145. Who Will Escort the Villainess? (1)
“Who on earth was that maid?”
I stared blankly at the spot where she had vanished in an instant.
Why had she told me to go to the Crystal House?
“…Could this be a trap?”
Thinking about it, there had been a lot of suspicious incidents lately. Marquis Blaine had been kidnapped, the steward had disappeared…
But if someone had wanted to harm me, they would have attacked me outright, not handed me a note in secret like this.
“What could it possibly be?”
No matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t come up with an answer.
There was no choice—I had to see for myself.
“I’ll just go check on something for a moment.”
“Huh? You’re going somewhere all of a sudden?”
Ignoring the flustered attendant behind me, I set off for the Crystal House with an escort.
The moment I stepped inside, a sharp voice echoed from down the hallway.
“That’s enough!”
“Your Grace, the Marquise!”
Were they arguing?
I left my guards behind and ran toward the source of the commotion.
As expected, two people were bickering in a corner of the corridor.
I strode toward them.
“Lady Evelyn?”
“G-Your Grace?”
Evelyn’s face showed a hint of embarrassment.
“…You must be the Princess of Serteia.”
The woman standing opposite Evelyn hurriedly bowed to me.
Tall and elegant, she exuded a refined air.
‘She must be Lady Shailo’s head maid… I think.’
I didn’t know her well, but we had met before.
“I heard voices of a dispute, so I came to see. What’s going on?”
“What does it matter to a princess?”
Evelyn snapped, her voice sharp.
“Your Grace! How dare you speak so rudely to the Crown Prince’s fiancée?”
The Countess Garcia scolded Evelyn for her behavior, but Evelyn’s expression twisted even further.
Biting her lip in frustration, she suddenly turned away.
“I’ll be going first.”
“Your Grace! I will report this matter to Lady Shailo!”
“….”
Evelyn ignored the Countess’s warning and hurried off.
“May I ask what happened?”
After Evelyn left, only Countess Garcia and I remained in the empty corridor.
She glanced around before answering my question.
“Perhaps we should move somewhere else?”
“Alright.”
The Countess led me out of the Crystal House and into the Empress’s palace.
“Why here…?”
Countess Garcia had been Lady Shailo’s maid, and before that, a close aide to the Empress.
‘She must have severed all ties with the Empress.’
Why, then, would someone who betrayed the Empress come to the Empress’s palace?
But she offered an unexpected answer.
“This is the only place where we can talk without worrying about eavesdroppers.”
“Pardon?”
“My superior does not trust me completely.”
A mysterious smile played on her lips.
‘Could there be a secret reason…?’
Curiosity surged, but the Countess seemed unwilling to say more.
I opened my item menu instead.
‘Maybe there’s something useful…’
There were several items—<Rising Protective Instinct>, <Gender Swap! The Youngest Son of the Duke>—but none seemed capable of revealing her intentions.
I entered the Luck Point Shop and chose the “Mind-Reading Glasses.”
[Mind-Reading Glasses]
[Description: Allows you to peek into the thoughts of a specific person. Lasts 3 minutes.]
[Consumes 1000 Luck Points per use → 70% permanent discount! Only 300 Luck Points needed.]
[SYSTEM: Use the Mind-Reading Glasses?]
Until now, I hadn’t used them due to the cost. Selecting ‘Yes,’ a clear chime rang, and the points were consumed.
“I’ve heard quite a bit about the Princess,” the Countess said, breaking her silence.
“Does anyone report on me to you?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“Who?”
She shook her head instead, signaling that she couldn’t tell me.
Then a voice like an echo appeared in my mind.
[The Empress is keeping an eye on the Princess, no need to mention it.]
“…!”
“Princess, what is it?”
“It’s nothing.”
I forced a calm expression, but my mind was buzzing.
‘Did she just say “Empress”?’
Considering she had brought me to the Empress’s palace, could it be that Countess Garcia hadn’t truly betrayed the Empress?
“And as for earlier, I was just speaking briefly with Lady Marquise Balton. It was a matter between the maids, so I can’t go into detail.”
She smiled awkwardly, but I heard her thoughts immediately after.
[I couldn’t just overlook the Marquise stealing Lady Shailo’s hair.]
[There are also rumors about Marquis Balton…]
“What?”
She mentioned stealing hair? That alone was suspicious enough, but something else caught my attention.
“Countess, do you know anything about Marquis Balton?”
“…The Marquis?”
“Yes. Any recent rumors circulating in the palace?”
She looked startled but quickly stiffened her expression.
“I don’t know where you heard such things, but they’re nothing but baseless rumors.”
She refused to answer outright, but the truth flowed into my mind.
The incident had started a week ago.
Marquis Balton had brought a palace knight to a guest room, and the knight carried a suspicious package—human-sized, reeking of blood.
Several people witnessed it, but since it involved the Marquis, everyone kept quiet.
Since then, dark rumors had circulated in the Crystal House.
‘A week ago…’
Coincidentally, that was the day I found Marquis Blaine in the abandoned warehouse. The same day the steward disappeared.
‘All of this happened on the same day?’
It seemed too suspicious to be mere coincidence.
‘And didn’t Marquis Balton show interest in Kaien before?’
Could he have kidnapped him, suspecting something?
Once I considered it, the thoughts spiraled further.
The steward’s sudden silence, the unknown maid sending me here—all of it seemed to point to one possibility.
[I’ll be laying low for a while. Don’t be too surprised.]
[The steward’s extravagant outing? A little mischief, perhaps.]
[Port of Pohang. Hehe (^ᗜ^*)]
“….”
I should have ignored that note and gone straight to Marquis Balton. If the steward ended up in danger, I could never forgive myself.
“Princess, are you alright? You look unwell.”
Countess Garcia looked at me worriedly.
“Oh, yes. I just need to attend to something urgently…”
“Princess?”
I hurriedly rose to my feet.
“Where on earth is he?”
I went straight to the Crystal House’s guest room, but Marquis Balton was absent.
I had no choice but to send a few of the Duke’s servants to the Balton residence, while I ran to the Royal Guard.
“Unauthorized outsiders cannot enter the Guard headquarters.”
The guards blocked my way, even after I revealed my identity.
“No matter that you are the Princess, you cannot enter without upper-level permission…”
Then—
“I will grant permission myself.”
A man’s voice came from behind me.
“!”
I turned to see Commander Brecht standing there, wearing sweat-soaked training clothes as if he had just finished training.
“Commander!”
The guards quickly saluted. Brecht gave them a nod and approached me.
“I will accompany you. That should vouch for your identity, yes?”
“Yes, yes!”
The guards quickly cleared the way. Brecht led, escorting me as we walked.
“Shall we go, Princess?”
“The Princess is late.”
While Roselia roamed the palace, Perwin’s wait grew longer.
Tap, tap, tap.
He anxiously drummed the armrest of his chair.
The attendant, picking up on his nervousness, asked, “Should we have the Princess brought straight to the Crown Prince’s palace?”
“No. She’ll come if we wait.”
He replied casually, staring out the window.
Beyond the window lay the garden of the Crown Prince’s palace, meticulously tended on his orders.
His hunting wound had mostly healed, and he had planned a stroll through the garden with Roselia.
Yet, no matter how long he waited, Roselia did not appear.
‘Could something have happened?’
Just then, a messenger arrived.
“Your Highness, the Princess is with the Royal Guard! Sir Brecht is with her as well.”
“With Brecht?”
Perwin raised an eyebrow.
