Serena and the Mysterious Labyrinth - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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2. The Fall (2)

Suddenly, the massage room door burst open.

“Oh my!”

Lavenda screamed and covered Serena’s body protectively.

Serena shouted angrily at the uninvited guest hidden behind Lavenda.

“How dare you!”

If she had heard a man’s voice instead of a woman’s, she would have immediately ordered his head cut off. Along with the massage parlor staff who allowed the intruder in.

“There you are! I’m sorry, Lady Serena!”

But somehow the intruder’s voice sounded familiar.

Serena covered herself with a towel and pushed Lavenda aside.

The person who had opened the door and entered was precisely the reason Serena wasn’t known as a beautiful princess.

Fantastically shimmering silver hair that seemed to glow on its own without needing light, blue eyes that couldn’t be matched by all the seas, lakes, ponds, and skies in the world. A delicate and elegant figure. Features that could topple a castle with one glance and bring down a nation with two.

This was Philia, the greatest beauty of Heuji. Her job was being Serena’s maid.

By coincidence, Philia had been on holiday when Lavenda’s shop was being developed, so this was the first time Lavenda and her staff were seeing Philia.

Everyone froze in amazement at her extraordinary beauty.

Her beauty was perfectly suited as evidence that people’s reason becomes paralyzed when they see something too beautiful.

Serena frowned slightly. She’d been discovered too quickly.

“You found me well enough.”

“I searched hard for you, Lady Serena! How long have you been coming to this shop? Why did you go around alone without me? You didn’t go around with another maid instead of me, did you? Right?”

“It’s not like that. I always came here alone. Don’t make a fuss and come in. Shh. You know I ran away from the palace.”

“Ran away?”

Lavenda, who had been beside Serena, spoke without thinking. Serena shrugged.

It had been emergency evacuation to escape unjust labor exploitation.

“If you were going to leave the palace, you should have told me. Or you should have come to my house. I thought I was going to die from not seeing Lady Serena during the founding festival period.”

As you can see, because the maid’s beauty was excessive and could slightly harm her master, Philia had received a brief vacation during the founding festival period.

But Philia’s eyes welled up with tears, seemingly hurt that the princess hadn’t looked for her.

When tears formed in those incomparably blue eyes, everyone felt genuinely sorry for her.

“Shh. I told you to be quiet.”

Everyone except Serena, who had grown accustomed to that face.

“If Count Baker told you to find me, go back. I’m going to rest today without doing anything.”

Philia was always on Serena’s side, but she might have been tailed by Count Baker while searching for Serena. She had probably already been discovered.

If it reached the ears of Count Baker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs? What followed was obvious. Foreign ministry staff would come looking for the princess with tearful pleas.

‘Please do some work!’

Labor! It was truly a terrible thing.

Just thinking about it made her teeth chatter and gave her chills. Her stomach felt like it was turning upside down.

“Oh, right. It’s not like that!”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s serious.”

“What happened?”

Something must have happened, as the maid’s complexion had looked bad since she came in.

“Duke Oren is looking for Lady Serena!”

“It’s the same even if Richard is looking for me. Go tell him you couldn’t find me.”

Richard Oren Huaim. Duke Oren was Serena’s cousin, and like Serena, he was one of the few members of the Heuji Royal Family who could be counted on one hand.

He too was suffering from intensive work limited to the founding festival period, like Serena, for the reason of being a sensible person.

‘He didn’t want to work either. That was a bit much though.’

How much must he have hated working to ask for his runaway cousin to be brought back? Especially when they didn’t usually interact much.

“It’s not like that. It’s a little. Very strange.”

“Richard is always strange.”

He kept trying to pat the head of a cousin he wasn’t even close to. Still, he was better than the drug addict and the flower trash, so he received everyone’s love.

“Really!”

Philia raised her voice as if it was no ordinary matter.

“Duke Oren drew his sword from its sheath and is going around looking for Lady Serena!”

‘Really?’

Drawing a sword to look for someone. That meant he intended to kill.

Serena was dumbfounded.

“He was that annoyed that I ran away? That’s too much.”

“It’s true! He looked serious! I didn’t see it directly, and neither did that person. Anyway, it was serious! He drew his sword in front of His Majesty!”

He drew his sword in front of the king?

“That’s treason.”

“Gulp.”

Lavenda, who had heard words she couldn’t handle as a mere masseuse, swallowed wrong and coughed.

