Chapter 2: In The Lady's Bossom

The Lady's Bossom. Strange name. But if you would ask every man you see staggering at night on the streets, most would say they were coming to or from this place.

This popular spot is a big tavern in the capital, where commoners and nobles alike come and go. This tavern is a local favourite, but it is even more famous to visitors as a legendary aura user once spent a week there in their inn at the upper floors and rewarded the establishment by surrounding the building a layer of defense made up of his own aura for having the best service.

On one rainy night, a room on the top floor of The Lady's Bossom was occupied. There were aura users staying at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the fifth floor, guarding, as per the management's regulation.

One of the guards silently nudged the one beside him and then whispered, "I've been here for a month, it was not what I expected."

The guard was Barry, a newly promoted guard. Barry began to work at The Lady's Bossom seven years ago as a common guard at the tavern, then got promoted to guard the inn, and finally realized his dream of guarding the secret top floor.

The man Barry nudged glanced at him, "We're guards. We stand and guard. What else did you expect?"

Barry frowned, "Isn't the top floor a very important secret floor? A secret place is very sought after. I expected to face waves and waves of trespassers, but I haven't even heard a single squeak from a mouse."

John gave Barry a weird look, "If you wanted to fight a bunch of bandits, go join the damn army."

Barry shook his head and patted his pockets, "No thank you, this job pays a whole handful more."

John gave a thumbs up, "Yeah, and what else does a man need?"

Barry rolled his eyes at his simple-minded friend and then patted his back, "You know, there is a lot more to life than money and beer, like action and new experiences."

"But there is nothing more important to life than being alive." John immediately retorted, and then cautiously looked around before whispering slowly, "You know, our boss is powerful and mysterious, what makes you think his enemies are weak? If someone is able to cross pass the barrier and break in, I bet all we could do is make a lot of noise to warn the management, if we don't get killed immediately."

Barry looked at John's serious face and felt his body go cold. "Are you fucking with me, brother?"

John shook his head, "I'm dead serious. Now, all we can do is hope no one breaks in, and continue our lives with a full pocket and belly."

Inside the occupied room, there were two figures sitting face-to-face each other, a lukewarm tea was in front both of them.

"My master has decided to continue experiencing the world. From now on, you will be talking directly to me."

"Understood."

The one in a bartender's uniform was Timothy. Timothy has worked as the bartender of The Lady's Bossom for over two and a half decade now, known for being silent, straightforward, and rough, which contrasts to his particular and social job. Unbeknownst to most, he also had another role, one he was very good at. An informant. But not just any informant, rather, also a middleman between the clients and the most infamous assassin since before the reign of the Silent Emperor, the Ghostly Assassin, Moon.

And now, the Ghostly Assassin himself was having tea in the middle of the capital, where he was listed as one of the most wanted criminal.

"Actually, not much would change. "

Timothy just gave a one syllable hum, which made the assassin sigh quietly. It was hard to continue conversations between introverts.

Timothy was actually still quite stunned. The boss did say she had an apprentice, but he never thought it was the Ghostly Assassin!

The Ghostly Assassin has been active when they heard that the former emperor was ill, and that was more than a decade ago. Timothy could not help but take a few glances at the assassin.

This person is... maybe four decades old? Perhaps more.

Timothy then glanced at the assassin's breathtaking and young face.

And she was actually a woman!

"Timothy?"

Timothy recalled the mysteriousness of the boss and then shook off all the thoughts. It was better not to think about all these matters out of his scope.

"Yes...?"

"I said, I heard someone looked for me."

When he got over his surprise, Timothy got right into business.

"Yes. They would not disclose the client's identity, but they were from the imperial princess' palace. As far as I can tell, it's one of the higher ups."

Moon also turned serious upon listening to the content. "The princess' palace? Which of the princess?"

"It seems to be the eldest princess'."

"The first princess...." Moon was a bit surprised.

She has heard of the first princess. This eldest princess was, in fact, quite famous for being intelligent, skilled, and most of all, beautiful. When the people heard news of how the emperor personally asks her for advice, rumours spread. Apparently, if the princess was a prince, he'd be the Crown Prince.

A person so great had a mole in their own home? Moon thought. But it was possible that she's involved, perhaps it's even the princess herself. But what could make the princess move?

"Did they give you a clue of the job?"

Timothy shook his head, "Not at all. All they said was that they were looking for you, with high payment. One of the guys slipped and mentioned the princess' palace, and with their high quality clothes, I confirmed that they were likely from there."

Moon looked at Timothy's face full of hesitation and then nodded at him, "What do you think?"

"I just find it strange. The imperial family is sketchy. This can't be the first time the princess asked for assistance in disposal. Even if it is, perhaps even a stupid man would know to hide their identity as much as possible, but all they did was change their carriage to a common one and then try not to mention clues, which they even failed to do." Timothy scratched his beard, frowning. "And apparently, the eldest princess is very cunning."

Moon silently nodded, thoughtful. Indeed everything was strange.

The old lady once told Moon to avoid the imperial family, and if possible, stay away from the palace. Moon agreed immediately, but the old lady proceeded to repeatedly insist that she was not at all afraid, rather, just found that bunch of clowns troublesome.

Even Moon did not want to be involved in the schemes of the palace.

"Too troublesome. We'll ignore that one." Moon declared and then leaned on her seat. "Tell me the other requests."

Timothy nodded and then proceeded to list down the clients and their requests.

Moon raised a hand to stop Timothy. "How old is the emperor this year?"

"He's over five decades old."

"Any news of illness?"

Timothy thought and then shook his head, "Not at all. Apparently, he's as healthy as a horse. He still trains with the Knights at the crack of dawn."

"Then don't you think it's strange that most of the clients are from or somehow involved with the palace? They seem to be restless."

Timothy nodded in understanding, "Perhaps you haven't heard. Yesterday, the Crown Prince squabbled with the eldest princess in public, and the emperor gave a carriage full of gifts to the eldest princess afterwards to coax her. And recently, the eldest princess was seen harmoniously visiting the second prince's palace."

"What did the Crown Prince and eldest princess fight about?"

Yesterday, the Crown Prince disagreed with the eldest princess, but the eldest princess insisted with her opinion. The Crown Prince then had an outburst, directly saying how a woman could even know more than a man, especially the crown prince.

"You'd think it would end there, but the princess apparently retorted, saying the Crown Prince was only the Crown Prince because he was born a man, and nothing else." Timothy proceeded to describe in detail. It was a public meeting, it was easy to get the details from the lesser officials.

It was no secret that the eldest princess and the Crown Prince were unfriendly with each other, but suddenly, they were fighting in public. Moreover, the eldest princess had never made it clear on which of the prince she sided, but then she publicly appeared on friendly terms with the second prince despite having conflicts with the Crown Prince just a day before. It seemed that she was finally moving.

"I'm on the eldest princess' side on this one. The Crown Prince has had nothing to show yet. What is he the crown prince for besides being the first born son?" Timothy could not help but complain. In fact, he had just gotten a glimpse of the eldest princess' beauty and was completely biased.

Moon had the same opinion, but she did not want to go deeper into these matters of the imperial family.

"In any case, make sure to accept requests from all the camps, lest the others think we're siding with one of them. That would be troublesome. We must not step in these muddy waters."

"I understand."