The rumbling did not stop.
It felt deep, like something incredibly heavy was scraping against the very bottom of the Hill.
Roxanne kept her feet wide apart on the white stone floor of the guest palace entry hall, balancing her weight as the ground trembled.
She refused to look scared.
Her stomach gave a loud, angry growl, completely ignoring the fact that the elegant, ivy-covered walls were vibrating around them.
“If this building collapses before I get a piece of bread,” Roxanne said, her voice echoing in the vast, high-ceilinged room, “I am going to personally find whoever is running that green sky eye and shove a brick down their throat.” Julian rubbed his face, leaving a streak of dark grey ash across his forehead.
He looked completely worn out.
The golden light that usually followed him around like a warm cloud was gone, replaced by the dull, yellow torchlight of the palace hallway.
“Can you think about anything other than your stomach for five seconds?
The ancient seals of the capital are literally cracking.
The world is…” “The world can wait five minutes for me to eat, Goldie,” Roxanne cut him off, her sharp tongue showing zero respect for his royal title.
“My baby dragon is growling.
When I get hungry, I get mean and I eat people, and you really do not want to deal with me when that happens.
My hair is a mess and my dress is fucking torn!
Can you give me atleast time to breathe?
Now, where is the kitchen on this hill?” Malakai chuckled.
“Can I see that baby dragon?” “Shut the fucked up, you creep!” As she turned her sight to Malakai, seeing him with his hands folded and laughing made her blood boil even more.
While Ethan just stands there looking all high and mighty that looks so stupid.
Alistair left out a sigh.
He leaned his massive broadsword against a marble pillar, the heavy metal clanking loudly.
He looked smaller without his knightly aura active, just a very large, very tired man with a silver scar on his face.
“There are no servants here, Lady Roxanne.
The guest palace on the hill was emptied when the first alarm went off at the main castle.
If you want food, we will have to find it ourselves.” “Perfect.
A do-it-yourself palace,” Roxanne muttered boredly.
She started walking down the long hallway, her torn purple dress swishing against her ankles.
It was dry now, thanks to Ethan’s magic, but it still felt heavy and stiff with dried pond water.
So much drama in my day 1 here.
Of all the people who transmigrated or reincarnated or whatever you fucking call that, I am the most ‘LUCKIEST’ who just died and brought here, just to be killed….AGAIN.
So fucking lucky indeed!
[Oh my gosh, Host!
Look at you leading the pack like a true queen!] the System suddenly yelled inside her brain.
The pink screen blinked in her mind, completely clear of icons but still incredibly annoying.
[You are directing the Crown Prince, the High Priest, the Knight Commander, and the Shadow King toward a domestic cooking adventure!
This is such a sweet, intimate trope!
They are going to see you handling food and their hearts will literally melt!
Generating your next domestic sub-quest right now!] “I swear to god, if you fucking give me a quest to bake a fucking heart-shaped cake right now, I will find a way to just kill myself,” Roxanne thought back, her internal voice sharp and dangerous.
“We are in a survival situation, you piece of junk metal.
Stop trying to turn a kitchen search into a dating site.” [Pff, a girl’s gotta eat, and men love a woman who can command the kitchen!
No quest for now, girlie, just enjoy the romantic tension of shared hunger!] “So, should I say thank you?
Like duh!
Don’t fucking expect stupid.” [Awww… our girl’s kinda cute, that’s why the heroes love you!
Anyway, you’re welcome host, enjoy eating your men, Host!], the system cheered, with a pink heart displayed like fireworks.
Roxanne glared at it, [I mean food!
Hehe] Roxanne ignored the machine and pushed open a large, heavy oak door at the end of the hall.
It led into a massive kitchen.
It was cold, dark, and smelled like dried herbs and cold stone.
Long iron tables sat in the center, and rows of copper pots hung from the ceiling like giant, dead bugs.
She didn’t wait for the men.
She marched straight to a large wooden pantry cupboard and pulled the doors open.
“Let’s see what the royal family keeps in their emergency stash,” she murmured.
