“No, why are you here?”

The maid threw down the poker and hurriedly went to support her. Then, pulling her icy cold body out of the storage room, she said,

“Weren’t you supposed to go to the capital with His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“……”

The person hiding in the storage room was Sally. She had not left with the Crown Prince but had hidden in the Grand Duke’s castle. Originally, she had planned to stay hidden safely for about a day before coming out, but she was discovered too quickly.

‘The Crown Prince probably hasn’t gone far yet…’

If it were now, she could still catch up with a swift horse. Sally’s face crumpled.

‘Amy will definitely try to send me away.’

Her chest felt like it would burst with despair. Tears welled up and she cried without realizing it. The maid was surprised and loosened her grip on Sally’s hand.

“Oh no, did I grip too tightly? Why are you crying?”

Taking advantage of the maid’s confusion, Sally shook off her arm with all her might. The moment the maid’s hand fell away, she dashed forward like an arrow.

“Huh, wh-what?”

The maid was bewildered before coming to her senses. By then, Sally’s figure had already disappeared into the darkness. The maid scratched her head.

“My, that young lady is quite troublesome……”

The maid turned in the opposite direction, lifted her skirts, and ran towards the guard post.

Not long after, torches were lit along the castle walls, and guards rushed out to guard every alley. Lights came on in both the outer and inner castles, and people came out murmuring.

“What’s going on at this hour of the night?”

“What’s happening, why all this fuss?”

Amy, who had hurriedly come out wearing only a robe over her nightgown, listened to Vernon’s report along with Noah in the Grand Duke’s office.

“Are you certain?”

Amy’s face turned pale at hearing the intruder was Sally. That child, in the end…

“Is it someone you know?”

Noah asked seriously. Amy bit her lip, then nodded.

“She’s a maid I knew when I was in the Crown Prince’s palace. I thought it was strange that I didn’t see her when the Crown Prince left today.”

I thought she might have ridden in a carriage, I never imagined she would do something like this… Amy sighed, and Noah pondered for a moment before speaking.

“Do you think she stayed behind of her own will?”

“……”

Amy couldn’t answer easily. The Sally she knew had a rather troublesome personality – extremely timid, full of self-pity and a victim mentality. In the imperial palace, she had even pretended to die by lying flat on the ground due to the peculiarity of the place, but outside of there, Sally…

“That’s possible, but we can’t jump to conclusions.”

Sally had the Empress as her backing. Even if Sally didn’t want it, the Empress might have ordered her to stay here. So it was natural to suspect this place first if Sally had disappeared.

‘Just when I’d managed to turn attention towards the First Prince…’

The thought of being caught in another trap made her head ache. But she was also worried about her friend’s future.

‘What on earth was she thinking, doing something like this.’

Grinding her teeth, she resolved to thoroughly question her reasons for staying here, whether of her own will or not.

“So, you still haven’t found her?”

The head maid’s tone was sharp, making Vernon feel cowed as if he had done something wrong.

“We’re searching hard, so probably soon……”

Before he could finish speaking, Jack burst in.

“We’ve caught the intruder!”

The guards had found Sally hiding among haystacks in a corner of the stable and detained her in the dungeon of the outer castle.

“Sally.”

Sally, who had been crouched in the cold dungeon hugging her knees, raised her head at the sound of Amy’s voice. Seeing her with blue lips from the cold and fatigue, Amy swallowed a sigh.

‘And why is she wearing such thin clothes…’

Amy finally burst out in frustration.

“What were you thinking?”

“…Amy.”

“Do you know how many people you’ve put in a difficult position? The Grand Duke had just recovered enough to move around after collapsing from poison, and now we might have to fight the Empire because of you.”

“……”

“I told you, didn’t I? If you behaved and stayed put, we could contact each other again. Was that so hard?”

Amy ran her hand through her hair, panting after venting all her pent-up anger. She felt miserable about her situation, wondering why the only person she could call a friend in her life was so desperate to torment her, why her life was like this.

Then Sally whispered, her lower lip trembling,

“If I go back to the imperial palace… I’ll… die.”

“!”

Amy’s gaze snapped to her at the unexpected words. She stared at Sally with a hardened face.

“What… do you mean?”

“Why do you think I tried so hard to… take you with me.”

Sally buried her head in her knees again.

“His Highness the Crown Prince said… if he couldn’t return to the Empire with you, he would… hang my neck on the castle gate as soon as he returned.”

“…Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I did tell you.”

Sally mumbled weakly.

“I told you I wanted to stay here, by your side. You said no. And you said you couldn’t… take responsibility for me.”

“……”

“That made your feelings clear… didn’t it?”

