INAT - Chapter 25

Serira's face contorted anxiously as she walked down the dark hallway without an amplifier.

'Why do I have to go through all this trouble!'

With only the occasional lantern hanging here and there, barely illuminating the path, her cautious steps were filled with tension. As resentment naturally flowed toward the culprit who had created this situation, the face of the Princess, who had smiled so innocently and annoyingly earlier, flashed through her mind.

A harmless and innocent Princess.

The burdensome Princess who suddenly came to the Empire was just as Marie had said.

'No, actually, isn't that putting it too nicely?'

In Serira's eyes, Elisha was beyond harmless—she was stupid. She was the very embodiment of a spoiled Princess who pretended to be innocent and kind to everyone, but whose head was a flower garden and who offered absolutely no help.

They say ignorance is bliss, and it was truly disgusting that she even thought to retrieve an arrowhead in that dangerous situation. And the selfish act of scurrying over to His Majesty to hand it over was equally repulsive.

'No matter how I look at it, it seems like she has ulterior motives toward His Majesty... I wonder if she's just putting on a coy act for no reason.'

In truth, what else could Elisha do here, having been dragged here bound by the agreement, but to covet the position of Empress?

Serira knew the reality and understood that she should not covet the position of Empress. For this reason, she was as strict with others as she could not possess it herself, and the only person she could acknowledge was Princess Joubert.

Because it was clear that the moment the Duke of Joubert’s family became the Empress’s patron, her own collateral family would also benefit, even if only slightly.

So she wanted to get rid of that rebellious Princess from the empire as soon as possible, and she was pleased with the timely instruction from Madame Ante, the head lady-in-waiting, to prevent the Princess from living in peace.

'But to think His Majesty would appear right when I was firing the arrow!'

As soon as Serira heard from Marie that the Princess had brought an arrowhead, her mind went blank.

Serira's resentment grew day by day at the fact that despite her competence, she did not even receive proper attention because she came from a humble family.

Just then, as Serira looked at Elisha, she felt her insides twist.

To think that she was born a Princess merely by luck, without any ability of her own, yet caught the Emperor's eye and came over to the Empire to live a carefree life. Serira felt nothing but a sense of injustice.

While yielding the position of Empress to a Princess might be at least in her best interest, it was an issue that could absolutely not be tolerated otherwise.

So, she went ahead and did it. Even so, it should have been over as long as she properly burned the evidence. It was a very simple plan, but everything went awry. All because of that incompetent Princess!

Serira had no choice but to visit Madame Ante, the head maid, and as expected, what she directed at her was tremendous anger.

"What? You used that porch? I told you to keep it safe!"

"I, I'm sorry. I just thought it was some kind of stimulant! I never dreamed it would go wild and go that far...'

"Shut your mouth! You should have just done exactly as I told you. Do you even realize what you have done!"

"A-A-Auntie... I'm so sorry. I, I just wanted that girl to disappear quickly... sob, I was wrong. My eagerness got the better of me. But still, wouldn't she know what it is?"

"You fool. Don't you really realize that noticing there is something on the arrowhead is the problem in itself?"

"...!"

"Haa... If an investigation into that juice begins, we will have to destroy all evidence just in case. What am I supposed to do about this! The Duke had saved it for the future, and since you used such a precious thing so carelessly, how can I guarantee the consequences!"

"Gasp...! What should I do? Auntie, please. Please help me. What, what should I do? Please, I'll do anything!"

"...For now, send the remaining liquids out of the palace tonight. As for what comes after that, I will have to think about it after today."

Mrs. Ante's sigh-filled words kept swirling in my head.

'I have to handle this perfectly so that it never comes up again. Then my aunt might understand and help resolve it.'

Serira scanned her surroundings once before turning the corner of the hallway. Fortunately, thanks to having managed to bribe a security guard to find out the shift change time, no one caught her eye.

She quietly unlocked the door to the education room. Although it was ostensibly an education room, its actual purpose was a corporal punishment room, so it was a place no one approached.

Serira's snake-like bright yellow eyes landed on the corner bookshelf packed with books.

'I told you to move them outside if you could, but what if you get caught? Just flush a few down the drain for now. You should be fine if you leave just one or two behind.'

She gently pulled out a book from the very bottom of the bookshelf.

Hearing a thud, she took out all the books blocking the way. Then, reaching deep inside, she began taking out the bottles hidden in the secret compartment concealed behind the back of the bookshelf, one by one, and putting them into her pocket.

'Ah. So annoying. If it weren't for that girl, I wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble... Someday I’ll definitely get revenge, ah! No, wait. Should I just hide this bottle in that girl’s stuff?'

Serira slowly grasped the last bottle with a half-deceived look on her face.

