Chapter 568: The Cloying, Scheming Witch Princess Is Up to Her Old Tricks Again!

The Magic Kingdom’s power surpasses their own, and Yarbed holds the position of prime minister, second only to the monarch—if we can cultivate a good relationship with her, why should we still bow to King Zanack and Lord Shengzai?

The kingdom’s nobility have been suppressed too harshly lately; Lord Shengzai is too dominant and has left them gasping for air.

With their own strength, they cannot resist the kingdom or Lord Shengzai—they must seek external power.

Clearly, the Magic Kingdom and Yarbed are precisely such powerful external forces.

Thus, at the banquet, one by one, the self-important noble youths adopted what they believed to be elegant postures and approached Yarbed to strike up conversation.

In the course of these conversations, they also took care to emphasize how much they had contributed to forging an alliance between the kingdom and the magic kingdom.

Facing these nobles’ self-deluded behavior, Yarbed smiled sweetly on the surface, but inside she struggled to suppress the urge to crush these disgusting worms outright.

After wearily enduring these trash for a while, Yarbed exchanged pleasantries with the kingdom’s new monarch, then finally asked with curiosity: “King Zanack, why has your third prince not attended this banquet?”

Our magic king, Ainz Ooal Gown, has long admired this legendary prince of your kingdom.”

He specifically instructed me to greet the third prince on his behalf during this mission.”

Bone always believed that the only figures worth noting on this side were the third prince and Princess Shu Luo; everyone else were merely minor players.

Moreover, Princess Shu Luo and the third prince likely had a good relationship.

Thus, Yarbed’s visit to the kingdom served two purposes: to confirm the alliance and to make contact with the third prince and gauge his stance.

If he continues to hold hostility toward Nazarick, Bone does not rule out assassinating him or using precious magical artifacts to forcibly control his mind.

“Shengzai? That fellow defied royal orders and attempted to sabotage friendly relations between our kingdom and the magic kingdom.”

Out of respect for the fact that he is my brother, I did not execute him—but I banished him.”

He is no longer the third prince of the Rieshetie Kingdom.”

Upon hearing Zanack’s words, Yarbed was visibly stunned.

The third prince, famed throughout the kingdom and who had contributed greatly to it, had been banished?

Even someone with average intelligence—let alone Yarbed, whose intellect is exceptionally high—would know something was amiss.

Suppressing her revulsion, Yarbed moved through the banquet, engaging the nobles again in conversation, attempting to extract useful information from them.

Soon, she realized she had overestimated these nobles’ intelligence.

These pigs actually believed the third prince’s banishment was a victory won in their struggle against the royal family—and they were proud of it.

After extracting a few more words, Yarbed lost all patience.

In her view, these pigs—whose brains were no larger than walnuts—could not possibly offer useful intelligence; after politely claiming she felt unwell, she chose to leave the banquet.

Though she left the palace banquet, Yarbed did not depart the palace; instead, she reappeared in a chamber within the palace.

In the lavishly decorated room, a golden-haired girl wearing a crystal crown sat calmly sipping black tea.

Seeing Yarbed appear before her, she showed no surprise whatsoever.

“Lady Yarbed, did you enjoy the banquet King Zanack prepared for you?”

In response to Princess Lana’s question, Yarbed offered a captivating smile.

“If you were forced to dance in a pigsty with a herd of foul-smelling pigs, eating the same food, would you be happy?”

“Lady Yarbed, your words are truly unmerciful—those noble youths often take pride in their elegant manners and noble demeanor.”

Yarbed’s metaphor and description did not offend Lana; on the contrary, she found them strikingly accurate, for she felt the same way.

In the entire kingdom, only Lord Shengzai shone like a morning star—everyone else, by comparison, could not even be called pigs.

Rambo the Third, our father, contributed nothing but his genes to produce Lana and Lord Shengzai; in every other respect, he was useless.

Brother Babro, the pig among pigs—Lana often could not believe he was her own blood brother.

Brother Zanack, the second prince, is barely human—though he is vastly superior to most of the pig-brained fools.

“Golden Princess, I did not come here to discuss the experience of dancing with pigs—I came to ask you something.”

“Your beloved brother Shengzai, the third prince, has been banished—what really happened?”

Upon hearing Yarbed’s question, Lana did not answer immediately; instead, she slowly poured her another cup of black tea, then sipped it elegantly.

“Let us set aside Lord Shengzai’s matter for now—since we began our alliance, I have secretly aided you many times.”

Yet the promises you made me—aside from changing my race and bloodline—have not been fulfilled at all.”

Correct—why did the kingdom’s nobility suddenly erupt in civil strife? Why did the capital’s commoners suddenly become incited?

Could this be solely the work of the nobleman named Philip?

A single impoverished border noble, even with Nazarick and the former “Eight Fingers” assisting him, could never have achieved this scale.

The reason the situation spiraled out of control was because this “Golden Princess” behind the scenes exerted considerable influence.

“You previously promised to change my bloodline and race, severing my connection to Lord Shengzai at its root—and you fulfilled that.”

But afterward? You failed to make Lord Shengzai king.”

You failed to control Lord Shengzai for me—and were instead manipulated by him in return.”

In the original plot, Lana did, with Yarbed’s aid, transform her race from human to a small demon.

Yet she had always treated Yarbed with utmost reverence, never daring to speak to her this way.

But now, Princess Lana possesses far more leverage than she did in the original plot.

First, she knows full well that she is of great value to Nazarick Tomb—so Yarbed and the others will not harm her.

Second, compared to her original self, she now has a powerful older brother!

(End of Chapter)