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In the past, Janice was such an ordinary young girl that even Elisha, who had a very good memory, couldn’t tell when she first saw her.
It was not uncommon for a young girl of that age to enter Barossa and become a lady-in-waiting. It was not unheard of. And there was nothing wrong with her history that she checked, so Elisha handed it over without much thought.
It was because of Leon that Elisha recognized the girl’s existence. At some point, the girl who followed Leon’s side and took care of him stood out.
At the time, Leon was eight years old, and the girl named Janice was twelve. Above all, from that point on, Leon shuddered whenever he met his mother, not to mention looking into her eyes.
That kind of Leon seemed a little comfortable next to the child named Janice. He smiled whenever he saw Janice even though he was depressed under Mrs. Suare’s strict education. And when he managed to sneak out of the 2nd Consort’s Palace to play nearby even for just a moment, his cheeks turned pink and his eyes lively.
Elisha knew how bad it would be for the reputation of the 3rd Prince to get along with a maid. Although the 1st Consort’s attack was already serious, Elisha couldn’t let Janice out of the 2nd Consort’s Palace despite thinking there was no need to put on another burden.
The day when Mrs. Suare was away for a while, she went to the 3rd Prince’s residence to secretly see her child as usual. She didn’t know how long it’d been, but as soon as the laughter of her child she’d never heard before burst out, Elisha thought.
She wondered if this would be okay. If the little girl named Janice would provide warmth and shelter for her little Leon in this cold 2nd Consort’s Palace, she thought she could carry that much burden on herself.
But it wasn’t long after that that she realized she was arrogant. Since when did Elisha herself have that kind of freedom… Readily judging situations and allowing risk factors?
Someone weak would only get so much information. Such a person shouldn’t forget that good things don’t happen to them.
So Elisha somehow approached first and scolded Leon for leaving Barossa to watch the festival in Midlin District. Then feeling bad, she quietly went to see the child sleeping at night only to find an empty bed.
The child found with the help of the crown prince was with Janice. It was just for a while. I was just going to go watch it with the other maids. In front of Leon, who protested that no one would’ve known if he had returned before dawn, Elisha turned all her arrows to Janice.
Otherwise, Leon might do the same thing again. At that moment, rather than taking Janice from Leon… Elisha thought that even if Leon feared his mother even more, it would be better to let him know that if he did something wrong, Janice would be harmed.
Crown Prince Ascensio also mobilized the knights of the Crown Prince’s Palace when it was difficult for various reasons to find the 3rd Prince, so he and Elisha both suffered considerable losses in dealing with the matter.
But soon the same thing happened again, and the problem was so big that it couldn’t be ignored. The two, who went to play at Ladolin’s Lake, where the guests of Barossa stayed, fell into the water.
Leon almost died because he fell deeper while trying to save Janice. No, if one of the lodgers hadn’t come out for a walk by the lake and were alone, Leon would’ve really died.
Elisha thought Leon had had too many accidents lately. It had hardly happened since Leon’s near-death crisis was overcome twice, and Elisha had set blades all over her place. So why was this?
At that time, Elisha saw Janice holding Leon and crying. But unlike her eyes, the corners of her mouth were faintly curled up, and when she found Elisha, her expression quickly froze before she buried her face in Leon’s chest and pretended to cry again.
Elisha watched Janice from that day on. She basically checked the identity of those who entered Barossa. Elisha did another check on Janice. Thinking she needed more information than the last time, she did it herself without leaving it to others.
It was unknown whether it could be called fortunate or unfortunate, but Elisha’s intuition was correct. After secretly leaving the 2nd Consort’s Palace in the middle of the night, Janice headed somewhere. Realizing that this was Isabelle’s favorite garden in the 1st Consort’s Palace, Elisha gritted her teeth tightly.
The one waiting in the garden was not the 1st Consort as she had expected. However, it was someone who told her that all this was related to the 1st Consort’s Palace.
It was Marchioness Bahrain! The 1st Consort Isabelle’s closest aide.
Elisha could overhear their conversation because a noble lady didn’t need to be criticized for meeting with a maid of the 2nd Consort’s Palace separately in the middle of the night. Elisha stood there for a long time even after Janice returned to the 2nd Consort’s Palace and Marchioness Bahrain disappeared.
And a few days later, Elisha caught Janice trying to secretly share snacks she brought from outside with Leon.
Upon checking, there wasn’t poison in it. But the 3rd Prince, who was usually weak, could only eat the prescribed food prepared in the 2nd Consort’s Palace under the strict guidance of Mrs. Suare, so violating it wasn’t a small crime.
Leon cried and cried, claiming that it was his fault. Elisha then looked down coldly at him, saying, “Why didn’t you stop before this happened?”
Leon then took his hand off Elisha with a start. Even the loud crying subsided. Elisha could barely endure her desire to hug him. If she let this slide, the same thing would happen again. The most important thing was to stop him from doing anything that would put him in danger.
However, Elisha hid the fact that Janice’s kindness and affection were fake. It belonged to Leon from the moment he received it. Regardless of the truth, from Leon’s point of view, it was probably one of the few good things he had.
But you don’t need to know. I shouldn’t let you suffer from a sense of betrayal when you’re sick with pain. With this incident, Elisha clearly realized the carelessness she had once said for Leon was returning to the child.
