Chapter 19
Chapter 19. The Missing Guest
Olivia, having entered the secluded maze with the young ladies, intuitively discerned that they had not brought her here with good intentions.
No, she had known it even before entering. The subtle contempt hidden in their eyes pierced Olivia's skin with a sensitive sting.
She had tried to resist entering from the main garden, but they invoked the Astrid royal family, leaving her no choice but to follow.
As soon as they were far enough from the noise of the main garden, Olivia stopped walking.
"...Huh? What are you doing? We need to walk further?"
Helena reflexively grabbed Olivia's arm and asked, but Olivia politely detached her arm.
"I think I've seen enough. I'll be returning now."
Olivia's manner of delivering her intentions clearly in a low voice was quite assertive, but as always, it was meaningless in the face of overwhelming numerical inferiority.
With no one watching, the young ladies no longer had any reason to wear their masks.
"No, you have to go. This isn't a suggestion."
Olivia, facing Helena, tightened her core and widened her eyes at the casually uttered disrespect.
"I am well aware that you have no authority to command me. Even if I am a commoner, I am still a guest of the royal family until tonight."
Then, a young lady behind Olivia whispered in her ear.
"Why, are you going to tattle? What are you going to tattle about? Who are you going to tattle to? Do you even know who we are?"
"Don't bicker here, let's go. This maze is so diverse. We're going to give you a personal tour."
"Right, who wears such an unflattering dress for so long? Didn't you want to snag a dumb noble while you were at it?"
Olivia, with no room to breathe, took a deep breath and clutched the hem of her dress at the barrage of vulgar insults.
She knew painfully well that she could never win against a majority with the clear intention to harass her. In situations like this, the best course of action was to escape as quickly as possible.
Olivia quickly turned around to go back the way she came, but the narrow passage was already blocked by the young ladies.
"Please move. I'll be returning now."
"......"
Helena faced Olivia with a blank expression.
A piercing contempt melted in her eyes.
Whenever she saw such strong rejection of her existence, a very twisted question surged in Olivia's heart.
'What did I even do?'
Olivia chuckled. In that instant, their expressions shattered miserably. To be broken by such a small sneer.
"If you don't want to move, I'll just go around."
Then, before Helena could say anything, she looked around and started walking.
Going straight ahead would only lead deeper into the maze, and since the maze entrance was arranged in a circle, she could just go along the side and then change direction again. She could also see the lights of the main garden.
"...How rude!"
Helena, who had been blankly watching Olivia's retreating figure, belatedly burst into anger and tried to follow her.
"It'll be more troublesome if she goes that way."
At that moment, the young lady at the very back muttered with a mocking tone, and Helena frowned and turned around.
"What do you mean?"
Then, the young lady pointed to the direction Olivia had disappeared in and said.
"The young masters all went in that direction in a group. They saw us going in."
At those words, Helena and the young ladies stared into the darkness where Olivia had disappeared.
"Oh, dear. That wasn't even our intention."
"It's her fault for running away without appreciating our kindness."
"Oh my, poor young masters. They're going to meet an empty shell."
Words laced with vulgar intentions permeated the sweet rose garden air.
There should definitely be a path to the left, but no matter how far she went, the path only connected to the right and in a straight line.
Olivia glanced back, but there was no sign of the young ladies following.
Olivia's dark eyes sank coldly.
She was confident in distinguishing malice, if nothing else. The same went for malice disguised as goodwill.
She hadn't been keen from the start. It was only after being thrown into the abyss several times that she had acquired it.
And, she sadly acknowledged that no amount of appeasement would work on someone who harbored malice towards her existence itself. Instead, she vowed not to give such a person even the slightest opening.
Olivia paused for a moment to gauge her direction. After looking around for a moment, she turned back the way she came rather than going down an unfamiliar path. They must have gone somewhere else.
It was the moment she carefully grasped her dress and tried to return the way she had come.
"Miss Liberty?"
The low voice from behind made her spine tingle and all the hairs on her body stand on end. Moreover, the presence she felt was not just one or two people.
Even with the lamps, the maze was dark. Furthermore, the lights of the main garden were nowhere to be seen for some reason, and only the sound of her own panting and the footsteps of burly men pressing in from behind filled the air.
Olivia glanced back, and sure enough, about six or seven noble men were approaching her.
Wearing smiles that someone with good intentions could never make.
A sense of crisis, different from the pressure the young ladies had given, washed over her.
"Oh dear, have you lost your way?"
