139.

Ro was blocked once again. This time, it was right in front of the garden where the ‘most wicked flower’ bloomed. Yet she didn’t receive any particularly suspicious glances, because it was common for nobles strolling through the garden and their attendant servants to be interrupted frequently. The excuse was flawless—preparing a special flower to be unveiled at the banquet. Sure, right. Special to the point of being utterly grotesque. Ro inwardly scoffed.

Anyway, entering the garden immediately seemed difficult. Ro decided to wait until dawn, when the sun had fully set. Since dinner time was already approaching, Ro cleverly slipped into the kitchen by blending in among the maids. Ideally, she should have sent Anna, but given the circumstances, it seemed better that she go herself.

“Pretty sister, could I have a little more stew?”

“Goodness.”

The maid distributing food gave a disdainful snort at her cheekiness, yet still added an extra ladle. Freshly baked bread came as a bonus. Ro grinned and firmly grabbed an apple as well. This role suited her far better than playing the ‘young lady.’

She also noticed that several of the maids appeared visibly unwell. They wandered about like ghosts, dazed and vacant. Likely, they had been exposed to the flower’s poison for too long.

But it seemed she was the only one who cared. Ro couldn’t be sure whether the flower’s toxin was somehow affecting even those who seemed perfectly fine, or whether maids walking around like specters were simply common due to overwork.

“Anna. I’m here.”

When she knocked, she heard the sound of a lock being undone from inside. Anna opened the door with a blank expression.

“No trouble, I hope?”

“No… I kept the door locked, just as you instructed.”

“Good. Let’s eat first. We’ll need full stomachs before tackling big tasks.”

Ro placed the tray on the table and pulled her chair close. The food, though meant for servants, was delicious and plentiful—more than enough for two. Even Anna, who had been dazed throughout, seemed to regain some energy after eating.

Eventually, the sun fully set. Ro promptly checked the oil in her lantern and placed it inside her small bag along with a pouch of powder. She didn’t forget to bring her knife.

Soon, the knights’ shift change began. Ro hid in the shadow of the building, then crawled beneath the iron bars the moment the guards left their posts. The sharp edge of the iron tore her clothes. Her skin seemed to have been scraped badly too. Just as Ro stifled a groan between her teeth, heavy footsteps drew closer—and stopped right in front of her.

“Wait a second.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you hear something?”

Ro quickly clamped her mouth shut. One of the two knights approached the patch of bushes where Ro was hiding. She could feel the knight above her, gripping the iron bars and peering into the garden. She was so tense that she could almost hear the knight’s breathing. After standing still for a while, the knight finally spoke carelessly.

“Probably just an animal.”

“Really?”

“What’s that? Are you keeping it in your mouth properly? Hasn’t the effect worn off?”

“No. I got a fresh one this morning.”

“Here. Use this. It’s completely new.”

A rustling sound followed, then the footsteps gradually faded away. Ro remained frozen in the bushes like a fox that had just heard a gunshot. Only after confirming no one was nearby did she crawl forward again.

The garden, densely packed with trees, felt like a small forest. Moist, damp air rose from every direction. The trees were thick, and Ro kept feeling as though their branches were moving on their own. The deeper she went, the denser the trees became. Ro climbed over tangled shrubs like a maze, inching toward the pond.

Though it must have been an artificial pond, placed right in the heart of the palace, the closer she got, the more it resembled a thick, sticky swamp. The smell confirmed it—rotten to the very core.

The only thing preventing a stench foul enough to blanket the entire palace was the fragrance emanating from a massive dark purple flower bud at the center of the pond. Ro was nearly delirious, unable to tell whether the flower’s scent or the pond’s reek was more horrifying.

‘The text said to cut a piece of the root and put it in the mouth. From what the soldiers were saying earlier, just holding it in the mouth might work? That would protect against the poison and keep one’s senses clear?’

Everything was just assumption. Only yesterday, she had despised all study, scoffing at knowledge written in books as dead and useless. Yet now, seeing this dark purple flower before her… she began to wonder if Demecaron could truly be dismissed as just another book. As far as she knew, no flower like this existed anywhere.

Ro opened her leather bag and took out the pouch of powder and the lantern. She carefully lit the wick, illuminating the lantern. Before that, she adjusted the wick to be short, minimizing the brightness—visible from afar only like the eyes of an owl. Ro stood at the edge of the pond, carefully watching her footing.

The roots of the ‘most wicked flower’ coiled like serpents, wrapping entirely around the pond’s interior, exterior, and edges. Up close, it didn’t look like the pond was nurturing the flower—it looked as if the flower was swallowing the pond with its roots.

Ro shone the lantern around and spotted a large, cleanly cut mark on one of the flower’s roots. Likely, this was where the knights had cut off the pieces they were carrying in their mouths.

Ro took out a small knife and sliced off a piece of root about the length of her index finger. At that moment, she witnessed the flower suddenly drawing its leaves inward—like a human shuddering in disgust.

It was a deeply terrifying sight. Even more so, a sticky, unpleasant liquid gushed out from the severed spot. Ro instinctively held her hand up to the lantern light and had to suppress a scream. The oozing fluid wasn’t ordinary plant sap—it looked exactly like human blood.

‘Damn it… How the hell am I supposed to put this in my mouth?’

She steeled her resolve and cut another piece from a nearby root. Better to finish it all at once rather than make multiple trips, especially since the soldiers’ conversation suggested the effect didn’t last long. Ro was just wiping the sticky liquid off her hands onto her apron and straightening up when—

Suddenly, a hand shot out from behind, binding her limbs and covering her mouth.

* * *

Ro was dragged away with a gag in her mouth and her eyes covered. The damp air, dripping water from the ceiling, hard stone floor, and increasingly foul stench suggested she was in an underground prison. She couldn’t see, so she couldn’t be certain.

The longer she was dragged, the more ancient fear crept into her. It would have been less terrifying if she had simply lost consciousness. Eventually, the sound of boots stopped abruptly, and her body was thrown onto the ground. Ro recognized Audrey Young-ae’s presence by scent alone. Immediately, the sharp voice of an enraged Audrey Young-ae pierced her ears.

“I told you to bring her here unharmed!”

“But she was already like this when we found her.”

“The blood!”

“It’s not blood—it’s sap from the cut roots.”

“How many roots did you cut? How many?”

“One. Here it is.”

“Fine. Release her. And this time, don’t leave a single mark.”

The knights instantly became respectful toward her. Ro inwardly sneered. Audrey Young-ae was already treating Lea’s body as her own possession. Soon, her bound hands and blindfold were removed. Suddenly exposed to lantern light, Ro reflexively squinted. As her eyes adjusted, everything came into sharp focus.

It was… a vast collection of human bones. And even more people, blank-faced, swarmed inside the underground prison. This iron cage, where Rosetta and Audrey Young-ae stood with the Crown Princess’s guard knights, looking indifferent to whether the figure beside them was a skeleton or a living person—only a few cages remained empty.

“Lea.”

Audrey Young-ae called her in a soft voice. Like an ancient, wicked tree fairy from legend—luring people in with her voice before devouring them whole. Her sharp teeth glistened between lips painted crimson. She grabbed Ro’s chin and smiled widely.

“Now, the two of us can be a little more honest with each other, can’t we?”