Chapter 219 Ch 218: A Clear Path [Pt2]

"Hey, what do you think you are doing? Let me go right now. Don't you know who I am? Let me go!"

The little goddess cried out as soon as she was grabbed by the soldiers of the court. She tried to get her arm out of the soldier's grip but they did not let her go. She looked at the queen in front of her with contempt but the queen also held her gaze.

"I am a messenger from the heavenly realm. You cannot do this to me."

The little goddess was pissed off and for good reasons. She wanted to smack her hand out of the soldier. These low lives had no right to touch her.

She even signaled for her new servant, Ruri to attack the guards and free her this way, but Ruri did not move. She had been instructed to always take the peaceful option in diplomatic arrangements.

"My lady, what shall we do with this rude worm? Not only has she insulted your whole court, but she also dared to cause trouble in the court."

The little goddess glared up at the queen as well, her eyes burning in humiliation. She did not like that her importance was being reduced so much and her future was in another' shand.

'If only we were in our realm, I would have shown these people. Both, my new slave as well as Zadkiel would have followed my command without haste if that happened.'

But Ruri knew that it was too late for her to take things back. She needed to hold her head up and not be looked down upon.

The queen's empty and soulless eyes were still looking at the little goddess without speaking even a single word. They were both looking at each other.

"Look down, you prisoner. How dare you stare directly at our lovely queen? Are you asking for death?"

The court held their breath and the soldier forced the little goddess to look down.

Zadkiel finally reacted to what was happening and he looked up at the queen in alarm. His alarmed look finally caused the queen to look away and she raised her hand.

Instantly, the maid who stood adjacent to the queen spoke up.

"Our queen has made up her mind. The rude one shall be detained in a dignitary's room and not be allowed to leave. Her servant shall accompany her and be dealt with as a diplomatic guest. Her bodyguard shall be put under the queen's inspection."

The court broke up into whispers but no one went against the queen's orders.

No matter how absurd or unlikely the queen's words were, everyone knew that they needed to be taken seriously. The queen was their one source of power after all.

And their society had one rule - to never question their queen. their queen's words were law in this place.

"You all are fucking simps who do not use your brain. Have you ever wondered why you have to obey your fucking queen all the time even if you know she is wrong? It's because you are all lacking-"

"That is enough. Diplomat or not, you will be hanged if you insult our queen any more than this."

The little goddess was held at sword point once again and she finally fell quiet.

As much as she wanted to tear these people a new one, her life was important. And seeing as how Zakdiel and Ruri could not help her out, she needed to preserve her life.

She quietly followed the sneering guard to her new living quarters and went in. She knew she would have to wait for the backup to come and rescue her from this prison.

……………………….

"Yohan, can you take these peeled vegetables to the kitchen? I am a little busy with budget management right now."

Yohan took the bucket of vegetables from Hans's hand and nodded in understanding. He needed to not act as if something had changed after all.

Once the morning had come and Lady Rui was awake, Yohan has gone back to his original post as a butler. This was what they both had agreed upon in the end to keep their relationship a secret.

And Yohan would say that he had no problem with this arrangement. A lot of people would give him trouble if he openly flaunted his secret relationship with lady Rui.

"Oi Yohan, if you are going to the kitchen, then fetch me a snack as well. Surely, *you* will be given one, seeing as how close you are with Laday Rui. So use that name for us as well."

Yohan sighed as the other servant in the room asked him for a favor. This was the third one this morning already and Yohan was getting tired of all this.

The truth was, there was a rumor going around the mansion about Yohan being Lady Rui's favorite person right now. And a lot of people wanted to take advantage of that.

They saw Yohan as a 'new face', someone they could easily manipulate and use if they worked their influence right. But they were also testing him to see how much influence he could borrow from Lady Asbtel.

The current favors were small tasks that did not require much higher intervention. But soon the favor would blow out of proportion if Yohan kept it up.

'Now that, what shall I do? Should I fan the flames? Or, should I exhaust the embers?'

Both sides had their advantages and disadvantages. But in the end, Yohan decided to agree to this small favor. He needed to increase his favourability to make his powers work.

He had already gotten quite a few people to swear their loyalty to him but he was not satisfied. His goal of making a personal army was still far away after all.

"Don't think you are some hot shot, Yohan Strout. You are someone Lady Rui is showing a passing interest in. It will not be soon before you are back to your 'real' place."

The accountant reminded Yohan.

If there were people who were willing to use Yohan, there were just as many who prayed for his downfall. Those who had been serving in a noble household knew how fickle it was and they warned Yohan about his limited time.

Most of them were even rude to him, just like this cook. They did not think anything of Yohan and were even happy to see his downfall

"I understand and I will be careful in the future. But I will also not deny my lady's favor.

The accountant gripped his pen too tight, breaking it into two as soon as he heard Yohan's words. But then he took in deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Do as you wish. But remember that we warned you. These nobles can be rather freckled and their only loyalty is to their queen. You would be discarded as soon as a better match comes around."

The accountant reminded Yohan, almost as if he cared about him and didn't want to see him fall flat. Yohan had to try hard to stop laughing out loud.

'A better match, huh? That is what I want as well. For Lady Rui to gain more power so that I can borrow it and get closer to the queen. I want to meet her soon.'

With a smile on his face and an agreeable nod, Yohan left the room soon and headed toward the kitchen. He needed to mix a little bit of his power into the food so that he could make more people fall under his control.

He was almost to the kitchen when someone blocked his route. It was the head butler.

"You! Come with me and help out. There is a message that we will be receiving urgent guests and we need more hands to help prepare their accommodations. You have been chosen for the task to overlook it."

The head butler explained it all as he took hold of Yohan's arm and started dragging him.

Yohan did not want to go with the head butler since he had a plan. But he could not refuse the head butler without good reasons as well.

As long as the head butler still had his seat, his orders would be Yohan's second priority after Lady Rui.

'I will need to ask Lady Rui to do something about this. It is very annoying when the head butler causes my plans to go off the rail.'

Yohan was annoyed but he decided to bear with it for now and head out behind the butler. They reached the guest quarters soon and there stood a small team of butlers and maids.

Yohan took one look and realized that these people were the worst of the bunch and some were here to cause him trouble.

'So this is the trick this time? To make me look like an incompetent leader so that you can argue against my promotion? How cute.'

*cough* the head butler coughed once, drawing everyone's attention toward himself. And then he gestured toward the team behind him.

"These are the people I will lend you this time. Do not disappoint us, Yohan Strout or it may become your last day in this mansion."

The head butler looked almost happy when he spoke those words. He wanted Yohan to fail this time, even if it ruined this house's reputation.