Chapter 44

Sunken eyes stared directly at her. A fleeting expression crossed Jody’s face before it disappeared. Rohana’s large eyes trembled.

“Your Grace, what… What exactly do you mean?”

Her face distorted and quickly hardened. It was the typical expression of someone telling a lie. Rohana’s heart quietly settled.

“Do you really think nothing will come up if Kaiden or the Emperor investigates properly?”

Silence fell.

“Spill everything.”

Their gazes clashed sharply.

“If you don’t, you’ll die alone.”

Hearing this, Jody’s eyes calmly settled.

“There must have been a reason, right? Tell me.”

There had to be a reason. Otherwise, how could it have lasted so long?

“For what?”

Suddenly, a familiar voice uttered unfamiliar words.

“For what do I need to confess?”

Jody slowly opened her mouth and let out a long sigh. Rohana’s eyes widened.

Jody gave a short sigh and turned her gaze to the side.

“Yes. I noticed you went to see the physician earlier. You must have figured it out.”

A voice she had never heard before. A face she had never seen before.

“It was me.”

Rohana slowly looked at the unfamiliar face of Jody.

“Are you from Kark? Is that why, because you’re part of R.D.?”

“No.”

Surprised by the unexpected answer, Rohana furrowed her brow.

“If not, then why?”

Rohana asked again.

“Why?”

“A personal grudge.”

Jody quietly removed her apron as she spoke.

“A grudge?”

At Rohana’s trembling voice, Jody let out a low scoff.

“You really don’t know, do you? Not even in your dreams.”

Her gaze, filled with contempt and hatred, met Rohana’s.

“Who I am.”

As Jody watched Rohana’s confused expression, she let down her hair. Long black hair, just like Rohana’s, pale skin so white it seemed almost translucent, red lips.

“I have a daughter just like you, my lady. Her beautiful hair is just like yours.”

Rohana gasped.

“How do you cope with missing your daughter?”

“My lady, you’re so mature. It’s okay. She’s doing well outside the castle.”

That night, when the full moon shone, the nursemaid never returned.

Now, a daughter who resembled her even more was staring at Rohana. Rohana remembered that day as if it were a photograph. It was the summer she turned twelve.

“My lady, you always fall ill around this time of year.”

Despite the beautiful late-summer day, Rohana was drenched in sweat, suffering from her illness. The head maid, handing her a handkerchief to wipe the sweat, looked sympathetically at the young girl.

No one seemed to know why she always fell ill around this time of year.

“I suppose so.”

“This is Jody, the new apprentice maid.”

That day, she met her for the first time.

For some reason, she felt familiar, but Rohana thought it was because they looked alike. Black hair, pale skin, and lips that looked swollen and unusually red.

She never imagined Jody resembling the nursemaid.

“Oh, I see.”

Rohana showed no particular reaction, and Jody, who seemed to be around her age, spoke cheerfully.

“You don’t seem well.”

“A bit.”

“When that happens… a short walk might help.”

“What?”

The other maids looked surprised, glancing back and forth between Rohana and Jody. Rohana, seated on the sofa, looked up at her.

“Shall we go outside?”

Her smiling face seemed bright. Rohana had thought so.

“Seems like you remember now.”

Jody’s distorted face smiled.

“Isn’t that reason enough for me?”

“Why… didn’t you say anything?”

Rohana asked in a trembling voice, and Jody let out a ridiculous laugh.

“Did you expect me to beg to be killed too?”

Her distorted face and eyes filled with unshed tears.

“You know what I mean.”

Rohana enunciated each word.

“I don’t know. Maybe because the House of Hanover isn’t human?”

Jody whispered between her trembling lips.

“I never know what you’re saying.”

Her violet eyes, red with tears, filled with anger as Jody muttered in a voice strained with hatred.

“Don’t you dare cry in front of me.”

“Jody.”

Rohana tightly shut her eyes. Tears rolled down her chin.

“Tell me. All the people involved, everything you know.”

Determination returned to Rohana’s eyes.

“Only then can I save you.”

Jody smiled quietly.

“Still so confident. So arrogant.”

“And you?”

Rohana’s eyes pierced through Jody.

“Was it true that you intended to kill me?”

Jody’s brows furrowed. Rohana sighed.

“If you really wanted to kill me, go ahead and try it now.”

“What?”

“Use this knife and kill me.”

