Chapter 50
Anyway, there were adults here too—not just children. Strong adults. Cila held onto the hope that she could somehow escape this situation.
However, her half-cousin seemed to have completely different thoughts. He ground his teeth and suddenly drew a dagger from his waist, swinging it toward Cila.
In an instant, she was cut across the abdomen. The searing pain she felt for the first time made her mind reel.
The sad part was that, even as she was losing consciousness, she felt a sense of relief seeing her half-cousin running away.
“I’ve barely gotten out of this. There’s no way I’m dying like this.”
Clinging to consciousness with sheer willpower, Cila saw the two children and the strong men she recognized enter her field of vision.
The girl who had screamed earlier was still being held by one of the men, staring blankly at Cila. Though Cila had been stabbed, it seemed the shock had affected the girl more.
Of course, she had probably been raised carefully, protected from any danger, never having to face or experience it herself.
Somehow, it made Cila a little resentful.
“If only I had someone to protect me like that…”
Cila, trembling, pressed her hands to her stomach, her gaze still fixed on the girl.
A moment later, among the several children present, the one who seemed the oldest shouted something and ran over, pressing Cila’s wound with his hands. Overcome by pain, Cila finally lost consciousness.
The child who pressed her wound was none other than His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince, and she only realized later, after receiving treatment, that the boy who had first rushed to her side was the heir to the lordship of the territory where she had lived.
“That child…?”
Lying in bed, Cila tried to recall the boy who had run toward her. But at the time, it had been too chaotic, and she had noticed the girl more than the boy, so she couldn’t remember his face clearly. She only vaguely recalled that he looked younger than her. Somewhere, she had heard that the young master of the Karzelga family was three or four years younger than her.
“Well, is that a big deal?”
Cila thought of her cousin in the capital whom she had intended to rely on.
Her cousin had been born into extreme poverty and had gotten a job as a low-level messenger for a merchant guild. Later, she caught the eye of the guild master, who had lost his wife, married him, and began living a completely changed life.
“Though she did marry into a remarriage, and her husband is fifteen years older.”
Cila shook her head slightly. She didn’t like remarriage or older men.
“Karzelga is good. Since they’re not central nobles, it’s less stressful. The Countess is said to be kind and warm-hearted. Once you earn her approval, she won’t fuss much over family background. Handling a boy three or four years younger will be easy.”
The Countess of Karzelga, respected by the villagers, had a reputation for being humane.
Recalling the Countess and Roilet, Cila began to sketch out a roadmap for her life, taking inspiration from her cousin’s experience.
Cila refused the Count of Karzelga’s offer to enter as a maid.
Her cousin had worked as a messenger for the guild, finding any opportunity to get close to the master. But this was different. If Cila entered the Karzelga household as a maid as the Count had suggested, she would be doing nothing but menial labor, never seeing the Countess or Master Roilet’s faces.
Instead, she started by entering a family recommended by the Count and earning recognition for her skills. The vassal family of Karzelga did not treat her as a mere maid; they acknowledged her talent, and she traveled from place to place gathering recommendation letters.
After gathering recommendation letters for some time, she finally remembered that Roilet had reached the “age when one must eat properly.” Finally, she knocked on the doors of the Karzelga household.
Relying on her collection of recommendation letters and a few past connections, Cila entered Karzelga not as a maid doing menial work for the ladies-in-waiting but as a respected maid serving in earnest.
Once inside Karzelga, things went smoothly. Cila quickly gained the recognition of the Countess and the head of the maids, thanks to her experience and keen instincts.
One day, as Cila pushed a tray of tea and desserts into the Countess’s study, she heard a voice from a small adjoining room:
“Lirin or Cila?”
Her name had been mentioned. Cila quietly approached and stopped in front of the small room.
“Yes. Among the children of a similar age to Roilet, she is the most perceptive.”
It was about Roilet. Cila’s eyes widened.
“Lirin has been serving Karzelga since she was young, so she knows the household well. Cila has served for a shorter period, but she’s quicker-witted than Lirin. Here are the recommendation letters Cila brought when she joined. Lirin has none since she has always been in Karzelga.”
The person speaking with the Countess was likely the head maid. Though they exchanged a few more words inside, Cila couldn’t hear the rest.
