Chapter 23
It wasn’t bruised, but my shoulder felt sore. Had the Head Maid’s advice really etched itself so deep into my skin?
Her words made sense, so I decided to follow them for now. Besides, even setting aside being banned from various places, I didn’t have the energy to run around anyway. Truly, the department to avoid.
The aftereffects of working in the laundry room were no joke.
So, my plan was to clean the entrance hall in the morning and spend the afternoon in the pharmacy. But then…
“Is this Miss Lacey Tiel’s room?”
Just as I was about to leave my room for breakfast, soldiers with their faces hidden by helmets blocked my way.
“Yes, I’m Lacey. What is this about?”
“We received an anonymous tip. We will now search your room.”
What wrong have I done lately? Switching tasks with Sonia and putting fodder into boiling water in the stable were all I could think of. The laundry room work was approved by the Head Maid, so it didn’t even count.
“I cannot permit this. This room is, above all…!”
A sharply honed spear tip was pointed at me. The characteristically cold sensation of metal passed my nose and sent a chill down my spine.
“Step aside. Resistance or interference is grounds for summary execution.”
This is absurd.
Then, Sonia grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“Lacey, let’s go for now.”
At the very least, I should hear the reason for the search. Should I just accept this unreasonable treatment without knowing anything?
“If they had concrete evidence of something, they would have arrested you first.”
The soldiers were rummaging not only through my belongings but Sonia’s as well. Even seeing that, Sonia remained calm. She must be displeased to be caught up in my affairs, yet…
Reluctantly, I silently followed Sonia out of the dormitory. I wasn’t in the mood to eat breakfast comfortably.
“This way is…?”
But the direction we were heading wasn’t toward the dining hall.
The entrance hall we soon arrived at was packed with servants, leaving no place to step. It was a time when it should still be quiet, but the buzzing noise was deafening. As I raised my hands to cover my ears…
“Aren’t you all going to eat? What’s going on?”
Isn’t that someone from the laundry room who’s particular about meal order? Why are they here?
“Don’t even ask. I heard the stable’s in an uproar right now.”
“Why the stable?”
Ah, so that’s why they brought us here.
The entrance hall was essentially an information hub. Instead of lowering my hands, I perked up my ears.
“The horses started vomiting and collapsed this morning.”
“Why would the horses do that suddenly?”
Cases of animals vomiting are rare: they’re either overly nervous or ate something they shouldn’t have.
“I heard they were acting strange after eating their feed this morning. So the mood is at its worst, they say.”
So, there really was a problem with the feed?
But that made it even more incomprehensible.
While going in and out of the stable, I had inadvertently learned a few things. The stablehands were meticulous about managing fodder, feed mixtures, and such. They always kept the stables clean and carefully monitored the horses’ health. After all, the horses raised in Canis Castle were all well-bred warhorses. They were crucial assets, galloping across all of Canis’s lands and sometimes even deployed in battle.
So, having their mobility paralyzed just three days before the inspection…
“Oh no… what to do. Isn’t it almost the time when monsters appear in the northern borderlands? The garrison alone won’t be enough…”
“Just not enough? The whole of Canis might be wiped out.”
It was the precursor to the collapse of the safety line. If monsters set foot below the mountain range, it would be irreversible. After Canis was turned to scorched earth, the next would be the Yenenhaft Empire, and then…
“…the Euphorian Kingdom.”
The image of unseen monsters trampling the Euphorian royal capital and harming Tritan flashed through my mind. I felt my heart sink.
“What on earth did they eat to cause such a situation?”
“I vaguely heard they gave them this morning the feed meant for yesterday. It took time to cool down because it was too hot?”
“Does that mean they cooked the feed? Can they even eat that?”
“Well, I don’t really know.”
Cooked feed? Don’t tell me…
“It might be my fault…”
Just then, a strange hand landed on my shoulder.
“Did you sleep well, Lacey?”
I whipped my head around to find the owner of the voice. Unlike yesterday when he was clutching his stomach and looked half-dead, Louis now had a refreshed face.
“Ah, hello, Mr. Louis.”
“Thank you so much for yesterday. Thanks to you, I went to the pharmacy and got examined by Grandma Vianu… Hey, why do you look like that?”
“…Huh?”
“Anyone would think a corpse is walking around.”
“A c…corpse?”
I touched my cheek. I couldn’t really tell if it was cold or hot.
