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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: A Maid's Mettle
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I heard Hawick shout from downstairs.
“An injured person?”
Given the timing, it had to be Lamia.
‘She was pretending to be me and became a target!’
Guilt and worry brought tears to my eyes.
I hadn't known Lamia long, but our pleasant conversations, her warm service, and the gentle hand that had soothed me during my panic attacks had left a deep impression.
‘I was determined to help her escape safely!’
Hoping she wasn't badly hurt, I pushed at Calius, who stood before the door.
“I need to see if my handmaiden is all right.”
But Calius didn't budge.
“There may still be remnants of the attack. It would be best for you to stay somewhere safe.”
“She was hurt because of me!”
“Your Highness's safety is more important.”
“Would you turn your back on one of your own men if they were injured, Marquis?”
“That's...”
I looked up at Calius pleadingly.
Calius let out a small sigh.
“Then you will go with me.”
“Yes, of course!”
It wasn't a difficult condition at all.
I quickly linked my arm with his.
His arm was high up, thick, and incredibly firm.
So I clasped my hands together to hold on to it.
“Let's go!”
“Ah...? Ah, yes.”
He was just staring down at me, so I tugged on his arm to hurry him along. Only then did he open the door and step outside.
But my body couldn't keep up with my frantic heart.
“Hah, w-wait a moment.”
I had to stop him after just a few steps.
His strides were so long that I could hardly keep up, even at a near run.
The situation was incredibly embarrassing.
When I walked with Andrea or Viscount Felsus, I never had to adjust my pace.
It wasn't that they were being particularly considerate; it was simply ingrained etiquette for men in Arental to slow their pace when walking with a woman.
But Calius, it seemed, was different.
“I think I'm going to fall.”
“My apologies.”
After that, Calius tried to be mindful of my steps, but as we both struggled to match each other's pace, our movements became even more awkward and disjointed.
‘Perhaps in Ronheim, there's no custom of linking arms when men and women of a family or a couple walk together?’
The possibility belatedly occurred to me, but pulling my arm away now would be just as strange, so I decided to feign obliviousness.
Pretending to be oblivious to avoid awkwardness was, in its own way, a part of Arental's etiquette.
One moment, Calius would slow down so much it felt like I was pulling him; the next, he'd speed up, and it felt like I was being dragged along.
In this comical push-and-pull, we finally made our way up to my room.
“Oh? Your Highness, why...?”
The handmaidens were bewildered to see me arrive with Calius.
I walked past them and into the room.
“Lamia!”
Lamia was sitting on the floor, covered in blood. Thankfully, she was conscious and talking with Hawick.
Stunned by the gruesome sight, I left Calius behind and rushed to her side, my eyes welling with tears.
“What happened? Are you badly hurt? The doctor? Someone! Why hasn't anyone brought a doctor?!”
“Ah, Your Highness!”
Lamia stopped me as I shouted anxiously.
“I'm fine!”
“How can you be fine when you're bleeding so much?”
Her hands were covered in blood.
But there Lamia was, in that state, giggling.
“Ah, it's not my blood.”
“What?”
Hawick nodded.
“She's not the one who's injured. We were just confirming that.”
Lamia whispered.
“Just as you said, I was lying in bed when some guy crept up, thinking I was asleep. So I grabbed the knife from the plate and stabbed him!”
Lamia brandished the knife she was still holding.
“Stab! Stab! I gave him a few new holes to breathe through!”
“I'd appreciate it if you'd give that to me now.”
Hawick quickly took the knife from Lamia's hand.
My eyes widened.
“But you screamed, didn't you?”
“Ah, the guy got scared and ran off, so I shouted to call the knights.”
I was amazed by her wit and quick thinking.
How could she have thought to grab a knife and defend herself in that moment?
‘So that's why she wasn't caught by the soldiers at the palace.’
In any case, it was a relief.
As I sighed in relief, Lamia leaned in close.
“Your Highness, you were crying...?”
“Well, I was worried something might have happened to you because of me.”
“You cried because you were worried about me?”
Lamia's eyes widened.