"We wanted to meet you separately anyway, why don't you come with us?"
A chilling sense of danger assailed her.
"No. I appreciate the offer, but I'll find my own way. Please don't follow me."
She said calmly, but she couldn't stop the end of her voice from trembling slightly.
"This seems like the perfect place to have a conversation, why don't you come with us?"
The moment someone disguised their goodwill and rejected her intentions, Olivia ran without looking back.
The sound of vile laughter behind her made her heart beat even faster.
Savagery is not a matter of status.
The savagery that would never come out in front of those who deserved courtesy came out so easily in front of those who didn't need it.
Olivia ran desperately. Unlike her, who was here for the first time, they seemed to already know the way, as the rapid footsteps kept coming from the left and right beyond the trees, pressing in on her.
She lost all sense of direction.
The maze unfolded as complicatedly as her life, and Olivia moved her feet into a deeper and darker place.
"Where are you?"
The chilling voice seemed to be coming from right behind her, and Olivia ran even faster.
The maze grew even deeper, and she couldn't even count how many dead ends she had already encountered. The corset pressing against her lungs made it impossible to breathe properly, and she was even dizzy from breathing so roughly.
Just then, the sound of dry grass being stepped on came from right behind her. When she turned around, it looked like a dark shadow was flickering.
Her throat was so constricted that she couldn't even scream. Olivia, barely putting strength into her trembling legs, quickly started running again.
Olivia was fast. Lawrence, who had been following her because she was surprised and ran away without looking back, scratched his head as he looked at the place where Olivia had disappeared.
"Let's stop and go. She's still a guest of the royal family. It'll be troublesome if word gets out."
"Yeah, Noah warned us too. To stop."
The others nodded in agreement with his opinion.
"Hey... but is it okay to just leave her?"
The scoundrels stared blankly at the dark maze and scratched their heads.
"It's not our fault if she ran away when we just wanted to talk to her."
"Yeah, that's right?"
Even though their intentions were by no means pure, they pretended not to know.
"It seems like it would be worse if we went in there pretending to look for her."
At that moment, the Head Maid suddenly appeared with hurried footsteps. The scoundrels, feeling strangely small at her gleaming eyes, cleared their throats and looked at the distant mountains, and the Head Maid hurriedly looked around for Olivia.
"Have you not seen Miss Olivia Liberty?"
The scoundrels felt a chill down their spines at the tone that seemed to know everything, but they ultimately denied it.
"I haven't seen her... have you seen her?"
"No?"
"Not at all."
"We're sorry, but we haven't seen her."
Lawrence replied to the Head Maid with innocent eyes.
The Head Maid sighed, and then released the servants and maids who had followed her into the maze.
"Go and find Miss Liberty."
Meanwhile, Noah frowned and got up when the quiet garden suddenly became noisy.
The sound of hurried footsteps grew closer and closer, and then the Head Maid suddenly appeared.
"Ah, Your Highness. I apologize for disturbing your rest."
The Head Maid quickly bowed to Noah, who was frowning unpleasantly. Noah dusted himself off, put on the gloves he had taken off, and asked languidly.
"What's wrong?"
"That is..."
The Head Maid hesitated for a moment, then looked at Noah with a troubled face.
"Have you perhaps... not seen Miss Olivia Liberty?"
Noah, who had been looking down at his hands and fastening the buttons on his gloves at the unexpected name, raised his eyes.
"Miss Liberty?"
"Yes..."
"She's gone?"
The Head Maid didn't answer, and Noah became disgusted with her.
"I believe the Queen Consort ordered you to look after her safety, and she's gone?"
The Head Maid bowed her head even deeper at the sharp rebuke.
"I'm sorry."
Noah suddenly remembered the scoundrels who had disappeared giggling.
"Iel Poem, Lawrence Atham, Roddy Pax, Jordi Adams, where are they?"
"I met them in the middle of the maze, but they said they didn't know where Miss Liberty was."
"How long has she been gone?"
Noah pictured the maze in his head and asked, and the Head Maid quickly answered.
"About 30 minutes."
"Did she go in alone?"
"No. I saw her going in with the young ladies, but she seems to have disappeared in the middle."
"I understand. Let's split up and look for her."
He had only paid attention to the young masters and overlooked the young ladies. She couldn't have disappeared on her own for no reason. Since the servants and maids were looking around the entrance of the maze in a disorganized manner, he headed deeper into the maze.
Noah listened carefully and moved quickly.
