Chapter 158: The Second Golden Piece

In the last thirty minutes, I probably cursed more than a thousand times, wished to die a million times, and prayed for a truck to hit me and be done with it.

The reason?

Every living person in this palace was old.

No, not just old, but extremely, sickeningly, fucking old. The maids, the nobles, the knights, the people working in the garden, and the staff were all old. No young ones, or teens, or any person looking like a living human.

"Sigh"

"My lady, are you alright? Do you want me to make you some tea?" The old hag in a maid outfit that previously looked like Luna asked.

"Huh? Yeah, of course," I replied, trying my best not to cringe and keep a straight face as I stared at the old woman.

'She looks like a bag of rotten potatoes. Well, all of them do.'

I skipped breakfast, saying that I had some important work, but the reality was a cruel one. Those four stunning women who were my breakfast were also old as fuck, and I had no stomach to see them, even less to eat or to have sex with them. If the maids, the soldiers, and the other workers were like this, the princess was no doubt the same.

"Here you go, My Queen."

"Thank you," taking the cup from the old hag, I sipped the tea, and it was horrible. It tasted like a mix of rotten eggs and shit—not that I'd tried it before, but everything now tasted extremely bad. I had to make alterations to my tongue, making it numb just to stand the awful taste.

'How did I not notice it? I had sex with an old hag,' I groaned, thinking back about my past actions with Luna.

'Shit, how about Nana?'

Nana was the only one I hadn't met today. Old Celeste said the princess was visiting a noble house and would be back by the evening.

"My queen, are you alright? Do you have a headache or something?" the old witch asked, placing her wrinkled hand on my forehead.

'Don't touch me, you old fuck,' I wanted to scream but couldn't, or things would be bad. Honestly, with my magic now back, I kinda wanted to destroy everything and be done with it. Sadly, with no info on my enemies, I'm still hesitant to act—at least for the time being.

"Ahh...no, I'm fine, but I need a bit of rest. So I'll take a nap."

"As you wish, my queen," she said with a shitty smile, trying to act cute. And every time she did that, I had a hard time not burying a fist in her face.

"Good."

"Rest well, my queen" The old witch bowed and left the room, closing the door.

"Finally," I sighed, falling on the bed, and burying my face in the pillow. "Why does this trial hate me so much? Why do I have to go through this shit? What did I do wrong?"

'No, no. This is not the time to feel depressed.' Pushing the bad thoughts out of my mind, I got up and headed for the bathroom.

'Time to relax a bit.'

...

"Sigh.... that's better."

Taking a long and warm bath helped me relax and organize my thoughts. After a bit of testing, I found out some interesting things.

First, the entire world was the palace. There was no outside world; all the windows and doors that led outside were just for show. I tried to open and break one but couldn't.

Second, the whole palace was covered with an illusion spell. It was a very complex and powerful one that affected everyone inside the palace.

Yes, all the people that lived here saw things as I did before. I saw two maids talking to each other in the corridor, and the way they acted, spoke, and handled themselves suggested they thought of themselves as young. Now, I could be wrong, and this was just an act forced by the trial, and it's probably true.

However, I don't give a shit about any of this. All I cared about was finding the remaining missing lock pieces. And one of them just appeared at my doorstep.

A noble was brought to my office by old Celeste, saying that he had some important things to discuss.

Sigh... the fucking pride and arrogance of the nobles, I sighed, staring at the old bag of bones that never stopped talking. Honestly, I forgot every word he said, even his name. My entire focus was on the small golden piece that decorated the hilt of his sword—the missing golden head of the lock.

"Tell you what," I suddenly spoke, catching their attention, "you can have everything you asked for on one condition."

"M-My queen, are you sure?" Old Celeste's voice was filled with confusion and concern, but I stopped her from adding any other words by raising my hand.

"What's it, Your Majesty?" the nobleman, whose name I forgot, said with a grin, showing surprisingly decent white teeth.

"You'll give me your sword."

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

Both the old man and Celeste looked at me stunned. Their faces were priceless, but they were quick to recover.

"A-Are you sure, Your Majesty?" the noble asked, clearly unsure. He was gripping the hilt of the sword as if fearing to lose it.

"Of course," I nodded, giving him a smile.

"Y-Yes, of course. I'm glad, My Queen," he nodded, taking the sword off his belt and placing it on the desk. "I hope you'll enjoy it."

"Thank you, sir," I said, taking the sword in my hand, and pretending to admire its craftsmanship. However, in truth, I was examining the golden piece to see if it was the real one or not.

"So, my queen," the old noble took a step forward, placing a hand on my back, "when can we have our wedding?"

"Eh?" I froze, staring at him, confused about the words he used. "Wait, what?"

"Our marriage," he grinned, pulling me closer. "You promised that if I gave you the sword, you would marry me."

'When the fuck did I promise something like that? Oh yeah...it was my fault, I didn't pay attention to anything he said in the first place.'

"Don't worry, my queen," he leaned closer, his hand traveling down my stomach until it reached my crotch, where he slowly began to rub my dick through the fabric of my dress. "To be a good husband for you and not disappoint you, I had my ass molded specially for you, my queen."

'HELL NO!' The monkeys in my brain were having a party, screaming and jumping around like crazy. The thought of doing it with him the natural way made me want to puke, but this old shit had his ass molded and ready to be fucked by me!

'Absolutely not!' So, with no second thought...

SLICE!

"Eh?"

With one slash of my new sword, the head of the old man fell on the floor. The blood spurted from the neck, and his body fell on its knees and finally on the ground. It was fast and clean, leaving him no chance to react.

"Y-Your Majesty? Wha—why?" Old Celeste asked, looking at the head and then at me. Her face was pale, and she was shaking like a leaf.

"He pissed me off."

"H-Huh? But you promised to marry him."

"What did you just say?" I only glanced at her from the corner of my eye, my voice cold and dark, sending chills down her spine.

"Eh? Ah... n-nothing."

"That's what I thought." I guess beheading someone in front of others is a great way to convince them from time to time, but relying solely on it can and will lead to my downfall.

"Clean this shit," I ordered, walking out of the office and heading for my room. Locking the door, I immediately made my way to the secret chamber.

"Now for the second piece."

Standing in front of the glass tube, I stared at the woman inside for a moment before walking behind, placing the golden headpiece into the lock. Unlike the last time, there was no surge of mana or anything. Only the woman inside the glass tube lost more of her features. Now she looked totally different, unable to be categorized as a man, woman, or anything in between.

Extremely pale, bald, flat chest, no penis or vagina, just a closed skin. She had no nose, lips, or ears, and no eyes.

"This is so fucking strange."

It was like looking at an alien creature or a clone being made in the tube; it had no life and no movement.

'I don't like this.'

Clap! Clap!

"!!!"

At that moment, a loud sound echoed in the chamber, making me flinch. Turning my head toward the source, I was stunned.

"You managed to get this far, Mother."

"Nana-chan?

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