Ayla was unable to express her dissatisfaction with Laura to the individual in question, so she roughly poked the stew with a spoon to relieve it.
She was a young girl of only twelve years old. She was gushing with grandiosity about how sleeping in late is a big mistake.
The start time wasn’t really that late. Even though it’s summer and the sun rises early, She didn’t start her training until the sky was just starting to brighten.
In the past, these things felt natural, but after receiving love as a princess from the duke’s family for two years, everything felt unreasonable.
However, she felt guilty about the complaints that kept rising, and she told herself that it was something that could not be helped for her father’s sake.
“… … Lady. ” What is the answer?”
Laura, who didn’t seem to like the way Ayla was poking at the stew without answering, urged her to answer in a sharp voice.
“Okay, Laura. I’ll do my best. Sorry.”
Only after she gave her usual answer in a downcast voice did Laura’s cold gaze loosen.
“You should do that. “Of course.”
Laura nodded proudly, as if she liked her answer.
Ayla closed her eyes to control her anger. She was the type of person who knew a hundred ways to kill Laura with her bare hands—with a single weapon—if she wanted to right now.
But She couldn’t ruin the work just to vent her anger for a moment.
He had decided that he would pay with his life for deceiving her, and when it was over, he planned to hold Laura accountable for participating in deceiving her as well.
That was still a distant future.
“If you’re done eating, I’ll just put the table down. “Because I have work to do.”
Whether or not she knew that her life had been extended thanks to Ayla’s patience, Laura still arrogantly took the prize away with a cocky attitude.
She didn’t even want to eat more, but it was still enough to hurt her feelings.
Laura, who said she had work to do, came back to the room not long after taking the prize. That was because what she had to do was take care of Ayla’s hair.
This was something that had been going on since she was the youngest she could remember.
She brushed her hair with a soft brush every day, and every few days, she applied a thick cream made from a mixture of herbs and oils.
When Laura was younger, her mother did it, and after Laura inherited it, it was something she has always done, even after joining the dukedom.
It was still early evening, but after changing Ayla into her pajamas, Laura sat her down on the bed and began to carefully comb her long hair.
Then she started applying cream to her hair. It seemed like today was one of those days.
She always hated this sticky feeling, but she held on to it to please her father.
“You should know that you are happy. This cream was also specially prepared by the owner for his beloved daughter.”
While applying cream to her hair, Laura talked non-stop. It would be much easier to endure if she just shut her mouth.
“Yes, I know.”
As she was half-heartedly arguing with her soulless voice, She was already coming to the end of taking care of her hair.
After wiping off the cream with a soft cloth and applying a refreshingly scented vegetable oil, Laura spoke to her in a stern voice.
“Stop sleeping now if you don’t want to oversleep tomorrow too.”
The days were long, and it wasn’t even dark yet. Her day was always like this.
Laura left the windowless room, leaving only a small lamp behind, and locked the door from the outside as she always did.
They say it’s to protect the precious young lady, but if that’s the case, it wouldn’t be right to lock it from the inside.
This lock was merely a device to prevent her from escaping.
“under.”
Ayla lay down on the bed and let out a loud sigh toward the sky.
When she returned to the past knowing the truth, she realised once again that she had been treated in a truly absurd way, which gave her a bitter feeling.
But now that Laura had locked the door and left, it was the most precious free time for Ayla.
The only light in the room was a faint glow from a small lamp, but the darkness did not bother her.
She had lived in a dark room like this all her life and had become accustomed to the darkness through numerous training sessions.
And locking the door was no problem at all.
This is because these fortresses usually do not have just one door.
It seems like she didn’t do a detailed investigation since she stayed there for a month or two at the shortest and three or four months at the most, but she was different.
She had the ability to hone herself to become a slightly better assassin. The ability to find secret passages in buildings.
Cloud was also an area she didn’t know much about. It was purely by chance that she found out about this.
When wandering around abandoned fortresses, there were times when she came across old books by chance. It was the same way back then. Ayla was looking under the bed when she found a book that was completely worn out.
