Chapter 7
“Now you can receive announcements and hints from the system, and compete with players for items. You haven’t unlocked many permissions yet, but at least you have a seat at the table.”
“These items sound very important. Siluo lost one for no reason. Surely she’s already suspicious of me.”
“No,” Ning Yingcai said firmly.
“A game character becoming self-aware is unprecedented. No one has ever heard of it. Siluo won’t think of that. Competition between players, though, is common. Most likely she thinks another player simply stole the item she already had. If I’m right, she’s searching for this nonexistent person now.”
Ning Yingcai explained, “I’m taking the traditional route: steady progress, one promotion at a time. But Siluo has chosen a different path. She uses special story events to form connections with people in this world. For players on that route, items are essential. Take away an item, and you take away an opportunity.
“What’s odd is that most players following a storyline focus on the main characters. Why is she so interested in you? I can tell she’s trying to control your thoughts, but I’ve read your character biography. You don’t have any plot hooks. Apart from a devoted guard, there’s nothing special about you.”
She muttered to herself, then looked as though she might say more. Instead, her eyes shifted and she gave me a sheepish smile. “Your Highness, I’m a player too. Naturally, that puts me on Siluo’s side. I have no reason to help you against her.”
How could I miss her meaning?
“What do you want?”
“Under your country’s system, a woman can rise no higher than a fifth-rank official. That’s not much fun. If you get what you want one day, could you help me become chancellor?”
She certainly knew how to ask for the earth.
I thought it over and agreed.
Now that I had entered the game, I had to work within its rules to find a way out.
Without Ning Yingcai, I couldn’t possibly do it.
Especially since there was something else I cared about even more.
“Ning Yingcai, do you know who will rule this realm after my father dies?”
Was Prince Qi’s rebellion, and Father’s suicide, already inevitable?
She blinked and answered vaguely. “Well, the realm long divided must unite, and long united must divide. Pull one hair and the whole body moves. All beneath heaven is the king’s land, and all within its borders are the king’s subjects. Within the four seas, all men are brothers…”
She babbled on until my face grew increasingly grim, then smiled apologetically and bowed with clasped hands.
“But if I’m chancellor, then naturally the whole realm will be yours, Princess.”
What a cunning fox.