I woke to the sensation of someone staring at me.
My eyes snapped open.
For one horrifying second, I thought an assassin had finally decided to finish the job.
Instead, I found sunlight streaming through enormous windows and a translucent blue screen floating three inches from my face.
[Good Morning, Karina.]
I groaned.
"You're creepy."
[Observation Logged.]
"You keep logging things."
[Affirmative.]
"What happens to the logs?"
[Unknown.]
I stared at the screen.
The screen stared back.
I was beginning to suspect the system's creators had been deeply unpleasant people.
Slowly, I sat up.
The room spun slightly.
Not enough to make me collapse.
Which, given recent events, felt like progress.
Immediately, another notification appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
HEALTH STATUS
Current Health: 15%
Condition: Critical
Recovery Progress: Minimal
Recommendation: Avoid Sudden Exertion
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Minimal?" I muttered.
"I gained one whole percent yesterday."
[Affirmative.]
"That's progress."
[Affirmative.]
"Then why call it minimal?"
[Because It Is Minimal.]
I hated this thing.
A knock sounded at the door.
Before I could answer, three maids entered carrying breakfast trays.
All three froze when they saw me already awake.
One nearly dropped a plate.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
People kept reacting strangely whenever I did normal things.
Either Karina had been extremely difficult to deal with before her death...
Or everyone was expecting her to die.
Neither option felt particularly comforting.
"Your Majesty," one maid said nervously.
I smiled.
She looked even more nervous.
Maybe smiling was suspicious.
I would add that to the growing list of things nobody had bothered to explain.
The maids arranged breakfast before quickly retreating.
As the door closed, I eyed the food.
Then eyed the tea.
Then eyed the food again.
Life had become significantly less enjoyable since learning someone was poisoning me.
The system appeared.
[Recommendation: Consume Breakfast.]
"Can you tell me if it's poisoned today?"
A pause.
[Attempting Analysis.]
Hope flickered.
Maybe it had fixed itself overnight.
Then—
[ERROR.]
[Food Analysis Module Still Unavailable.]
Hope died.
I sighed.
"Of course."
Carefully, I ate.
Nothing exploded.
No immediate symptoms appeared.
Promising.
Halfway through breakfast, another notification appeared.
[Health Increased: 15% → 16%]
I almost choked on my bread.
"Wait."
The screen blinked.
"Sixteen?"
[Affirmative.]
"Just from eating?"
[Nutrition Is Important.]
I stared.
Then reluctantly admitted the system had a point.
Back on Earth, my diet had mostly consisted of coffee and poor decisions.
Maybe this world was trying to teach me life lessons.
I hoped not.
I wasn't interested in self-improvement.
The moment breakfast ended, I stood.
Immediately regretted it.
My legs felt slightly stronger than yesterday.
Unfortunately, "slightly stronger than dying" wasn't exactly impressive.
Still.
I had a kingdom to investigate.
Or at least a palace.
The palace seemed safer.
Marginally.
After dressing, I opened the doors to my chambers.
Two guards immediately straightened.
One was the scarred man from yesterday.
The other was younger.
Both looked relieved to see me alive.
Again.
Very concerning.
"Your Majesty," the scarred guard said.
I nodded.
"Good morning."
He blinked.
Apparently, Empresses didn't usually greet people.
Noted.
"What is your name?" I asked.
The question slipped out before I could stop it.
The guard froze.
Oh no.
That sounded suspicious.
Very suspicious.
I quickly improvised.
"I've spent so much time ill. I fear my memory remains unclear."
The lie wasn't entirely false.
The guard's expression softened.
"Sir Roland, Your Majesty."
Roland.
Finally.
A name.
One less person I risked accidentally insulting.
"Walk with me, Roland."
His eyebrows rose.
"Your Majesty?"
"I want to see the palace."
And maybe figure out who wanted me dead.
Preferably before they tried again.
The palace was even larger than I'd realized.
Corridors twisted in every direction.
Grand staircases connected sprawling wings.
Paintings covered nearly every wall.
Most depicted former rulers.
Some looked wise.
Others looked alarmingly unstable.
One looked like he'd personally invented murder.
Roland explained various sections as we walked.
Council chambers.
Guest quarters.
Treasury offices.
Archives.
The word caught my attention.
"Archives?"
"The royal records, Your Majesty."
Records.
Information.
Potentially useful information.
I smiled.
Roland immediately looked worried.
Apparently, every time I smiled, people assumed disaster was coming.
"Take me there."
The archives occupied an entire wing of the palace.
The moment I stepped inside, the smell hit me.
Old paper.
Dust.
Leather.
Knowledge.
My favorite scent.
Back on Earth, I loved libraries.
Libraries never tried to poison you.
Usually.
The elderly archivist nearly fainted when he saw me.
That was becoming a pattern.
"Your Majesty!"
"Please don't die," I said automatically.
The man blinked.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Nothing."
I really needed to stop speaking.
The archivist guided me through endless shelves.
Thousands of books filled the room.
Histories.
Trade records.
