Who Brought the Head Maid Back? - Chapter 9

“Stop.”

The person who prevented Baron Dorian from trampling Amy was Lady Esmain. She narrowed her eyes and spoke to her brother.

“Why waste your energy on something that is going to die anyway?”

“But Sister…”

“She says she doesn’t want to talk, so leave her be.”

As Lady Esmain spoke dismissively, Baron Dorian’s voice rose to a near shout.

“What? No, Sister. You clearly don’t realize how important this is—”

“I told you to leave her be.”

Cutting her brother off, Lady Esmain snapped her fan shut and looked at Amy with a radiant smile.

Amy bit her lip, filled with an ominous premonition. Lady Esmain tilted her head and spoke sweetly.

“When you feel like opening your mouth, tell the jailer. I shall wait.”

“Sister!”

“Let’s go, Baron Dorian.”

Dragging her brother out of the cell, the Lady gave specific instructions to the jailer.

“Give her nothing until she confesses. No food, and certainly no water.”

“!”

“When you think she is truly about to die, give her just a tiny amount. Only enough to keep her soul in her body.”

Lady Esmain turned back to Amy and gave one last bright smile.

“I have plenty of time, so I can wait as long as it takes.”

Lady Esmain was cruel. The jailer who followed her orders was no different.

Amy went over ten days without eating anything. Between her broken, untreated ankle and the agonizing hunger and thirst, the pain was immense. Yet, she did not reveal anything about the Second Prince or the gem. Since even the Crown Prince, who claimed to love her, had betrayed her so easily, she didn’t want to preserve her own life in such a shameful way.

Just when she thought she would truly die, a thin, watery gruel was brought in. Eating this would only mean the cycle of agony would repeat.

Her mind knew this, and she desperately wanted to just die, but her body acted on its own. She buried her face in the bowl and began to eat frantically.

She managed to survive like that for about three years. It was a three-year period that flowed with agonizing slowness.

During that time, the jailer was incredibly talkative. He prattled on to Amy without end about how the outside world was turning. It was annoying, but she listened intently to distract herself from the pain.

There were many interesting stories, so it wasn’t difficult to listen. Since the child of one of his acquaintances lived in the North, she often heard stories about that region as well.

But that only worked for a while. Eventually, it felt as though he was forcing her ears open and hammering the stories inside.

Lady Esmain, who used to visit often to mock her, seemed to have forgotten her after a certain point. In the end, Amy became skin and bones, slowly starving to death.

As her consciousness faded and she lay on the floor gasping for air, Baron Dorian remained tireless. He visited her until the very end, shoving the gem in her face and threatening her.

“Tell me the truth and I’ll spare your life. Where did you get this?”

“…What school did you learn to speak at? A wild boar speaks better than a human.”

“Why you!”

When the end was near, she couldn’t even lift a finger. Her body felt like a doll made of sand. A single touch would turn her to dust.

Then one day, her tongue was forcibly cut out, leaving her unable to speak. The next day, Lady Esmain appeared with the Crown Prince to remind her that she had been abandoned.

Even while she writhed in a pain worse than death, Baron Dorian appeared without fail to press her.

“Tell me where you got it! Speak!”

Amy’s skeletal fingers moved, slowly tracing characters on the filthy stone floor.

“So…”

“!”

Thinking she was finally confessing, Baron Dorian’s face lit up. He let go of the collar he was clutching and stared anxiously at her fingertips.

The bone-like finger finally completed the sentence.

“So… noisy, this wild boar.”

“…Aggghhh!”

It was the moment Baron Dorian, enraged, was about to strike Amy with his fist.

Boom! Rumble!

Suddenly, the prison shook violently. Stone dust fell from the ceiling and the floor buckled. It felt like an earthquake or an explosion. The pale-faced jailer and the Baron scrambled to run outside.

Clatter, roll.

The gem held in the Baron’s hand fell and rolled toward Amy. Baron Dorian hesitated and turned back to pick it up. In that moment, the earth shook once more.

Rumble!

A thunderous sound echoed, and the stone floor split open with a sharp crack. Deciding that he would die if he tried to take the gem, Baron Dorian fled without looking back.

Ha, I guess I’ll die with the gem after all.

