“What? What’s going on?”

Startled by the pitch-black darkness without a single ray of light, I jumped up. Then, waving my hands as I moved, I bumped into something and tumbled down.

“Where am I, really.”

As I frowned while rubbing my sore elbow, I heard movement outside. Staying still, I heard footsteps approaching.

“Seems you’re awake now.”

This familiar voice is…

“Ginger Rowell, you!”

I headed towards where the voice came from. I felt around and found the doorknob, but it just rattled without opening, as if locked. I heard Ginger giggling beyond the door.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to open this?”

I was with Silvia, how did this happen?

“Don’t tell me you’ve got Silvia too?”

“Ha, is this the time for you to worry about others? Seems you still don’t grasp the situation.”

Ginger clicked her tongue. I remembered Silvia who was excited earlier, saying she would prepare everything. It seemed she had acted while Silvia was briefly away.

‘Damn, I let my guard down.’

“I thought I was going to die moving you. I didn’t mean to go this far, but why did you make people suffer for days?”

If you suffered for days, why didn’t you just give up.

‘Ha.’

A bitter laugh mixed with a sigh escaped due to Ginger’s unnecessary persistence.

“You think I’ll just stay quiet when I get out of here?”

I growled lowly, but Ginger pretended not to hear.

“I heard you got approved for transfer to the 1st Prince’s Palace?”

She already knows the fact I just heard earlier. I don’t know why rumors spread so fast in this palace.

“So?”

“His Highness Bi has been so good to you, and you betray him? Are you even human?”

“Hey, it’s not like I want to go!”

I couldn’t help but shout, feeling wronged to hear such words in this situation.

From the mixed laughter I heard, it seemed other maids were there too. Well, it would have been impossible for Ginger to move me alone.

‘I can’t believe I didn’t wake up while being moved here.’

I knew I was a heavy sleeper, but not to this extent. It seems the impact of staying up for two nights was bigger than I thought.

“I’m going to report everything about this incident to His Highness Bi.”

Though the court ladies and maids disliked me, they had never openly bullied me.

They would whisper as if for me to hear, or play pranks pretending it was a mistake, or make life difficult through work assignments.

On the surface, it was because Floria treated me like an elder sister and cared for me, so they were worried I might tattle.

“If you open the door now, I’ll pretend this never happened.”

As I tried to coax gently, Ginger snorted and cackled.

“We’ll just flatly deny it, you know? Do you think His Highness Bi will believe you, who’s betraying him and going to the 1st Prince’s Palace?”

“Hey, open up! Aren’t you going to open?”

When nothing I said worked, I frantically shook the door in frustration. I felt anxious, as if they might leave me any moment.

“That’s what you get for being cheeky. If you’ve committed a crime, you should live keeping your head down. Do you still think you’re a noble young lady?”

Ginger vented her anger for a while. But it was better to hear someone’s voice, even if like this.

“Anyway, this is like a procedure that transferred palace people usually go through, so don’t feel too wronged.”

Ginger seemed to be wrapping up, as if she had said all she wanted to. I quickly knocked on the door.

“Wait, wait! If you let me out, I’ll give you the bracelet I have. It’s really expensive!”

“Do you think I’m a fool? You don’t think I know you’re planning to retaliate as soon as I let you out? Where do you get off trying to bribe me.”

Damn, have I lived too naively all this time?

As I was anxiously thinking of other ways to persuade Ginger, she continued.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll let you out before you go to the 1st Prince’s Palace. Until then, stay put in there without doing anything stupid. Well, I’m going now.”

Ginger cackled as if feeling unburdened.

“Hey! Hey! Ginger, you damn wench!”

I raised my voice desperately at the fading laughter, but there were no returning footsteps.

And finally, as only a quiet stillness flowed, I slumped down with my back against the door.

I heard a rustling sound from somewhere. I turned my head in shock, but couldn’t see anything.

A sense of terror washed over me, left alone in perfect darkness.

“If I get out of here, I really won’t let this slide.”

From the echo of my voice, the space seemed quite large. I hugged my knees, feeling a chill creeping up my toes.

Saying she’d let me out before going to the 1st Prince’s Palace meant she was planning to keep me here for more than a day or two.