Military reports.
Royal journals.
My pulse quickened.
Somewhere in here were answers.
Maybe even answers Karina herself had been searching for.
A strange sensation washed over me.
Pressure behind my eyes.
The world blurred.
Another memory surfaced.
This one stronger.
Clearer.
Karina stood in this very room.
Late at night.
Alone.
She moved carefully between shelves.
Checking over her shoulder repeatedly.
As if afraid of being seen.
Eventually she reached a section near the back.
A hidden corner.
A place few people would notice.
She removed a book.
Then another.
Then pressed something inside the shelf.
A quiet click echoed.
The memory shattered.
I gasped.
The archive returned.
Roland stepped forward instantly.
"Your Majesty?"
I grabbed a nearby table.
"I'm fine."
A lie.
But I was getting very good at those.
The memory.
Karina had hidden something.
Here.
In the archives.
My heart pounded.
This wasn't random.
She'd left something behind.
Something important enough to hide.
And perhaps important enough to get killed over.
I looked toward the back of the room.
Toward shelves I somehow knew I'd never visited.
Yet recognized anyway.
The system flickered.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NEW OBJECTIVE
Follow Karina's Trail
Description:
Locate the Hidden Archive Cache.
Reward:
Memory Fragment
Unknown Information
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I stared.
Then slowly smiled.
For once.
The system had given me something useful.
Karina had been investigating something before her death.
And whatever she discovered...
She'd hidden it.
The question was why.
And more importantly—
Who was she hiding it from?
Chapter 3: Secrets Hidden in Stone (Part 2 - Final)
I stared at the notification.
Then at the shelves.
Then back at the notification.
For once, the system had managed to be genuinely helpful.
Which was suspicious.
Very suspicious.
Usually, whenever the system assisted, it was immediately followed by an error message or emotional damage.
Roland was watching me carefully.
I forced myself to relax.
"Would you mind giving me a moment?"
The captain of the guard frowned.
"Your Majesty?"
"I'd like to browse alone."
That sounded normal.
People browsed libraries alone all the time.
Unfortunately, I wasn't dealing with normal circumstances.
Roland hesitated.
His protective instincts were practically radiating off him.
"If you require anything—"
"I'll scream dramatically."
He blinked.
"What?"
"What?"
We stared at each other.
Eventually, Roland decided asking questions would probably make things worse.
A wise decision.
After a moment, he bowed.
"I shall wait outside."
The moment the doors closed behind him, I hurried toward the back of the archive.
My pulse quickened with every step.
The shelves matched the memory perfectly.
Tall oak bookcases.
Dusty corners.
Poor lighting.
The ideal location for hidden secrets.
Or murder.
This palace really had a concerning amount of potential murder locations.
I found the section almost immediately.
The books looked ordinary.
Trade reports.
Agricultural records.
Tax collections.
The kind of material guaranteed to put people to sleep.
Karina had chosen well.
Nobody voluntarily looked through tax records.
I carefully removed the first book.
Nothing happened.
Then the second.
Still nothing.
My excitement deflated.
Maybe the memory was incomplete.
Maybe I'd remembered wrong.
Maybe—
My fingers brushed against a small indentation in the wood.
I froze.
There.
Hidden behind the books.
A tiny metal button.
My heart hammered.
"Please don't be trapped."
The system appeared.
[Trap Detection Module Unavailable.]
"Helpful."
[Acknowledged.]
Taking a deep breath, I pressed the button.
A soft click echoed.
Then part of the shelf shifted.
Not much.
Just enough to reveal a narrow compartment hidden inside the wall.
I stared.
Then laughed.
A real secret compartment.
Apparently I was living inside the world's most dramatic fantasy novel.
Inside the compartment sat a single leather journal.
Nothing else.
No treasure.
No magical artifacts.
Just a journal.
Though considering Karina had hidden it, that might actually be more valuable.
Carefully, I picked it up.
The leather was worn from use.
The edges of the pages showed signs of frequent handling.
Karina had written in this often.
Very often.
I opened to the first page.
The handwriting was elegant.
Precise.
The first line read:
If you are reading this, then either I am dead or my fears were justified.
My stomach dropped.
Well.
That wasn't ominous at all.
I continued reading.
I can trust no one.
Not the council.
Not the physicians.
Not even members of my own household.
Okay.
That was significantly worse.
The pages continued.
At first, the entries were organized.
Formal.
Methodical.
Karina documented meetings.
Political decisions.
Trade agreements.
Military concerns.
But as the journal progressed, the tone changed.
Fear began creeping into her writing.
Doubt.
Suspicion.
Desperation.
One passage caught my eye.
The symptoms worsen.
The physicians call it exhaustion.
I no longer believe them.
Every month I grow weaker.
Every month someone profits from that weakness.
I swallowed.
Karina knew.
She had known she was being poisoned.
At least eventually.
The realization made my chest tighten.
She hadn't been imagining things.
She hadn't been paranoid.
Someone really had been killing her.
Slowly.
Patiently.
For years.
