Chapter 134: Emy's Confession
Emy finally stood up and brushed the dust from her white apron, her fingers lingering over the folds as if trying to steady herself before lowering her gaze.
The staffs around her looked directly at her, their eyes wide with disbelief as the whispering that had been scattered until moments ago began to gather into audible words that floated through the air one after another.
"Emy... is it true you're the one behind the young miss's kidnapping?" a maid in her late thirties finally asked, her voice trembling slightly but carrying a strange heaviness that made everyone fall silent.
Emy slowly lifted her head and met the woman's eyes directly. They both stayed silent for a brief moment, an unspoken tension stretching between them, then Emy opened her mouth and said quietly, "Yes, mistress. I was the one who did it. He's telling the truth. I was the one who put the drug into everyone's plate last night. I did it at the exact moment when the cooks were busy with their own tasks and talking among themselves. I slipped it in as fast as I could so that no one would notice. And after that... yes, I was also the one who kidnapped the Young Miss while everyone was in a deep sleep."
Her words sank into the air like stones falling into still water, and for a few seconds, no one said anything.
Then, a young maid stepped forward, her eyes filled with confusion and pity as she stammered, "W-what? Are you lying because that man forced you to, Emy? You don't have to do that... If you didn't do it, then there's no need to take the blame. Just tell us you didn't. We're sorry... we couldn't defend you earlier. But after what he did to you... he went too far. We can defend you now. No, we will."
Standing a little distance away, Kael only watched her silently, his gaze steady and cold. Of course, he already knew everything, so there was no reason for him to interfere.
Seraphina's expression remained calm, though her eyes occasionally flickered toward Kael for reasons even she might not have been able to explain, while Arwyn's face stayed unreadable, watching the situation unfold.
Emy turned her head toward the young maid and shook it slowly, "No need, Sheiri. I'm telling you, he wasn't lying. It's just that... I was afraid of what would happen if anyone found out, that's why I kept quiet and acted as if I didn't know anything. But... somehow, he knew everything."
Sheiri's lips parted slightly, but she couldn't bring herself to speak, her face turning pale as silence pressed down on her.
Then, from the opposite side, another maid suddenly shouted in a trembling voice that echoed through the hall, "How could you do that to her, Emy? How could you? You're not the kind of person who would ever do something so cruel. You've taken care of her like your own daughter. So why? Why did you do it?"
Emy met her gaze without hesitation and said softly, "I don't know."
The maid's eyes widened in disbelief. "W-what? What're you saying... you don't know? You kidnapped her, and you're telling us you don't even know why you did it? Have you lost your mind, Emy?"
Before the woman could speak further, two of the servants stepped forward and gently caught her by the shoulders, guiding her toward another room at Albrecht's silent gesture.
The room slowly quieted again, only the soft sound of their retreating footsteps breaking the stillness.
Getting the chance, Kael spoke, his tone even and without a hint of emotion, "Hey, you could have taken her easily without breaking anything, there wasn't even a guard at that time... so why did you shatter the window?"
Emy turned her eyes toward him, her face calm and expressionless, "Because I had been instructed to do so. I don't know the actual reason behind it, but that was what I was told to do."
Seraphina, who had remained silent until now, frowned slightly and asked, "Instructed? So, you worked under someone else's command? If that's the case, who was it? Was it by any chance someone named... Queen?"
At those words, Emy blinked in confusion, her lips parting slightly as she stammered, "W-what? How do you know that?"
Seraphina exhaled softly, her tone soft but composed, "Just a little intuition."
Emy frowned as if something about that answer unsettled her, "But if you already knew everything, why did you bother with that little performance? Shouldn't you be fighting her instead and rescuing Arienne?"
Seraphina did not respond. Instead, Arwyn stepped forward with a calm expression and said quietly, "We were supposed to. But the problem is, we don't know where she lives, or where her people are hiding. We have no idea who she truly is, let alone her location. So tell us... where did you hide Arienne? Or better yet, where is this Queen?"
Emy stayed silent for a while, then sighed indifferently, her voice losing what little strength it had, "I have no idea. What I mean is... I wasn't the one who hid Arienne. My part was only to deliver her to one of the Queen's subordinates, or whatever they were."
Arwyn's eyes lingered on her for a while, then she asked in a low voice, "Wait... if you're not her subordinate, then what are you exactly?"
Emy looked away for a moment before speaking again, a bitter expression crossing her face, "A pawn, maybe. Only the gods would know. I don't have any connection with that Queen or whatever she is supposed to be."
Kael's gaze darkened as he took a step forward, his voice steady but low, "If that's the case... then why did you obey her instructions and kidnap Arienne?"
Emy met his eyes and lowered her head slowly, her voice trembling as she spoke, "It was as I told my friend earlier... I don't know. I don't know anything. I've no idea why I did it. I've no idea why I obeyed her orders. To tell you the truth... I didn't even know her before yesterday. I've never even met her before either. I did it only because it felt like the right thing to do at that moment. I didn't even question myself once why I did it. But, I did what I felt I needed to do. I... I... I... I did it because... because... because... I don't know."
