Who Brought the Head Maid Back? - Chapter 35

Stunned by the unexpected news, Amy asked, “Me? You mean me, not the Grand Duke?”

“Yes. They are looking for someone who can recognize you from a portrait. There are even rumors of a bounty. Do you have any idea who it might be?”

It was absurd. She had lived her life without doing anything wrong; how could she have any idea? And a portrait, of all things?

‘I entered the palace when I was about ten years old and only went outside a handful of times. The Imperial Palace knows exactly where I am, so they wouldn’t look for me that way.’

Unable to fathom what was happening, she double-checked with the mercenary captain. “Are you sure they are looking for me?”

“One of my men approached them and checked the portrait; he said it bore a striking resemblance to you, Head Maid. However, they seem to know nothing else but your face. When he pried a bit, they said they couldn’t provide any personal details. It didn’t seem like they were hiding information; it looked like they genuinely didn’t know.”

“Knowing only the face… it makes no sense.”

Amy racked her brain while frowning, but she could not figure it out.

“However,” the mercenary captain added cautiously, “the drawing isn’t a perfect match. It seems subtly off.”

Amy started, then knit her brows. “It must not have been drawn by someone who knows exactly what I look like now.”

“I agree.”

Amy bit her lip hard.

‘Could it be my parents?’

After escaping her hopeless family at a young age to enter the palace, she had never once met her parents. Unable to break their old habits, they had persistently demanded money.

When she was young, she had no choice but to send them most of her salary, but the moment she became an adult, she cut them off entirely. Her parents caused an uproar, but since she was an adult no longer under their control, she simply ignored them.

With no legal grounds to harass her, her parents had no way to force her hand.

‘I did send a short letter saying I was leaving the palace before I departed for the North.’

She had done it to prevent them from sending constant letters to a palace where she no longer resided. Was that why they were searching for her? To extort money again?

Amy thought carefully.

‘Since they only know me as a child, they wouldn’t know exactly what my adult face looks like.’

If they drew the portrait based on old memories? That would explain why the description matched in so many ways.

‘For now, I have more urgent matters, so I will think about this later.’

Shaking off the unsettling feeling, Amy asked the captain, “By the way, what happened with the matter I asked about before?”

“Ah, you mean Baron Pearson.” The mercenary captain looked around and lowered his voice. “It hasn’t been long, so we are still investigating. But the biggest event near him recently was a landslide on his estate.”

“A landslide? Was the damage extensive?”

“Since it happened in late autumn, it must have affected the harvest.”

Amy grimaced.

‘Isn’t it strange? A natural disaster like a landslide happened so recently, yet he was flirting with the Crown Prince and acting excited about good news coming his way. Could he act like that unless he had a solution?’

A sudden chill ran down her spine. As if possessed, Amy turned and began to run toward the hall where the banquet was in full swing.

“Head Maid?”

The bewildered voice of the mercenary captain trailed behind her, but she had no energy to spare. Her heart felt like it would burst from the ominous premonition.

‘The Empress sent the Crown Prince to win over the Grand Duke. She knows the First Prince is the hidden child of the former Empress, so she’s trying to prevent Noah from aligning with him.’

Exiting the corridor, she dashed down the marble hallway. She was gasping for air, but she lamented that she couldn’t run any faster.

‘But what if the Grand Duke rejected the Crown Prince’s hand?’

Goosebumps broke out again. Panting heavily, Amy finally reached the entrance of the hall. The guards, startled by her appearance, quickly opened the doors for her. At that moment—

“Aaaaakh!”

“My God, the Grand Duke!”

Screams of horror and shouts erupted. The scene unfolding before her eyes turned Amy’s mind completely blank.

On the floor of the dais, Noah was on one knee, clutching his mouth and coughing violently. Bright red blood was streaming between his fingers.

“Your Highness!”

Vernon and Bradley rushed to support him. Noah leaned into Vernon’s arms, gasping for breath. His face, terrifyingly pale, looked as if he might close his eyes at any moment.

“Ah.”

Her vision went dark. Amy, nearly collapsing, grabbed the wall to steady herself. How could this be happening?

But there was no time for this. Straightening herself with a deep breath, she strode forward and shouted, “Seal the hall!”

The chaotic guards snapped to attention and ran to their posts. The doors and windows were shut immediately, isolating the people like rats in a trap. The benefit of the prior training under Vernon’s command was evident.

“Head Maid, His Highness is…”

As she ran up to the dais, Vernon looked up at her with a face frozen in terror. In his arms, the Grand Duke was gasping for breath with his eyes closed weakly. Amy’s sharp gaze quickly scanned him. Soon, her eyes caught something.