I turned another page.
Several names appeared repeatedly.
Ministers.
Nobles.
Officials.
Most meant nothing to me.
Yet.
Then one name appeared again.
And again.
And again.
Lord Victor Harrow.
The name showed up more than any other.
Sometimes accompanied by question marks.
Sometimes underlined.
Sometimes circled entirely.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
The system flickered.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NEW INFORMATION ACQUIRED
Person of Interest:
Lord Victor Harrow
Current Threat Assessment:
Unknown
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
At least the system agreed.
I continued reading.
The later entries became increasingly fragmented.
Karina's handwriting deteriorated.
Words drifted unevenly across pages.
Evidence of failing strength.
One entry looked as though she'd struggled just to hold the pen.
If I die before discovering the truth, let this serve as proof.
Someone inside the palace is responsible.
The poison enters my body regularly.
The source remains unidentified.
Trust no convenient explanations.
My hands tightened around the journal.
This wasn't just evidence.
This was a warning.
A message from Karina herself.
A message she'd never expected to deliver personally.
For a moment, I felt something strange.
Not quite a memory.
Not quite an emotion.
A lingering presence.
As though Karina had stood here.
Alone.
Writing these words.
Knowing she might never survive long enough to expose the truth.
My throat tightened unexpectedly.
I hadn't known her.
Not really.
But she had fought.
Even while dying.
Even while everyone around her assumed her fate was inevitable.
The room blurred again.
Another memory surged forward.
This one stronger than any before.
Karina sat at her desk late at night.
Rain hammered the windows.
Several candles flickered.
The journal lay open before her.
Her hands trembled.
Not from fear.
From weakness.
Someone knocked on the door.
Karina immediately hid the journal.
Her expression hardened.
"Enter."
A man stepped inside.
Tall.
Expensive clothing.
Silver embroidery.
His face remained frustratingly blurred.
Yet one detail stood out.
A ring.
Black stone.
Gold setting.
Karina's pulse visibly quickened.
She didn't trust him.
Not even slightly.
The man smiled.
"Your Majesty appears tired."
"I wonder why."
The smile never reached his eyes.
The memory shattered.
I stumbled backward.
The archive returned.
My breathing sounded unnaturally loud.
"System."
The screen appeared instantly.
"Who was that?"
A pause.
Then:
[Identity Unknown.]
Of course.
Why had I expected otherwise?
Still.
The ring.
That detail felt important.
Very important.
I glanced down at the journal again.
Then froze.
Something had fallen between the pages.
A folded piece of parchment.
Hidden.
I hadn't noticed it before.
Carefully, I unfolded it.
A map.
Not of the kingdom.
Of the palace.
Several locations had been marked.
Most meant nothing to me.
One did.
The royal kitchens.
I stared.
Then stared harder.
Because next to the kitchen mark, Karina had written a single word.
Investigate.
A cold chill ran through me.
The kitchens.
Food.
Drink.
Poison.
Suddenly, the connection seemed obvious.
The system chimed.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
QUEST UPDATED
The Dying Empress
New Objective:
Investigate the Royal Kitchens
Progress: 12%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
I rubbed my temples.
This was becoming a lot.
Less than forty-eight hours ago, I had been dead.
Now I was solving an attempted regicide.
Life was unfair.
A soft creak interrupted my thoughts.
I froze.
Someone was outside.
Not Roland.
The footsteps were lighter.
Careful.
Deliberate.
Someone is trying not to be heard.
Slowly, I closed the journal.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence filled the archive.
Then—
A shadow moved beneath the door.
Someone was standing there.
Listening.
Every instinct screamed danger.
The system flickered.
For once, no errors appeared.
[Warning.]
[Unknown Individual Detected.]
[Recommendation: Exercise Caution.]
My pulse hammered.
The shadow remained motionless.
Watching.
Waiting.
How long had they been there?
Had they seen me open the compartment?
Had they seen the journal?
Had they heard anything?
The questions flooded my mind.
Then the shadow moved.
Retreating.
Footsteps disappeared down the hallway.
Gone.
Just like that.
I rushed toward the door.
Throwing it open.
The corridor beyond was empty.
No servants.
No guards.
No nobles.
Nothing.
Only silence.
Roland immediately looked up from his position further down the hall.
"Your Majesty?"
I scanned the corridor.
Nothing.
Whoever had been there was already gone.
Which somehow felt worse.
Because it meant someone knew.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
Enough to become a problem.
Slowly, I looked down at the journal in my hands.
Then toward the distant palace corridors.
For years, Karina had searched for the truth.
For years, someone had worked to keep it hidden.
And now I possessed the one thing they probably never wanted anyone to find.
Evidence.
The game had changed.
The difference was simple.
Karina had been dying.
I wasn't.
And whoever was responsible had no idea yet.
As Roland approached, concern visible on his face, I slipped the journal beneath my arm.
A dangerous smile touched my lips.
Someone had spent years hunting an empress.
Now they had a new problem.
They were about to discover that Ella Hart was significantly harder to kill.