LIGHTNOVELSTORY chapter 17
Chapter 17: Sudden Developments!
“Knock, knock.”
A sudden knock echoed from outside the room.
Celicia’s farewell was cut short, her delicate hand that had been retracting froze in place. She looked toward the door, a hint of displeasure evident in her eyes.
“Tell the person outside to leave,” Celicia said coldly to Mu En.
“No.”
Mu En shook his head vigorously:
“This room is soundproof; aside from the knocking, no sound can come in, and naturally, nothing can go out.”
“…”
Celicia frowned slightly, her gaze fixed on Mu En, as if pondering something.
But in the end, she withdrew her hands that could bring death to Mu En at any moment and slowly stood up.
“I’ll spare you for now.”
“Th… thank you?”
“Put on your clothes and go open the door.”
“Okay… okay.”
Mu En, who had jumped back and forth in front of the gates of hell several times, felt as if he had been granted a reprieve. He quickly got up and grabbed the clothes beside him to put them on.
That specially made gown, weighing twenty kilograms, was quite difficult to wear. If Mu En hadn’t watched the maid put it on him from start to finish, he might have been so flustered that he wouldn’t have been able to get dressed at all.
However, due to his overwhelming panic, he nearly put on the lining inside out several times.
This wasted a lot of time.
Just as he was getting dressed, he heard the rustling sound of fabric behind him.
This made him involuntarily think of the wonderful moments just now…
“If you dare to look back, even if there are others present, I will kill you without hesitation.” Celicia’s cold voice rang out from behind.
“……” Mu En shivered and focused intently on battling with the gown.
……
After putting on the clothes, the voice behind him completely disappeared, and Mu En could no longer resist glancing back.
At that moment, Celicia was sitting gracefully on the sofa, using the ice surface she had casually formed in her hand to arrange her silvery hair.
That simple yet noble white gown fit perfectly against her graceful curves, revealing a breathtaking beauty, showing no signs of disorder.
If it weren’t for the slight weakness in his legs, Mu En would have almost thought that everything just now was merely a beautiful dream.
“Wait.”
Just as Mu En was about to open the door, Celicia suddenly called out to him and casually pulled out a beautifully shaped bottle of perfume, spraying it several times into the air.
Celicia sniffed again, confirming that the strange scent was no longer in the air, before nodding and saying:
“Go ahead.”
……
Mu En walked to the door.
After experiencing the series of events just now, along with more than one brush with death, his heart had finally calmed down a bit.
But he felt no joy at having survived.
Because the plot had completely deviated from the original storyline, recklessly racing down the path of destruction.
Now, the paths left for Mu En were only to be killed by Celicia herself, to be hanged by the enraged king, or, like in a prophetic dream, to be brutally slaughtered by an unknown assailant.
Each of these was a dead end.
“So, protagonist, oh protagonist, what use is it for you to arrive now?”
Mu En opened the door.
He thought the protagonist, Ariel, had finally arrived outside.
But it wasn’t.
Outside the door stood a maid, holding pastries and red tea.
However, the maid’s face was hidden in the shadows cast by the doorway, making it somewhat unclear.
“Master Mu En, the lady believes that you and Her Highness the Princess have been chatting for quite some time and must be a bit hungry, so she specifically asked me to bring some pastries.”
“Oh oh.”
So it’s Mother. Did she also see me invite Cecilia to be alone together?
As expected of Mother, her timing is impeccable.
Mu En didn’t think much of it and stepped aside.
“Please place it on that table.”
“Yes.”
The maid nodded respectfully, carrying the tray as she walked into the room.
The moment she brushed past Mu En, the maid’s face was illuminated by the soft light in the room.
“Wait.”
Mu En suddenly realized something was off.
“Why have I never seen you before?”
The maids of the duke’s residence undergo strict selection and training, and most of them have been educated as maids since childhood within the duke’s household, specifically to prevent any ill-intentioned individuals from infiltrating.
So even though Mu En had just crossed over yesterday, the memories he had about the original owner should have included impressions of every maid in the duke’s residence.
At most, he might not remember their names.
Yet when he saw the face of the maid before him, all he could think was “stranger.”
“Of course, Master Mu En does not recognize me.”
The maid did not pause in her steps.
“Because I was only selected to the duke’s residence last night.”
“Last night…”
Mu En realized: “The ones helping with the banquet?”
“Exactly, I’m here to help.”
The maid walked to the center of the room, placing the tray with cakes and teacups on the tea table.
“However, I also have another task.”
“Another… task?”
Mu En was still digesting the meaning of the maid’s words when he suddenly saw her draw a gleaming dagger from the bottom of the tray.
Her movement was so natural that Mu En was momentarily stunned before he reacted.
His heart and pupils contracted simultaneously, a rush of blood flooding his mind, causing Mu En’s thoughts to race in that brief instant.
—Her target isn’t me, because she clearly had the best opportunity when she just entered.
In other words…
“Cecilia!”
Mu En couldn’t help but shout a warning.
The maid’s figure suddenly vanished.
Like a fragile illusion under the sunlight.
And when she appeared again, it was directly in front of Cecilia.
“So fast!”
Mu En couldn’t help but exclaim.
The rooms in the duke’s mansion were not particularly small.
Since the tea table had just been overturned and then righted, there was a full several meters of distance to the sofa.
But this distance seemed nonexistent to the maid.
In the blink of an eye, the sharp dagger in her hand had already sliced toward Cecilia’s pale, delicate neck.
The Grim Reaper raised His scythe here.
…
Clang.
The scene of blood splattering that Mu En had imagined did not occur.
Cecilia’s expression remained indifferent; facing the maid’s sudden attack, there was still no hint of panic in her cold eyes.
She had raised her hand at some point, and the ice mirror in her grasp had crystallized into a slender ice-blue sword, accurately blocking the dagger.
At the point where the ice-blue sword clashed with the dagger, invisible ripples spread out, shattering the tea table and the sofa, leaving sharp cutting marks on the surrounding walls!
“Let me guess.”
Cecilia fixed her gaze on the maid and asked coldly:
“Did my foolish older brother send you?”
“Sorry, Your Highness, the employer’s information is classified.”
The maid suddenly withdrew, but there was no intention of retreat in her eyes; she merely wanted to create distance to halt the attack once more.
But how could Cecilia give her that opportunity!
With a light push of her toes, a thin layer of frost rapidly spread toward the maid, and with the slight water stains on the ground, the spreading speed became even more ferocious!
As the maid dodged, she couldn’t help but frown and say, “Where did all this water come from?”
“…”
The expression of Cecilia, who usually resembled an unchanging iceberg, suddenly tinged with a hint of embarrassment, her cheeks slightly flushed. She stomped her foot, and the frost abruptly formed countless sharp ice thorns, viciously stabbing upward toward the maid, who had nowhere to escape in midair.