Bad Maids

slowly opened her eyes and looked at Carus with a pale face.

“You told me there would be two attacks, right? The first one at the location of the Silver Aspen trees and the second one at the entrance of the traveller’s village.”

“…Yes.”

“I will give you a chance to come clean.
Yulia Arte.”

“I am not a spy.”

Yulia already knew what kind of question Carus was going to ask.

“I am even less a parasite attached to the Empire in order to sell off the Kingdom of Ortega.”

“Prove it.”

How could she prove it? She had already told him about how she had died and come back to life eight times.
Carus had made the choice not to believe her.

Should she predict the future?

“In one week, spring rain will come.
There will be one short rain shower during the day, then it will pour all night.
After the rain has stopped, the Youth Liberation Army will make their first public demonstration in front of the palace of Ortega.”

Yulia’s words were mixed with sighs.
It was because she already knew how they would look at her if she said that.

“Are you a… a witch?”

As expected.
Bavaslov’s shoulders flinched as he asked.
He was worried that he had been riding a horse with a witch.

In the middle of the knights’ whispers, Carus was the only one who remained calm.
After slowly pondering over her words, he asked again.

“Did you learn to read the weather? Let’s just say it’s because this region is near the sea… But the Liberation Army.
I did hear there was a trivial movement of unrest.”

“You are free to believe me or not.”

‘Of course, whatever comes next will be your responsibility.’

Carus understood the meaning behind her words and let out a sharp laugh.

“Then, answer this as well.”

“Yes.”

“Who ordered those men to attack us?”

The whispering knights stopped and looked at Yulia.

Yulia’s open lips flinched.
It was due to the threatening atmosphere of the knights that they couldn’t hide even if they tried.

Carus Lankea was difficult to read.
She had no way of knowing whether he found this situation interesting or whether he was suppressing his anger.

“If I tell you, will you believe me?”

“What?”

Carus’s face contorted.

“If you promise to believe me, I can answer anything you want.
But… I think you already know the answer.”

That time, the eyes of the knights left Yulia and settled on Carus.

“Commander.”

The biggest knight of the group called out to him.
There was an overflowing thirst for blood in his sunken eyes.
How could they dare attack the knights of the imperial army? His stance looked like he was ready to cut off the head of the enemy right away.

Carus was still staring at Yulia.

“It must be the Empress Denevra.”

He spoke the name of the imperial family’s member he didn’t get along with.

The expressions of the knights showed that they already knew it.
A string of curses, which contained their anger and contempt, flowed out.

Yulia was looking at the scene, undisturbed.

“Yulia.”

Carus called out her name.
It was the first time he called her by her first name and not her full name.
Startled, Yulia’s pupils dilated a little.

“You will be coming with us for the time being.”

“Yes… I understand.”

“Pull yourself together.
So that my men won’t have to clean up your corpse.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Carus didn’t wait for Yulia’s answer and turned around.
As soon as he departed, the rest of the knights followed him on their horses.

‘Haa…’ Yulia exhaled a sigh.

“Hey… You’re not a witch, right? Should I call you a fairy instead? I am really scared of those things, you see.”

Bavaslov’s voice sounded like a lullaby in Yulia’s ears.
She nodded with a smile on her face and fell asleep again.

*****

On the way to the capital, the party ended up spending the night on a hill alongside a small river.

Yulia, whose fever had subsided after two days, was diligently going around looking for branches.
Her chocolate hair fluttered about in the wind.

“Isn’t it too much to make a sick person work like that? We are not this cold-hearted.”

Bavaslov recommended that Yulia go fish in the river instead.
Because it was work that could be done while sitting still.

However, the hunting and fishing had already been done by the other knights, so Yulia ended up sitting near the campfire and keeping the flames burning.

“Wouldn’t it be better to get a carriage? If we could take the load off the horses, they would be less tired.”

“If we meet a merchant, let’s get one.
An empty carriage would be even better.”

While listening to Carus and Bavaslov’s conversation, Yulia was reflecting on her future plans.

In Yulia’s past lives, Carus’s men ended up dying in the attacks.
He was the sole survivor.

The furious Carus, who was initially headed to Ortega, turned around and went back to the Empire in order to avenge his subordinates.

Then, after exactly one year, Carus formed a new order of knights and went to Ortega again.

‘It’s one year earlier than in the past.
Carus will surely follow the order of the Emperor.’

The Emperor had told Carus and his men to go to Ortega in order to investigate the reason why the southern fleet was struggling against the pirates.

In order to do that, they needed information about Ortega, where the fleet was stationed.
These knights who were born in the Empire and had never set a foot in Ortega wouldn’t know what kind of people the southern nobles were.

‘I will sell him information and he will provide me with power.’

It will become a beneficial relationship.
It was fine even if he was cautious and suspected her.
She just had to prove that she could be helpful to him.

What would be good? Hundreds of pieces of information were running through her head.
After living several times, the events that took place during that period in time were the clearest.
Among them, there were many things related to the Kingdom of Baikan as well.

‘Everything’s fine.
If I fail now, I can just start over again.’