"Did you hear? Another slave was found dead in the mines..."
"Yeah... This isn't the first death, but I can't believe the slave died in his home."
"Heh, it's nowhere near as bad as the massacre at Starlight Inn. They found four bodies, and no one knows who did it."
The gossip first thing in the morning was quite surprising, especially the first bit.
'They must've found Sebastian's body. I likely don't have that much time left before I'm exposed,' Julian thought. 'One good look at his face, and they'll be able to tell he isn't a slave.'
So instead of wandering around, he mixed among the crowd and began making his way toward the imperial palace. As expected, the crowd was massive, and he still found it a little hard to believe there were this many people in Second Heaven.
But it was very likely the majority were natives.
As he walked, he fumbled with the arrowhead in his pocket.
'I searched across half the city last night, but I couldn't even find a footstep. Either they were a really good assassin, or they shot from really... really far away.'
It was hard to tell, so he didn't bother with it. Since there were only so many proficient archers in this city, he would find the one responsible eventually.
The closer he got to the imperial palace, the more guards there were. He could even see dozens of captains scattered around, their expressions as arrogant as he expected.
Julian kept his head down as he avoided the captains, and finally, after nearly half an hour, he arrived in front of the imperial palace.
The outer court was massive. Even with hundreds of unfortunate people here, it didn't seem crowded. More importantly, Julian spotted someone with blue embroidery, meaning that person was a general.
And just from his demeanor alone, Julian knew fighting him wouldn't be easy.
But even so, that was not what he came here for, so, by acting as naturally as he could, Julian made his way toward the outer courtroom's wall, and after making sure no one was looking, he began climbing it.
Within seconds, he reached the top, and right as he was about to jump down and run straight for the palace itself, Julian felt a glare directed at the back of his head.
Turning around, he saw the general staring daggers at him. Yet for some reason, he didn't attack or even signal Julian to get down.
Almost like...
'So he's also in on the rebellion. Jeez, I would sure hate to be this Princess Diana chick,' he thought with a chuckle, and by carefully jumping down, he snuck inside the giant red and white palace.
The security was lax since the imperial guards, wearing red armor, seemed tired. Julian slipped into the hallways and eventually found an imperial guard all by himself.
He was standing by a room with a large door, likely housing someone important. Still, Julian apologized to the guard inwardly as he quietly approached, jumped atop his shoulders, and then choked him out, all while he couldn't even understand what was happening.
The imperial guard passed out on the spot, so Julian dragged him into a nearby bedroom and switched their gear. The armor was a little stuffy, but Julian could manage.
After hiding the imperial guard's body, Julian's infiltration plan was complete.
Julian brought his helmet down, hiding his face. Then, he walked back to the room the imperial guard was previously protecting and waited on standby.
A minute, five minutes, thirty minutes... five hours. Only after five hours did he hear some rustling inside the room.
'This set of armor is way too stuffy...' Julian sighed. 'If only I could take it off, but...'
He glanced both ways, spotting tens of imperial guards walking by. It seemed like he was lucky enough to get in while most of them were out doing something else.
'Though, for me to get in so easily, it almost seems like a trap.'
But just then, the door behind him swung open as a blue-haired girl, nearly two heads shorter than him, stormed out, stomping her feet on the ground.
"I said I don't want to!" she screamed.
"Gosh... stop acting like such an idiot, Diana," a familiar feminine voice rang out from inside the room.
Steps approached him and then walked past him. Through the helmet, Julian saw a white-haired woman with glasses, and it was none other than Aliyah.
He felt a strange sensation in his chest. She was alive and completely fine. Although, she did have black bags under her eyes, likely after pulling too many all-nighters.
"Aliyah, do you dare call your princess an idiot?" Diana shot back with a glare.
"My princess?" Aliyah raised a brow. "You practically begged me to come here. If anything, I should be the princess since I've been doing all your work for the last couple of months."
Diana flinched, and with a pout, turned around.
"Very well then, I shall forgive you calling me an idiot this once—"
"Idiot."
"T-Twice." Diana's hands trembled in anger.
As Aliyah was about to call her an idiot again, Diana pointed straight at him, startling him slightly.
"You there! Why are you standing around like a bimbo, huh? Go lead us ahead! That's why you're here, aren't you?"
'Ahead... I sure as shit am hoping they mean the outer courtyard, because if not, my identity is going to get exposed not even five seconds in,' Julian thought, and after bowing to her, began escorting her.
As much as he wanted to reveal his identity to Aliyah right now, he felt like the time just wasn't right. Not at all.
Still, the conversations between Aliyah and Diana were pretty entertaining. Aliyah was acting like Diana's older sister, while Diana acted like some spoiled brat.
'Still... she does resemble a pipsqueak,' Julian wondered in passing. 'Maybe I'm looking too much into it? Maybe...'
But whether he was or wasn't, he would only find out later.
And soon enough, the escort ended with him in front of the large gate that led to the imperial palace's outer court.
"Are you ready, Diana?" Aliyah asked absentmindedly. "You did memorize the speech, didn't you?"
"Nah, I don't do speeches," Diana replied, brushing her hair back. "I'll just wing it and hope I charm the people. If I don't, step in and say something nice about me like you've always done."
"..."
"Idiot."
With those final words, the imperial guards rushed to the gate, and with great effort, they pushed it open, revealing thousands of people ahead. All of them stared at Diana in particular with reverence, while some with malice. The general and a lot of captains in particular were oozing bloodlust.
Seeing all that, Julian took a deep breath and stepped forward.
He knew that the moment Diana stepped up on the podium and began her speech, the entire mood of this ceremony was going to shift.
And clearly, he was going to be in the middle of it.