That millstone-sized Titan’s Heart continued to hover above Lucia’s palm.
Every thump-thump of its beating rhythm hammered against Lilia’s heart.
Lucia raised her other hand.
Her five fingers spread wide, and she gently closed them into a fist toward the heart.
Space itself seemed to tighten under an invisible force.
Under Lilia’s terrified gaze, the heart was forcibly compressed and twisted.
It shrank from the size of a millstone into a fist-sized ball of flesh.
The golden patterns grew dim, and the heartbeat became faint.
Lilia’s head buzzed, her mind going completely blank.
Her last hope was shattered.
She had been caught red-handed with the loot.
All her excuses and justifications had lost their meaning.
She was finished.
She was truly finished this time.
Would she be tied to a bed as a living mana node?
Or would she be thrown into the Abyss of Chaos to be torn to shreds by those twisted monsters?
Fear gripped her, leaving her cold and unable to move.
Thump!
Her legs gave out, and her knees slammed hard against the cold gold coins.
Her hands instinctively reached forward, death-gripping Lucia’s thigh.
It was the only thing she could cling to now.
“Mas… Master… I was wrong… meow…”
Tears and snot smeared together as she stopped caring about her dignity.
She buried her face in the hem of Lucia’s expensive black formal dress, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
“I’ll never do it again… meow… Please… please forgive me this once… meow…”
She just wanted to live.
As long as she could survive, she would crawl on the ground and bark like a dog if she had to.
However, the expected ridicule and icy touch never came.
Above her head, there was only a dead silence.
Stiffly, Lilia lifted her head inch by inch.
Through her blurry, tear-filled eyes, she saw Lucia’s expressionless face.
She didn’t sense any fury or killing intent.
Instead, there was an eerie calm that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
After a long time, Lucia spoke, her voice devoid of emotion.
“How did you do it?”
Lilia’s crying hitched in her throat, and she stared blankly.
‘What… does she mean?’
This question was completely outside of her expectations.
“The defensive arrays of the treasury would instantly obliterate even a Rank 5 Monarch trying to break in,” Lucia stated flatly.
“Even with your current strength, it would be impossible for you to crack them so silently.”
She paused, staring directly into Lilia’s eyes. “Tell me, who helped you?”
That sentence made Lilia’s heart skip a beat.
‘She… she suspects it. She knows there’s a mole!’
After her brain finished rebooting, Lilia’s mind began to race at an unprecedented speed.
What should she do?
Give Lilith up?
The thought only lasted for a second.
In her mind, she saw Lilith’s face—a face that was always cold, yet the one that had handed her a warm towel when she was at her most pathetic state.
She remembered the moment Lilith had stuffed the memory crystal into her hand and said in that low, emotionless voice, “Use the ‘private seal’ Her Majesty gave you.”
No.
She couldn’t say it.
Lilith was the first and only person who had helped her since she arrived in this godforsaken world.
Even if there was a deeper motive behind that help, the kindness was real.
She couldn’t betray her.
“No… No one helped me! Meow!”
Lilia snapped her head up.
Despite the pathetic tear stains on her face, her heterochromatic eyes burned with a desperate stubbornness.
“I… I did it all by myself! Meow!”
Lucia’s eyebrows twitched slightly, seemingly surprised by the answer.
“You, alone?”
She pressed.
“Then explain how you knew the password to open the final ‘Lock of Laws’?”
“I… I guessed it! Meow!”
Lilia shouted the first lie that came to mind without thinking.
“I just thought that word was a good password, so I yelled it out! Who knew it would actually open! Meow!”
“That’s right! I’m just lucky! Meow!”
The excuse was so bad she wanted to laugh at herself, but she had no other choice.
She stiffened her neck, putting on an act that screamed, ‘Kill me or torture me as you please, but this lady isn’t talking.’
Lucia watched her and fell silent.