Amy lay on the shaking ground, blinking weakly. At the end of her gaze was the gem, which had rolled right to her fingertips. It seemed exceptionally bright. Just as she struggled to touch it with her finger.

Crush!

A stone the size of a fist fell from the ceiling and shattered the gem. Staring blankly at the pulverized jewel, Amy felt her head spin.

Ah.

She knew. This was the end.

With a final effort, Amy’s finger touched the dust of the gem. In the next moment, she drew her last breath.

“Ah…”

Opening her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling. It was the inn where they had checked in late last night.

She pulled her upper body up unsteadily. As she brushed the hair from her forehead, her hand came away soaked with cold sweat. Swallowing a sigh, she stepped down from the bed.

I was glad I hadn’t had that dream in a while.

In the early days after her regression, she dreamt of the moment of her death quite often. Every time, she felt physically drained. But as she made plans for the future and headed toward the Second Prince, the dreams had decreased until they stopped almost entirely.

I must have let my guard down.

Standing up slowly, she went over to the ceramic pitcher on the table and poured some water. She washed her face for a long time. The cold water snapped her back to reality.

Drying her face with a towel, she thought deeply.

Was it because hearing about the First Prince made the past life feel so real again?

A sigh escaped her as she wondered if she would continue to be haunted by these dreams. As she recalled the dream, her stomach twisted and began to ache with a heavy pain.

“I’m hungry…”

Amy grabbed the robe hanging on the screen and hurriedly threw it on. After tidying her messy hair into a bun, she left the room with quick steps and headed down the stairs.

Perhaps because breakfast time had passed, there weren’t many people in the first-floor hall. Noah, who was sitting where he could see the stairs clearly, spotted Amy and waved frantically.

“Amy! Over here!”

“I’m late, aren’t I? I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

As Amy hurried over and muttered her apology, Noah’s eyes went wide and he shook his head quickly.

“N-no, not at all. I was the one who told you to get some rest. Joseph only came down a short while ago, too.”

Joseph, suddenly mentioned, flinched. A brief flash of grievance crossed his face, but seeing his new master—who was not as easy-going as the Head Maid—glaring at him, he obediently lowered his eyes.

“Yes. You aren’t late, so please, eat.”

“See?”

Noah pulled Amy over excitedly and sat her in a chair. He then gestured toward the kitchen. The inn’s servers began bringing out dishes one after another and placing them on the table.

“Your Highness, have you not eaten yet?”

Amy whispered the question, looking at the amount of food that looked like enough for two. Noah shook his head.

“I ate. This is all for you, Amy.”

“But…”

As she looked at the table with a grim expression, wondering how she could possibly eat it all, Noah spoke from beside her.

“And, it’s Noah-nim. Not Your Highness.”

“…Ah, yes. I will be careful.”

“Good. Now eat.”

As Noah grinned, Joseph spoke up cautiously from the side.

“Noah-nim ate very poorly earlier. I thought the two of you were going to eat together.”

“You shouldn’t eat like that.”

Surprised, Amy quickly pressed the utensils into Noah’s hand. Noah glared at Joseph with his mouth shut tight. Meeting that sharp gaze, Joseph jumped in surprise and bowed his head deeply. He frantically searched his memory for what he had done wrong.

Noah turned back to Amy.

“Then let’s eat together.”

“Yes.”

Amy took a bite of the stew filled with meat and tomatoes. The hot food warmed her stomach and helped clear away the lingering gloom from her dream. As she began to eat faster, Noah smiled happily.

The Crown Prince frowned as he stared at the people prostrate at his feet. They were the spies disguised as maids he had infiltrated into the Second Prince’s palace. More accurately, they were sent to monitor the Head Maid, Amy, rather than the Prince.

“I told you to follow her all the way to the North.”

He placed his hand on his forehead. He had a headache. Until a few months ago, Amy had only eyes for him, but at some point, she began to look at him with a gaze colder than a stranger’s and then went to the Second Prince. That was hard enough to swallow, but now she was leaving for the distant North!

The Crown Prince glared at the maids and asked in a chilling voice.

“Why were you kicked out?”

“…”

The maids exchanged glances, recalling the events that had occurred just before they left the Second Prince’s palace.

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