NoGift

ARGENT slightly opened the curtain of her carriage. A large expanse of white quickly greeted her. The buildings and the surroundings were simply covered with snow. She could already see the looming gate of the imperial capital of Kievan – Stregov City. Although it was not as tall as the one surrounding the borders of the country, it was still daunting.

"My Lady, we're finally arriving at the capital," the maid, Nina, who was with her at the carriage excitedly said to her. "Will we the palace be as beautiful as the palace in Iberia?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it would," Argent answered perfunctorily but she still had to smile because this lady she was impersonating always had a gentle smile on her face.

Her facial muscles had been hurting because she was forcing herself to smile. If she knew that it would be this hard to maintain such a façade, she would have made a permanently smiling holographic mask. The only good thing was most of the time she was left alone in the carriage. So, there's no need for her to do this 'gentle lady' act.

She truly envied Lei Feng. Because the person he was impersonating almost had the same personality as himself. So, even if he didn't do anything, no one would suspect that he was not the real Conde de la Salvacion. Unlike her. 

The only thing she had in common with this lady was their gender. Oh, yes, their height was also pretty similar. Which truly helped in her disguise. But aside from those, there's nothing else. She even had to put padding to her chest just so it could match that of Lady Isabella. 

Her facial muscles were hurting and her chest was itching. Really, how annoying and troublesome. 

She couldn't wait until they leave this place. Of course, they should leave victorious. After all, she didn't come all the way here just to lose.

The leading carriage was stopped by the guard. It was the carriage where Lei Feng and Janea were. The captain of the guard who was riding in horseback beside the carriage – which was, in this case, Jaxon in disguise – gave the pass that was confirming their identities to the guard guarding the gate. 

This pass was, of course, issued to the real captain of guard. It would be given to the people who passed the identity test which could be given to outsiders who wanted to enter Kievan. There's a station in each Heavenly Gate that checked the identities of the people trying to enter the country. 

Argent was not worried that they might find something wrong in the pass. After all, it's not a fake pass. The people they were impersonating were the ones who took that identity test.

Then she saw a soldier riding a horse came up to Jaxon. She was not sure what they said to each other but after that, the procession of their entourage started moving again. 

"Nina, can you ask the guard outside where we're headed?" Argent said to the maid.

She could ask it herself, but apparently, gently-bred young ladies like her didn't talk to soldiers. She almost rolled her eyes at Lady Isabella's maids when she heard them say that. But since she's playing 'Lady Isabella', then she should act like her.

"Yes, my lady," Nina said. She parted the window curtain and asked one of the guards outside riding beside their carriage, "Where are we headed?"

"A Kievan soldier is leading us to the place we'll temporarily be living during our stay here."

Nina closed the curtain window and turned to her. Then repeated what the soldier said.

Argent nodded. "I see. Thank you, Nina."

Well, at least the palace officials were not careless enough to not even provide them a place to stay.

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Argent came down the carriage with the help of Nina. Then she raised her head and looked at the three-story mansion in front of her. It was big, yes. But looked very… dreary. Not that it was dirty or anything of that sort. It just lacked charm. Like a big slab of stone perched in snow.

Not that she cared. As long as it's clean and livable, then she's fine with it.

She looked forward and saw that Lei Feng and Janea had also come down from their carriage. Lei Feng looked back at him and probably was about to walk towards his direction when a man who seemed to be waiting for their arrival walked towards him first.

The man was wearing some kind of white robe. There were two men walking behind him that was also wearing the same kind of robe. The only difference was the former's robe was more luxurious. 

Argent had a hunch that they were palace attendants. And that hunch was proven with the man's next words.

"My Lord, I humbly welcome you and your party to the great Empire of Kievan," he said in roughly in the common tongue, showing the effects of the Kievan language which had a lot of r's and v's. "I was sent here by the palace to make sure that you have everything that you need during your stay here in our great empire."

Lei Feng nodded. "When can we meet His Majesty?" he asked, pertaining to the Emperor of Kievan. 

"His Majesty is still busy with a lot of the empire's affairs," the man said. "But Your Grace can go to the palace tomorrow and the crown prince will entertain you." 

Janea who was listening beside Lei Feng almost snorted. Busy with the empire's affairs, my ass. Knowing that bastard, he just probably didn't think that the Conde de la Salvacion and his entourage were important enough for him to grace his presence. He would probably not meet them until it's time for the diplomatic meeting. Heck, he might even just let one of his ministers to do that.

But it didn't matter. The important part was for them to enter the palace.

Argent, on the other hand, raised one of her brows when she heard that. The Empire of Kievan had no Empress but according to what she had heard, the Emperor had a couple of illegitimate children. But only one of them was officially recognized. Should that be the crown prince? 

No matter. It would be good if they could enter the palace tomorrow. Then they could start surveying the place. 

Tomorrow, things would finally start moving.