Chapter 168

Laying in their bed inside their shared room, the sisters connived against the new king, and not even through whispers, but by loud claims and exclamations. They knew he was busy with Avarice so this was their time to discuss their plans without any care in the world, and with the head maid Grace on their side, they had no reason to fear any maids that may overhear their conversation.

"What the hell were you trying to pull?!" Screamed Amelia, her teeth still grinding in anger from what Aurora had tried with Zeil.

Popping one candy in her mouth after the other, Nessa watched as her sisters feuded in front of her, all the while she simply kept enjoying the sweets.

"I told you already, but it seems like you don't wanna listen," rolling her eyes, Aurora walked over to the vanity and set herself down. Looking at herself through the mirror, she grabbed a comb and began running it through her hair.

"I wanted to see his reaction–to know whether he would get excited or be shocked, because as long as he's in Avarice's grasp none of us can bend him to make him do what we want!"

Listening to the feud in silence, Grace's golden eyes scanned through the sisters. She'd known them from the day they'd been brought to the castle, she knew them through skin and bones and there was no secret they'd ever managed to keep from her.

Thus, she wanted to voice her opinion–to help them better understand the situation, as much like the only competent sister Aurora, Grace knew or at least had some semblance of what Avarice had planned.

"If I may, young madame's," her voice tinged with a zesty accent, Grace managed to get everyone's attention directed at her. Moving in between the three beds that lay in a circular manner, she got in the very middle and reached into her silver bob to take out a hairpin. "Before we discuss anything else, I suppose this meeting should focus more on the king's untimely death."

Letting go of the pin, Graced reached into her hair again and let it all down. Flooding the floor, her bob turned into a gushing fountain, and by the time it settled, the entire room was covered in her silver hair.

"What's this?!" Getting the hair off of herself, Amelia jumped to her feet. But before she could escape, the silver strands of Grace's hair wrapped themselves around her body.

"Ewww…" Nearly allergic to anything other than silk or fur, Nessa tried to escape the hair as well, but it ended the same way as it had with her older sister.

"Aurora, darling? Are you gonna struggle too?" Grace prosed while the other two cursed her out in the background.

"No need." Holding her hand to the side, Aurora let the maid wrap her hair around her arm.

"Very well," turning to the other two, Grace wore a genuine smile before giving them both a gracious bow. "Now, I shall ask but once, which one of you spiked the poison before we could get Zeil out of that devil's grasp?"

"SPIKED?!" As much of a simpleton as ever, Amelia still hadn't figured out what was happening.

Nessa on the other hand, knew that their plan had been tampered with but failed to reach the specifics of the cause of the death.

"Aurora has to be her!" She exclaimed with every bit of conviction.

"Is that the question I asked?" Smiling some more, Grace began squeezing their bodies until their eyes were on the edge of popping out.

"UGHHH! IT WASN'T ME! STOP!" Screamed Amelia, her mouth foaming to the pressure around her tits.

"NOT ME! IT WASN'T ME EITHER!" Nessa screamed right after as she heard her bulb-like spider back cracking up.

'I don't sense any lies, does that mean?' Shifting her attention to Aurora who was carelessly combing her hair, she wanted to ask her the same question, but the girl replied before she had a chance.

"I didn't spike his food, that's a dumb move," letting down the comb, Aurora turned around to face the other. In the meantime, sensing no deception, Grace let go of them all. "And since you don't seem to know anything either, that means…"

Left to muse on their own, everyone except Amelia had already figured out the answer. It was Avarice with her facade of innocence who was poisoning the king more than they'd planned to.

"Well if it's her," closing her eyes, Grace pulled her hair back into a bob. Grabbing the pin off the ground, she quickly tied her hair and continued with her thoughts. "She has the prince–now king wrapped within her fingers, and not to mention, her protocols are far more advanced than I."

Lifting her massive skirt, Grace revealed her mechanical body that resembles an engine more than the inner workings of an automaton. Piles and pistons linked her limbs, and the passage of contained steam was how she moved from room to room. However, being only a prototype at the time of making, she lacked efficiency and required constant repairs and fuel.

Watching iron pumping in and out of her burning chest, the sisters were as amused as ever, although the moment she let it down they were once again reminded of the situation they were in.

"Maker Mono created her with care, with more love than a mother nurtures her child," picking up distant steps approaching the princess's room, Grace decided to end her thought as quickly as possible. "But don't let that love fool you, she was made a killer that could wipe an entire army of automatons.

Apparently, that's how Maker Mono thought she could keep us in check, by making one of us absolutely unhinged."

"Speak about an insane wizardess."

"Don't bad mouth the dead, Princess Nessa." Glaring at the Arachne from her gargantuan height, Grace chilled her to the core with her own murderous gaze. Thankfully for Nessa, however, opening the door to enter, Avarice took everyone's attention away from her.