Chapter 89: Base Intentions
“Yesterday at dawn, the maid Elira swallowed poison and took her own life.”
At the knight’s words, the palace maids collectively held their breath.
“What? She’s dead?”
“Yes.”
The palace maids asked question after question, but the knight seemed unwilling to say more, clamping his mouth shut.
With no other choice, the palace maids returned to their quarters.
Originally, the palace maids had been close attendants of Erpia.
However, after Erpia’s death, having nowhere else to go, they stayed in the palace with Ileon’s permission.
Since Erpia had been a member of Ileon’s family, the palace maids had expected that, once Ileon ascended the throne, they too would be appointed as his palace maids.
Yet Ileon never appointed them as his personal palace maids.
“His Majesty the Emperor lies on his sickbed, and now a blind palace maid, who should be attending him, has voluntarily died… doesn’t this feel extremely off?”
No matter how they thought about it, something felt deeply wrong.
“Could it be… that Duke Calypso is plotting a rebellion? Maybe he’s holding a grudge over the revocation of his title, and he’s deceiving everyone about the Emperor being on his sickbed…”
One palace maid pressed her finger to her lips, signaling to be quiet.
“Shh. Be quiet. What if someone overhears us?”
“But… it’s just us here.”
“Isn’t this all the fault of that witch, Celia, called Brillion’s angel? Ever since she arrived, the Emperor has suffered one misfortune after another, the Empress has passed away, and the Crown Prince’s face has become grotesque…”
Celia had been fully branded as a witch among the palace maids.
The maids concluded that conditions outside the palace were no different.
“Should we go to Duke Calypso?”
One maid suggested.
“Do you really think Duke Calypso would see us…”
“Let’s at least try. If we speak properly, maybe he’ll accept us as maids? If we reveal the information we have, something might come of it.”
Ileon had been silent all this time.
Becoming palace maids was extremely difficult, so they could not return to their estates empty-handed.
“While we’re at it, it would be better to separate that witch from Duke Calypso too.”
The palace maids’ eyes gleamed slyly.
Previously, they had dared not approach Dietrich because Erpia had been interested in him. But seeing him utterly captivated by a woman he had previously ignored, Celia, made them think they had a chance.
The palace maids resolved to switch their attention to Dietrich.
Celia, having spent an intense night with Dietrich, had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
Dietrich gently kissed her forehead.
Her body was covered in red marks he had left.
He gave her his arm as a pillow and brushed the hair clinging to her cheeks.
Celia was unbearably lovely, and it made him feel like he could go mad.
He did not know when it had happened.
The Celia who had once smiled brightly, covered in blood in the Emperor’s bedchamber.
The Celia who, terminally ill, had entered the bedchamber as if she had completed everything she needed to do and smiled radiantly.
The Celia who had collapsed in his arms, vomiting blood.
Dietrich, fastidious and extremely averse to anyone touching his body, felt strangely no resistance from her from the moment he first met her.
It irritated him.
She showed no refusal despite having completely disrupted his plans to manipulate the Emperor.
Was this their inevitable fate?
Dietrich held Celia close.
The destruction of Abelon.
He had lived his life only for that one goal.
He never imagined there would be someone else sharing the same dream.
And he never imagined he would fall in love with that person.
Dietrich wanted to destroy Abelon and call out Celia’s real name without restraint.
If she wished, he would willingly give his life for her.
Dietrich narrowed his eyes.
Even if Ileon escaped from prison, nothing would change.
Dietrich had anticipated that Ileon would find some way out if left alive.
The lust he had seen on Ileon’s face toward Celia…
Dietrich’s eyes flashed with lethal intent.
Then, there was a knock.
Knock knock.
“Master.”
It was Anderson’s voice.
Dietrich covered Celia with the blanket so she could not be seen and rose to his feet.
After donning the tunic and black armor he had thrown on the floor, and strapping on his sword, he finally spoke.
“What is it?”
“The palace maids have come. They say they have something to tell you, Master.”
The palace maids had visited Dietrich several times before.
But every time, they only asked to be accepted as his maids.
“Send them away.”
Dietrich intended to dismiss them without even hearing them out.
“Are you sure? They are the maids of the late Empress.”
Dietrich narrowed his eyes.
There was no reason for Erpia’s maids to visit him now.
Just as he was about to tell Anderson to send them away, he changed his mind and opened the door.
Anderson stood before the door.
Dietrich quickly closed it behind him so Celia wouldn’t see and stepped into the hallway.
“It’s strange for them to come at this moment. They must know something.”
“…Perhaps it’s useful information.”
“They said they won’t speak until meeting you, so I told them to wait in the reception room.”
Dietrich frowned in displeasure.
“I’ll go to the reception room. You stay here and guard Celia.”
“Understood.”
“Do you think Duke Calypso will really come?”
“Well, they made it to the reception room. He has to come.”
The palace maids spoke excitedly as they sat in the spacious reception room.
“But Duke Calypso said he hasn’t had maids in the mansion for months.”
“Then we’ll be the first, won’t we?”
At that moment, the reception room door suddenly swung open without knocking.
The three palace maids’ eyes turned to the man who entered.
Their mouths fell open in unison.
Black hair and a straight forehead.
Beneath neatly arranged eyebrows, red eyes.
A smooth nose, sharp jawline, and distinct features, including a firm mouth, like a statue meticulously carved by a god.
Even in black armor, his broad shoulders and muscular frame were impossible to ignore.
It was Dietrich.
Dietrich did not offer the maids tea.
Instead, he sat on the sofa across from them and got straight to the point.
“Why have those who once served the Empress come to me?”
His deep voice matched his commanding presence.
The palace maids’ faces flushed red.
“I-I just…”
One maid stammered, and Dietrich frowned.
Another maid quickly spoke.
“We have something urgent to ask Duke Calypso.”
Though no longer a duke, so many people still called him that that he found it tiresome to correct them.
“We came, despite the risk, because we were curious if the Emperor really is bedridden. The palace guards wouldn’t even let us in…”
Dietrich immediately understood their intention.
They suspected him.
They feared he might harm the Emperor or plot rebellion.
“We’re not here to blame Duke Calypso. We came to see if there’s any way we can help.”
The maid finished speaking with a bright smile.
Dietrich, however, remained completely expressionless.
Anxious about being sent away, one maid spoke again.
“Having once served the Empress, we overheard many things. For example, that the Empress tried to use a poisoned teacup to harm Duke Calypso’s lover.”
Dietrich’s eyes darkened at this revelation.
Celia had never told him that she almost drank from the poisoned cup after her encounter with the Empress.
“Anything else?”
“Yes?”
“What else did she try to do to Celia?”
Seeing how much Dietrich cared about Celia, the palace maids’ frustration flared.
Surely, that woman was a witch. She had lured even the steadfast Dietrich.
Each maid harbored her own lowly desire to drive a wedge between Dietrich and Celia and become his lover.
They smiled sweetly, hiding their base intentions.
“Please let us serve as Duke Calypso’s maids. Then, we will tell you everything.”
