As I opened my eyes, I found myself in a secluded part of the royal palace gardens. This should be at the side nearest the family registry office which was always devoid of people. I placed a bunch of spells on myself so I won''t be detected by guards and staff of the palace. I decided to levitate around using a spell since footsteps are a dead giveaway when you are spying. I went around the gardens a bit, mapping the area and looking for the best window or door to use to enter the palace.

    The royal palace, as I see it, is just a residential compound. There was one main palace where they entertain guests, hold huge parties and have the daily court meetings. There were also several smaller palaces that were no less grand than the main palace. I went around the other buildings and it seems that the empress has her own palace. The other palaces were that of the royal consort, one for the rest of the harem, one where all the unmarried prince and princesses stay and then the other one looked like a dormitory for employees working here.

    This palace grounds is literally one third of the whole of Hoffen City. It was complete and independent on it own. It has its own infirmary, government offices for healers and alchemist, research laboratories, military barracks and training grounds for soldiers and palace guards, stables for domesticated animals, a man-made lake filled with decorative fish, a lot of gardens in different shapes and sizes, several water fountains, their own herb farm and a dungeon underground where they keep high profile and extremely dangerous criminals.

    I stopped waltzing around like a ghost once I have mapped the whole area. I even included the secret chambers, treasure vaults and even the traps in my maps. I don''t think anybody has a map as detailed as the one I have on my end. Sometimes, I am scared of myself and of my curiosity. Don''t worry! I am not planning an assassination. I honestly have ever only planned to use this map for teleportation purposes.

    During my spying around the different areas, I made sure to spend sometime at the servants'' quarters, the palace of the royal harem and the palace for the unmarried princes and princesses. I have seen and heard many things that I wasn''t suppose to know about and I heard a lot of juicy and interesting gossips and truths too. It seems that only the empress and the royal consort sincerely love and like each other here. As for everyone else, nope. All I can say is that, Now I understand why Aurum opts to live outside or just participate in military battles. It was better for his sanity.

    Once I have listened in until my ears hurt, I teleported straight to the royal chambers shared by the empress and the royal consort. The royal consort is Aurum''s father which was why he was given the crown prince position before, a position he gave up willingly after a few years to have a hassle-free life as he said. I decided to shed all of my disguise spells and meet them as Luna, the current princess of Eieneos at this time. I need to have grounds to secure a royal marriage today.

    At this time, the royal family is having dinner as per what my mana is telling me. I spread my mana discreetly throughout the palace grounds so I know what is happening everywhere at any given time. As for me, I sat in one of the soft chairs in the waiting room inside the royal chambers. I am still keeping my aura from leaking out since I don''t want to disturb their meal. I will just let them know of my presence once the meal is done. I have to be respectful to my future in-laws in this way at least. (Author''s Note: You sneaked into the palace and you are in their personal chambers. That''s very respectful indeed. *rolls eyes*)

    After about an hour, the meal was finished. As the members of the royal family stood up from the dining table, I released my mystique mana to let the royal couple know about the existence of a powerful visitor tonight. Through my consciousness, I saw the empress stiffen and pale quickly but she was able to keep her calm. She gave orders to the palace guards to escort the royal family members as well as the members of the harem back to their personal quarters and ensure that they don''t come out. The others were curious and she simply answered, "We have a very important and dangerous visitor." This statement silenced everybody as they all hurried back to their respective palaces.

    The empress held the royal consort''s hand tightly and they walked hurriedly towards where I am. My future father-in-law was very confused but he kept his mouth shut. My future mother-in-law simply explained to him that they have a visitor from the mystique race in the waiting room of the royal chambers. He then simply nodded in understanding and walked to match the empress'' pace as if scared that if they don''t come as soon as possible, there would be bloodshed.

    Since this is my first public appearance as a royal of Eieneos, I made sure to dress up properly and bring the necessary items to confirm my identity. The royal families of this world have their own special educational curriculum where they were given information about the family crests of the mystique families existing in this world. I simply brought a copy of my family crest on mana infused royal paper for this step.

    Due to the distance from the great hall where they have dinner to the royal chambers, it took almost 15 minutes before the royal couple arrived. Though it was technically their room, they knocked thrice and announced their arrival before opening the door to the waiting room. When the empress saw me, I noticed that she seems to already know who I was as she kneeled on one knee and greeted me. The royal consort followed suit without questions. As for me, I stood up and approached the two. I asked them to rise and gave them the copy of my family crest for formality purposes. S~ea??h the N?velFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    We all sat inside the waiting room as the royal consort hurriedly asked for the maids to prepare snacks and refreshments and bring them to the waiting room as soon as possible. As for me, I kept quiet and simply observed my future in-laws. I greeted them with an amicable smile and introduced my self, "Good evening, empress and royal consort. I am Luna from the Rosenoir family of Eieneos." They both looked at me nervously and replied, "Good evening, your highness Luna. I am Eryll, the current empress of Athanoviya." The royal consort stuttered a bit but did his best to sound polite, "Good evening, your highness Luna. I am the closest consort to the current empress and my name is Argon." I nodded to them to acknowledge their introductions.

    To ease the tension, I started the conversation first. I told them that I have just recently started to take over my duties and saw in the documents that Athanoviya is one of the territories that have allied to Eieneos. I told them that I have seen documents that prove that my kingdom has been providing them support previously so I wanted to ask more about the previous type of support that they have been receiving or any long-standing agreements between our families. I already know the answer to my questions but I wanted to test my future in-laws'' honesty and greed now that they know who I am.

    Surprisingly, they answered truthfully and was able to tell me everything in the agreement signed since the establishment of their empire that was passed down through generations. The agreement included monetary support, protection in both times of peace and war, knowledge exchanges and priority when it comes to marriage alliances. The last part was quite pleasing to hear since it makes my reason for coming here easier.

    The empress called in her financial advisor and finance minister so that they will be present during the discussion of the monetary support. It was settled quite quickly and the finance minister looked like he was about to die of shock when I nonchalantly gave them the financial support that they have not received since Eieneos kingdom closed their communications to the outside world. Well, 400+ years worth of support is indeed not a small amount.

    After all the monetary issues have been settles, the two attendants were dismissed as per my request to discuss the other details of the alliance agreement. I honestly told them that I have been answering unanswered questions from the magic tower to lead them into finishing their researches. I was hoping that this would result to technological breakthroughs and new types of medicine in the long run.

    I gifted the royal couple the highest level attack and defense barrier, similar to the one I gave the academe before. This one doesn''t have a concealing feature so that the whole world knows that the territory had a good backer. I gave them two of it wherein one was for the royal palace and the other one was big enough to encompass the whole empire which shocked the couple. It took a lot of convincing for them to accept the empire wide barrier since it was priceless in their opinion.

    Since I have received the expected reaction, this is where I mentioned that the more expensive barrier is a gift meant as a dowry to marry one of their sons to fulfill the marriage alliance part of the agreement. I told them I already have one in mind but they said that I have to wait till the birthday ball of the said prince at the end of the month to proceed with the engagement. I told them that I could wait and I will definitely attend the ball to pick up my future husband. After my last statement, I bid my goodbye and teleported back to my personal suite in the Moonlight Inn.