And Elisha killed Janice herself. The girl had already committed many crimes, but more than that… if she was left alive, there was a high possibility that she would come back to Leon and try to use him again later, using any excuse.
If Janice survived the crime against the imperial family, it meant she was cared for that much, and would not lose her value even after being kicked out. Elisha didn’t know if she would act bolder in the future.
But, one mistake was enough for Elisha. The story that Elisha used her own hand flowed into Leon’s ears even if she hadn’t been bothered to inform him.
It seemed that it was done by the idiot knights guarding the 2nd Consort’s Palace, but Elisha didn’t interrogate them. They were manipulated by those who wished to keep the 2nd Consort and the 3rd Prince apart, so unless she could shut them up by giving them useful prey, it would only cause a fuss.
From that day Leon’s blue eyes contained both fear and hatred towards Elisha.
Elisha turned her head and looked at Marie.
“Where is she?”
“Yes?”
“That maid. The maid named Janice.”
Maid Jean-Marie had never seen Elisha take an interest in a specific maid except for Dorian, so she was a little taken aback, but she quickly came to her senses and answered.
As Marie continued to speak, Elisha’s face darkened with confusion.
***
Elisha chose to move directly rather than wait for someone to tell her what she was curious about. She headed to the lodging of Dell and the knights temporarily in charge of the 2nd Consort’s Palace and found them training in front of the shabby building with a vacant lot.
One group was currently standing on the border of the 2nd Consort’s Palace, and the rest were here. Between them, the two most familiar with Elisha were sparring.
Clank! Clank!
The swords that were touching ran toward each other without looking back. Shamir, who had switched to a straight long sword instead of his usual crescent shape one, seemed to be on the defensive, but turned the situation around with his unique light body movements.
After kicking off the ground and flying over Dell’s head, Shamir curled up in mid-air and spun, then landed behind the opponent’s back and stretched out his longsword.
Dell rotated his upper body to strike the blade that had been thrust obliquely toward his left shoulder blade.
Shamir’s sword bounced outward, opening around his chest. Dell pulled his sword so it wouldn’t shift sideways as it was eaten by the spinning force. As he lowered his upper body, Dell stepped forward with his right foot and dug deep into Shamir’s range with the sword in his hand toward Shamir’s heart.
Swaeegh!
The sword made a sharp sound and charged at Shamir. Shamir swung his upper body backward with a small whistling sound. An ordinary person would’ve crumbled as it was, but Shamir stretched out his arms, put his palms on the ground, and raised his legs into the air.
When Shamir, who rotated his body backward a few times in that state, stepped on the ground, his distance from Dell was 10 meters apart. The two didn’t continue their sparring after that.
“It’s a bit of a chore,” Shamir laughed and swept over his golden hair as Dell wrinkled his nose. “But you seem to like it.”
“What do you mean? Who likes it?” Dell grumbled. But if he really hated it, there would be no way they would have crossed swords in sparring that was not a real fight. He soon turned his gaze toward the entrance of the clearing. Unlike the two people who usually clung together and finished the training only when they saw blood, there was a reason for the neat arrangement.
“I’m glad you came back safely. I wanted to visit you immediately, but they said you were with the 3rd Prince, so I would visit you later.”
“I wanted to go immediately, but Sir Dell caught and told me not to interrupt, so I acted as a blade holder like this. I mean, Marquis Blemir was also there, so why couldn’t I join? Does that make sense? In terms of proximity, how can Marquis Blemir compare to me?”
Shamir spoke calmly, saying something that if Blemir had heard it, he might’ve pulled out his sword right away. Then he tilted his head. The sky blue eyes were fixed on him and didn’t move.
“Oh? I guess you didn’t come only to say hi. Your Ladyship, you have something to do with me, don’t you?” Shamir, who muttered as if he was talking to himself, approached Elisha and leaned his handsome face. Golden eyes filled Elisha’s sight before they were quickly moved away.
“Be polite.” Dell grabbed Shamir by the back and dragged him out.
“Ah, Sir Dell. You’re upset that Her Ladyship only looked for me, aren’t you?”
Dell sighed. “Where in the world did Her Ladyship pick you up?”
Elisha denied it. “I didn’t pick him up. He walked on his own feet.”
“Why did you omit the word ‘together’, Your Ladyship?! After you said you would accompany me to the end of my destination! It’s a big deal because your words differ when you leave the desert and when you enter Barossa. If you keep hurting me, I will run away!”
Elisha asked when Shamir raised his golden eyes and protested, “Do you have a place to go?”
“The 2nd Consort has enemies everywhere. Is there no place to accept this body?”
It was not a false statement. Perhaps, if Shamir went, there were many places to welcome him with open arms.
“I have something to talk about. We’d better move for a while.”
“There’s a place over there where the knights rest after sparring. Would you like to go there?”
Or go to the 2nd Consort’s Palace. When Shamir asked, Elisha pointed her chin in the direction Shamir had turned. As the two walked away, Dell withdrew the knights.
As Elisha sat down in one of the chairs carved out of wood, Shamir took a seat nearby.
“Why did our consort come here in such a hurry?”
“Do you remember the girl named Janice?”
“Janice? Janice… Ah? What about her?”
When Shamir tilted his head, Elisha spoke with a look in her eyes that she would not allow any more jokes, “The lady-in-waiting said that you completely forced her out of the 2nd Consort’s Palace.”
Elisha’s sky blue eyes sparkled with silver light.