She didn’t know what the author was thinking when she wrote the book, but it contained instructions on how to figure out the structure of a building and find hidden passages. She read and reread it for several months before leaving that fortress.
She was wondering if it would help her avenge her father.
That was something that happened in the ruins she stayed in when she was 15, so in fact, it was knowledge that the 12-year-old still didn’t know. It could be said to be the privilege of someone who has returned in time.
‘Because these fortresses usually have similar structures. There must have been a hidden passageway for escape.’
As she groped the floor in the dark, she was soon able to discover a hidden secret passage.
She thought it would be a good idea to go in with the lamp that Laura left behind, but if the light leaking through the crack in the door disappeared, she might get suspicious, so she had no choice but to go in naked.
She briefly looked at the light from the lamp, but fortunately, there were no dangerous elements visible in the underground passage.
In order to avoid arousing Laura’s suspicion by getting her pyjamas dirty, she put on a dark robe and jumped into the basement without hesitation.
She landed lightly and waited for her eyes to get used to the darkness, but dust had piled up as if no one had entered this passage for quite some time.
It seemed like it was a good idea to come in with a handkerchief over her nose and mouth just in case. Otherwise, she would have sneezed and her presence would have been revealed.
Soon enough, dark adaptation began to occur, and the sight of the secret passageway came into view. As expected, it was a very simple passage.
The destination is Byron’s room.
It was done to keep an eye on what he was doing and search for any indicators of what he might be doing.
Of course, Byron’s room was on the second floor, which received plenty of sunlight, so he couldn’t go straight through this secret passage.
So the first thing to do was to find a passage to the ground.
‘I think it’s this way.’
Thinking about the structure of the fortress, She went a little north and saw tree roots breaking through the passage. It seemed like she could go to the ground if she opened the door next to it.
Ayla climbed up the old ladder. She felt truly fortunate to have returned to the body of a child. Because the wood had rotted, it seemed like the ladder would have broken if she had been a little heavier.
She opened the door and stuck her head out to look around. Because it was surrounded by the roots of a huge tree, it seemed that Byron’s men were not exposed.
After confirming that there was no one, she came up to the ground and quickly hid herself in a tree. Although there was no one now, it was impossible to know who would appear when and where.
But fortunately, no one showed up.
After sighing, Ayla entered the fortress through the second-floor window.
The window was only a small hole in the stone, but it was enough of an entrance for her, who was still a child and not very tall.
As she approached Byron’s room with as little pretence of presence as possible, she ran into an unexpected difficulty.
After going a little further down the hallway, she was in front of Byron’s door, and she started to hear signs of presence on the other side.
‘damn.’
Ayla, who spoke harsh words in her mind, quickly hid herself in a crack in the wall. The person who appeared was Cloud.
Although her teacher was good at reading signs, Ayla was also confident in hiding her signs.
She could boast that she was much better than Cloud, who taught her. It was the result of gritted teeth and hard work.
“… ..That’s strange.”
It seemed like there was someone…
Looking in Ayla’s way, Cloud tilted his head. She hid it well, but perhaps not as smoothly as she thought.
Ayla even held her breath and hid her presence in case she was caught.
Fortunately, Cloud soon shook his head and knocked on Byron’s door, perhaps thinking he was just his mood.
“Who are you?”
“It’s the cloud.”
“Come in.”
Byron’s haughty voice came from inside the room. Cloud opened the huge wooden door and entered the room.
It may not be soundproof because it is an old wooden door, but in order to hear voices more clearly, she moved quickly and grabbed the door before it closed completely. Thanks to this, a very small gap was created.
“… Okay. How is the kid? Is there anything suspicious?”
Byron asked. It looked like they were going to talk about Ayla.
“Yes, my lord. The attitude is no different than usual. However, there is something that bothers me a little.”
What bothers you? Ayla put her ear closer to the door with a confused look on her face. She remembers what happened that might have raised Cloud’s suspicion.