Rohana placed the knife she had taken from the dinner table down. The thin, sharp blade gleamed in the moonlight.

“At least try to hurt me. Slash my face or my eyes.”

Jody’s face hardened at Rohana’s provocation.

“The one who speaks too easily is you, Jody,” Rohana said calmly.

“There must have been someone else involved with the chandelier and Pincheser. That’s the only reason you managed to do even that.”

Rohana stared directly at Jody.

“You’re hesitating, aren’t you?”

“Shut up.”

“If you were really going to get revenge and kill me, you’ve had plenty of chances.”

Jody’s bloodshot eyes wavered.

“This is one of those moments, too. Go ahead, kill me.”

Jody’s hand reached for the knife. Her trembling hand grabbed it, but the knife and her hand clattered against the table.

“You dropped the chandelier. With a weapon like this, you could easily take down someone like me.”

The hand holding the knife glowed faintly. It was the same kind of light that appeared when Heath shot his arrow. A vein bulged on Rohana’s forehead.

“Go ahead,” Rohana urged.

Jody’s eyes filled with tears. Her trembling hand gripped the knife even tighter.

Bang!

A sudden crash caused both women to lose their balance.

The locked door was smashed open in an instant, dust swirling in the air. In a flash, Jody’s body was slammed to the ground.

It was Kaiden.

***

It all happened in a blink of an eye.

“Kaiden!”

Kaiden was gripping Jody by the shoulder and neck. Jody’s face, twisted in fear, was unable to move.

“Kaiden! Stop!”

Kaiden, as if he couldn’t hear a thing, lifted Jody without hesitation. Her small body was pulled up effortlessly.

He was going to kill her soon, Rohana thought.

“I said stop.”

Rohana roughly grabbed Kaiden’s arm and pulled it down. Only then did Kaiden’s eyes, filled with hostility, lower to meet hers.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Kaiden’s voice was cold.

“You handed a knife to your enemy… Your ignorance of magic is truly appalling.”

His low, growling voice was filled with anger.

When Kaiden grabbed Jody’s wrist, the dinner knife fell to the floor with a loud clang.

“Looks like you even brought the knife,” he added, sounding angrier at Rohana than at Jody.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Kaiden’s thunderous shout reverberated through the small room. Rohana, frozen for a moment, finally found her voice.

“That’s not it.”

“What?”

“I was handling it on my own.”

Her violet eyes stubbornly looked up at the man. Kaiden let out a disbelieving chuckle. His calm, chilling voice followed.

“You were ‘handling it on your own’ while your enemy held a knife?”

Jody let out a pained gasp, as if Kaiden’s grip on her neck was too strong, making it hard to breathe.

Rohana’s brows furrowed deeply.

“Just stop it already.”

“And why should I? She’s caught in the act.”

Jody had turned pale as a ghost.

“What could she possibly do at this point?”

Even Rohana’s desperate tone didn’t seem to reach Kaiden, who remained cold and indifferent as if he hadn’t just been shouting.

“Kaiden!”

The moment Rohana shouted, Kaiden roughly let go of Jody. Her body fell to the floor, flung to the corner. At that moment, hurried footsteps and a scream followed.

It was undoubtedly Aurelia and the Emperor. Rohana glanced at them briefly.

Then Heath appeared from behind. It was then that a furious voice struck the room like lightning.

“Where were you, and what were you doing?”

Kaiden’s voice, colder and more menacing than before, was directed at Heath.

“I apologize,” Heath replied, bowing deeply. His light gray eyes reflected not surprise but deep regret.

“Where is the person you posted? How could you leave the two of them alone like this? Where were you?”

“There was an urgent report from the capital, so I had to step away… It was just for a moment. The person I left behind must have thought it would be fine for the two to meet.”

Heath responded in a heavy voice. Next to him, another soldier bowed his head low, clearly flustered by the unexpected turn of events.

This time, it was Rohana who spoke up.

“You stationed someone? To watch Jody?”

Kaiden, apparently tired of the conversation, coldly issued an order to the soldiers.

“Bind her and take her away.”

The soldiers who had entered after Kaiden roughly seized Jody and began to drag her out.

“Kaiden…” Rohana began.

“Heath, you come too.”

Before Rohana could say anything further, Kaiden swiftly left the room with the soldiers. He didn’t look back even once.

Rohana stood there, staring blankly at his retreating figure for a moment.