak and couldn’t help smiling and complaining upon hearing this.
“Miss Frieda, please don’t spoil her too much, this child has been acting mysterious lately, locking herself in her room all day tinkering with who knows what, not even letting me, her mother, go in.”
Hearing this, Ellie turned her head away and sighed silently in Frieda’s arms.
I’m sorry…
she had once tried to persuade everyone to leave home for a period of time around the wall breach, but everyone dismissed her words.
Rod had even warned her not to let her imagination run wild, saying too much might instead arouse suspicion from him and the Central Military Police.
Sigh…
No one would believe the so-called “future” she spoke of…
That’s right, she was just an illegitimate daughter with no say whatsoever; what ability did she have to change the future?
Matters had reached this point, she only hoped Marta could be safe and sound!
…
Late at night, all was dead silent.
When the distant clock tower struck the muffled midnight bell, a petite dark shadow carrying a bulging pack sneaked out of the estate’s back door.
In the stable, a black steed had been waiting for a long time as Ellie nimbly vaulted onto the horse, turned back, she took one last look at the Reiss Estate sleeping in the night.
“Goodbye, dad.
From now on, the story is being rewritten by me!”
“Hyah!”
The ten-year-old girl squeezed the horse’s flanks with her legs, and girl and horse shot out like an arrow off a bowstring, melting into the boundless night and heading straight for Shiganshina District in the south.