At the entrance of the treasury, a slender figure hid in the shadows, her breathing almost nonexistent.
Lilith’s heart clenched.
She had miscalculated.
She had been wrong about the time of Her Majesty’s return.
Now, that little thing was trapped inside.
And she… the true “traitor”… could only stand there, unable to do anything.
As long as that little girl spoke her name, everything for her would end.
She waited for her judgment.
But inside the treasury, Lucia didn’t press further.
She knew perfectly well that a little thing who had just reached Rank 3 could never have accomplished this.
To bypass all the hidden sentries she had placed, to obtain the spare key for the deepest part of the treasury, and to know the password she had never told another soul…
In the entire Evernight Palace, only one person met those criteria.
Lilith.
Her most loyal shadow, her most perfect masterpiece.
Lucia’s mind flashed through Lilith’s recent “abnormalities.”
The “emergency military report” that came at just the right time to delay her.
The pity Lilith had tried so hard to hide but still leaked out during Lucia’s “games.”
And now, this little thing’s foolish attempt to protect her “accomplice” by taking all the blame herself.
‘So that’s how it is.’
A thin smile finally appeared on Lucia’s face.
The sight of it made Lilia’s blood run cold.
It wasn’t because of anger, but because it looked… amused.
It was far too interesting.
This stagnant pool of water finally had a real variable.
She had thought this was just a taming game between her and a pet.
She hadn’t expected her most perfect tool to learn to have its own “thoughts” and start trying to “maintain” its own version of order.
Things were much more interesting than she had anticipated.
“Fine.”
Lucia looked back at Lilia, who was still clutching her leg.
“Since you say you did it alone, I will believe you for now.”
Lilia was completely stunned.
‘Believe… me? Has this psycho taken the wrong medicine? Or is this the prelude to some new game?’
“However…”
Lucia’s next words sent Lilia’s heart back into her throat just as it had started to settle.
“The trouble you’ve caused this time is not small.”
She began to list them slowly.
“The statue in Asra Central Square was destroyed, Ever-blooming Rose Street was turned into a sea of fire, and the precious ancient books of the Magic Academy were contaminated by Chaos Vines…”
“Under your grand ‘fireworks show,’ the order of the empire has experienced its greatest upheaval in 300 years.”
Lucia reached out and gently pinched Lilia’s chin, forcing her to look up.
“How do you think I should ‘reward’ you, my little pet?”
Lilia’s heart pounded wildly.
Here it was.
The main point.
“I… I’m willing to accept any punishment… meow…”
She lowered her eyes, her voice barely audible.
“Punishment?”
Lucia chuckled softly.
“No, that’s too boring. This time, it will be ‘restitution’.”
She let go and pulled Lilia up from the cold pile of gold coins.
She even brushed the dust off Lilia’s skirt with a gentleness that made Lilia’s skin crawl.
“Starting tomorrow, you will serve as my Special Post-Disaster Relief Assistant. You will be fully responsible for all the cleanup and restoration work following the riots in Asra.”
‘Assistant? Cleanup work?’
Lilia’s brain stalled again.
She couldn’t keep up with this psycho’s logic.
She was being sent to clean up the mess she made?
“You will have the authority to mobilize the City Defense Force, allocate imperial resources, and appease all affected citizens,” Lucia continued.
Lilia grew even more confused.
How was this a punishment? It sounded more like a promotion.
“Of course…”
Lucia looked at Lilia’s bewildered face and finally revealed her true goal.
“Your Head Maid, Lilith…”
That name caused Lilia’s body to tense up instantly.
Lucia’s voice carried no warmth.
“…She will serve as your ‘Supervisor’ and ‘assist’ you throughout this task.”
“If you make even one tiny ‘mistake’ during the restoration work…”
Lucia leaned in close to Lilia’s ear, lowering her voice so every word drilled into her head.
“Then all the responsibility and ‘punishment’ will be borne by your supervisor—Lilith.”