Chapter 35: Disguise

"That guy got away."

Before long, the three Shadow Guards who had gone in pursuit returned.

"Should we tell Her Highness?" one of them asked.

"Not yet," the lead Shadow Guard shook his head. "Her Highness has things to do right now. When there's no one else around later, I will tell her."

"Very well."

After the conversation ended, the figures of the five people gradually merged into the Shadow.

Meanwhile, inside the Frost Bank, neither Yun Mu nor Brenna noticed what had happened outside.

"How about that? My identity gave you quite a shock, didn't it?"

Brenna looked at Yun Mu's surprised reaction with great satisfaction as she spoke.

"Shocked? I was scared out of my wits," Yun Mu thought to herself.

She had indeed guessed long ago that the other party's status was either wealthy or noble, but she truly hadn't expected it to be this exaggerated.

As a princess, why aren't you staying in the Royal Capital instead of running off to Frostfall City?

It seems no media has reported on this; could it be some kind of secret operation?

And this princess is so strange; she is actually researching Bionic Dolls capable of mimicking human behavior.

Yun Mu had been blinded by this very point; subconsciously, she believed that members of the royal family could not possibly research such things themselves.

This led her to never consider that direction, even though the Frost Bank was clearly an industry of the Saierliya Family.

"Wait, Bionic Doll?" She suddenly thought of something.

"Could Brenna's purpose in making Bionic Dolls be to have one impersonate her?"

"And when she discovered that this thing was completely unreliable, she set her sights on me?"

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Otherwise, why would a royal princess have nothing better to do than research dolls?

Having figured this out, she took a deep breath and looked at the smiling Young Girl before her: "Is it too late for me to regret this now?"

"Feel free," Brenna extended her left hand, pointing toward the door of the Frost Bank.

"If you want to give up, you can do so at any time. I won't threaten you over something like this, but..."

She used her left hand to support the joint of her right arm, and her right hand lifted slightly, raising a single index finger.

"When an opportunity is placed before you, it is best not to let yourself regret it."

She circled around Yun Mu, shaking her finger as she walked.

"An opportunity... is it?"

Yun Mu was lost in thought.

Are two hundred Gold Frost Coins a lot? To her, it is indeed a great deal.

But these two hundred Gold Frost Coins seem insignificant when compared to the status of being the Third Princess of the Frost Kingdom.

And she has an opportunity right in front of her to get close to the other party. If she could gain Brenna's trust and closeness, to say nothing of anything else, at least in this place—the Frost Kingdom—she could walk sideways!

Or even further, she could use Brenna's connections to look for clues related to the Artifact, or perhaps she wouldn't even need to find the Artifact; she could contact the Church directly and have them help communicate with the gods to remove the Scarlet Curse from her body.

A bright future seems to be right before her eyes; is it something she can get just by nodding and agreeing?

"Tell me specifically what you want me to do first, then I'll decide whether to agree," Yun Mu said, looking at Brenna.

She wouldn't be fooled by empty promises into risking her life for someone else. If the matter was truly too dangerous, then it would be better to forget it.

Sometimes, running away is shameful, but it works.

"You should know that on the twentieth of this month, the Dark Night Sect will hold a Night Parade," Brenna said, looking at her.

"I know," Yun Mu nodded and asked, "Is it related to that Night Parade?"

"That's right," Brenna explained to her. "The people of the Dark Night Sect will begin the parade after the sun has completely disappeared. The parade will last for about two to three hours, and after it ends, they will return to the church to pray."

"During the prayer, almost all the local nobles will be present, and as a princess of the royal family, I am naturally no exception."

"Hmm, I need you to disguise yourself as me during this time and act as high-profile as possible at the banquet following the prayer."

After a pause, Brenna added, "Not too high-profile; just make sure you don't stray from the sight of most people."

"During this time, I will act as your attendant and sneak off to investigate the situation inside the Church."

"You want to investigate the Dark Night Church? Why?" Yun Mu asked, feeling a bit strange.

"It's not that I want to investigate the Dark Night Church, but that I want to investigate the Dark Night Church of Frostfall City," Brenna corrected.

"What's the difference..."

"The difference is huge," Brenna looked at her as if she were an idiot and explained, "The Dark Night Church is a behemoth that spans the entire Frost Kingdom and the Dixia Shijie. As a royal princess, if I were to investigate the Dark Night Church, wouldn't I be throwing my life away?"

"Fine, then why do you want to investigate the Dark Night Church of Frostfall City?" Yun Mu changed her wording.

"Of course, it's because I've found that they have problems, but I don't have any evidence."

Here it comes again, that same matter-of-fact tone.

"What problems did you find with them?" Yun Mu asked.

"It's apostasy, Profane acts, and heretical evil," Brenna answered with a serious expression.

"I suspect they are the ones behind the recent notorious Dried Corpse Murder Case in Frostfall City," Brenna gave her a meaningful look.

"The Dried Corpse Murder Case?"

Yun Mu was stunned; she hadn't expected this to be linked to that case.

If this matter was truly related to the Dried Corpse Murder Case, then she indeed had a reason to agree to Brenna.

"Can you elaborate?" she pressed.

"If you agree to help, I'll tell you," Brenna said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at her with a face full of smiles.

"I'll agree, is that enough?" Yun Mu replied helplessly.

It's just pretending to be Brenna to attend a banquet for nobles anyway; there shouldn't be any danger.

Besides, there will surely be plenty of food at the gala, so she will be able to mooch off the food and drink there and see what the nobles of this world usually eat.

"Heh heh, congratulations on making the most correct decision of your life." Brenna patted her on the shoulder and then continued the previous topic:

"Actually, I discovered that the local Dark Night Sect in Frostfall City has issues; it wasn't just an accident."

"At the time, in order to collect data on how the Bionic Doll moves in crowded areas, I specifically placed the Bionic Doll to operate on the crowded Yongle Street."

"As a result, the Bionic Doll had been operating on Yongle Street for less than half an hour before it was snatched away by a group of unidentified individuals."

"Wait, you were already researching the Bionic Doll back then?" Yun Mu couldn't help but interrupt.

"Yeah, is there something strange about that?" Brenna glanced at her and immediately understood her thoughts.

"You don't think that my development of the Bionic Doll is a recent thing, do you?"

"Although I pride myself on being a genius, to develop a mechanical doll that looks exactly like a human, can not only speak but also perform simple thinking, in such a short time—"

"—is still too exaggerated."

She said with a rather smug expression, showing not the slightest hint of humility.

PS: Every year on October 20th, the Dark Night Sect holds a Night Parade that affects all regions.

As long as it is a region where the Dark Night Church is located, believers will wear special religious clothing or traditional costumes on that night, hold religious artifacts such as statues and the Bible, loudly recite scriptures or sing religious songs, and perform specific religious Rituals.

The parade is usually accompanied by music, Dance, and various celebratory activities, such as fireworks, parade vehicles, and colorful decorations.

Believers sometimes even prepare special delicacies for the parade to share the joy of the festival with others.

(End of this chapter)