“Lacey, why are you sweating like rain? Are you sick again?”
Sonia, who had been distracted for a moment, looked serious.
When I touched it again, my hand really came back wet with cold sweat. My fingertips were trembling like an aspen leaf.
Why am I like this?
Louis grabbed my trembling hand.
“It’s too chaotic here. Let’s go over there and talk first.”
Only after arriving at a quiet place did she let go of my hand.
“You go to the stable often, right? Is there a horse you like?”
Did she hear that from the Head Maid?
“Ah, Blackie… I mean, I’m worried about Victor.”
“Bla…Blackie?”
I nodded.
Horses are delicate animals, easily startled or having their condition ruined by small changes.
“You have quite the taste… I heard on the way that they ate the wrong feed. Surely they won’t die, will they?”
In severe cases, they can die.
“Don’t take it so seriously. The pharmacy crew ran over with their medical tools.”
“But…”
“Grandma Vianu followed them too, I heard. So, everything will be resolved.”
I believed Victor, with his tough temperament, would pull through, but I couldn’t say the same for the other horses.
“Hmm, Lacey. About what you said earlier.”
“Huh?”
“That it might be your fault. What did you mean by that?”
Oh, did I say that out loud?
Louis patted my back to soothe me. I could feel my pounding heart gradually calming down.
“…I was the one who tampered with the horses’ fodder.”
“What?”
It was a story that would come out once things settled down anyway. After I explained the whole situation, Louis tilted her head.
“I don’t know much about stable work either, so I can’t say for sure, but I’m not convinced that’s really the problem.”
“But the sequence of events is clear. What if we can’t stop the monster invasion because of this?”
“If cooked feed was the problem, the stablehands would have discarded it long ago. Why would they put it in the feed bin by mistake and then try to cover it up?”
Louis was right.
If it was simply a problem with the feed, there would be no need to search my dormitory room. As Sonia said, it was certain they would arrest me and hold me responsible.
That meant something was mixed into the feed, and there was a tip saying I was the one who did it…
*Smack!*
“Ow!”
My back stung as if whipped. Perhaps tempered by laundry work, Louis’s slap was painfully sharp enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“So, you don’t need to feel guilty. Understood?”
Wiping the corners of my eyes, I nodded.
“Good, as long as you understand. Now, go have a nice breakfast with your friend.”
“What about you, Mr. Louis?”
“I’m fine!”
Louis waved her hand and walked away.
* * *
Ash Canis’s face, illuminated by candlelight, was as stiff as could be. His troubled gaze was fixed on the two letters placed on the desk.
“Fritz, is this all the correspondence from Euphorian?”
One was from the Euphorian royal family, the other from a Euphorian townhouse.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Is that so.”
Now was not the time to worry about letters from abroad. Fritz’s eyes seemed to say as much.
He was right.
Because of some insolent individual, the warhorses almost perished. If the culprit wasn’t caught and thrown in prison, Canis’s prestige would be trampled into the dirt.
“What shall we do? Shall we round up everyone whose footprints match?”
They probably wore someone else’s shoes, as meticulously prepared as they were.
As Ash shook his head, Fritz scratched his head nervously.
“Of all times, why did the magic tool have to break? If this is a coincidence, it’s a miracle.”
Was it really, though?
The single magic tool received via Taweira was found broken inside a drawer. It looked as if someone had tampered with it, and only a handful of people knew of its existence.
That meant the candidates were limited. Among them, there was only one person who could hold a grudge against the Canis family. And only one person resistant to the sleep incense that knocked out the guards protecting the office.
What should I do with you, you insolent Maeta?
Ash owed Maeta his life. When he was battling an unexplained high fever between life and death, if Maeta hadn’t brought the rare medicinal herb, Ash wouldn’t be here today.
So, if possible, he wanted to spare at least her life. However, Maeta had touched something she shouldn’t have. The matter was too serious to let personal feelings sway him into pardoning the crime.
Conversely, there was an obstacle to arresting her as well. No matter how detestable, he couldn’t detain someone based on circumstances alone. Without physical evidence, he at least needed a witness.
*Knock knock-*
“Lord Head. Someone from the Maid Department has arrived. She says it’s an urgent matter.”
What could it be at this late hour?
“Send her in.”
The solid door opened, revealing a maid bowing respectfully. She slowly straightened up. Ash’s eyes widened.
“You are…”
