Chapter 139
Kylus.
Indeed. The person she had just collided with was her husband, Kylus.
The study had certainly been reported as fully searched… Why was he here…?
Alice was flustered, then hesitated at his cold gaze.
It wasn’t the look in Kylus’s eyes that she was accustomed to. When looking at her, his eyes always conveyed gentle emotions and affection.
But Kylus’s gaze looking down at her now was beyond coldness—it was indifference itself. Like looking at an object rather than a person.
Is this Kylus’s true face? The bare Kylus that Alice doesn’t know.
Of course, Kylus’s cold reaction was natural since Alice wasn’t in her own appearance right now.
It was natural, but… why did it feel so hurtful?
Just as Alice was feeling inexplicably sad, Kylus’s straight brow slightly wrinkled. A clear displeasure settling on his cold expression.
Alice then realized she had been staring at Kylus too intently.
For a mere maid, not even a lady-in-waiting, to collide with a duke and then stare at his face.
I must be crazy.
Alice hastily bowed her head and apologized:
“I’m sorry, Your Grace. I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’m truly sorry.”
At that moment, Kylus’s expression, which had been full of displeasure, flinched.
He felt something familiar. From an ordinary-faced maid he didn’t know.
The black eyes of Kylus looking down at Alice deepened.
“A maid… I see.”
Kylus’s low voice resonated above Alice’s head. Alice half-raised her head and carefully said:
“Yes. I’m a maid who came… to clean. In my hurry, I made a mistake. I’m truly sorry, Your Grace.”
As respectful and polite as possible. And hunching her shoulders to feign pitifulness.
She was now Becca the maid, not Alice.
Surely he wouldn’t kill me for bumping into him after I apologized like this…?
The emotionless black eyes she had seen. The current version of him seemed capable of beheading a mere maid without a moment’s hesitation.
Thinking this, her body instinctively shrank back.
Why isn’t he saying anything?
As Alice’s heart beat faster and faster, a voice that wasn’t Kylus’s was heard.
“Your Excellency. It seems we need your confirmation regarding the scope of the search.”
The knight spoke quickly to Kylus, as if something urgently needed verification.
At this, Alice felt inward relief. Kylus’s attention would shift from her to there.
Surely he won’t behead me in the midst of his busy schedule.
Indeed, Kylus immediately responded to the knight:
“Understood. I’ll come down right away.”
The knight turned to leave first. But for some reason, contrary to his words that he’d go right away, Kylus didn’t move his feet.
He was still looking down at her.
Alice swallowed dryly as she looked at the black shoes visible in her line of sight.
Surely he’s not going to punish me at a time like this…?
If Kylus truly ordered her to be taken away… her plan would end right there.
If she couldn’t escape with the yellow scroll… the magic potion’s effect might wear off and her appearance could change right in front of Kylus.
In the worst-case scenario that was dizzying just to imagine, Alice earnestly prayed that Kylus would simply leave.
Perhaps her earnestness was conveyed. Kylus’s feet, which hadn’t moved at all, began to move.
Without saying a word, he passed by her and left.
Only after Kylus had descended the stairs did Alice exhale deeply and fully raise her head.
“That was… a close call…”
Rubbing her arms where goosebumps had risen from the tension, Alice entered the study to complete her mission.
The study was even more of a mess than the bedroom.
Perhaps because of this, the maids were so focused on cleaning that they didn’t pay attention to Alice’s entrance.
Alice naturally wormed her way among them and picked up fallen books. While doing so, she scanned the study.
As it was smaller than the bedroom, examining the study wasn’t too difficult. The problem was that she couldn’t sense any aura within the study either.
Alice stood still with a bewildered look.
Do I really have the ability to sense dark power?
She had searched the bedroom and study, the personal places the Empress frequented most, and even the dressing room.
No matter how mad the Empress might be, she wouldn’t hide something as important as the dark specter far away from herself.
The deity had clearly said that the dark specter would be close to the Empress.
Within the Empress’s palace.
But having found nothing so far, Alice naturally had doubts.
She wondered if she might not be able to sense the dark power.
Come to think of it, she still couldn’t manifest the deity as anything more than a small child…
Perhaps because her faith in the deity was weak… she might not be able to sense the dark power either.
Could the deity have been mistaken?
Given the deity’s many rather careless aspects, it seemed entirely possible.
Alice briefly pondered whether she should search elsewhere or find a private place to pray to the deity and establish a mental connection.