Lavenda’s paralysis wore off at this point and she hurriedly fled. She didn’t forget to take the crowd of people with her.

Serena pressed her forehead. Her face became sticky because she hadn’t wiped off the oil on her hands.

‘Annoying.’

Both the maid who talked about royal affairs without dismissing people and the oil on her face were annoying.

But what could she do?

Who chose that maid based only on her looks? Serena.

Who forgot about the oil on her hands and pressed her forehead? Also Serena. It was all her own doing.

“Anyway, it’s dangerous. Run away with me.”

With the maid urging her, it seemed wrong to leisurely wash up. Serena roughly wiped off the oil applied to her whole body and put on clothes over it. It was sticky and the fabric clung to her, making her very uncomfortable.

Serena decided to throw away all the clothes and shoes she was currently wearing.

“If he did such a thing in front of His Majesty, wouldn’t the Royal Knights have arrested him?”

“I guess not. I only heard about it, so I don’t know well. Anyway, that person said to quickly escort Lady Serena to the Imperial Embassy.”

“That’s all?”

She thought they would go to Philia’s house at most, but the embassy came up. Serena stopped walking, unable to understand.

“Don’t tell me it’s really a rebellion?”

Serena’s eyes became sharp.

Currently, the Kingdom of Heuji was divided into the Kipan Prince Faction and the Duke Oren Faction due to the twisted succession order caused by the ‘Tragedy of Heuji.’

If Duke Oren had started a rebellion, the Prince Faction had no chance of winning. Duke Oren was more suited for the throne than the Crown Prince from the beginning. Even his daughter Serena thought so. Anyone would think that way.

What Serena wanted to point out here was ‘anyone.’ Right here.

The ‘anyone’ here included Serena’s grandfather, Harold II. Duke Oren had no need to make the bad move of rebellion.

“Everyone knows that grandfather wants to depose father and make Richard the Crown Prince. At least in Heuji City, even passing dogs know it. But Richard drew his sword in front of grandfather? Not father or Seraph?”

To do the crazy thing of drawing a sword in front of the king, one had to be crazy. As far as Serena knew, only her father was crazy enough to do such a thing.

“He probably saw hallucinations due to withdrawal symptoms and drew his sword. Wasn’t it father that got distorted into Richard?”

Crown Prince Kipan was a severe drug addict. Since he was forced to quit drugs during the founding festival period due to the king’s strict order, he was likely to draw his sword while suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

‘He sometimes sees hallucinations.’

The Crown Prince suffering from hallucinations had often assaulted or nearly killed people around him. He had never done so in front of the king, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it finally happened.

“With so many foreign envoys here now, there’s no way Richard or Seraph would draw their swords. It must be father who caused trouble. It probably got distorted when the story was passed to you.”

“But they definitely said to run away…”

“They were probably worried the trouble would affect me too.”

Sadly, when her drug addict father caused trouble, the consequences also affected his children.

Harold II sometimes vented his anger caused by his worthless son on that worthless son’s children.

Serena was the elder of the two children, so she got scolded the most.

‘Father is lacking, so I as his child should take care of him? How ridiculous.’

Serena had just come of age. She had many complaints about her grandfather who scolded her for incomprehensible reasons.

‘Guilt by association is bad. Drug addicts are worse. What am I supposed to do about being born to find out my father is a drug addict? If it’s his child, he should take responsibility himself. Why push the responsibility onto his granddaughter for neglecting the youngest’s discipline because he had many children and letting him go astray.’

Serena narrowed her brow. She pressed it flat, worried about getting wrinkles.

Anyway, this damn dysfunctional family—just thinking about these blood-related humans made her expression naturally crumple.

“Or maybe father drew his sword in front of His Majesty, and Richard also drew his sword trying to stop him. Looking for me is to calm father down.”

“Now that you mention it… that’s true.”

Philia readily agreed. In fact, she had also rushed out to find Serena after only hearing what her husband told her through the communication device, so she didn’t know the detailed circumstances.

“He only said that Duke Oren had drawn his sword and was looking for Lady Serena, then hung up.”

“Try contacting him again.”

Philia called her husband through the communication device. Philia’s husband didn’t answer.

“He must be very busy.”

“Of course there would be chaos. It seems certain that someone drew a sword in front of His Majesty.”

Serena felt dizzy and pressed her forehead again. Her forehead was still sticky, making her hair cling to it unpleasantly.

“I don’t know what kind of national disgrace, family disgrace this is. Good heavens, it’s absurd.”

