“What is it? I’m not a mind reader” Venus almost yelled as Maria stared at her in wonder. She could see that the princess felt nervous by having Maria’s stare aimed at her. Not that Maria blamed her either.

But still, she stared down at the princess with an appreciative look aimed at the other. She could almost not believe that the princess had ended up helping her out in that fight.

“You could have been free if the beast did manage to kill me. And you still helped me out? Maybe I misjudged you a bit too hard” Maria spoke under her breath. Her words were just loud enough for Venus to take offense to them.

“Let you die? Who do you think you are to tell me what I can and cannot do? True, I would have been free if you had died and I kind of did not think about that” the princess’s expression went from angry to thoughtful.

The glare also turned toward Maria with a new light and the oracle could not help but feel as if she had made a mistake by telling the princess this new information. She was almost sure that the princess would not try anything with her at first.

But everywhere else was a free game and Maria was not sure she would be able to stop the princess every time.

“I suddenly feel like I made a huge mistake. Can’t you go home now?” Maria asked the last part loudly while looking at the princess. The princess did not even grace her with a node in return, too busy pretending as if she did not hear the question at all.

And that gave Maria her answer. She was stuck with a trigger-happy princess for the next few days.

‘At least the princess cannot kill me, right system?’ Maria asked, just to console her. She did not need the stress of looking over her shoulder every second of the day.

[That is correct. Princess Venus cannot cause you direct harm as per the contract. However, indirect harm is still possible as long as the magic does not associate it with the princess.

The user is asked to be careful while dealing with this case]

Maria tried to hold her disappointed yell inside her throat. She did not need to announce to everyone what she was feeling when she was already in a bad mood.

She especially did not want the princess to learn of these circumstances since she had a feeling that the other would use this against Maria in some way.

“So, what are you going to do next? Totally not asking because I want you to die or anything. I promise” the princess asked, her expression curious.

“I’ll be entering the ‘witch’s’ clearing since I need something from her. You are welcome to join me” Maria replied back, finally giving a straight answer.

The oracle did not mind answering this question since it would not help the other in any way. In fact, it was entirely possible that it would throw off the princess. hard and finally make her go home.

That would be the best-case scenario for Maria. And she could tell that the princess wanted to back off as well. Her eyes were huge and terrified at the notion of going to that clearing but the princess still held on.

“The ‘witch's’ clearing? Are you sure you want to do that?” The princess asked in a scared tone. She even looked spooked out which amused Maria.

For all her apparent bravery, the princess was not brave at all. She showed her fears too easily and also had a bad attitude toward life.historical

Or so was the impression Maria got.

“Yup, that one. So you should go home while you still can. Who knows, you might wake up tomorrow and find yourself free of this curse” Maria teased back but she had no intention of dying.

She would fight tooth and nail to get herself out alive. There was just too much to lose by dying here and she would be unable to help Suna and Neah if she died here. Heck, even Howl was counting on her.

But the princess in front of her did not know all that. She had limited information to go off of and it was clearly making the princess uncomfortable.

“I can’t go back but I can see that you are serious as well. Then, I shall tell you a secret. There is a legendary pond that is said to neutralize the ‘witch’s’ curse for some time. You should use it before you go and meet the witch” the princess offered the information.

Maria could hear the uncertainty in her words as she conveyed that information. The princess sounded as if she did not believe those words herself but was just trying to present Maria with some hope.

It was a sweet gesture if this turned out to be true.

‘System, can you check the validity of this claim?’ Maria asked. She was not even sure if her system was capable of this feat but she still felt confident in trusting it in this matter.

[Scanning archives....

Information source found....

Checking validity.....

The pool does exist. Location coordinated are confidential and User is asked to find them on their own since it is above their clearance level]

The system claimed. Maria was not even sure how it had managed to check that in this short amount of time. But it did verify the claim.

But what the heck was a ‘clearance level?’ and why did it just pop up? It almost felt like the system was making it up in order to not tell Maria where the pool was.

But the system’s proficiency also brought doubts inside her mind about its true nature. It was too powerful and too knowledgeable, almost divine in nature.

“So, do you have the location of this pool?” Maria asked the princess. She wanted to ask the system again but could not help but hesitate in asking this.

‘Darn that queen and her words. They are making me hesitate’ Maria cursed as she looked toward the princess.

“I don’t know the exact location but I do know the way to find it out. But the way there is dangerous and I don’t know if we’ll get out alive and-” the princess rambled but Maria stopped her.

She took the princess’s hands in her one and tugged toward herself. Their eyes locked and Maria could see the princess unconsciously gulp her saliva down in nervousness.

“It will be alight. Just tell me what we need to do and I’ll take care of everything from there” Maria assured and the princess seemed to be believing her words.