CH 85

‘What will happen to me now?’

Lucy had a nervous expression on her face as she looked around the room. Zeppel only put sleeping pills in water for two hours, but the effect was strong for those who starved for several days.

As a result, Lucy could sleep soundly until they escaped to the forest on the capital’s outskirts through the second prince’s palace’s secret passage.

Lucy was in the carriage when she regained consciousness. She was startled when she saw a brown-haired young man wearing a monocle sitting across from her.

“You are Lucy Enver. Is that correct?”

Zeppel asked so in a businesslike tone. Lucy looked at him, dumbfounded. The young man wore a cold expression, but he was quite attractive.

“Y-yes I am? But why am I here? With this carriage……Where are we going?”

Celia had been talking about Lucy even before the Second Prince kidnaped her. The information asserted that she was the only person capable on moving Princess Amelia, and since she was imprisoned by the second prince, she needed to be protected.

Zeppel learned the story from Leonis and conducted a background check on Lucy Enver.

She was a commoner who came from a rural family near the capital. When his father remarried, she was thrown out of the house and worked as a maid in a nearby viscount’s house.

When the family’s viscount daughter became the emperor’s concubine and became a lady-in-waiting, she was the one who chose Lucy because she was easy to deal with.

She was the concubine’s maid.

Lucy’s status was so low that she couldn’t be the princess’ nanny at first, but she could do so because Princess Amelia’s mother liked her.

She did, but Amelia’s mother saw it right away. The budget had not been properly allocated before the princess manifested her abilities, and Lucy was supposed to have spent her own salary to assist the princess.

‘Am I being kind or stupid?’

So Zeppel was reluctant to kidnap her. It was just an excuse to say he’d take her away because she’d be worse off if she stayed.

“After all, kidnapping is kidnapping.”

“You should know what the Second Prince intends to do with you.”

When the second prince, Phil, was mentioned, Lucy looked at Zeppel, terrified.

“You are……Aren’t you from the imperial palace? What do you want to do with me?”

“Nothing right now.”

That was it. Lucy looked at Zeppel, puzzled. Zeppel went over it again.

“Until you are safe, you will need our protection. Then we’ll arrange for you to leave the imperial palace and live elsewhere, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

“W-what does that mean? why me… …”

There was no kindness in the world if there was no purpose for it. Lucy was also aware of this, so she regarded Zeppel with suspicion. With a calm expression, Zeppel said.

“Consider it the cost of being imprisoned until you are released.”

Zeppel said this and then fell silent. When she asked whose order he was following, he still remained silent.

And she arrived at the spacious mansion of an aristocratic family. She had hoped to be imprisoned in this dungeon-like setting, but she was led to a second-floor bedroom when she arrived.

Except for being guarded, she was treated like an aristocratic lady.

‘Why? why me……’

Lucy was born the daughter of a farmer and was forced to work hard from the moment the sun rose. Her mother died while giving birth to her younger brother, and her stepmother stepped in, complicating her life.

Lucy had to work in the fields during the day and struggled with housework at night. She was claimed that whenever her stepmother was in a bad mood, she would beat Lucy.

She was afraid of where she would go when she was finally kicked out of the house, but when she entered the house as a maid for a noble family, she felt rather fortunate.

‘She cursed me because my face was so ugly that she couldn’t be sold as a whore.’

She considered herself fortunate to have been hired by the daughter of a viscount and later worked as a maid for the emperor’s concubine. Lucy believed she had expended all of her luck at the time.

I was able to be the maid of the beautiful Imelda.

‘And…… Our princess was there.’

The angelic beauty smote Lucy. The age difference was less than ten years, making it an awkward age for a nanny, but Lucy did her best.

That was why, despite her meager earnings, she worked tirelessly to raise and feed Amelia. She thought of running away together because she felt sorry for the good princess of her noble position.

However, she believed that because Amelia was the princess, his Majesty the Emperor would one day honor her as well.

Lucy’s guesses were only partially correct, with the rest being false.

The Emperor cared about Amelia, but only because of her abilities.

It seemed that he spared nothing for his daughter. The same could be said of other utterly despicable princes and princesses.

Didn’t she eventually realize Amelia was especially fond of Lucy and dragged her away?

‘These people are also trying to use the princess.’

She thought that might be the only reason. She was neither a noble family’s daughter nor someone with particular authority.

Lucy sighed as she looked out his window. She was worried about the princess and desperate for her own situation, which was the shackles of the princess.

‘Please someone…… Please protect our princess.’

