The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 186: A Spy

Chapter 186: A Spy

At Corvus City, Valcrez

"Ah, this is life!"

Laura exclaimed as she started trying some of the street food around her while she was following Minister Haman’s men. She had to make sure that they wouldn’t notice her while she was tailing them, so she tried out some of the street food while occasionally looking for some thing else to buy in the street market. She was also currently disguised as a man to make sure that she wouldn’t be spotted.

Currently, Minister Haman was her mission. She had to expose all his dirt and wrongdoings to the public. Honestly, it would’ve been way easier if she was just allowed to make herself bait by posing as one of the women who were being illegally transported to him. However, Her Queen strongly opposed the idea and even scolded her for impulsive thinking.

’I guess I really have to learn a lot more before I can be an effective high-ranking officer,’ She thought to herself with a pout as her sharp eyes kept their gaze on the men she was following. She had a hunch that she would discover Haman’s hideout today where all the human trafficking and crimes were happening. Well, hopefully, it happened today.

Rounding another corner, the two men she was tailing suddenly disappeared, and Laura immediately felt her senses tingling. Rounding the corner herself, the fact that she was met with a dead end only further made things easier for her to guess.

"This is the entrance then."

Narrowing her eyes, Laura went to work feeling out the wall in front of her. Sure enough, she felt a small chink through the stone wall, and once she placed her hand on it, a secret door opened for her.

"Don’t mind if I do..."

Chuckling, she went inside. Still crouched, she overheard some of the dealings happening below. As she expected, there was human trafficking happening right underneath the capital city. There were also some vampires that were drinking blood based on the smell of iron lingering in the air.

"Disgusting," she muttered under her breath. "And here I thought all the vampires here had etiquette."

Making sure to remain in the shadows, Laura began to record all that she was hearing from the people around her. From backdoor dealings to other illegal smuggling operations, she made sure to keep note of it in a small codex that she carried. Names and places made for good evidence to submit to her queen, and she was going to make sure that she was going to milk this place dry of every ounce of information she could gather before leaving.

"All too easy," she giggled as she began filling page after page of her codex. "It’s only a matter of time before-"

"Hey, did you hear that?"

Laura froze. That voice... It sounded like it was aimed right at her.

"Probably just some rat," another scoffed.

"No... Too big for a rat..."

She blinked at what she just heard. That was just the cue she needed to leave.

Turning around, she was making her way back to the entrance when she saw that it had already been barred shut. Well, more like someone was standing guard in front of it, preventing her from leaving.

Going back around, she saw that some of the patrons were already nearing her position.

’Dammit... Am I really going to be caught here?’

Gritting her teeth, Laura stuck to the walls, hoping that it’ll help her hide from her pursuers.

"Over there! Someone’s here!"

Her eyes widened. It looked like she really was going to be caught.

’No! Not like this!’

Shaking her head, she tried to find somewhere to hide, only to fail as the metaphorical walls closed in on her. Closing her eyes, she was just about ready to fight for her life when she suddenly felt a hand yanking her into a crevice she hadn’t spotted in the walls.

"What the-"

"Shh..."

Before she could even respond, the mysterious man then quickly blocked her from view. She felt her heart hammering as she found herself inches away from practically kissing the man if it weren’t for the fan separating them.

"Who are you?" she whispered. "And why are you helping me?"

"You can give me all the thanks and questions later," he quietly chuckled, his decorated fan hiding his mouth from her. "For now, let’s get you out of here."

*****

’What in the world is Lauro doing here?’’

Fritz couldn’t believe his luck when he spotted the same human female that he always spotted in the Titan Tavern skulking around in his stakeout. He was currently spying on Minister Haman when this woman just suddenly appeared. Not that he wasn’t curious as to why she was here, but the fact that she got spotted just made things worse for the both of them.

"You were lucky that I was there," he scolded her as he all but threw her off him the moment they escaped through one of his hidden accessways. "You could’ve died."

"Well, thank you then... whoever you are," the woman nonchalantly scoffed.

"You don’t remember me? And here I thought we were friends," he chuckled. "Then again, you were drinking back then, so I suppose I can forgive the lapse in memory."

"Hmm... Oh, you’re... Fritz, right?"

Lord Fritz found himself chuckling behind his fan. He had omitted the part where he was a lord going undercover for his King’s orders. She had introduced herself as a man then. Lauro, supposedly. An obvious fake name, but he had nothing else to call her with anyway. While her disguise needed a bit of work to pass against him, he would at least humor her just fine for now.

"Indeed," he casually rolled her eyes. "Now come. We might be away from them, but they might still be able to follow us."

This woman... If she wasn’t a spy for some other human kingdom, then he would eat his own shoe. The question then would be which monarch she was working for...