Could it be that Riela is also trying to harass me?
I looked at the door with even more alarm. Riela is still waiting for me at the door.
Once I thought about it, I put the speculation out of my mind. I didn’t think she would harass me.
She was born in a viscount family, a woman of high lineage even as a maid, and she had her pride. I don’t think she had fallen so far as to engage in malicious harassment.
However, I know that she’s not favorable toward me. There were times when she would look at me with a piercing gaze.
I think that the only emotion she could have been expressing to me was pure jealousy. I don’t know what it was about, though.
Still, perhaps out of nervousness, I hurriedly picked up the bag containing the uniform and checked its contents.
Inside, as she had mentioned, were the tailored uniforms for the Knights’ Corps.
“Riela’s guess was right. These seem like the uniform for the knights….”
When I looked up, I saw Riela with a sorrowful expression in front of the distant door.
It wasn’t malicious harassment, nor was it from jealousy; her expression seemed closer to one of fear.
“I’m sorry, Marie.”
At that moment, I heard the sound of a heavy door closing. Confused by the sudden onslaught of darkness, I reached the door that had been open a moment ago and tried to open it, but it was locked.
“Riela! Why!?”
No matter how openly she displayed her hostility, I believed she wasn’t the kind of woman who would engage in harassment.
I banged on the door with a loud thump, but there was no response.
From beyond the door, I could only hear the sound of a woman’s footsteps quickly fading away. Riela had already left the place.
The hand holding the candlestick with its weak light tightens with strength.
I have to get out of the room somehow.
How can I get through to Alberto, who was supposed to arrive shortly? Will he even notice in the first place?
I was almost crushed by anxiety, but I somehow managed to find something in the darkness that might help me escape.
In the dark, soundless world, my entire body begins to tremble.
I remember this feeling from a long time ago.
Trapped in darkness. Without a hint of warmth, the cold and silence envelop my body.
Yes, a prison.
It reminded me of the prison in which Rosemary was imprisoned.
Tears seeped into my eyes and I couldn’t stop shaking.
“Ah…. wait….”
My instincts are almost overwhelmed by fear. I crouched down, hugging my body tightly to somehow regain consciousness.
I stared intently at the flickering candlelight before me.
It’s okay, there’s light here. I’m not trapped like Rosemary was.
There’s definitely a chance to get out.
Unlike during Rosemary’s time, when she had given up hope of being saved.
“But I’m not Rosemary now, is it?”
Those days of being accused of a crime and locked in prison are in the past.
‘Calm down.’
I scold myself strongly.
Then I finally regain my composure.
Though my body is still tense, I manage to pick up the candlestick again and look around.
It’s still dark and cramped.
But there is one sound that bothers me.
A slight growling sound is heard. At first, the sound only heightens my fear, but then I think about it calmly and realize that it sounds familiar.
It resembles the sound when the wind blows through the old structure of my family’s estate.
Perhaps there’s a way out of here somewhere.
In the royal palace, there are several emergency escape routes in case something happens to the royal family. I don’t know for sure, but I can’t completely dismiss the possibility.
As I approached the direction from which the sound was coming, the location of the noise became clearer and I faintly sensed a breeze.
I push against the wall where the sound is coming from, but there’s no response.
I light up the area with the candlestick to see if there’s some kind of mechanism.
As I searched for a mechanism, I could faintly hear footsteps coming from the other side of the wall.
For a moment, I thought about yelling for help but decided against it.
Can someone who comes to a place like this at this time help me?
The worse the premonition, the more often it comes true.
The approaching voice is that of a man saying, “Is it around here?” while moving near the wall.
I hastily put out the candlestick and ducked into the shadows near the wall.
From behind the wall, two men’s voices can be heard searching for something.
“Do you have the Queen’s notes?”
“This must be it.”
How much my heart must have raced at the mention of “Queen.”
I pressed my hand against my mouth to stifle any escaping breath.
They had just said, “Queen.”
In other words, these people had a “Queen” among their ranks. And how did they know about these hidden passages?
‘The Queen had escaped from here….!’
On the day Reynaldo initiated the rebellion, Queen Tia was nowhere to be found. The Queen, who could not be found anywhere in the palace, must have used a hidden passageway to escape.
And now, she’s trying to use it as a means to let these suspicious individuals infiltrate the palace.
The wall slowly opens.
They apparently noticed the mechanism and started to move the wall.
‘I need to get out of here somehow….’
Trapped at this specific moment.
The purpose of the arriving individuals,
It’s probably me.
I don’t know the reason, but that much I understand.
While hiding myself, I turned my gaze towards the wall, trying to figure out a way.
Then, I found a way out through a slight opening and focused all my attention on it.