(MC POV)

The archivist who had guided me here went up to the Matriarch and got on his knees.

Normally, I wouldn't be able to hear what they were saying since this room was soundproofed, but since Xun Guan had her clone nearby to eavesdrop on them, she could relay their words to me.

"Your Majesty, we are honored to be graced with your presence today," The Archivist bowed.

Instead of answering him, the Matriarch gestured her hand at him, prompting another woman who was wearing a maid outfit to step in front of him.

"Why is the director not here to greet her most gracious Majesty personally?"

"Apologies my Lady, the director was not aware that her Majesty would be visiting. I had already sent someone to inform her about it."

"Such impudence. Does she not respect her most gracious Majesty at all?"

"That is not the case, my Lady. There has just been an influx of new workers and the director has her hands full in dealing with them."

Xun Guan paused and shifted slightly, "Does this guy have a crush on her or something?"

I shrugged, "I wouldn't be surprised to be honest, some guys are like that. Although… When I was here, I never saw this guy so maybe he got disposed of."

"Did Master lay with her?"

"I would not call it that, but I was indeed used by her for relief purposes. I did not have a good time."

The next moment, a woman wearing the white overcoat of the Royal Archives' Director came rushing out from somewhere.

She immediately prostrated herself in front of the Matriarch, "Director Ying respectfully greets your Majesty!"

The maid from before took a step back, allowing her mistress to address the director.

"Director Ying… Do you know why we are here?"

Yep, definitely the Matriarch alright, she always talks down to people. I'm guessing Muon is like the 'carrot' in this carrot and stick management.

Everyone fears the Matriarch but sees Muon as a sympathetic friend. Muon would then get them comfortable enough to tell her about their dissatisfactions against the Matriarch and root out any potential enemies from within.

Wouldn't put it past the Matriarch to come up with an arrangement like this.

"My apologies, your Majesty… I do not know…"

"Were you not aware of the various spikes of energy throughout the lands these past few days? Being the director of the Royal Archives, we had expected you to have came up with an explanation of it and yet none has been forthcoming. Why?"

"This subject is still looking into it, your Majesty… We have yet to obtain a satisfactory answer as of this time…"

The edges of the Matriarch's lips turned downwards slightly, "I will be heading to the Forbidden Archives."

"At once!"

Oh well damn. If that crazy girl is down there, these two would definitely come to blows.

"How strong is the Matriarch, Xun Guan?"

"Umm… It's hard to say at this distance, but I do believe she might be able to stand toe to toe with Master's first disciple."

Huh, so around Lian Li's level? Not really surprising since I remember she was really, really strong.

No wait, going by the standards of this Plane, she's actually monstrously strong isn't it?

I admit, she's actually the reason why I thought everyone in this Plane was at least this strong when I was here, since this place wasn't built on a kratocratic form of governance after all.

With that in mind, I would have thought the Matriarch only possessed exceptional political abilities and not personal strength.

Hey, can you blame me? I had nothing to measure her strength with and everyone was stronger than me back then!

Plus I wasn't well travelled ok? Some misunderstandings were bound to happen!

To err is human and all that.

The Director began leading the way inside the Archive, the Matriarch following her for all of three steps before stopping in her tracks.

Her head turned and our eyes met.

Memories of me being kept in the dungeon and tortured for days on end flashed in front of my eyes. The pain of having my limbs cut off for the slightest mistakes and the beatings I endured shook me to my very core.

I quickly ducked my head down and continued with my inscription carving, hoping against all hope that she would just dismiss my gaze as mere curiosity and move on with her life. No, don't even consider that, just move on and leave me alone.

I managed to finish carving three more inscriptions before the door to the room swung open, revealing the Matriarch herself standing behind it.

Though the door made no sound, her presence was enough to change the air into an ominous one, announcing her arrival to us.

Damn it.

I kept my gaze down, trying my best to keep my mind on just carving out the inscriptions in front of me.

The sound of her high heels clacking against the ground echoed through the room, stopping right behind me.

I bit down on my bottom lip hard enough to taste blood. I remember this position all too well.

If I was too slow or made a mistake in my inscriptions, her whip would descend mercilessly upon my back. If she was in an especially bad mood, a few fingers would be the sacrifice for that mistake.

A voice was screaming at me to run away from there as fast as I could, but I managed to fight that urge down by devoting all of my mental capacity to the inscription I was carving.

Just as I finished another one, a hand had rested itself on my shoulder.

Xun Guan immediately went into defensive mode, my clothes tightening up with multiple levels of defensive enhancements in preparation for an attack.

"Are you single?" She asked.

I tensed up and my throat constricted just from hearing her voice.

That is by no means a question about my relationship status. That was her asking if I was currently 'owned' by anyone.

I bowed my head lower before managing to squeeze out my voice, "No… Your Majesty…"

"What is the name of your Mistress?"

I had no name to give to her and I didn't have the sense to come up with a lie either, my mind currently preoccupied with all the trauma I'm experiencing at the moment.

Just from how her grip tightened on my shoulder, I knew she was smiling.

"Change of plans," She declared, moving out of the room. "I'm returning back to the palace and he is coming with me."

The Director bowed her head, "Is… Is something wrong with him, your Majesty?"

The Matriarch turned to the Director and raised her hand, shocking everyone with the hard slap she delivered to the Director that sent her sprawling onto the floor.

"He is completing a perfect lightning bolt inscription every three seconds, how has anyone not taken note of this?"

Everyone in the room gasped at her words, the Director herself rushing up to me and grabbing a handful of the inscriptions to inspect them.

She gaped at me, "How… How many have you done?"

I looked down at the stack of papers, "About… Four hundred?"

A few seconds passed before the Director's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out on the ground.

What.

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