Her hands rummaged through jars and boxes.
It wasn’t great.
Most of the fresh stuff was gone, but she found a hard loaf bread, a cold pot of thick tomato soup that had been left over from lunch, and a jar of pickled plums.
It was a miserable meal for a noble lady, but to Roxanne, it looked like a five-star meal.
She grabbed a wooden spoon, sat right down on the edge of the heavy iron table, with one leg resting on her side, and dug into the cold tomato soup.
It was thick, salty, and completely unheated, but she didn’t care.
She chewed a piece of the hard bread, her jaw working hard.
The four men walked into the kitchen, one by one.
They stood in the doorway, watching her eat in absolute silence.
It was a bizarre sight.
The most wanted traitor in the empire, sitting on a kitchen table in the Western Hill guest palace, eating cold soup with a wooden spoon while the sky outside flashed with a sickening green light.
“You really have no shame, do you?” Julian said, walking over and leaning against the table a few feet away from her.
He looked at the hard bread, his eyebrows twitching.
“You are eating cold leftovers.
And please, can’t you just eat like a proper lady?
Put down that foot, sit properly.
You act like a peasant.” “It’s food, Goldie,” Roxanne said around a mouthful of bread.
“Food goes in the mouth, keeps the meat-suit moving.
You should try it.
You look like you’re about to pass out, and honestly, if you faint on me, I am not carrying your heavy armor.
Besides there’s nothing wrong with my posture, don’t be so overdramatic, it’s not like it’s the first time you saw someone eating like this, duh.” Malakai chuckled from the shadows near the door.
He hadn’t sat down, but he had relaxed his shoulders.
His amber eyes caught the light of a single candle Ethan had lit on the counter.
“She has a point, Your Highness.
A hungry soldier is a dead soldier.
Though I prefer my soup with a bit more spice.” “Then go find some pepper, shadow boy,” Roxanne shot back, not even looking at him.
“And oh, Lady Roxanne?” Malakai called the attention of Roxanne’s.
“Don’t mind what his highness said, I like what I see.” he winked.
“Ew!” Roxanne automatically grabs whatever she can grab and throws it to Malakai who was laughing loudly, “Get lost, you fucking perv!” Ethan didn’t speak.
He walked over to the fireplace, his white robes rustling.
He touched the cold wood inside the fireplace with the tip of his silver staff.
A soft, clean white flame erupted, instantly filling the dark kitchen with a warm, steady glow.
He didn’t use holy chants; he just did it with a quiet flick of his wrist.
“The earth seals on this hill are holding,” Ethan said, his voice smooth and level, though his eyes looked heavy.
“But they are under great pressure.
The dragon’s eye above the main castle is searching for the core stones.
It can feel the residual magic in the air, even up here on the western slope.” Roxanne stopped chewing.
She swallowed the hard bread, her throat feeling dry.
She reached into her dress pocket and felt the heavy, cold metal object she had won from the system earlier.
The Key to the Secret Vault.
She hadn’t looked at it yet.
Slowly, she pulled her hand out of her pocket.
Resting in her palm was a large, heavy key made of solid gold.
But it wasn’t normal gold.
The metal was carved with tiny, intricate lines that looked like twisted vines, and a faint, warm orange light pulse vibrated through the handle.
It didn’t smell like the dragon’s green rot, and it didn’t smell like Ethan’s holy light.
It smelled like warm earth after a rainstorm.
The moment the key appeared in the light, the kitchen went completely dead silent.
Julian’s breath hitched.
Alistair’s hand dropped directly back to the hilt of his sword.
Ethan took a fast step forward, his pale eyes widening so much that the silver lines in his pupils became visible.
Even Malakai straightened up, his lazy smile vanishing instantly.
“Where did you get that?” Julian whispered, his voice shaking with a mix of shock and immediate suspicion.
He pointed a trembling finger at her palm.
“That…
that is the Royal Key of the First Land.
It was lost three hundred years ago when the first king’s tomb was sealed!”