Who Brought the Head Maid Back? - Chapter 46

“Wait, why are you here?”

The maid tossed aside the poker and hurried forward to support her. As she pulled the ice-cold body out of the storage room, she asked, “Weren’t you supposed to go to the capital with the Crown Prince?”

“ ”

The person hiding in the storage room was Sally. She hadn’t left with the Crown Prince; instead, she had slipped back into the Grand Duchy. Originally, she had planned to hold out safely for another day before coming out, but she had been caught far too early.

‘The Crown Prince probably hasn’t gone far yet.’

At this distance, he could be caught by a fast horse. Sally’s face crumpled in distress.

‘Amy will definitely try to send me away.’

Despair felt like it was bursting in her chest. Tears welled up, and she began to sob uncontrollably. Startled, the maid loosened her grip on Sally’s hand.

“Oh dear, did I grab you too hard? Why are you crying?”

Taking advantage of the maid’s fluster, Sally yanked her arm away with all her might. The moment the maid’s hand slipped off, Sally dashed forward like an arrow.

“Wait, hey, hey!”

The maid stood bewildered for a moment before snapping to her senses. Sally had already vanished into the darkness. The maid scratched her head vigorously.

“Honestly, that lady is a handful.”

Turning the other way, the maid hiked up her skirt and ran toward the guardhouse.

Before long, torches were lit in sequence along the castle walls, and guards swarmed out to secure every alleyway. Lights flickered on in both the outer and inner castles as people emerged, whispering.

“What’s happening in the middle of the night?”

“What is it? What’s going on?”

Amy, who had rushed out wearing only a gown over her nightclothes, was in the Grand Duke’s office with Noah, listening to Vernon’s report.

“Are you certain?”

Amy’s face turned pale at the news that the intruder was Sally. That girl, in the end.

“Is it someone you know?”

Noah asked seriously. Amy bit her lip and nodded.

“She is a maid I knew back when I was in the Crown Prince’s palace. I thought it was strange when I didn’t see her when the Prince left today.”

She had assumed Sally was simply inside a carriage; she never dreamed the girl would pull a stunt like this. As Amy sighed, Noah thought for a moment before speaking.

“Do you think she stayed behind of her own will?”

“ ”

Amy couldn’t answer easily. The Sally she knew had a quite troublesome personality, timid, full of self-pity, and prone to a victim complex. In the Imperial Palace, she had flattened herself and played dead because of the nature of the place, but outside of it, Sally was.

“That’s a possibility, but we can’t jump to conclusions.”

Sally had the Empress as her backing. Even if Sally herself didn’t want it, the Empress might have ordered her to remain here. Therefore, if Sally went missing, it was natural for the palace to look here first.

‘I finally managed to divert their attention toward the First Prince.’

The thought of being scrutinized again gave her a headache. Yet, she was equally worried about her friend’s future.

‘What on earth was she thinking, doing this?’

Whether it was by choice or force, Amy gritted her teeth, determined to demand the reason why she stayed.

“So, have you still not found her?”

Seeing the sharp edge in the Head Maid’s tone, Vernon felt uncharacteristically intimidated, as if he had done something wrong.

“We are searching diligently, so surely soon.”

Before he could finish his sentence, Jack burst in.

“We’ve caught the intruder!”

The guards found Sally hiding among the haystacks in a corner of the stables and locked her in the dungeon of the outer castle.

“Sally.”

Huddled in the cold cell, hugging her knees, Sally raised her head at the sound of Amy’s voice. Seeing her lips turned blue from cold and fatigue, Amy swallowed a sigh.

‘Why is she wearing such thin clothes?’

Amy finally let her frustration explode.

“What on earth were you thinking?”

“Amy.”

“Do you realize how many people you’ve put in a difficult position? The Grand Duke just barely recovered enough to move after being poisoned, and now we might have to fight the Empire because of you!”

“ ”

“I told you. If you stayed quiet and lived well, we could contact each other again. Was that really so hard?”

Amy, pouring out her bottled-up anger, brushed her hair back while huffing. She felt a sudden surge of sorrow for her own situation, why the one person she could call a friend in her life was so intent on tormenting her, and why her life was like this.

Just then, Sally whispered, her lower lip trembling violently.

“If I go, go back to the Imperial Palace, I’ll, I’ll die.”

“!”

At those unexpected words, Amy’s gaze snapped back. She stared at Sally with a stiffened face.

“What, what does that mean?”

“Why do you think I tried so, so hard to take you with me?”

Sally buried her head back into her knees.

“The Crown Prince, he said if I didn’t return to the Empire with you, the moment we reached the palace, he would hang my, my head on the castle gate.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I did tell you.”

Sally muttered weakly.

“I said I wanted to be, be here by your side. You said no. And you said you couldn’t take re, responsibility for me.”

