I patiently walk behind the Empress while she takes small, unhurried steps through the Magus' estate. Her legs are so short, sometimes it makes me want to just scoop her up and carry her around like I did when she was younger, but she is trying to be more independent, and I would be a terrible caretaker to not encourage that.

Renna yawns adorably and stumbles into me. I gently wrap an arm around her and guide her around a group of staring servants; the attention of humans is so far beneath her grace that she doesn't even seem to notice them. A few hallways later we arrive at the chambers the red haired human provided for us, and I usher my charge inside.

The room itself is opulent, floor to ceiling windows dominate the far wall framed by elegant red curtains. The bed and furniture are all finely carved wood with Karnakan designs engraved into them, plush carpet parts beneath my feet, and I spy a bathroom through a side door. This is adequate for her majesty's needs.

The sleepy Empress doesn't offer any resistance as I sit her down in a chair and stand behind her to start working on her hair. The braids are intricate and will take a few moments to undo.

"I'm tired. Can I go to sleep now?" Renna's voice is small and quiet, and I have to hold myself back from cooing at her.

"In a moment, sweetie. I need to let your hair down and then we need to bathe you."

She pouts, "But I'm tired! Can I take a bath tomorrow morning? Please, Enna?"

It takes monumental effort not to instantly fold to her cute, bratty voice. While she is normally a good girl, with fatigue comes a bratty attitude that I failed to correct when she was younger. I just never had the heart to spank her, especially when she usually surrenders instantly with just a few firm words. "No, sweetheart. You are getting a bath tonight."

Her pouting continues but she doesn't argue anymore.

"Those adventurers are so annoying! I can't believe anybody could be so dumb! And that meeting took way too long! All those humans took so long to debate, only for Debbs to fold like a wet paper towel! Is she even going to be useful at all?" She whines.

I hum and continue to run my claws through her hair, "I understand the weakness in the red haired one is pathetic, however, it suits our purposes just fine. It is fortunate even, that the rest of the leadership proved just as spineless. Of course, it is hard to have a spine without the military to back it up. What's left of their forces are far too busy in the south to deal with us."

A particularly tight knot comes loose and Renna sighs, relaxing into my touch, "I guess… It's so stupid they choose their leadership by whoever is the strongest mage. Debbs is only level fifty three, she's not that powerful. And her personality should have been a dealbreaker."

"It is not so different compared to how other nations choose their leaders." I scratch around the base of Renna's horns, her favorite spot, and she practically melts under my touch, "Power comes in many forms. Most leverage political power and wealth to achieve their stations. Here they just use magic, it is not so strange. Besides, I believe Debbs gained her position using more than a little nepotism, and possibly…" I let my words trail off, my little empress doesn't seem to be listening anymore.

The last few strands come loose, and I direct Renna into the bathroom. Filling the tub with water, I pick her up and sit her down in the tub. The bathroom is as rich as the rest of the room, white tiles, a huge bathtub with golden trim, and a huge mirror that must have cost hundreds of gold. Of course, her grace doesn't notice any of it as the warm water quickly lulls her to sleep. I allow myself an almost silent giggle. I've lost track of the number of times she's fallen asleep in the bathtub. No matter how old she gets, some things probably won't change.

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Once she is clean, I lift her out and dry her off. Renna is half asleep and is struggling to keep her head up, so I quickly finish preparing her for bed, slipping her into some shorts and a shirt.

My heart melts a little when she looks up at me with tired, half shut, adorable eyes, "Thanks Enna,"

"I'm so proud of you for acting like a proper empress today." I can't resist planting a kiss on her forehead and scooping her up into my arms. She cuddles close to me, tonight is going to be one of those nights when I'm going to need to hold her until she is fully asleep. As much as I would love to cuddle her, I'm going to need to get Hollis to fill in for me, my attention is going to be needed elsewhere.

Renna falls fully asleep on the way to bed, but when I try to lay her down, she clings to me, even in her sleep.

Hollis teleports in and crawls into the bed, "Sorry, Caretaker Enna. Debbs and I were deep in conversation. She is really nice and I like talking to her."

"Shhhh." I hush the tiny vess.

They blush, "Sorry."

It takes some maneuvering, but we manage to get Renna to release me and hug Hollis. The two of them happily snuggle in bed together. It's situations like this that makes me wish I had a camera from the Earth realm.

With considerable effort, I tear my eyes away from the cuties and use shadow step to slip into the darkness.

I linger in the gloom of the hallway. Completely hidden to all but the highest level detection abilities. It isn't too late, but the hallway is deserted all the same, an almost unnatural quietness descends over the estate. No one has been killed, I would have smelled the blood, but clearly the servants are avoiding this wing.

They certainly waste no time. It's barely midnight when the first assassin comes sniffing around for the Empress.

A shadow glides down the hallway, an ability that would render the user invisible to anyone below their level. I am not below their level. While I lack a direct inspection ability, I do have a danger sense, and that skill detects a complete lack of threat from my opponent. All I do is stand still and extend a claw into their path.

And pluck the human's head from their body. The corpse crumples to the ground, useless without its head, and begins to spurt blood out of the neck hole. I tsk, it won't do to have Renna step in this blood tomorrow. I whisk the corpse away before too much blood is spilled, returning with a damp cloth to clean up the area.

After the area is reset, I go back to waiting. Another hour passes and another would be assassin is bisected by my claws. Clean up the corpse. Wait. Kill another human. Clean up the corpse. Wait. Kill. Clean. Wait.

By the time the sun begins to rise, a grand total of thirteen assassins lay rotting where I dumped them.

The Adventurer's Guild is persistent if anything. At least they aren't foolish enough to try another direct confrontation, that would just waste time and be annoying. As far as I know, all the Karnkan towns have Adventurer's Guilds and Mage's Guilds. The mages aren't much for subterfuge, however, and will likely only try to hurt us politically. We are fortunate that the red haired human was swayed on to our side. Mages hold a lot of power here in Karnaka, the position of magus makes that evident. I expect to find much more hostile receptions in the rest of the cities.

I stifle a growl; the Mage's Guild is probably working hard to turn the queen against us.

My bad mood lifts almost instantly when I return to Renna's side. Her bed hair is adorable as she sits on the side of her bed, rubbing her eyes. "Enna?" Her morning voice cracks, "I'm really hungry."

Returning to a calmer state of mind, I bow to her grace, "Of course, let's get you ready for the day."

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