CH 27

It wasn't easy to bring assassins into the royal palace. If it weren't for the sudden downpour, it would have been difficult for the workers to enter the Prince's palace as well. That's why hyenas won't want to miss this opportunity.

It didn't matter if this was a delusion of her own. It's good if the hyenas don't come, but if they do, it means that her prediction is correct.

The rain beat against the windows. Leaning against a high pillow, Yulia pretended to be asleep. The moment her breathing stopped, the door opened.

The hallway was dark. The lanterns that were used to lit up the hallway were usually left on even during the night, but now, only the area in front of Yulia's room was dark with the lights turned off.

The hyena entered silently.

This time, the window opened. The softly greased window opened without a sound, and another shadow from outside leaned to get in.

As soon as the hyena entered through the door and confirmed that Yulia was sleeping alone on the bed, he gave a hand signal towards the window, meaning 'I will take care of it', and immediately approached the bed.

Yulia counted in her head.

'One, two, three...'

She shouldn't be impatient. He had to be close enough.

Yulia's fingers moved under the thick blanket. She opened the lid of the cup she had hidden, and when the hyena was sufficiently near, she kicked off the blanket.

She then poured the liquid from the cup onto the hyena.

"...!"

It was oil. The panicked hyena swung his knife, but Yulia was already holding a candle in her hand.

"If you wanted to kill me, you should have come prepared to die as well."

The candle flew. The body of the hyena covered in oil was engulfed in flames in an instant.

"Aaaaaagh! Aargh... Someone, save me!"

The dreadful scream resounded inside the silent palace. Yulia stepped back a little more, and stared at the hyena who was about to enter through the window to keep him in check.

However, he didn't move.

"What the... I didn't even have to come to save you?"

The shadow that she previously thought was a hyena grinned, and waved gently. Then, before she even had time to ask who it was, he threw himself out of the window.

'Who is it?'

Yulia quickly ran towards the window, and looked at him. It was dark, and she couldn't see the garden.

'Is it Maxwell?'

It's probably him. The man that Carus attached to Yulia. She didn't know how he had managed to get here, but he must have expected that the Marquis of Marjoram would aim for Yulia's life.

Before long, the empty hallway became bright, and the soldiers came running in.

"Lady Yulia, are you okay!?"

The soldiers were unable to speak for a while. It was because of the screaming hyena engulfed in flames.

"Quickly bring the Prince. Is no one here!"

The soldiers moved fast. The hyena collapsed on the floor, and convulsed. The soldiers quickly put out the fire, but they seemed unable to save him as his clothes and flesh had burned together.

"Damn it... Go outside! There might be more of them roaming around!"

Yulia looked at him without blinking. Then, she asked the hyena writhing in pain.

"When the Marquis told you to go to the Prince's palace and kill a girl, didn't he also tell you that she wouldn't be helpless?"

"You... you will die."

"I know that too."

"There are many hyenas. You will die, no matter what!"

Yulia smiled softly in the dark. The light of the lantern cast a dark shadow on her face.

"Intruders! There are intruders out there too!"

Screams and shouts filled the Prince's palace. Even the soldiers who were taking a break from their shifts ran out, and searched the garden.

"What the hell is... what happened here?"

The soldiers found two hyenas lying in a corner of the garden. It seemed that someone else had already taken care of them.

They didn't know who it was, but it was fortunate that Yulia was safe thanks to them.

"Hyenas?"

Lewicia had a terrifying expression on his face. Even the maids, who ran out after waking up, said they had never seen the Prince so angry.

"Hyenas in the royal palace?"

Lewicia asked as he looked at the soldiers. Among them was his escort knight. They bowed their heads as if they were ashamed.

In fact, the soldiers weren't much at fault. They laughed at Yulia's statement that an intruder would appear, telling her not to joke around, but when she held out a glittering gold coin in front of them, they stood guard all night in the next room.

And when a hyena actually appeared, they ran to her as they were frightened to death.

She felt slightly guilty. Because all of this wouldn't have happened without her.

"Your Highness, it's my fault, not theirs. Hyenas came in to kill me. But they have to protect the Prince."

"Even so, how do hyenas dare enter the palace? The fact that it happened is the problem."

