Gardenia of Blooming Desire

Chapter 66: Control: Grand Duchess

Grand Duchess sat calmly, waiting for that informant to arrive after his investigation. After an hour of waiting, a shadow flitted and a silhouette passed through the window.

The informant suddenly appeared and kneeled in front of Grand Duchess, "This servant is present in front of Her Majesty Grand Duchess. This servant begs Grand Duchess' mercy for his tardiness."

Grand Duchess scoffed, she had to wait thirty minutes in this small house owned by her grand duchy. This house was in the heart of the city, but only Grand Duchess knew about this house.

She wasn't in a good mood, if this was not important information she wanted, she might already cut this servant's head off, "You had me waiting for thirty minutes off our meeting schedule, tell me a reason not to dispose you here."

"This--this servant was ambushed when I tried to enquire about Young Lord," he replied, his body jittered, as if he was recalling something horrific few hours ago. That jitter turned into obvious tremble.

Grand Duchess frowned, "Ambush?"

"Y--yes! This servant was meeting with my subordinate there, he was the one that already spied on Young Lord. However..." the man shuddered. After a while, he continued, "We met at our rendezvous, nothing was wrong when he told me the situation about Crown Prince and Golden Princess. But, when I enquired about Young Lord's condition, someone suddenly appeared behind him. He was very fast that even my trained eyes didn't notice his presence!"

"Then..."

"T--that man... he decapitated my subordinate in one slice with a small dagger and disappeared instantly..."

Grand Duchess' eyes widened, and then her pupils darkened instantly. She leered at her informant, but it seemed that he wasn't lying.

"You didn't see him stalking around? Not even his silhouette?"

"No, Her Majesty, not even a breath noticeable..."

"How come? You are a veteran spy! Have your eyes gone bad? To not notice someone at that close range? Did you catch his face, at least?"

The informant prostrated and smashed his face to the wooden floor. It was indeed very shameful of him, a veteran spy with almost twenty years of experience, not knowing a man approached him when he was conscious.

"Pardon this servant's uselessness! This servant really did not notice, and that man was wearing a mask!"

Grand Duchess fell into a deep thought. It was true that it had been hard for her to enquire about her son nowadays. But she didn't realize that it could be this severe.

She looked down on this servant. Although a veteran, she still had plenty of spies that could be used. However, this guy was the only one that knew the way around the palace. It would be regretful to kill him now.

The informant raised his head, "Your Majesty? You--you are not going to kill me?"

"I will, but tell me about Crown Prince and Golden Princess situation first."

The informant shuddered. He thought he could escape this one, but it seemed today was his last day. He weakly replied, "Yes, this servant already enquired about Crown Prince and Golden Princess."

"Tell me."

"Yes, after late empress' death, Crown Prince planned to go south to find an important woman. He also already planned to take over few major houses under late empress who now were still on neutral stance."

"An important woman?"

"This servant doesn't know. This servant's subordinate spied the moment when Crown Prince was meeting his sister, Golden Princess. But it seemed that he tried not to disclose who was that woman even to his sister."

"So, they met each other and talked about their plan, huh?" Grand Duchess asked. However, her tone sounded more like she already realized something.

"Yes, Her Majesty. They had discussion about their next plan."

"Then, how about Golden Princess?"

"Yes, Golden Princess planned to contact Grand Duke about cooperation. However, she doesn't mention about what cooperation she wants to engage. She also planned to take over House of Viete under her wing."

Grand Duchess chuckled. That stupid princess was actually planning to save her beloved gigolo, Florentino Viete.

"Fine then, about my son, did your dead subordinate really unable to utter a single word before decapitated?"

"No, once he opened his mouth, that man appeared instantly..."

"I see, well, you did your job, you can leave now." Grand Duchess ordered. The informant sullen look brightened, he didn't dare to say anything that might anger Grand Duchess again and left through the window.

The maid who stood behind her was a bit surprised. She already took the usual barbed whip. She asked, "Your Majesty, you don't want to punish that informant?"

"Why would I?"

The maid kneeled in front of Grand Duchess and said; "This servant begs your pardon, but he might show even more error in the future--ugh!"

Grand Duchess flung a glass ornament besides her to her servant's head. The servant was caught off guard and the glass ornament broke. Few shards of glass were stuck on her head and she was bleeding horribly, but she kept her calm and kneeled again.

"You shouldn't dare to suggest about anything to me. Naturally, I know what I'm doing," Grand Duchess said. The horrible chill made other servants shuddered, but dared say nothing or helped their friend.

"Yes, this servant is wrong. Your Majesty, please punish this servant," the maid said.

"Well, I'm quite merciful today. You can go, treat your injury."

"Thanking Her Majesty Grand Duchess' merci!" the maid rejoiced and scurried out.

Grand Duchess pondered about few things, she had plenty of things to deal with. First, she had to occupy few neutral houses before her nephew Charles took them. Charles' status as Crown Prince was hugely advantageous, thus, it would be difficult for her.

She also had to deal with Rosalie. That foolish girl actually fell to her small trap. Planning to contact her husband, seeking for safety. After that, she might try to find a way to take over House of Viete.

House of Viete was an unimportant house for Grand Duchess. They were leech, since the only heir, Florentino Viete, was a waste that could only sell his body to old women. That house didn't even generate any income, nor provide any other support for her.

'But I wont let her take over that house. Since her weakness lays there.'

Grand Duchess chuckled.

However, that chuckle turned into silence soon she remembered about her own son. She always knew about what her son was doing before, from the time he woke up until he slept. She needed to control his surrounding, the influence around him and many more.

But now, somehow this man cut all her way to supervise her son.

'Was he also the one who hindered all my supervising to Aster for the past three months?'

Grand Duchess' pupil darkened. This feeling of frustration irritated her so much. She gritted her teeth and threw another glass ornament to the floor.

'Let's see! Who dares obstructing my path to my son!'