Chapter 110 —
“You’re still sane, aren’t you.”
It would have been better if she were mad.
The head maid, who had clamped a handkerchief over her nose and mouth, looked down at Hannah with a displeased expression. The lantern she held cast a dim light around them.
“What is that supposed to mean…?”
“It’s a compliment. It’s remarkable to keep your wits in a filthy place like this. Ah. Well, that explains why you behaved so brazenly in front of Her Majesty the Empress.”
What on earth was the head maid trying to say? Why had they locked her up? Hannah’s thoughts raced faster than ever.
“Judging by your expression, you’re curious why you’re locked up here.”
Contempt glinted in the head maid’s eyes as she looked down at Hannah. Finally the wrinkled corner of her mouth twisted to one side and she spoke in a cold voice.
“Miss Gustin conspired with Master Artis of the Guild to kill the guard knights. The motive for the killing… let’s call it elopement with Master Artis.”
“Right now—!”
Hannah jolted and thrust an arm toward the iron bars at the maid’s shocking accusation. She had even forgotten to straighten the knees that had been planted on the cold floor.
But the head maid didn’t stop there.
“And what’s more, you even disguised yourself and infiltrated as a maid. Very brazen.”
At that, Hannah froze completely, forgetting even to breathe.
“Hannah Aeven. You fooled everyone quite well. You’ve been demoted to commoner status, and you’re a distant relative of Sir Milan Leopold?”
The head maid’s tone had a faint amusement to it as she seemed to enjoy Hannah’s motionless blinking.
“You understand just how serious that crime is, don’t you?”
“…….”
How could they have—
How did they find out?
Hannah bit down on her lower lip.
She and Milan had spent a long time doing the groundwork to conceal her identity — a fallen noble drowning in debt, a young lady named Hannah of roughly the same age. Finding someone who fit that description wasn’t easy. Even getting under Count Marlon, the Empress’s right hand, had not been simple.
And yet they had been discovered…?
Hannah gripped the bars so hard her hands hurt. The rough iron prongs bit into her delicate skin, but she paid them no mind.
‘I can’t back down here.’
She couldn’t be a burden to the Crown Prince. Even if it meant taking her own life, she would not show a posture of surrender.
Not to those who had ruined her father, all the more so.
“I have no connection with Master Artis of the guild. More importantly, were those really knights?”
Anger sharpened Hannah’s eyes.
No matter how she looked at them, the men who’d attacked her were not knights. Rather…
“They looked like common thugs.”
“How dare you speak so insolently!”
The head maid roughly pulled down the handkerchief hiding her nose and mouth and raised her voice.
As expected — that masked man was clearly connected to the head maid.
“Oh. Now that you mention it, he did look quite similar to you, Head Maid. If you two are connected, perhaps you should confess your guilt first.”
Hannah scanned the head maid’s reaction carefully. It seemed the maid hadn’t expected Hannah to recognize that person — she was momentarily at a loss for words.
“They were the ones who tried to kill me first, and by luck ‘that person’ appeared and saved me. Wouldn’t it be troublesome if it turned out you were connected to those men?”
Hannah slowly straightened the stiff knees that had gripped the bars.
“Moreover, passing off street thugs as knights—if the Order found out, they’d react strongly.”
Facing the head maid without flinching, Hannah’s mouth tilted into a crooked smile.
A spasm ran across her face, but she forced the smile higher. The cell’s darkness hid the strain.
If this was not solely the head maid’s scheme but an order from the Empress, Hannah would scarcely survive this place.
“Also… the items traded with Master Artis of the guild were very interesting, you know?”
Having nothing left to lose, she wanted to shake them up with everything she had. She would never plead for her life.
Perhaps because she wanted to look her father in the face with dignity when they met — to return and say she had done well and fall confidently into his arms.
Hannah glared at the head maid through the bars with a hard look that said she wouldn’t go down quietly.
Perhaps the maid noticed the trembling in Hannah’s hand. For a moment the maid flinched at Hannah’s words and then snorted, scoffing.
“Like I said, you and Master Artis planned it. Who threatened whom first doesn’t matter. A person died. The important thing is that Master Artis, Gustin, or rather Miss Aeven was there. Isn’t that what’s important?”
The head maid donned the smug air of a victor and looked down at Hannah with lifted chin.
“Well then, when Master Artis appears, everything will be resolved.”
But when Hannah, gripping the bars, gave back her fierce stare and made her shaking hand even firmer, the maid slowly set the lantern down on the floor.
“So Miss Aeven should shut her mouth. Before the guildmaster appears.”
Her voice sank heavily. She hurried on before Hannah could speak again.
