Chapter 25
Walking down the dark hallway without a lamp, Sera’s face contorted in frustration.
‘Why do I have to go through all this trouble!’
Her cautious steps were tense, as only the occasional lantern illuminated the way. As her mind raced with anger at who had brought this upon herself, the image of the smiling Princess from earlier flashed through her mind.
A harmless, sunny Princess.
The unexpected arrival in the Empire was just as Marie had said.
‘No, that’s putting it too kindly.’
In Sera’s opinion, Alicia was more than harmless, she was stupid. She was innocent and kind to everyone, but she was just a dumb Princess whose head was a field of flowers and couldn’t help herself.
Ignorance makes for bravery, and it was an abomination that she thought to bring an arrowhead with her in such a dangerous situation, and that she had the nerve to offer it to the Emperor.
‘Just by looking at the cancer, I can tell the Emperor has a black heart… Maybe I’m being too nice for my own good.’
Bound by a pact of secrecy, Alicia’s only goal here is to covet the Empress’s position.
She knew enough about reality to know that she shouldn’t be in the Empress’s place, so she was as strict with others as she was with herself, and the only person she could approve of was the Duchess of Joubert.
She knew that if the Duke of Joubert’s family became the Empress’s confidant, her own family would benefit from it.
So he was eager to rid the Empire of the unruly Princess as soon as possible, and he was glad to hear Mrs. Anthe’s instructions to keep her quiet.
‘But what a coincidence that the Emperor should show up just as I was flying my arrows!’
Sera’s mind raced as soon as she heard from Marie that Princess Alicia had brought arrowheads.
Sera’s frustration grew as she realized that her talents were not recognized because she was from the Han family.
But then she saw Alicia, and her stomach twisted.
She was born to be a Princess, a lucky girl with no talent, and because of that, she caught the Emperor’s eye and was welcomed into the Empire. It was an injustice to her.
Ceding the Empress’s position to a Princess was in her own best interest, but otherwise completely unacceptable.
So she did what she had to do, which was to burn the evidence and get rid of it. It was a simple enough plan, but it all went wrong. Thanks to that incompetent Princess!
Sera had no choice but to go to her handmaiden, Mrs. Anthe, and as expected, she was furious.
“What, did you use that pochi? I told you to keep it hidden!”
“I’m sorry, I thought it was just a stimulant or something! I never dreamed it would go so far…”
“You’ll shut that mouth! You were only supposed to do what I told you to do, do you realize what you’ve just done!”
“Huhuhu… Auntie, I’m sorry, I, I just wanted that bitch to go away as soon as possible… Huhu, I was wrong, I got ahead of myself, I was too eager, but I don’t think she knows what it is?”
“Foolish thing. Don’t you realize that the first step is to notice that there’s something on the arrowhead?”
“…!”
“Hah… I’ll have to get rid of all the evidence, just in case, once I start investigating that juice; the Duke had saved it for future use, and I’m sure he’ll be furious with me for using such a precious thing!”
“Huhu…! What can I do, auntie, please, help me. What can I, what can I do? Please. I’ll do anything!”
“… For now, let the remaining succulents in the palace go outside tonight, and then we’ll have to think about it after today.”
Mrs. Anthe’s sighing words echoed in my head.
‘We must handle this perfectly, so that it never comes up later, and then maybe your aunt will understand and let it go.’
Before turning the corner of the hallway, Sera glanced around. She’d managed to trick one of the guards into knowing her shift, so thankfully there was no one in sight.
She quietly opened the locked door to the training room. It was ostensibly a training room, but in reality, it was a punishment room, and no one was allowed to go there.
Sera’s snakelike, deep yellow eyes landed on a corner bookcase lined with books.
‘I told them to move them outside if they could, but what if they get caught? Let’s flush some of them down the drain first. We’ll only need to keep one or two.’
I nudged one of the books at the bottom of the shelf.
I heard a click and pulled out all the books in front of it. I reached down deep and pulled out the bottles I had hidden in a secret compartment in the back of the bookcase and began to stuff them into my pocket.
‘Ah, it sucks, I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble if it wasn’t for that bitch… Maybe I’ll get my revenge someday, ah, no, maybe I’ll just hide these bottles in her luggage?’
Sera squeezed the last bottle lazily, half-heartedly.