Thinking about how many days I might have to stay like this, a sense of helplessness and anxiety swept over me.

“Ah~ I feel so refreshed.”

Ginger, who had been cackling as if a decade-old indigestion had been washed away at once, quickly bowed when she encountered Eileen.

“Did you lock her up well?”

“Yes, court lady.”

“No one saw, right?”

“Of course. No one caught us.”

And even if someone knew, would there be any maid who would help that Reneola Violet? Ginger twisted her lips into a sneer.

How dare she betray Lady Floria and try to go to the 1st Prince’s Palace, how outrageous. Let her have a proper taste of her own medicine this time.

‘I heard no one has come out of that room in one piece.’

Even she thought it was inevitable. Being locked up alone for days in a room without a single ray of light, how could anyone remain sane?

She heard it was a secret place created to silence transferring palace people, but this time it would truly serve its purpose.

Ginger became very curious about whether Reneola would still be so haughty when they met again.

When Shana relayed the story she heard from Eileen, Floria could not contain her smile at the corners of her mouth in delight.

Imagining Reneola trembling in the darkness, she couldn’t stop laughing to the point of distress.

“Oh, how unfortunate. How scared must our poor elder sister be right now.”

She had been tormenting her through court ladies and maids all this time, but that alone wasn’t satisfying enough. Now she finally felt somewhat content.

Of course, Reneola’s efforts to gain her favor all this time were quite commendable, and thanks to that, she had avoided crises several times.

But Floria still didn’t fully trust Reneola. Because people change in an instant.

‘Even if they say people change when situations change, she changed too much.’

The Reneola Violet that she knew was a very simple character.

She was the easiest to handle among the Violet family members, like a moth to a flame that would flare up and rush in unable to control her anger at the slightest provocation.

Above all, she was never smart enough to think of dress codes or the culture of the Kingdom of Etra.

As Floria was lost in thought, Shana asked.

“What are you pondering so deeply?”

“Shana, you said before. That elder sister Reneola’s heart had stopped.”

“Yes, that’s right. It was only for a moment, but I definitely couldn’t feel her heartbeat.”

According to Shana, Reneola’s heart had momentarily stopped as she watched her put on the glass slippers.

After hearing that, she had called her to the palace contrary to the original plan, feeling uneasy.

“Have you been thinking about it all this time?”

“Elder sister has changed so much since then.”

Although she occasionally shows behavior no different from before, something indescribable had changed.

At first, she suspected and monitored her thinking she might have some scheme, but there was no unusual movement.

She seemed to go out to the capital often, but the places she visited were just ordinary bookstores or restaurants.

“It’s because her circumstances have changed. But don’t trust her. Such people will change their attitude again when the situation changes.”

In fact, Shana had been underestimating Reneola Violet all this time.

She was the most ignorant among the people she had seen. But after being fooled a few times right before her eyes, she couldn’t help but be wary.

She couldn’t let her bond with Floria weaken when they hadn’t yet obtained the source of the first queen still in the palace.

Floria rested her chin on her hand.

“Is that really so?”

There was certainly loyalty in the eyes that used to bow flat before her.

Was she realizing her position and looking for a way to survive, as Shana said? Then she should quietly marry Gavis Palong as told.

Floria didn’t expect Reneola to be able to extract information about the 1st Prince or sabotage his marriage. How could she possibly do that?

Either die swiftly by the 1st Prince’s hand or wither away unable to bear his reportedly eccentric temperament. Both seemed amusing.

‘But…’

Floria glanced at Shana. She recalled Reneola pointing out things that even Shana hadn’t thought of.

‘It seems a waste to let her die so easily.’

If she brings useful information from the 1st Prince’s Palace, then it might be worth reconsidering her usefulness.

“Why did the 1st Prince’s Palace accept elder sister? I heard it’s the first time a transfer request was accepted.”

She had told Reneola to go to the 1st Prince’s Palace, but she didn’t expect the approval to come so quickly.

“Are they trying to use elder sister after all?”

The 1st Prince was already wary of Floria herself at their first meeting at the victory banquet. There was no other reason to accept Reneola.

Shana stretched her lips.

“Don’t worry. Even if that’s the case, as long as we have her heart, she absolutely won’t be able to do anything reckless.”