Watching Eliana obediently finish the potion, Eluise felt her heart skip a beat.
She carefully observed the other woman’s expression, trying to catch any hint of something unusual.
“How do you feel after drinking the medicine, Eliana?”
Eluise asked tentatively. On the surface, she was asking about Eliana’s health, but in reality, she wanted to know if Eliana had noticed anything at all.
“I feel… a bit better. Thank you for your concern, Miss.”
Eliana handed back the empty bowl and coughed twice. The flush on her cheeks seemed to deepen slightly. She leaned against the headboard, looking at Eluise with eyes that remained gentle, though they were clouded with a touch of exhaustion from the fever.
‘It seems she really didn’t notice.’
“Thank you also, Miss… for coming specifically to see me.”
Her voice was raspier than usual, carrying the softness of someone who was ill.
“Last night… I seem to have caught a bit of a chill.”
At the mention of “last night,” Eluise’s nerves immediately pulled taut. She took one step closer, standing beside the bed and looking down at Eliana with a scrutinizing gaze.
“Last night?”
Eluise intentionally dragged out her tone. She narrowed her eyes, probing for a reaction.
“Eliana, did you come to my room last night?”
Her gaze was sharp, attempting to pierce through the woman’s sickly facade.
Eliana seemed to freeze for a moment, followed by a look of confusion and even a hint of feeling wronged. She shook her head gently, her black hair swaying with the movement.
“Miss… I don’t quite understand what you mean. I did come by last night because I heard noises from your room and was worried you were having a nightmare… But when I went in, you were already sleeping very soundly. I… I only tucked in your blankets, tidied the sheets you had kicked around, and left shortly after.”
She paused, her tone growing even weaker.
“Perhaps… perhaps it was because I was walking back and forth in the night that I caught this chill…”
The explanation sounded perfectly reasonable. Coupled with her current sickly appearance, it was almost believable.
But Eluise didn’t believe a word of it. Her nightgown had been in such a state when she woke up; that bastard Eliana definitely hadn’t just come in to check on her. It was highly likely she had done “that thing” while Eluise was asleep.
Eluise clenched her small fists. She desperately wanted to interrogate Eliana then and there, but since she lacked evidence, she could only let the matter drop.
‘Forget it, I won’t ask. I won’t get an answer anyway. Now, I should test if this necklace called the Guardian is the real deal.’
“Eliana, you should rest well. Is it alright if I look around the room?”
“…Miss, as you wish.”
Although Eliana ultimately agreed, Eluise noticed the brief hesitation. She turned her back, putting on the necklace in Eliana’s blind spot.
The moment the necklace touched her skin, a cool sensation spread from her neck. Eluise turned back around casually, intending to pretend she was looking at the room’s decorations out of curiosity.
However, as she turned, the expression on her face shifted into one of sheer horror.
From her perspective, Eliana’s entire room was filled with an ominous red light. The place itself seemed to be a treacherous den brimming with Malice toward Eluise.
Yet, what caused Eluise the most panic wasn’t the room itself—it was the fact that when she looked at Eliana, there was no red light on her body at all!
Which meant she harbored no malice?! That… that was impossible!
‘Could the necklace be broken?’ Eluise looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly, and there wasn’t a speck of red light to be seen.
‘Eliana has no malice toward me?’ Eluise couldn’t wrap her head around it no matter how much she thought.
“Miss, my quarters are quite humble, aren’t they?”
Eliana’s voice drifted into her ears. Eluise looked over to see the maid watching her with a strained smile. That gaze suddenly became incredibly clear in Eluise’s perception; she could even feel the weight of those eyes landing on the back of her neck.
The necklace was definitely working. An indescribable alertness woke up in the depths of Eluise’s heart, spreading outward like a spiderweb.
“No…”
This was going to be difficult. Originally, she wanted to use the necklace to kill Eliana directly, but since the other woman showed no Malice, she couldn’t trigger the ability at all.
Biting her fingernails, Eluise’s expression became strained, but what happened next truly made her heart race.
“Miss, when did you buy that necklace? It’s very beautiful.”
“Thank you…”
“Miss, may I have a look at it?”
Eliana’s gaze fell softly on her neck, her questioning tone as casual as if they were discussing the weather.
But the necklace around Eluise’s neck suddenly constricted. A bone-chilling coldness tightened against her skin, nearly suffocating her.
Malice! An unprecedented, thick, physical Malice!
This Malice didn’t come from the sickly, obedient maid in front of her. It came from… the entire room! It was as if countless invisible eyes had suddenly snapped open, locking onto the necklace on her throat!
The air became as thick as gore. Red light surged across the walls, the floor, and the furniture, looking as if it were about to drip off.
Eliana herself remained clean, devoid of any red light. But in this moment, that cleanliness looked incredibly eerie and terrifying against the backdrop of the surrounding violent Malice.
“Miss?”
Eliana tilted her head slightly, a perfect look of confusion appearing on her pale face, as if she truly were just curious.
Just then, Syda’s voice came from outside.
“Miss, Lady Vanessa is looking for you.”
‘Perfect timing!’ For the first time, Eluise felt a spark of genuine gratitude toward Lady Vanessa.
“Alright, Syda. I’m coming.”
Having said that, she waved her hand at Eliana.
“Rest well, Eliana. I’ll come back to see you later.”
With that, she hurriedly pushed the door open and left.
Listening to the fading footsteps, a thoughtful expression appeared on Eliana’s face. ‘The young miss…’
“Cough, cough-cough!”
A sudden fit of coughing interrupted her thoughts. ‘Dammit, this human body is still too weak. I didn’t expect a bit of wet skin and a night breeze to actually make me sick.’
She really did need to kill a few people to bolster her strength. At that thought, her gaze darkened slightly. She stood up and walked over to the bookshelf, exactly where Eluise had been standing moments ago.
‘For a second, I thought the Master had found out. But luckily…’
A smile curved her lips as Eliana moved the bookshelf aside, retrieving a pair of black lace gloves and a table knife that shimmered with a cold light.
Tracing the sharp edge with her fingertip, a look of satisfaction flashed across Eliana’s pretty face.
“A Limited Edition Pure Silver Table Knife produced in the Kalotte Territory. Miss likes it very much, but… so do I. I’ll just have to steal her affection for it.”
The tip of her tongue lightly touched the spine of the blade. A hint of impatience flickered in her pale gold pupils.
The pleasure of a sharp blade slicing through a vein, the beautiful sound of blood spraying out—everything about it was mesmerizing.
She wondered what it would look like if she used it on the young miss. As images surfaced in her mind, Eliana’s cheeks flushed red, and her gaze grew hazy.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Eluise had run into a massive problem…
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