“ ”

“Th, that meant your heart was set, didn’t it?”

Amy swallowed a groan and closed her eyes. It was true she had coldly pushed her away. But that didn’t mean she was okay with the girl dying.

Sally raised her head. Tears were brimming in her large eyes.

“Can’t you, just say you didn’t, didn’t see me? Please?”

“What?”

“The Crown Prince doesn’t even care about m, me anyway. He won’t even know where I disappeared. So if the Empire asks, just say you d, don’t know.”

A long-standing sorrow spread across Sally’s face. She rubbed her eyes vigorously with her blue, frozen hands. Amy remained silent. She knew that Sally’s first love was the Crown Prince.

Sally had grown up abused as a child and couldn’t easily open her heart to others. She was fundamentally guarded and acted out violently out of fear of being hurt. Yet, for only two people in the world, Amy and the Crown Prince, she was desperate to give everything.

‘And once she gives her heart, she doesn’t take it back easily.’

Amy felt her chest tighten. The Crown Prince didn’t even like Sally, yet he ruthlessly exploited the fact that she was weak for him.

It was pathetic to see Sally getting played and sobbing every time, but that wasn’t something she would listen to just because someone lectured her.

Look at her now. Even after being threatened with death, she was grieving the fact that she could no longer see the Crown Prince.

Amy let out a long sigh and opened the iron gate.

“Get out for now.”

“Can, can I come out?”

Sally stood up hesitantly, watching Amy’s face. Amy frowned.

“I’m freezing to death because of you. Are you crawling?”

“O, okay.”

Sally’s eyes widened at the mention of Amy being cold, and she quickly scurried out of the open door.

She then hovered awkwardly by Amy’s side. The look on her tearful face made it obvious she was upset that she didn’t have any clothes to give Amy to keep her warm. A sigh escaped Amy automatically.

Amy turned around and led the way up the stairs.

“Sleep in a guest room for tonight, and tomorrow we’ll go see His Grace. We have to decide what to do with you.”

“ ”

Sally, who had been following diligently, stopped in her tracks.

“Can, can I, stay here?”

Her trembling voice was laced with emotion. Amy bit her lip and shrugged.

“It depends on the Grand Duke’s decision, but you probably won’t be allowed here.”

“Ah.”

Sally’s head slumped. Amy didn’t say another word and walked on in silence. Sally did the same.

Amy spoke to the guard to send Sally to a guest room and had them watch the door. Until Noah decided her fate, she was still technically a prisoner.

Amy waited until the light in the inner room where Sally was staying went out before turning away.

The next day, Noah met Sally and solved the problem simply.

“Let her live in the village below the castle.”

“Isn’t that, too close?”

When Amy asked cautiously, Noah raised an eyebrow as if puzzled.

“She’s your friend; should we send her far away? She didn’t look very reliable at a glance.”

In other words, keep her close and monitor her so she couldn’t cause trouble.

“ ”

Amy was rendered speechless. Noah glanced at her and turned his head. In truth, he didn’t want her staying in the Grand Duchy at all. His reason was similar to why he disliked the Crown Prince. The woman named Sally was far too devoted to Amy.

“Keep her somewhere you can check on her occasionally, even if not often. That way, if something happens, we can handle it quickly. As for the Empire, I doubt they’ll ask, but we can just play dumb regardless.”

Grateful that Sally wouldn’t die immediately, Amy answered, “Yes. I will do that. Thank you, Your Grace.”

“It’s nothing.”

He didn’t like this either. Why was Amy being so humble and grateful over that woman? As Noah clicked his tongue inwardly, Jack entered and spoke.

“We can depart in three days.”

“Very well.”

Amy’s face brightened. They were finally going to the Black Mountains. If this went according to plan.

‘Master Noah will come into immense wealth and honor.’

He might become the wealthiest person on the continent. Her heart swelled with anticipation at the thought. Noah looked at her skeptically as she grinned to herself.

“Are you planning to go too, Amy?”

“Pardon? Oh, to the Black Mountains? Of course. I’m the only one who knows where we need to go.”

To find the location for the contact with the foreign tribe, she had to enter the Imperial Palace library, and she felt a dip in her mood recalling how much she had to flatter the Crown Prince back then. Since coming here, she had thoroughly searched the secret storehouse of the Grand Duchy and requested ancient books kept in nearby temples to scour them.

‘Looking at the routes the Viscon clan took when they invaded the Duchy, they all passed through that spot.’

Amy had formed a hypothesis of her own. What was the purpose of an invasion where damage to lives and property was rare?

‘I believe it was an excuse to confirm that location.’

If they had only visited that spot from the beginning, the Empire would have quickly noticed and closed it off, or demanded a high price for a trade.

‘In short, it means that place is incredibly important to the Viscon clan.’

So, they would go there in person to verify it, carrying the magical artifact that would make Noah a tycoon.

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