“Dispose of her.”
At the head maid’s signal, two armored men who had apparently been waiting by the door revealed themselves.
Clank—
The iron door, which had seemed like it would never open, unlatched. Hannah stumbled back.
“Her Majesty the Empress does not want the rumors to die down. If Miss Aeven turns up, it’ll be troublesome.”
The two knights stepped across the threshold and into the cell.
“G—go away!”
Hannah dragged her feet toward the corner and tried to run. No matter how she tried to act calm, one could not maintain composure with the blade of death poised above them.
“Get away! Just try to come any closer!”
There was nowhere for Hannah to avoid them in the cramped space. The two knights seized her arms and violently restrained her.
“Let go! Let me go! Let go!!”
They wore masks that hid their faces, moving like obedient puppets and saying nothing. Together they held Hannah tightly as she fought desperately.
“Hold her tight.”
Entering the cell, the head maid again covered her nose and mouth with her handkerchief and jingled a small glass vial in one hand.
“It will be over with just a momentary pain. Her Majesty the Empress has graciously shown mercy.”
“Ugh!”
The head maid grabbed Hannah’s cheeks to open her mouth and began to pour the vial’s contents in just then—
Thunk—!
Clang!
Startled by the sharp sound of breaking glass, Hannah squeezed her eyes shut and then flinched and opened them a fraction.
“What are you doing?!”
The head maid, whose hands had been suddenly grabbed and who had felt an unexpected pain, cried out.
Hannah and the head maid’s gazes shifted to the same place.
“Explain this situation. With that loose tongue of yours, try to explain.”
Like a great beast hidden in the dark, a low, chilling voice generated an intangible fear. The head maid shuddered and instinctively took a step back.
The hands that gripped Hannah loosened. Bewildered, Hannah looked toward the masked knight who had been holding her.
Thud—
One of the knights had struck the head maid’s hand aside without mercy, then tossed off his mask and revealed his face. It was a face the head maid knew well — Paul.
As if the taut string of tension had snapped, Hannah’s body sagged.
“Are you all right?”
Paul quickly steadied the falling Hannah.
“Ah, thank God…”
Hannah, her strength gone, leaned fully against Paul and muttered words that were almost involuntary.
“There is no god.”
At that moment, the remaining knight who had made the head maid tremble also threw off his mask.
“Gah!!”
The head maid nearly convulsed at the sight of the knight’s face.
Even here, in the darkness, his golden eyes shone like light; a feral power rippled off him.
“Your Highness…”
Terhan let out a low, amused chuckle toward Hannah, as if to say she was all right.
That laugh washed over everyone with a strange sense of relief.
“How fortunate…”
Hannah couldn’t finish her sentence and let go of the strap she had been clutching.
“Hey! Snap out of it!”
Paul, supporting Hannah, shook her urgently, but she remained limp and could not open her eyes.
“Escort Miss Gustin out first.”
On Terhan’s command, Paul nodded swiftly, lifted Hannah by slipping an arm under her knees, and they disappeared.
Only two remained in the chamber.
“Now then, Head Maid. Shall I make you a proposition?”
Faced with the raw, golden terror, the head maid could do nothing but press herself against the very iron bars she had despised and tremble.
Knock knock.
“Y-Your Majesty the Empress. It— it’s me.”
At the head maid Emily’s voice, the imposing door opened.
Click, click.
The Empress, who had been attending her hair, glanced in the mirror and tightened her mouth.
“Who is this? Our second prince comes all this way—what could be the matter?”
She waved away the servants who were helping her dress and slowly turned her back.
“It seems the prince still lacks manners. Where did he learn to sneak in like a little rat?”
Tsk. The Empress clicked her tongue and scanned Terhan with a disdainful look that made being near him unpleasant.
“If I didn’t do this, you wouldn’t come to see me.”
Terhan, who had halted several paces away, did not avoid the Empress’s red gaze.
“You don’t know what you say. Who’s been keeping their tail tucked? I’ve reached out to you many times. You’ve hidden your greedy, foul intent well enough I suppose.”
“Who are you to call someone else filthy?”
“Watch your tongue. If you must put on airs of having no mother, then do so after you leave this palace.”
The Empress’s words darkened Terhan’s golden eyes.
“So this was truly Her Majesty’s intent.”
“You don’t understand. It was merely a warning not to lower the dignity of the royal house with your reckless acts.”
Her blood-red lips tilted sideways as she rose slowly from her chair.
“Then I will return one warning of my own. Dare not speak of my mother with that mouth.”
Though the Empress looked down on him openly, Terhan set his jaw and gave a low threat behind his calm face.