Her stare made me uncomfortable, so I turned my head away primly.
“It's not unusual to cry when you're worried.”
“You were really worried, weren't you?”
Lamia playfully nudged my side with her elbow.
I slapped her arm lightly.
Even if she wasn't a formally trained handmaiden, this was absurd behavior toward a princess.
“What are you doing? How rude.”
To be honest, the insolent things my handmaidens at the palace had done were also mostly unbelievable.
But I was accustomed to insolence, whereas playful or friendly gestures were unfamiliar, making Lamia's actions harder for me to accept.
Regardless, Lamia just giggled.
* * *
Stables in the north were often built connected to the kitchen to protect the horses from the cold.
Guided by the innkeeper, Calius headed to the stables through the kitchen.
While there was an external entrance for the horses, the path through the kitchen was much shorter and more convenient.
The innkeeper shooed everyone out of the kitchen.
Calius and Hawick went to a corner of the stables.
Two of his men were interrogating the intruder who had snuck into Chloe's room.
Just as Chloe had described, the man with the peculiar eyebrows was bleeding and groaning on a pile of hay.
“What did he say?”
His men shook their heads in response to Calius's question.
“He won't talk.”
“That's enough. I'll take it from here.”
The men put down the clubs they were holding and stepped back.
Calius approached the intruder with an indifferent expression.
“Nngh...”
The intruder groaned in pain and glared at Calius.
Calius tossed something in front of the intruder's face.
“Look.”
The intruder weakly lowered his gaze to what Calius had thrown, and his eyes shot wide open.
“...!”
It was a freshly severed finger.
A thick ring was on it.
It had just come into Calius's possession through certain channels.
“Recognize it?”
“Hh, hngh...”
The intruder's eyes trembled.
He shook his head, but Calius caught the flicker of panic that crossed the intruder's face.
Calius came to a simple conclusion.
“So your backer is the same as the others.”
He didn't ask who the backer was.
He only wanted to confirm if this intruder shared the same master as the assassin who had come for him.
His objective achieved, Calius turned indifferently and left the stables. Hawick swung his sword, ending the intruder's life.
* * *
Calius returned upstairs with a light step and found Chloe pacing in the hallway.
She was being safely guarded by his men.
“Your Highness.”
“Marquis!”
“Why are you out here?”
“There's something you need to know. It's about the intruder who disappeared earlier. I meant to tell you sooner, but you vanished while I was talking with Lamia.”
Chloe stomped her foot anxiously.
“He's one of Viscount Felsus's men! I know because...”
Her eyes darted about as she tried to figure out how to explain.
Calius saved her the trouble.
“I know.”
“What? You know?”
“Yes. It seems Viscount Felsus was waiting nearby for his man.”
“You met him...?”
Calius noticed that Chloe was trembling.
‘The viscount was the princess's fiancé. Did he do something to her?’
Calius's gaze darkened.
‘If I had known, I wouldn't have let him off so easily.’
He reassured Chloe.
“I didn't meet him myself, but my...”
Calius paused for a moment before continuing.
“...men met with him instead.”
Calius recalled how, before coming to the inn, he had sent the snowcats after the assassin he'd let live.
‘Though the cats are more like friends than subordinates.’
Chloe asked urgently.
“What did Viscount Felsus say? Did he act brazenly?”
Calius gave a bright smile.
“He acknowledged his wrongdoing and paid the price. Then he returned home in a hurry.”
“Really...? He just left?”
Calius's smile deepened.
“Yes. I'm sure he has deeply reflected on his actions, so he won't be coming back.”
He recalled the dried fish he had placed on his windowsill a short while ago.
The fish had vanished in the blink of an eye, and in its place was a severed finger.
A finger bearing the signet of the Felsus family.
The snowcats had followed the assassin, eliminated his backer—Viscount Felsus—and brought back a trophy to claim their reward.
“He has returned forever to the place from whence he came.”
To the place that existed before the dawn of time.
“On a teleportation circle?”
He nodded nonchalantly.
“Well... he returned as if by magic.”
It wasn't a lie.