Amy closed her eyes, swallowing a sigh. Of course, she had coldly pushed her away. But that didn’t mean she didn’t care if Sally died…

Sally raised her head. Tears were brimming in her large eyes.

“Can’t you just… say you didn’t… see me?”

“What?”

“Anyway, His Highness the Crown Prince doesn’t… care about me. He won’t even know… where I disappeared to. So if the Empire asks, you just have to say you don’t know.”

An old sadness spread across Sally’s face. She rubbed her eyes hard with her blue, cold hands. Amy remained silent. She knew that Sally’s first love was the Crown Prince.

Sally had grown up abused and couldn’t easily open her heart to others. She was basically very wary and acted violently for fear of being hurt. Yet this girl was desperate to give her heart and soul to only two people in the world – Amy and the Crown Prince.

‘And once she gives her affection, she doesn’t easily take it back.’

Amy felt her chest tighten. The Crown Prince didn’t even like Sally, yet he skillfully took advantage of the fact that she was weak for him.

Sally, who always got hurt and cried, was pathetic, but that wasn’t something that would change just by telling her.

Look at her now, grieving over not being able to see the Crown Prince anymore despite being threatened with death.

Amy let out a long sigh and opened the barred door.

“Come out for now.”

“…Can I… come out?”

Sally got up hesitantly, watching Amy’s expression. Amy frowned.

“You’re making me freeze to death. Are you coming or not?”

“Oh, okay.”

Sally’s eyes widened at Amy’s words about being cold, and she quickly darted out through the open door.

Then she lingered awkwardly around Amy. Her upset face clearly showed that she was distressed about not having any clothes to offer Amy. Amy sighed involuntarily.

Amy turned and led the way up the stairs, saying,

“For now, sleep in the guest room tonight, and tomorrow we’ll go see His Grace the Grand Duke. We need to decide where you’ll stay.”

“……”

Sally, who had been following diligently, stopped in her tracks.

“Can I… stay here?”

Her trembling voice was filled with emotion. Amy bit her lip, then shrugged.

“It depends on His Grace’s decision, but probably not here.”

“Ah……”

Sally hung her head. Amy said nothing more and walked on silently. Sally did the same.

She told a guard to take Sally to a guest room and stand watch outside the door. Until Noah decided her fate, she was still in the status of a criminal.

Amy turned away after confirming that the light went out in the inner room where Sally had entered.

The next day, after meeting Sally, Noah resolved the issue simply.

“Let her live in the village below the Grand Duke’s castle.”

“…Isn’t that too close?”

When Amy asked cautiously, Noah raised one eyebrow as if puzzled.

“You said she’s a friend, would it be okay to send her far away? She didn’t seem very trustworthy at first glance.”

In other words, keep her close and under watch so she can’t cause trouble.

“……”

Amy became speechless. Noah glanced at her and turned his head. In truth, he didn’t want her to stay in the Grand Duke’s territory. It was for a similar reason that he disliked the Crown Prince. This woman Sally was too blindly devoted to Amy.

“Put her somewhere you can check on occasionally, if not frequently. That way, we can quickly resolve any issues that might arise. As for the Empire… I don’t think they’ll ask, but in any case, we can just pretend not to know.”

Grateful that at least Sally wouldn’t die immediately, Amy responded,

“Yes. I’ll do that. Thank you, Your Grace.”

“…It’s nothing.”

This doesn’t sit well with him either. Why should Amy be so grateful and subservient over that woman? As Noah was clicking his tongue inwardly, Jack came in and said,

“We can depart in three days.”

“Is that so?”

Amy’s face brightened. They were finally going to the Black Mountains. If things went as planned this time…

‘Lord Noah will gain enormous wealth and glory.’

He might become the richest in the continent. Just thinking about it made her chest swell with anticipation. Noah looked at Amy’s grinning face with displeasure.

“Amy’s going too?”

“Huh? Oh, to the Black Mountains? Of course. I’m the only one who knows where we need to go.”

She had to start from the imperial palace library to find out where to meet the foreign tribe, and she had flattered the Crown Prince so much then that recalling it now made her mood sink. After coming here, she had thoroughly searched through the secret archives of the Grand Duke’s castle and even requested to look through old books kept in nearby temples.

‘Looking at the routes the Viscon clan took when invading the principality, they all passed through that place.’

Amy had formed her own hypothesis. What was the purpose of these invasions that caused little damage to life and property?

‘I think it was an excuse to check that location.’

If they had kept going to that place from the beginning, the Empire would have quickly noticed and closed off the area. Or they might have demanded a high price for negotiations.

‘In other words, that place is extremely important to the Viscon clan.’

So they would go there in person to check the place. With the magical artifact that would make Noah fabulously wealthy.