Ayla, who looked back with an awkward smile, saw a young man with a young-looking face looking at her full of alertness.
Seeing that he was already in a defensive posture against Ayla, who was wearing a maid's uniform, it seemed that he was a new guard who was scouting the surroundings.
"Ah… I'm a maid at the west palace, Ayla."
"Why are you here? Working hours must have ended already."
"I… It got late while I was doing some cleanup. I didn't even know it was already midnight. Hahaha…"
The guard, who was looking suspiciously at the stuttering Ayla, had a serious expression on his face.
As the heavy silence continued, Ayla pouted her lips and swallowed dry.
‘Just let me go, please… Handsome guard…'
At this point, it was clear that the Stellen Kingdom had some fruit that made you handsome.
Ayla nodded, thinking that if even the guards were handsome, the dogs passing by would be handsome too.
Silence continued for a while, and the man, who had an outstanding appearance, changed his posture as if he had made a decision and opened his mouth that had been tightly shut.
"It is late. Hurry up and go. It's going to be complicated if you get noticed by other people."
When he finished speaking, he raised his arms as if telling her to leave, and the iron armor he was wearing moved with a clatter.
Sighing in relief at the guard's words, Ayla nodded her head to express her gratitude and quickly ran away.
"Who is there?"
"A member of the Knights, Luke Jenners. There is nothing strange on this side."
After confirming that Ayla's back was no longer visible, Luke smiled lightly and stepped towards the source of the voice.
***
As soon as the shabby maid's quarters came into view, her chest felt stuffy.
It's been a long time since she came here, so she should feel at ease; but thinking of Lily, who will be inside, Ayla didn't feel at all at ease.
She was confused about how to deal with Lily's ignorant expression from the last time they had met.
Ayla, who came inside with a firm expression, walked to the front of the familiar place where she stayed at, and stopped for a moment.
She tried to comfort herself, thinking that although she had left her in the woods, she had never done any direct harm. She then took a deep breath and slowly turned the doorknob.
Click.
The old door opened and made an unpleasant noise. The dark interior was relying on a couple of candles in a candlestick to emit light. Ayla's blue eyes quickly scanned the room.
She hoped she was asleep, but Lily was sitting on the bed, relying on a candle to read a book she would not normally read.
‘What has gotten into her?'
Seeing Lily reading a book was something unexpected, since every time Ayla was reading a book after work, she would repeatedly praise her on how she could read such a boring thing.
Lily, who made eye contact with Ayla as she came in through the open door, smiled at her without saying a word.
She was clearly smiling, but Ayla's eyebrows narrowed little by little at her eerie smile.
"You're late?"
Lily spoke casually in a low-pitched voice. Ayla, who looked at her with wary eyes, turned her head without saying a word. She ignored her and headed for the bed.
Ayla could feel Lily's gaze following her footsteps and looking all over her.
"Are you nervous that I might kill you? Even so, I have a thing called a head. Don't worry. Young Lady."
"…"
"I thought you wouldn't come today either, but you did? You're good… It's amazing that you even made the Head Maid take action. You know, thanks to that, I was the one who was terribly cursed at."
"Who the hell are you?"
Ayla muttered a low voice as if she were amazed at Lily, who had lost the passive attitude she had seen in the dining room and was babbling as if she had done nothing wrong.
"Hmm… I'm tired. I'm going to sleep now. I'm not going to do anything, so get a good night's sleep."
With her last words, Lily lay down on the bed and covered her body with the bedclothes. Far from getting angry at Lily's shamelessness, she was dumbfounded.
She couldn't understand how she could be so confident and unashamed. If there is one thing that is certain, is that the way Lily was the last time they met and how she is now is quite different.
If she went to bed like this, she probably wouldn't be able to live her life because her anger would flare up.
Lily's attitude of acting like a slanderer, not admitting she did something wrong and apologizing for it, was unforgivable.
‘No matter how tired I am, we'll see this to the end today.'