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chapter 08
“You’re saying His Majesty summoned me?”
Elysia stopped wringing out the coarse blanket she had been washing in front of the large laundry tub.
“I don’t think I’m of a noble enough status to receive a summons from His Majesty. As you can see, I’m nothing more than a maid who does laundry.”
“You talk too much.”
The knight snapped coldly.
“Don’t you know that the entire Imperial Palace has been brought to a standstill because of the ridiculous rumors you spread? His Majesty himself will pass judgment on your crimes. If you refuse to come willingly, I’ll bind you here and now on charges of treason.”
The knight threatened her as he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. The maids inside the laundry room swallowed nervously, their faces filled with fear.
“All right.”
Elysia pretended to let out a light sigh and wiped her wet hands on her apron. But unlike the calm composure she displayed on the outside, her heart was pounding fiercely.
Finally.
She would be able to come face-to-face with Kaiel.
Being able to approach him meant she would have a chance to discover the weakness hidden deep within him. And that meant she was one step closer to revenge.
Suppressing the cold delight rising from the depths of her heart, Elysia followed behind the knight.
It felt as though she were walking straight into the mouth of a monster.
“So you’re the witch behind the rumor that brought the Imperial Palace to a standstill.”
Kaiel spoke quietly. The killing intent contained in his voice alone was so overwhelming that it was difficult even to breathe. The chief chamberlain standing by the door had already gone deathly pale.
Yet Elysia didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow. If she had been afraid of this man, she would never have infiltrated the palace in the first place.
“I merely endured the harsh initiation imposed on me by my seniors without complaint. What they saw and why they became frightened and ran away has nothing to do with me. It’s unfair to make that my crime.”
“Nothing to do with you?”
Kaiel let out a faint, mocking laugh. Then he rose from his seat and walked toward Elysia.
“The entire Imperial Palace was paralyzed because of the tricks of some lowly maid. That isn’t something an ordinary maid could accomplish.”
Kaiel stopped directly in front of Elysia.
“Perhaps you have some other scheme in mind? Treason, perhaps.”
“Of course not.”
You’re the one who committed treason.
Instead of backing away, Elysia stared directly into Kaiel’s eyes.
Come on. Show me.
The Emperor whom everyone in the world feared.
The monster who had driven out his own father and elder brother through rebellion and stolen the throne.
The madman who had erased her very existence from the world.
What in the world could someone like you possibly be afraid of?
If she used her ability, she could see what the other person feared most. All she had to do was show that fear to them as an illusion.
Just as she had done with Greta and the other maids.
If even this cruel Emperor was human, then surely there had to be at least one deep, vulnerable fear hidden at the bottom of his heart.
If it’s a ghost, I’ll show him a ghost. If it’s a corpse, I’ll show him a corpse. So hurry up and—
“……!”
For a moment, Elysia’s pupils trembled ever so slightly.
Something was wrong.
She couldn’t see anything.
Normally, she should have seen some terrible fear, a source of dread, or perhaps a desperate desire. But Kaiel’s inner world was nothing but pitch-black darkness.
What is this? Why can’t I see anything?
“Are you refusing to answer?”
Kaiel looked down at Elysia and gave a faint smile.
“It won’t change anything. They say you’re a witch who commands ghosts. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of me?”
“……”
Elysia couldn’t answer. Her mind was filled with confusion.
Is he so cruel and insane that he doesn’t possess the ordinary fears or desires that normal people have?
While Elysia was still reeling from the shock, the corners of Kaiel’s mouth twisted.
“Whether you’re truly the witch described by the rumors or a maid plotting treason, I suppose I’ll have to find out for myself.”
Kaiel gave an order to the knight standing beside him, Roberto.
“Search this maid’s room thoroughly right now. I’ll see it with my own eyes.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Even as Elysia was dragged away by the knight, she couldn’t hide her confusion.
It wasn’t because she had hidden anything unusual in her room.
It was because the strange abyss she had seen inside Kaiel’s mind continued to bother her.
Elysia’s basement room was cramped, damp, and musty.
The walls reeked of mold from the moisture, and rainwater slowly dripped from a corner of the ceiling.
Roberto and the other knights stormed inside and began roughly turning over everything in the room.
The old mattress was ripped apart, and her clothes were carelessly thrown across the floor.
There won’t be anything anyway.
Elysia simply waited for this to be over so she could be left alone.
There was nothing for them to find in the first place.
Her records had been erased, and she had been cast into the world with nothing but the clothes on her back. Naturally, there was nothing she possessed that she needed to hide.
But then—
Roberto’s hand abruptly stopped as he meticulously tore apart the gaps between the old wooden boards in the wall.
“……Your Majesty, please look at this. There’s something here.”
What he carefully pulled out was a dusty, old bundle of cloth.
“Open it.”
At Kaiel’s command, Roberto began unwrapping the layers of cloth.
The cramped, dark basement room was instantly filled with a brilliant red glow.
It was a color that seemed almost like blood shimmering and glowing as though it were liquid.
“This is…!”
The Blood Ruby.
A treasure of the Imperial Family said to be imbued with such a powerful concentration of imperial blood and magic that only direct members of the imperial family could wield it.
It was also an artifact believed to have disappeared after Kaiel’s rebellion.
Elysia’s heart sank.
What…?
She had never seen this object before.
Why is that in my room?
“Why is this coming out of your room?”
As though he had read her thoughts, Kaiel voiced the very question Elysia most wanted to ask.
“……”
He stared down at the glowing red jewel for a moment. Then, as if something about it unsettled him, his fingertips stopped.
He picked up a worn piece of cloth lying on the floor and wrapped the Blood Ruby in it. A faint red glow seeped through the fabric.
“…I know nothing about it.”
Elysia finally managed to speak.
“You’ve been insisting that you know nothing from the very beginning.”
His hand slowly reached out and roughly seized Elysia’s chin.
“You don’t know your name, your family, or your origins.”
His grip gradually tightened.
“And even while holding the crest of my beloved elder brother, you claim to know nothing.”
Kaiel twisted his lips into a crooked smile.
“You know nothing about the rumors of a witch that threw the entire Imperial Palace into chaos.”
“……”
“And now you intend to insist that you know nothing about the Imperial treasure that was found in your room as well?”
Elysia clenched her teeth.
She truly had never seen that jewel before. But even if she said that now, who would believe her?
Roberto cautiously spoke up.
“Your Majesty, the Blood Ruby is a treasure that cannot be touched by anyone other than members of the imperial family. The fact that it was found in this maid’s room means…”
“It means that a member of the imperial family is involved.”
Kaiel cut him off coldly.
“I truly know nothing about it!”
Elysia was practically driven mad with frustration.
There was no way something like this could have been hidden in her room.
Not unless someone had deliberately put it there.
“Tell me.”
At Kaiel’s low, threatening voice, Elysia slowly raised her gaze.
It felt as though she had been transported back to the moment when she had been sentenced to have her records erased, and she tightly bit her lip.
“If you speak now, I may at least let you keep your life.”
His dark eyes bore relentlessly into hers.
“Who ordered you to do it?”