The sooner she reported that she couldn’t sense anything, the sooner they could formulate a new plan.
If not the study and bedroom, what’s left are the reception room and the ladies-in-waiting’s lounge… The dark specter wouldn’t be hidden in such places.
Even in this moment of deliberation, time was passing.
Just as Alice’s brow furrowed with impatience, a sudden chill brushed along her spine.
What is… this?
Goosebumps spread all over Alice’s body. Not only that, but the cold that penetrated her bones made her shoulders tremble.
It’s similar to… that time.
The Empress’s black magic that had invaded her body in the courtroom earlier today.
It felt so similar to that moment.
Could this be… the power of darkness…?
“Yes. This is definitely it.”
Alice murmured in a low voice with a confident look. Since the Empress’s black magic was the power of the dark specter.
This eerie aura, so identical, was surely the aura of darkness.
Where is it coming from?
Alice looked around to find the source of the aura.
But she still couldn’t see any object emitting the unpleasant aura. It was strange.
The chilling aura was growing stronger and stronger.
Just then, a male servant entered the study. And Alice’s eyes widened.
It was because she felt a spine-chilling cold from the servant who had just entered the study.
And she saw it. The black energy clinging to the man’s feet.
Like someone who had stepped in mud, black footprints marked the floor with each step the man took.
But no one else seemed to see them, as everyone remained silent.
Is that man… the dark specter…?
No, that couldn’t be the case, as the black energy was sensed only from the servant’s feet and nowhere else.
And the servant himself seemed completely unaware of whatever was on his feet.
Then where did that come from?
As Alice couldn’t take her eyes off the servant’s feet, the servant spoke:
“Is there hard work to be done here?”
Only after hearing the servant’s voice did the maids look up.
Until then, they had been so focused on their work that, except for Alice, they hadn’t even noticed the servant entering the study.
A maid with unknown reddish-brown hair said to the servant:
“Is the basement cleaning all done?”
“Yeah. Just finished. Wow, it was no joke. They even went into the treasure vault and the wine cellar—there were easily more than 20 broken wine bottles.”
As the servant shook his head as if shuddering at the memory, the maids began to speak one by one:
“Wow, that must have been really hard to clean up. But searching even the basement storage seems a bit excessive. I heard Her Majesty the Empress doesn’t use any of the jewels kept there.”
“Right. Not only is Her Majesty the Empress exceptionally frugal, but they say after the late Empress passed away, she vowed not to touch the jewels of past Empresses when she ascended to the position of Empress.”
“And yet… to search even the basement. I heard the Empress only takes out wine when His Majesty the Emperor visits.”
The maids burst out with complaints as if it was too much.
Well, that was understandable.
They knew nothing about the Empress’s true nature, and they probably didn’t know in detail why the Empress’s palace was being searched today.
They could only see what was visible to their eyes.
But what was important now wasn’t their complaints.
It was as if a fluorescent light had suddenly turned on in Alice’s head from the conversation they were having.
Because she had finally caught a glimpse of where the dark specter might be.
The basement.
The treasure vault in the basement. That’s where the dark specter is.
Why hadn’t she thought of the basement?
The basement and the dark specter matched perfectly in atmosphere.
Moreover, the unpleasant black substance on the feet of the servant who had come from the basement was nothing short of evidence.
Alice watched the servant and maids, then spotted garbage bags piled in one corner of the study.
“I’ll take these out.”
Alice spoke softly as she picked up the bags. To avoid drawing their attention as much as possible.
Fortunately, they seemed to have many more complaints to share, so they only glanced at Alice once.
This allowed Alice to easily leave the study and head down to the lobby.
The basement of the Empress’s palace.
Alice had no idea where the entrance to the basement was, but finding it wasn’t particularly difficult.
That was because of the footprints visible only to her.
The servant had just come up from the basement, so following the footprints in reverse would lead to the basement.
Alice put the garbage bags in a cart placed in the courtyard, then returned to the palace lobby. She lowered her gaze to look for the black footprints.
The lobby was very crowded with servants, maids, knights, and ladies-in-waiting.
However, precisely because there were so many people, no one paid attention to Alice, a mere maid.
Thanks to this, Alice could naturally follow the black footprints.
As she walked straight down the right corridor from the palace lobby, the number of people gradually decreased. The cold chill was also growing stronger.
Finally, an arched wooden door appeared.
The last black footprint was marked in front of it.