‘Yeah, you never know, they might suspect it’s self-inflicted… The stupid Princess would just cry incompetently anyway, so what’s the point, she’ll just get banished or killed anyway.’
The small, half-full bottle clenched tightly in my hand.
‘One way or another, if I succeed, I’m sure my aunt will be relieved of her anger.’
The thought of being so assertive, of being the reason for this death sentence, but now that it was a matter that could be redeemed, Sera’s eyes blurred together.
‘Yeah, just like that…’
And then it happened.
“What is that?”
A voice that shouldn’t have been there assaulted her ears.
“…!”
Like someone waking up from a dream, Sera jerked upright, dropping the bottle in her hand. A sharp popping sound filled the silent space, followed by the spine-tingling sound of a popular chuckle.
“Huck!”
Sera’s head jerked up like an ungreased iron, her face pale as if she’d seen a ghost. She looked as if she were about to gasp for air.
***
‘I knew it.’
I blinked at her wide-open eyes as she slumped to the ground.
“Are you okay, did you get hurt by the glass?”
“Ah, how did you get here…?”
“Oh, that doesn’t matter now, what matters is that you’re not hurt! You seem to be fine, and that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Sir Oscar.”
I lowered the tips of my eyebrows in a look that said I was just worried about you. Then I glanced behind me, and Sera looked at Oscar as if she’d noticed.
‘You think I came here on my own?’
I smirked secretly as she remained frozen in place, unable to even utter a groan.
I knew what her reaction would be when she realized that the arrowhead had fallen into the Emperor’s hands. She would have to get rid of all evidence of the arrowhead as soon as possible, today if possible.
And she couldn’t let that happen.
“Sir Oscar, I’m worried about Marie, can you show me to my quarters?”
“The maids’ quarters are in Building 2, so she should be there.”
So I relaxed and waited for dinner, and then Oscar and I headed to the use wing.
Once outside the women’s wing, Marie, as we had planned, shouted out Serira’s suspicions as if she wanted Oscar to hear.
“… In fact, I saw Sera hiding a suspicious bottle.”
“A suspicious bottle?”
“Yes. I didn’t know what it was, so I kept quiet, but when I heard the rumor that Princess had brought the arrow that was in the field, Sera suddenly overreacted and said that she was going to change her assignment. Of course, it’s a circumstantial case, but I don’t think she’s keeping her mouth shut, so I’m telling you this under penalty of punishment.”
Since I couldn’t tell her the truth about how Sera knew I had brought the arrows, Marie cleverly made it sound as if Sera had heard rumors and acted suspiciously on her own.
I responded that I had no idea and thanked her for her concern, but that there was no way she would do that.
I told her that it was better to clear up any misunderstandings quickly, and that I needed to see Sera immediately, so I asked her to show me where she was.
Needless to say, Oscar couldn’t stop me. He said that he couldn’t leave me alone with Marie, who was desperate to see me in person, especially since it had only been a few days since the incident, so he suggested the next best thing: to call the user manager.
Little did I know that the next best thing would be a great opportunity. I didn’t realize that I was going to be asking to open up an outsider’s passageway, which is designed to avoid bumping into people inside!
I wanted to sneak in quietly anyway, and I was even accompanied by a user representative, so we made our way to the training room in question together.
‘The more witnesses the better,’ I thought, ‘so it’s a good thing it was me.’
That smooth sailing was interrupted by the timely arrival of a witness to Sera’s suspicious behavior.
“I never imagined it would work out this way,” he says, “that her frivolity would make it so easy to raid the crime scene.”
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but she seems unharmed, so I’m sure we can haul her off to jail unharmed, with a suspicious bottle.”
Oscar cut in front of me, shooting Sera a sidelong glance.
“Ah… Oh, and this…”
Sera opened her mouth to make some sort of excuse, but she looked as if she were strangled, so she couldn’t finish the sentence. Then she started crying, tears welling up in her eyes like she was incapable of thinking.
“Uh, it’s not fair, Princess, I just came to the training room to run some errands, and this sickness is no big deal… Marie? Marie, you tell the Princess. No one has more integrity than me!”
Then she spotted Marie standing behind me, her eyes widening and the corners of her mouth twitching upward as if she’d just spotted her sister-in-law. She seemed to believe that Marie, who had been so afraid of her, would somehow testify in her favor.