Lucy begged fervently while kneeling beside the bed. She prayed to Nedesmer, the heavenly god for whom she had always prayed at.

✦ ✦ ✦

Amelia was clearly worried when she learned of an intruder in the second prince’s palace. The intruder was after Phil, but word came that other knights and soldiers had been injured or killed.

‘Lucy? Is she all right?’

She wanted to send someone to ensure Lucy’s safety, but her maids-in-waiting, who the third empress had attached, only irritated Amelia. Amelia agonized about it without being able to resent them.

Even after visiting the second prince’s palace a few days before, she hadn’t seen Lucy. According to what the maids told Amelia, Lucy was trapped in a small room.

She couldn’t even get a slice of bread!

“Did that girl cross the line with your Highness of the Crown Prince? She deserve it!”

Lucy couldn’t have done that. If Phil had locked Lucy up for nothing, he would have cursed herself in front of Lucy.

‘Because that’s the only thing Lucy’s sad about……’

Amelia couldn’t shake her nervousness and hid again in the Second Imperial Palace. It was possible because the garden of the second imperial palace was linked to the garden of the concubine.

The 1st Imperial Palace was the central one of the three Imperial Palaces, with the 2nd and 3rd Imperial Palaces surrounding it.

“No one will remember Lucy after what happened to Phil. She might as well die if she can’t even drink water!”

Rumor has it that Phil has been seriously injured in one arm. Furthermore, it was said that he had done something fatal and thus earned the emperor’s wrath.

It was not a day or two for Phil to do things, so Amelia didn’t think deeply. Despite this, only one can eventually become a crown prince, and the emperor has always been swamped with work.

‘He can ignore Lucy for the time being.’

Amelia couldn’t understand Phil, who was holding Lucy in order to threaten himself without power.

Amelia noticed that the soldiers of the Second Imperial Palace did appear more anxious than usual. She assumed it was because there was an intruder and the prince they had to protect had been seriously injured.

‘But the Third Empress will not let them go right away…….’

Their situation was their circumstance, and Lucy was important to Amelia. So she just waited for the maid, who was always throwing information at her.

She could see the two maids she was with, which was fortunate. Amelia emerged from her hiding spot and began walking quickly, wondering what she had left in the accommodation.

“Oh, my! That scared me. Are you here again, Princess?”

“What happened to Lucy? Is she still imprisoned there?”

The maid made a stupid face when Amelia asked the question. Amelia quickly placed five silver coins in her hand as if she knew something.

The maid glanced around and lowered her voice.

“Don’t pretend you know me anywhere! Don’t even say to anyone that I told you.”

“Okay. Tell me what happened to Lucy.”

The maid hesitated a little as she watched Amelia’s worried expression.

“……She is gone. I don’t know who came and escaped, but the lock was broken, and Lucy disappeared without a trace.”

“What?”

The maid warned Amelia to be quiet in a growing voice. Amelia’s face was desperate as she looked at the maid.

“Lucy…… Who, who took her?”

“I don’t know. I heard it was a skilled knight who broke the lock in half…….”

The maid looked at Amelia with curiosity. The maid wondered if Amelia had asked someone to take her out, but after seeing her desperate expression, she assumed she hadn’t.

“Does it look like a knight?”

“Did you get any word from Lucy? Everyone believes that the knight who kidnapped Lucy may have taken her out in the midst of chaos.”

In fact, no one was interested in Lucy because Phil’s foot was on fire. Only Amelia, who took Lucy from her, desperately searches for her.

Amelia became flustered. Lucy knew only a few servants of the Imperial Palace. There is no knights she knows because she is a nanny for powerless Amelia, despite being a nanny to the princess.

A few knights and those attached by the Empress served as Amelia’s escort knights.

‘Did they take her to another princes?’

It was possible if they looked at Amelia with the same eyes as Phil did.

“Even if you’re speculating…… No, I don’t think so. Then I’ll leave. You must not tell anyone that I told you!”

The maid looked to the left and right of the hallway, afraid someone was coming, and then walked away. Amelia, who was left alone, frustratedly pressed her chest.

‘Lucy……’

Nervous tears welled up. Amelia moved along, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

Even after Lucy was apprehended, Amelia had no recourse. She only cared about Lucy’s safety.

It would be a relief if Lucy could escape with the help of her friends. If not……please contact Amelia first.

Amelia hoped it was the first, but she was anxious to be contacted. If she had run away with the help of her friend, she would not be in contact with Lucy.

‘I’m sorry, Lucy. I am a selfish. ‘

Amelia’s steps back to the concubine’s palace were heavy.