Serena passed by the massage parlor staff who were bowing their heads and left the shop.

“But how did you find me? Did you send out people?”

Instead of answering, Philia pointed to the cafe across from the shop. A knight sitting by the cafe window and closely watching the massage parlor was truly out of place.

“Being so obvious about watching, of course you’d get caught.”

Everyone was immersed in the festive atmosphere and having fun, but a knight in plate armor glaring at the shop across the street stood out a lot. He had taken off his helmet, but that didn’t make the armor on his body disappear.

‘Even if he wasn’t a knight, he would have stood out.’

An adult man staring at a massage parlor with a “no men allowed” sign. Truly suspicious. If he hadn’t been dressed as a knight, it would have looked like something to report to the security force.

‘This is why rookies are…’

The knight who accompanied Serena today had never been assigned escort duty. At least he had never served as Serena’s guard. He might have the combat skills of a knight, but he lacked experience in this kind of security work and was clumsy.

‘All the experienced ones are busy, so it can’t be helped. I can’t go around alone either.’

She doubted there was anyone in Heuji City who would dare harm Serena, but safety came first.

During the festival period, there were many people and many outsiders, and incidents and accidents increased, so there was nothing wrong with being careful.

The knight who saw Serena hurriedly finished paying and left the cafe.

Philia also looked around for her own escort and carriage.

“I don’t see the carriage. Yours either, Lady Serena.”

“They probably parked the carriages elsewhere, thinking you would receive a massage with me.”

“Ah, I see.”

Since it was a shop that served nobles, there was a place nearby to park carriages. When Serena tried to go there, the knight reported.

“I heard the carriages were parked elsewhere in case the horses got startled by the fireworks. They told me the location, so I’ll go get them.”

The knight pointed in the direction where the carriages were. He gestured to children near the cafes and shops to do errands. He was going to give them small change and have a child fetch the carriages.

Serena was about to tell him to do so, but changed her mind due to the fireworks going off nearby and the overflowing crowd.

“It would be troublesome if the horses got startled by the fireworks and bolted while coming here. With two carriages, the road would get complicated too. If it’s not far, I’ll go directly.”

“It’s quite a distance, but I heard you can cross through quickly if you take the back road. This way.”

The knight pointed to a narrow path between buildings. It was cramped and dirty.

While Serena hesitated for a moment, children holding wooden toys came tumbling out of the narrow path. Their cheerful laughter covered the sound of fireworks.

“Thank you, Dad!”

Behind the children came a man with a dark complexion. His clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed for months, the fabric dirty and worn, and his skin was chapped in places.

His pockets didn’t look well-off, but he seemed to have bought toys for the children since it was a festival.

Serena unconsciously raised the corners of her mouth.

‘Since children use this path, it shouldn’t be dangerous.’

When Serena nodded, the knight took the lead. The path was so narrow that in some places it would be packed if one or two adults passed through, while other places were a bit wider.

“So, you can’t do business here!”

“Oh my, how persistent. Coming all the way here to collect booth fees.”

“It’s not booth fees! I’m from the security force, the security force!”

A peddler selling children’s toys and a capital security guard were having an argument. The knight, who had been tense at the sound of people, relaxed after hearing the conversation. Serena and Philia felt the same.

“The stall is blocking the path. I’ll go sort this out.”

The knight approached them. It was at that moment the ground shook.

“Kyah!”

Startled, Serena lost her balance and staggered, then missed her footing. Philia, who had been following closely behind Serena, bumped into her and fell backward.

Serena fell forward while Philia fell backward. They should have definitely hit the ground, but the two were flying through the air. More precisely, the earth had bounced them up.

Rumble.

Her head was dizzy. Her vision was chaotic. Their hands met in mid-air, but unable to maintain balance, both flailed their free arms.

Rumble rumble.

The ground roared. Cracks appeared in the walls on both sides of the alley and stone dust fell. The sound of pillars breaking could be heard from various places. The alley floor seemed to undulate like waves, then collapsed downward.

“Kyaaaah!”

The fear of being thrown from the ground was buried by the greater fear of falling toward the bottom.

This was the first time Serena had been so scared since being born, no, including before she was born.

‘I’m going to die like this? When I was finally born as a princess?’

She could have enjoyed the sweet life for decades to come, but to die before even living twenty years. What kind of nonsense was that!

I object!

Whether Serena felt wronged or not, gravity mercilessly dropped the two people downward.

Down, down, endlessly down.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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