System Prompt: Shadow Rose Knights
Name: Shadow Rose Knights
Race: Human
Level: 25–35
Description: Elite knights handpicked from the Rose Kingdom’s Rose Knight Order, exclusively serving Third Princess Viki. Each is an exceptional talent.
Note: While the Rose Knight Order prioritizes the kingdom’s interests, the Shadow Rose Knights place Viki above the kingdom. Rumors suggest this is due to Viki using her mental magic to control their minds, transforming them from loyal kingdom knights into her personal army.
Surrounded by these heavily armored knights, Bai Yue Ling shrugged and raised her hands in surrender.
“No need to be so tense,” Shi Qianla said, gently lowering Bai Yue Ling’s hands and sneakily pinching her thigh with a smile. “We’re here to invite you, not arrest you.”
“But with all this fanfare, everyone will think I’m being arrested,” Bai Yue Ling said, glancing around. People were already pointing and whispering.
“Is that busty girl… Priest Hero?”
“She just beat a Heroic-tier boss, and now she’s getting nabbed?”
“I knew she was cheating. Even the NPCs can’t stand her.”
Hearing the murmurs, Shi Qianla sighed. “I’m just following orders. If you don’t want the gossip, come with me to see Her Highness quickly.”
The group of armed knights drew attention wherever they went, but Bai Yue Ling’s petite frame let her blend into their encirclement.
Outsiders could only vaguely spot a silver-haired, curvy girl in the middle, unable to confirm she was Priest Hero.
Escorted by the Shadow Rose Knights, Bai Yue Ling was led to a small room inside the Royal Palace gates. The knights left, leaving her alone with Shi Qianla for a security check.
“Why a check?” Bai Yue Ling tilted her head. “Last time, I just walked in.”
“Last time, Aiya brought you,” Shi Qianla replied. “This time’s different.”
She used a device resembling a metal detector, but it was a Magic Detector.
After scanning, she confiscated Bai Yue Ling’s Staff of Charm-Sorrow and Slime Cloak. “Sorry, dangerous items aren’t allowed inside. I’ll hold onto these for now.”
Bai Yue Ling frowned. “What’s the point? I can just store my weapons in my spatial inventory and pull them out later.”
Shi Qianla smiled. “Spatial inventories can’t be used inside.”
“Oh… Another item or skill targeting Otherworld Travelers, huh?”
Faced with the influx of players, World of Fate’s NPCs had developed countermeasures, like the Otherworld Soul Sealing Stone.
Eyeing the now-unarmed Bai Yue Ling, Shi Qianla added with a grin, “Take off that armor too. It’s got a dark aura.”
“What?” Bai Yue Ling instinctively covered her chest. “If I strip, I’ll be left in just my bodysuit stockings. That’s not exactly clothing.”
“No worries.” Shi Qianla handed her two thin pieces of cloth. “Just cover the key parts. Her Highness isn’t going to try anything.”
“You… stay back. I’ll do it myself.”
Jelly was still clinging to Bai Yue Ling’s Fallen Light Armor’s chest and skirt pieces, and she couldn’t let Shi Qianla notice. But removing the armor meant separating from Jelly.
Bai Yue Ling wrapped the cloth pieces around herself, suddenly feeling like characters from a game in her past life—something like Gan and Shen, maybe?
“Don’t hold it against me, Little White,” Shi Qianla said, patting her back reassuringly. “Her Highness ordered me to bring you. I’m just a worker following commands. Oh, and I have a favor to ask.”
Alone in the room, it was the perfect setting for a private conversation.
Shi Qianla lowered her gaze and whispered, “I want you to investigate what’s changed with Her Highness.”
“Changed?” Bai Yue Ling listened intently.
Shi Qianla sighed. “Yes. Her Highness used to be kind and generous, but earlier this year, she left the Royal Capital for a month. When she returned, she became colder, more ruthless.”
So Viki wasn’t always this bad? Bai Yue Ling nodded. “How did you notice?”
“You don’t know yet, Little White, but Aiya’s mind has been controlled by Her Highness. She’s completely forgotten you,” Shi Qianla said, her voice heavy with memory. “Aiya was Her Highness’s friend. The old Viki would never have done this to a friend…”
Shi Qianla paused, then recounted Aiya and Viki’s relationship:
Aiya wasn’t just Viki’s personal guard but one of her few true friends.
As the Third Princess, Viki’s status made most people approach her with ulterior motives, smiling on the surface but harboring malice, some even wishing her dead.
As a Mental Mage, Viki had an extraordinary sensitivity to others’ minds, easily seeing through duplicitous people and keeping them at bay.
But over time, her environment shaped her, turning her into someone who hid her true self, becoming as two-faced as those she despised.
Just when she despaired of human nature, she allied with the Judgment Church, and Aiya, a Paladin, entered her life.
Aiya was a bit naive, lacked initiative, and spoke bluntly without pretense.
This sincerity made Viki feel at ease—she didn’t have to worry about Aiya using her or badmouthing her behind her back.
She could treat Aiya as a genuine friend.
“But now, Her Highness erased the memories of a true friend for her own gain. That’s not something the old Viki would do,” Shi Qianla said, her eyes tinged with melancholy.
“Something must have influenced her to cause this drastic change. I want you to find out what.”
She gazed earnestly into Bai Yue Ling’s eyes. “Little White, you’re the strongest Otherworld Traveler.
If you can defeat the legendary Slime Queen, surely you can save Her Highness, right?”
Bai Yue Ling remained silent.
Shi Qianla clasped her hands over her chest, her ample curves rising and falling, forming an elegant arc.
“I have no one else to turn to. I can only trust you…”
Though Bai Yue Ling was just a Priest, her victory over a Heroic-tier boss made her the strongest Otherworld Traveler in Shi Qianla’s eyes, igniting hope.
But unexpectedly, Bai Yue Ling shook her head.
She extended her index finger and gently poked Shi Qianla’s chest, her expression blank.
“Miss Shi Qianla…” Bai Yue Ling’s tone was unusually soft.
“You’ve been mentally controlled by Viki too, haven’t you?”