Chapter 151: Playing the 'Shef'field.
*ScrrrrrrKK!*
The glass of the window quietly comes off after being cut from its placement, a shadow entering the Palace soon after its removal, unseen by anyone on the palace walls, or guarding the areas below.
Sheffield sneers at how easy it was to gain access to the place, not to mention the ease of actually infiltrating Tristania. Despite how 'on-guard' the soldiers looked, they were far more tired and inattentive than one would expect. Sheffield didn't know why this was, only that it helped her conduct her duties, which she would silently thank.
There was also the wards and magical enchantments of the royal palace to keep in mind, but with Sheffield's Mjöðvitnir runes, dealing with them was almost as easy as erasing words from paper. The runes allowed her to control any magical artifact with ease, sometimes even using said artifacts in ways that weren't intended during their creation.
For instance, the scribing chisel she'd just used. Its original purpose was to carve what was essentially the scaffolding of and enchantment before committing to it. But instead, she'd used it to disrupt the runes and enchantments comprising part of the palace's defences before slipping inside.
Now, she could have just used the Ring of Andvari to mind control her target to see if that would work, but it is likely that the palace contained many defences that would even catch a mind manipulated subject. The sons of Brimir weren't fools after all.
Now that she was inside, she uses her Shadow-Light Bracelet to cover herself in shadows and begins slowly making her way through the place. She'd used the Ring of Andvari on a palace guard a couple days ago and used his knowledge to write out a limited map, but since the man only guarded the lower levels, it was less than helpful in this instance.
Still, it wasn't as if she was in a rush. If undiscovered, she could spend as much time as she liked inside this place, stealing food from the kitchens and using a dusty storeroom to sleep. That didn't mean she would though, eventually someone might discover the window that was now missing its enchantments.
She spends around two hours just wandering around the palace, making note of guard patrols and who was actually inside the building at the moment. The Queen and Princess were present, as you'd expect from permanent residents of the place, but there was also General Gramont, his son, Teiter Gramont, and most of the councillors, barring Cardinal Mazarin, who was apparently conducting an audit on an orphanage that'd been receiving complaints. Admirable, and perhaps lucky, given what was about to occur in this place.
Gallia's spies had already outlined Tristain's political climate to Sheffield, so it wasn't hard to figure out what would be the most chaotic action. She could just try to assassinate everyone and be done with it, but that'd hardly work towards King Joseph's ambitions. They needed Tristain to still be standing so that it could restrict Germania's movements as Gallia tried to take Albion.
Anyway, Sheffield follows a certain maid as she goes to give service to one Teitar Gramont. Once she locates the man's room. She leaves again and uses the Ring of Andvari to mind control the guardsman who was standing outside of Princess Henrietta's room.
"Kill Teiter Gramont, but leave the maid in his room alive. Cut your throat afterwards... Oh, and keep this in your pocket." she says, handing the man a note saying "The marriage must not occur, do what you must.", rather blatant in Sheffield's honest opinion, but it'd get the work done.
With that, she slides back into the shadows and begins to watch the events unfold, waiting to see if she needed to push anything along to apply the maximum effect.
Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for Tristain, her plan worked out flawlessly. The mind-controlled guard barged into Teiter Gramonts room as he was being 'attended' by the maid.
"W-what's the meaning of this!?" he exclaims, attempting to reach for his wand that he'd idiotically left on the desk at the far side of the room.
The guard just growls at him, "Unfaithful swine! You do not deserve the princess' hand!" he shouts as he charges forth and stabs down with his sword, spearing Teiter Gramont in the stomach before the man can do anything to stop him.
"AAAARGHHH!!! GUUARDS! GUUAARRDS!!!" the Gramont screams in pain and terror as he looks down at the blade piercing him.
"No one will save you from me! DIE!" the guard announces, pulling his blade free of Teiter's body as he slashes down, chopping his sword into the man's skull, killing him. But the guard doesn't stop there, continuing to cut at the corpse like a deranged animal.
The defilement of the corpse continues until other guards barrel into the room, all looking shocked at their butchered charge. "S-Sir Jake!... W-why!?" one shouts, having known the man a long time and not understanding his motive.
The now named Jake just laughs, spitting on the corpse before bringing his sword to his neck. The others try to stop him, but are unable to do anything as Jake draws the swords across his throat, causing him to quickly bleed out. "F-for the- the Princess." he mutters as the light leaves his eyes, Sheffield trying to stifle her laugh from the shadows.
It was funny that the man believed he was doing this for the princess, when his actions might just lead to her death. She'd only controlled him to do the deed, the fact that he was rationalizing it meant that he'd only needed a strong push to commit such an act.
She slinks away and makes her way to the defenceless window before slipping away. She wouldn't leave Tristain yet, as she'd like to see the results of her efforts, along with making sure everything would go as she thought. "My work is done, my lord." she mutters, hoping that King Joseph would appreciate it this time.
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