'Right, you never know? They might suspect it's a staged act... Anyway, that stupid Princess is obviously just going to cry incompetently, so if push comes to shove, she'll likely just get banished or killed.'

A small bottle, about the size of a middle finger, was tightly gripped in her hand.

"No matter how it works, if I just succeed, Auntie will surely let go of her anger.'

Moreover, since what had been so bothersome had completely vanished right before her eyes, and although she thought this mess was caused by her acting unilaterally, Serira’s eyes grew increasingly clouded because this thought could potentially turn into a blessing in disguise.

'Yeah, like that...'

But it was that moment.

“What is that?”

A voice that should not have been heard struck her ears.

"...!"

Serira was startled, like someone waking from a dream, and dropped the bottle she was holding. Soon, a sharp cracking sound filled the silent space, and belatedly, a spine-chilling presence was heard.

"Oh!"

Serira, who had been turning her head, creaking like an unlubricated piece of iron, soon turned pale as if she had seen a ghost. Her face looked as if she were about to stop breathing at any moment.

***

'I knew this would happen.'

I blinked my wide eyes at Serira, who had slumped onto the ground.

"Are you okay? Were you hurt by the glass shards?"

"Yes. How did you get here...?"

"Oh my. Is that important right now? What matters is that you aren't hurt! You look fine from the looks of it; isn't it a good thing you endured it? Sir Oscar."

I simply lowered the ends of my eyebrows with a look of concern for her. As I glanced slightly behind me, Serira looked at Oscar as if she had finally noticed.

'Do you think I came alone?'

I secretly laughed as I watched Serira, who had frozen in place, unable to even let out a groan.

It was obvious what Serira would do upon hearing that the arrowhead had fallen into the Emperor's hands. Serira would have had to smuggle out all evidence related to the arrowhead as quickly as possible, preferably within today.

And we can't just leave it like that.

"Sir Oscar, I'm worried about Marie, so could you please escort her to her quarters?"

"The Handmaiden exclusive is from the 2nd quarter, so it should be there if you go that way."

So, I waited leisurely for dinner and then headed to the usage hall accompanied by Oscar.

Since it was a women-only quarter, Marie, who had come out, loudly told me about Serira's suspicions, just as we had planned before, as if to make sure Oscar heard us.

"...Actually, I saw that Serira was eating suspicious drugs."

“Suspicious drugs?”

"Yes. I remained silent because I didn't know what was going on, but Serira suddenly overreacted upon hearing rumors that the Princess had retrieved the arrow from the scene and abruptly announced that she would change the assignment. Of course, this is just circumstantial evidence, but I don't think it is right to keep quiet, so I am speaking out, prepared to face punishment."

Since Marie could not tell the truth about how Serira found out that the arrow had been brought, she cleverly fabricated a story as if Serira had heard the rumor and acted suspiciously on her own.

In response, I replied to Marie as if I had no idea, saying thank you for your concern but asking if Serira really would do such a thing.

I said that it would be better to resolve the misunderstanding quickly and asked to be guided to where Serira was, as I needed to meet her right away.

Naturally, Oscar could not stop me. Since it had only been a few days since the unpleasant incident, he said he could not let me go alone with Marie when I insisted on going to check it out myself, and all he could do was suggest a second-best option of urgently calling the person in charge of the management office.

However, I never expected that alternative would turn out to be a good opportunity for me. To think I would be asked to temporarily open an outsider passageway designed to prevent encounters with insiders!

I wanted to enter quietly anyway, and with even the person in charge of usage management accompanying us, the journey to the training room in question went very smoothly.

'The more witnesses, the better, so it’s a good thing for me.'

And that smooth sailing came to an end at just the right time when they witnessed Serira's suspicious antics.

I never imagined things would go this smoothly. I never even imagined that thanks to Serira's recklessness, we would be able to raid the crime scene so easily.

"I'm not sure if it's a relief, but since you look fine, I should be able to drag you to prison without incident. Along with suspicious drugs."

Oscar blocked my path and looked down at Serira as if pressing her down.

"Ah... Ah, th-this is..."

Serira moved her lips as if she wanted to make an excuse, but her face looked as if she were being strangled.

She could not even finish the sentence. Then, as if incapable of thinking, tears welled up in her eyes, and she began to cry.

"Uh, I'm being unfairly accused. Sob sob, I just came to the training room because I had business there. These suspicious drugs are nothing... Marie? Marie, you say it. There's no one as upright and honest as me!"

Then, perhaps belatedly noticing Marie standing behind me, she rolled her eyes and smirked as if she had found a lifeline. She seemed to believe that Marie, who had been afraid of her all this time, would somehow testify in her favor.

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