"They must have hidden themselves among the gardeners. It was raining heavily, and manpower was suddenly needed."

"Those bastards from the Department of the Royal Household..."

The personnel that managed and repaired the palace was under their jurisdiction. As Lewicia gnashed his teeth, Coco, who was wearing a thick shawl over her nightwear, interrupted.

"As soon as Yulia entered the palace, these bastards came to pick a fight, barking about why a commoner would come in as a maid of honor. Start there."

"Did something like that happen?"

Lewicia nervously swept his hair up.

Yulia was about to say that it had nothing to do with them, but she kept her mouth shut as Coco grabbed her by the shoulder.

"There is something else."

This time, Coco's eyes fell on the maids. The maids, who were looking at the situation with frightened faces, shuddered.

"How did the hyenas know where Yulia's room was, how were they able to climb all the way up to the hallway on the second floor without no one noticing them, and where did they try to go after escaping through the window?"

Lewicia's gaze also turned to the maids.

"Someone must have helped from inside."

The influence of the Marquis of Marjoram is so great. To the extent that he had managed to plant a spy in the palace of the second Prince, where there was never any threat until Yulia came in.

"Speak."

Lewicia was furious, and had a ghastly face.

The maids looked at each other restlessly.

"Should I lock you all up, and torture you until the spy confesses?"

The Prince's words were absolute to the maids. The soldiers stood waiting for him to give orders.

Torture... The maids burst into tears at the terrible word that they had never even imagined.

"Listen well."

Yulia didn't want all the maids to suffer in order to identify one spy.

"One of the maids must have had a private conversation with the hyenas while bringing snacks or water to the workers. She would have stayed up late at night on her own, and organized her belongings, preparing to escape at any time.”

The crying maids quickly wiped away their tears.

"She would have been interested in knowing when I would go to bed, when I would wake up, and whether I locked my doors and windows from the inside. Perhaps she would have been cleaning or hanging around in the hallway leading to my room. And today... she would have been the last person to check this hallway, and turn off the lights."

Yulia noticed that several maids were looking sideways at one person.

They were the maids who had received gold coins from Coco. They were also people that Coco trusted. They had been told to keep an eye on any maid who has been sticking to Yulia's side and acting suspiciously the past few days, and it worked.

"Who ordered you?"

Lewicia asked.

The maid who had been singled out made a strange sound like an animal caught in a trap, and backed away little by little.

"Your, Your Highness... It's not me. Why are you like this. It's not me!!"

"If you tell me the truth, your life will be spared, but if you continue to lie, I will kill your entire family."

"Your Highness, it's not me. Spare me, spare me!"

Lewicia was a member of the royal family. Just because he was kind and free-spirited to his employees didn't mean that he would be generous to spies who infiltrated the palace.

"Do I have to cut off each of your limbs for you to speak?"

Lewicia snatched the sword from the escort knight next to him. At that moment, the maid, who had been trying to find a way out, collapsed on the floor.

"I'm... I'm sorry. Your Highness. I'm sorry. I have sinned... What did I do."

Her crying turned into wailing. The maid lay on the floor, and begged for her life.

Yulia didn't think that the Marquis of Marjoram would give up this easily.

He was a man who would kill anyone as long as he made up his mind. When he sent the hyenas the first time, breaking up with Vasily was a more important goal than killing Yulia, but now things have changed.

Lewicia, who was extremely angry, requested troops from the garrison, but couldn't increase the number of escort knights. A knight is a person who protects the royal family, not someone who can be sent to escort a maid of honor.

Instead, a few soldiers were added to guard the palace all night long.

Due to the incident, Lewicia was so shocked that he skipped meals, and couldn't sleep. He realized that his position was so low that he was taken lightly by mere hyenas and palace officials.

In front of Yulia, he had made a fuss, saying she would be safe in his palace, but she was actually in danger because she was inside.

He didn't want to become king. Lewicia hated his father.

He found it ridiculous that a king could not protect the woman he loved, making her unhappy and sad for the rest of her life, while being called the father of the nation.

However, if he didn't walk up to the throne, he wouldn't be able to protect himself or his people.

What he needed was more power.