Startled by someone entering the study, Cila realized it was Lirin.
“Lirin, what’s that?”
Cila asked quietly.
“An ink box. I was told to refill the ink.”
Lirin lifted a box containing several bottles of ink.
“It must be heavy. I’ll do it.”
Cila took the box from Lirin.
“Oh, it’s fine.”
“No, I might as well do it while I’m here.”
“Thanks.”
Lirin smiled faintly and left the study.
After confirming Lirin had left, Cila adjusted her clothes and entered the room. The conversation between the Countess and the head maid stopped.
Ignoring the gazes of the Countess and the head maid, Cila skillfully arranged the dessert tray with maximum precision, just as she had been trained.
She noticed that the ink bottles on the table were nearly empty and replaced them with the ones from the box.
“Where’s Lirin? I told her to bring the ink bottles.”
The head maid asked after watching Cila.
“I met Lirin on my way to the study, but the butler called her, so I brought them instead.”
“I see. You may leave.”
Cila felt a moment of tension, worried the maid might find it odd, but luckily, she seemed unfazed. Cila bowed politely and left the room, pressing her ear to the door to listen.
“How is it?”
The head maid asked. Cila held her breath, waiting for the Countess’s response. But her reply didn’t come immediately.
After a while, Cila placed the ink box in a drawer and left the study. From the next day, she spent about half of her daily routine beside the Countess with Amber.
✿ ✿ ✿
“So… you entered Karzelga from the start targeting Roy?”
Ellen looked puzzled, not knowing what expression to make.
“And not because you liked Roy, just to rise in status?”
Cila glared at her. If she weren’t tied up, she would have lunged at Ellen.
“Don’t talk like that. You, born a noble and with royal blood, what do you know? Living your whole life treasured and protected by your parents.”
“Forget that, why did you target me and do such things to my mother?”
Roile, listening with a stern expression, spat out her words.
*”The Countess is quick-witted. She tried to remove me and place Lirin in my position. And…”
And?
“She had already marked that girl as the next Countess!”
Cila screamed in a shrill voice.
While Cila raged, Ellen, the girl in question, looked bewildered. Even the furious Roile looked stunned.
“Next Countess?”
When Ellen, clearly unaware, asked back, Cila became even more furious.
“That’s what makes me mad. I struggle to get what I want… yet, just because someone has good lineage, they automatically gain connections and take everything as if it’s theirs.”
Her legs twitched slightly from being tied, and she continued:
“Even if you don’t know, if you overhear the Countess talking with Countess Quinter, think about it. When I first used poison, who helped with Karzelga affairs by her side? It was you. Are nobles the kind to easily entrust family affairs to others?”
Cila mocked the idea of what Ellen might have been thinking.
“So you poisoned my mother because you thought my position as Countess wouldn’t go to you? Just for that?”
Roile trembled, restraining herself from striking.
“Just? Just?! I spent years trying to enter not as a maid but as a maid-in-waiting, trying to catch the eyes of the Countess and you! How much effort I put in to gain recognition despite being belittled and despised as a girl with nothing!”
Cila’s eyes blazed with anger.
“I intended to serve as the Countess’s tongue in Karzelga. I never slept soundly from constantly being on guard! I deserve recompense! The one undeserving is the girl sitting beside you!”
Her furious gaze turned to Ellen.
“Elenoa? Yes, except being born as the daughter of the princess in Quinter, what do you have? How can you so easily take that place?”
Cila’s voice, enraged, nearly became a scream.
“I never received that ‘compensation’ you talk about. And Roile is not someone for you to decide about.”
Seeing Cila fuming, Ellen spoke in a flat voice:
“Where did that poison come from? The one called Ssumpure.”
Roile, who had ignored Cila’s yelling, asked. Blinking at Roile, Cila slowly spoke:
“It used to grow in our backyard. It looks like a weed, so others would pass by without noticing.”
“Did you know it was poisonous from the start?”
“I did more than know. I used it too.”
Cila answered calmly, drawing the attention of everyone in the cell.
“Used it? When, on whom?”
Would all her crimes be exposed like this?
With the testimony of the spirit providing solid evidence, Cila now seemed to tell everything, as there was no longer a way to avoid punishment. In fact, she seemed to enjoy the shock her story caused.