She knelt close to Noah and said softly, “Give me the cup, Your Highness.”

“Amy.” Noah opened his eyes, saw her, and smiled weakly.

A sudden surge of emotion rose within her. Why on earth was he smiling in this state? She was tormented by the guilt of not noticing until things reached this point, but Amy spoke without showing it.

“I will keep it. It is important.”

“I see. If it’s Amy, cough, I can trust you.”

Noah handed over the cup he had been clutching so tightly, even as he collapsed. Amy took it carefully and asked in a low voice, “Who gave this to Your Highness?”

All food and drink served at the banquet had already passed poison checks in the kitchen. Therefore, if there was poison in this wine, it was certain that someone had brought it in from outside.

Taking a thin breath, Noah whispered like a sigh, “The Crown Prince.”

Amy, gritting her teeth, stood up abruptly and scanned the surroundings. The Crown Prince was standing not far away. Beside him was the problematic Baron Pearson. The Baron wore a worried expression, but a joy he couldn’t hide flickered in his eyes.

On the other hand, the Crown Prince looked conflicted, even though things had gone as planned.

Others might not know, but Amy, who had served him since childhood, could tell. The Crown Prince was overwhelmed by ambivalence.

A sense of exaltation that things had gone as they should, and a sense of anxiety that he might be harmed. What enraged Amy was the fact that there was no hint of regret to be felt anywhere.

She entrusted the cup to Bradley. “Hold this and stand where everyone can see.”

Bradley nodded with a pale face. Amy strode down from the dais. The Crown Prince stiffened as he saw her approaching him. Amy stood before them and said coldly, “I will get straight to the point.”

“Among the two of you, whose doing is this?”

At those words, the Crown Prince gasped and shouted in horror, “Amy! How can you say such a thing? Are you suspecting me right now?”

“I heard the Crown Prince gave the wine to the Grand Duke.”

Amy did not get lured into his pace and stated only the facts. The Crown Prince glared at her with eyes full of rage.

“It wasn’t me.”

The moment he spoke through gritted teeth, Joseph approached panting and whispered to Amy, “I saw Baron Pearson putting something into the wine cup.”

The composure the Baron had maintained until then shattered. Excitement and fear crossed his face in succession.

An ignorant fool who didn’t realize he was merely a pawn to be used and discarded by those above him, hallucinating that he was omnipotent because he had achieved something decisive with his own hands.

Amy had seen such people often at the palace, so it was not difficult to see through his inner thoughts. As Amy was about to interrogate him, he moved first.

“It was a mistake!” He put on an elaborate expression of distress. “It is true that I gave the Crown Prince two cups. I intended to drink with him. I had put the medicine I take into my own cup beforehand.”

Joseph quickly pointed out the flaw. “Then there was no need to hand over both cups. You only needed to give the one the Prince would drink.”

Baron Pearson agreed with Joseph’s words. “That is true. But a sudden urgent message came to me, and I had to leave the area. So I left the cups with the Prince.”

As he spoke, he seemed to regain his composure; his face became much more natural. He appealed in a quite aggrieved tone.

“In the meantime, the Crown Prince took the wine to the Grand Duke to congratulate him on his inauguration. The Prince did not know I had put medicine in the wine. No one had any intention of harming the Grand Duke, so this is nothing more than an unfortunate accident.”

He spoke as if his tongue were coated in honey. Amy had experienced that when anger is too great, the mind actually becomes calm. She spoke in a low voice.

“Whether it was an accident or not will be determined by investigation. Even if it were so, you will not be able to avoid responsibility.”

Her will to make him pay for his crime, no matter what, was clearly felt in her words. The Baron’s face stiffened, then he smiled.

“I suppose so. I am prepared for that.”

He still seemed to be relying on his backers. Amy let out a small sigh and bit her lip hard.

‘The key is that Lord Noah must not die.’

If he died, the truth would be buried, and the Empire would seize the Duchy again under the pretext that Noah had no heir. The protests of a Head Maid, an aide, and a Captain of the Guard would be lightly ignored. Noah would truly have died a miserable, dog’s death.

‘I cannot let that happen.’

Looking back at the dais, a physician brought in by the guards was examining Noah. The physician was feeding Noah something to make him vomit. Seeing his painfully distorted face, Amy felt her cold blood surge in reverse.

At that moment, the Crown Prince grabbed Amy’s wrist roughly.

“Apologize.”

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