Her words trembled into silence as her body began to shake. The three of them stood in silence, their eyes widening slightly at her words.
Among them, Kael was the one who realized it first. He recognized that vacant look, that broken rhythm in her speech almost instantly. He could tell what had happened to her because he had been in that same place before. Emy was not acting out of her own will; she had perhaps been captivated by the Queen's veiled beauty or rather trapped under her control, the same way he himself almost had been last night. The only reason he had managed to escape from it was because he had someone by his side who could use mind magic. If she hadn't helped him, he might have acted in the very same way Emy did. And the same thing could be said about Effie and Caelum as well, both of whom had acted strangely under similar conditions.
Taking a shallow breath, Kael kept his gaze fixed on Emy. She was clutching her own hair tightly, almost violently, as if trying to drag something out of her mind. Her lips quivered and her voice broke into a mumble, "I don't... I don't... I don't know. Know... know... know... I don't."
The repetition echoed strangely through the tense silence. Her voice cracked and turned hollow.
Kael stepped forward abruptly and raised his hand. The next moment, a sharp sound filled the air as his palm met her cheek. The sound of skin meeting skin lingered for a moment longer than it should have.
His voice followed immediately, steady and cutting through the tension, "Get a grip, will you?"
Emy froze. The pressure of pain seemed to pull her back into herself. Her eyes widened, glistening with tears, and she looked at Kael as if suddenly aware of where she was again.
Kael lowered his hand slowly, his voice now calm and distant, "Calm down, Emy. Take a slow breath. Don't rush. Just breathe."
Someone nearby hurried to offer her a glass of water. She took it in both hands, staring into the rippling surface for a few seconds before drinking it quickly. Then she handed the glass back to that person with a slight nod, her eyes unfocused, as though she was still somewhere far away in her thoughts.
Standing beside Kael, Arwyn frowned, her voice filled with unease, "What happened to her? Was she under some kind of mind attack?"
Seraphina turned her head slightly and gave her a quick glance before answering in her calm, cold tone, "Yes, it seemed that way. But it was more like a kind of mind manipulation or maybe a form of brainwashing rather than an attack."
Arwyn looked from Emy to Kael again and then back at Seraphina. Her brows furrowed deeper, "How come you're so sure about that?"
Seraphina touched her chin lightly and spoke in a lower voice that almost blended with the sound of the wind, "I had a hunch before. When Caelum was interrogated earlier today, he answered everything in complete disorganization and said nothing meaningful at all, just endless praises for the Queen. Then there's Effie, who did something unspeakable to her friend Eska, but her reasons and emotions didn't match her actions either. She used a knight to violate Eska because she was jealous of her, but when she finally got what she thought she wanted, she wasn't even interested anymore. Part of her regretted it deeply. And now, watching Emy like this... it's hard to deny the truth that's right in front of us. Whether we want to believe it or not, that woman, the so-called Queen, is a mind manipulator."
Hearing something like that coming from Seraphina made Arwyn's expression harden slightly, her voice low and filled with unease, "If your guess is correct, then how are we supposed to find her exactly? What if she can alter someone's memory? How can we even tell who's her pawn and who's her subordinate? None of this is making sense anymore."
Seraphina let out a quiet breath and replied with calm indifference, "It would be troublesome, that's true, but not completely impossible. Still, you don't need to be so afraid of her. She's not some kind of ghost wandering among us, no matter what image she tries to build. And I can tell you this much, she isn't capable of altering someone's memory... not completely at least."
Arwyn raised one eyebrow slowly, her tone carrying both doubt and curiosity, "And how can you be so sure about that?"
Seraphina smiled faintly, almost in amusement, "If you study Effie, Caelum, and Emy carefully, you'll notice one thing common among them. All of them remember everything clearly. Their memories of who they are and what they did are all intact. Nothing has been erased or replaced. But that isn't the similarity I'm referring to. The real one lies in the reason behind their actions. Everything they do... they do it only for the Queen. It doesn't matter if they want to or not, but if the Queen desires it, they'll obey her without hesitation, even if it means dying for her."
Arwyn's frown deepened as her mind tried to follow the trail Seraphina was drawing. She fell silent for a moment before murmuring, "So what you're saying is... it's a form of mesmerization. A manipulation of the mind that bends the will but not the memory itself."
Seraphina sighed indifferently, her calm eyes drifting over Emy as she spoke, "Indeed. Emy's will had been altered into obeying Queen's orders at any cost."
Arwyn stood still, her thoughts tangled in what Seraphina had just said. She contemplated it again and again to understand everything more clearly, trying to piece together the meaning behind those words, the depth hidden beneath that calm tone.
Standing in front of them, Kael listened silently, his expression twisting into something unreadable. Seraphina's theory was sharp and nearly complete, and it had to be expected since she had been gathering every fragment of truth she could find to reach the correct conclusion. She had come closer to the real nature of Queen's power than anyone else, but even so, her understanding still missed something vital. Kael knew it because, unlike her, he had not discovered the truth by deduction but by being told directly. It might even be called cheating in a way, though that was just how it was.
Seraphina was wrong in one particular word she used, and that word was will. Queen's power to manipulate one's mind did not rely solely on altering will. It went much deeper, into a place that lay beyond conscious control. It reached into the origin itself... the desire that shaped every thought and emotion. Kael knew this not only from his own experience but because Serelina had once told him. Back then, she had been reading his mind, or so he thought, and that was why she knew what he was thinking. But in truth, she knew because she could sense emotion within thought itself. She could feel the movement of desire within the mind, like a pulse hidden beneath layers of restraint.
That realization made Kael understand something terrifying about Queen's ability. She could awaken the deepest desire within a person, shape it, and make it bloom until the person themselves began to want her presence more than their own freedom. They would not even realize they were being controlled. They would act as if it was their own will, when in truth, it was nothing more than desire twisted by her influence.
As that thought passed through him, Kael suddenly paused, scratching the back of his neck as a strange smile crept across his face. "Right… I completely forgot about her ability," he muttered quietly to himself. "I've been rushing to get stronger just to take vengeance for what she did, but now that I think about it, how am I even supposed to kill her if she can control my desire itself? Wouldn't I just fall into the same trap again? Maybe I should find some way to deflect it… wait a second…"
His eyes lit up, and a grin spread slowly across his face. "Why do I even need to find a way myself? I already have one. I have my sweet little sister-in-law with me, don't I? I'm sure she'll be more than willing to help me out with this one. You definitely would… wouldn't you, Serelina?"
He waited patiently for her reply, but none came. He knew she was there, silently reading his thoughts and ignoring him deliberately, but that did not make it feel any less strange. There was always something uncomfortable about having someone wandering through your mind without asking, even if you had already grown used to it. Still, he had learned to live with it.
At that moment, Seraphina stepped beside him, her expression cold and unreadable as her gaze moved to his face. She studied him for a while before whispering softly, "Why are you grinning like an idiot?"
Kael turned to her with a smirk and shrugged. "No reason. I was just enjoying the way you got flustered earlier when you couldn't move at all. It was quite the show, honestly."
Her eyes narrowed slightly, irritation showing beneath her calm. "You want a slap very badly, don't you?"
Kael coughed lightly, rubbing his neck again as he murmured, "Forget… I said anything."
Behind them, Arwyn blinked several times, watching the two exchange words like quarrelling lovers. She pressed her palm against her temple and sighed deeply in her thoughts, "These two have absolutely no sense of flirting. They're only making my work harder and harder."
Meanwhile, Emy had finally managed to think clearly again. But the moment she realized what she had done, the horror of it struck her so deeply that her whole body trembled. Knowing that she had acted without understanding why, that she had been controlled so completely, broke something inside her. She cried for a long time, unable to stop herself, and the other maids gathered around her, offering whatever comfort they could.
They whispered soft reassurances... saying that it was not her fault, that she could never have done something like that willingly, that the real blame lay elsewhere.
Eventually, she managed to quiet down a little, though her eyes were still red and her expression heavy with sorrow. Kael approached her carefully and asked, "Are you able to speak now?"
Emy lifted her head slightly, wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, and nodded. "Yes… I am. No, I have to be. You wanted to know where I delivered the young miss, right?"
Kael's tone sharpened immediately. "Yes."
For a long moment, Emy said nothing. Then she took a deep breath and replied quietly, "Outskirts of the northern district… there you'll find a small jungle covered with vines and trees. Inside it stood a house, just like any other one would expect. That's where I left her. Maybe… you'll be able to find her there. As for the person I delivered her to, I never even saw her face, but I'm sure she was a woman. And as for how I met the Queen... I have no idea. I have no memories of it."
Kael's gaze drifted toward the north, his expression turning hard and focused. That was all he needed to hear. The moment he had a direction, his purpose returned with clear certainty.
Before any of them could move, Albrecht stepped forward, stopping just in front of Arwyn, and asked in a low but determined tone, "Now that everything's been cleared, what will happen to Emy, Lieutenant?"
Arwyn was silent for a moment, thinking carefully, and then she sighed softly. "She is supposed to go to prison."
Albrecht looked startled, his lips parting as if he wanted to argue but could not find the right words. "B-but..."
Arwyn raised an eyebrow. "I understand that she didn't intend to do the kidnapping and that she was forced into it, but that doesn't erase the fact that she still did it."
Albrecht's shoulders sank slightly as he exhaled. "But isn't it unfair to punish someone who didn't truly deserve it?"
Arwyn's eyes softened as she glanced toward Seraphina and then back at him. "I do think so. But fairness doesn't always decide the outcome of what we call justice."
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(Chapter Ended)