Chương 71: Resolve!

The eastern horizon was just beginning to lighten when Lira returned to the library. Her entire body ached from the night's exertion, but she forced herself to keep moving. Sleep would have to wait until she was certain that the library was free from every trace of wrongdoing. The paper rope was hidden beneath the chair in the alcove. The concealment bookmark runes returned to simple blots of ink with no magical enchantments. The air purification parchment was burned inside a small brazier until only ash remained.

She even scrubbed the chamber pot just in case. Only when she was satisfied that nothing connected the library to Maren's disappearance did she finally allow herself to relax. The upper floors were always quiet. One of the recently cleaned storage rooms contained a large table positioned beneath a narrow window. Lira stared at it for several seconds before climbing on top and using her folded apron as a pillow. As she drifted toward sleep, one idle thought crossed her mind.

Perhaps she should turn one of these rooms into an actual bedroom. There was certainly enough space, and Celene would probably approve; she owed Lira one after all. The thought faded as sleep claimed her. She woke shortly before midday. For several confused moments, she stared at the ceiling, trying to remember why she was sleeping on a table. Right, Maren is out and safe. Time to report to Celene, I guess.

"Yorad. Luneth. Velar... Pika. Cavira. Frushum." After casting a quick cleaning spell over herself and straightening her hair with magic, she redonned her apron and headpiece and headed toward the kitchens. The midday meal was already underway when she arrived. Celene spotted her almost immediately. The head maid took one look at Lira's tired face and quietly guided her toward the same side room they had used previously. The moment the door closed, Celene spoke.

"Well?" Lira sat down.

"Hesta came looking for her in the library. She is definitely involved." The older woman released a long breath.

"I figured as much," she finally said, "especially after the discussion I had with Lady Jenine."

"What do you mean?"

"There is no transferred maid." Celene folded her arms.

"Countess Jenine hasn't received anyone from the palace in over five years, and she doesn't employ anyone named Mara." The answer wasn't surprising. Lira had read Salvek's journal after all. Still, it was good confirmation to have. She considered revealing what she had learned. Celene deserved to know that three of her maids were murdered. Unfortunately, she possessed no proof, only knowledge stolen through magic; knowledge that could not be explained without exposing her own secrets.

"So Hesta lied," she decided to say instead.

"Or someone lied to Hesta," proposed Celene. Lira didn't believe that for a second. Neither, judging by Celene's expression, did she.

"So what do we do about Maren?" asked the head maid.

"Maren is safe," said Lira.

"Don't worry about her."

"She can't remain in the library forever," insisted the head maid.

"She is not in the library. She is already outside the palace grounds," said Lira. Celene blinked at that.

"When did that happen?"

"The less you know, the better," said Lira.

"Just trust me, okay? Why do you think they couldn't find her? She is not here." Celene kept frowning. Lira decided to give a credible excuse, something to muddy the waters.

"She snuck away dressed like a man." That last sentence seemed to convince her, and relief flooded her face. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Thank the goddess."

"She's safe," Lira continued.

"Hidden somewhere in the city. No one followed her."

"I've barely slept since this started," said the head maid.

"I figured as much." Lira gave her a tired smile.

"I was imagining all sorts of horrible possibilities."

"At least now she's beyond the prince's reach," Lira nodded.

"Hopefully," Celene said as she looked down at the table. After finishing her meal, Lira returned to the library long enough to leave a book recommendation on Prince Lyth's usual reading chair. She had divined an old fairy tale about the divine right to rule that framed the concept as a burden and a duty instead, and she figured it would be a good lesson to learn. Then she left the palace. She hadn't had a day off in so long that she figured she might as well give herself one.

Plus, there were things she needed to do. Several guards watched her pass through the gates, but none stopped her. She looked nothing like Maren, and she had made sure not to be carrying anything magical on her, not even the magical concealment bookmark. She only took a few ink-stained sheets of paper hidden inside her apron pocket. To both mundane and magical eyes, they looked like ordinary scraps. But with her calligraphy spell, she could turn each one of them into a runic spell within seconds.

The marketplace was as busy as usual. Lira replenished her supplies first: ink and paper, since she always needed them. Then she bought a few food items, candy, nuts, and jerky, since Maren had eaten through her supply. She finished by buying a rope, a real rope, not the paper one she crafted; something common that could be found anywhere. Afterward, she stopped at one of the dead-drop locations used by Pallan's organization. It was the same soup kitchen where she used to have a counterfeiting office.

Lira chose this place because Pallan would quickly know she had visited, and that any messages left here were for his eyes alone. An older woman greeted her with a smile, and after a few greetings and inquiries about her health, Lira left the woman with a silver coin donation before entering her old office. This place might be a front for a criminal organization, but they served real food, and a lot of the poor relied on it, so Lira always left something behind.

She sat in her chair and looked around the office as waves of nostalgia hit her. She was a different person now than the child who played at being a criminal, forging documents without much thought about consequences or morality. She considered Pallan to be a decent guy; back then, she let him handle those concerns. She could never be that child again. She had been acting on her own ever since joining the palace staff. All the decisions were her own.

Even the spying mission Pallan had assigned her was little more than an afterthought now. She had chosen to claim the library. She had chosen to learn magic. And she had chosen to save Maren. But her next choice… There was no coming back from that one. Her father would never approve of her plan. He had always followed the path of least resistance, an honest man not out of principle but out of caution.

He would never do anything illegal unless ordered by a noble, because saying no to nobility was scarier than the law. She sighed deeply. Playing it safe hadn't helped him, and Lira was done being safe. But just in case things went sideways, she owed Pallan a few warnings. The letter started with the usual palace gossip. With the library turning into a secret meeting place, Lira had a few juicy details for him.

She then informed him that one safe house was currently occupied, and that Maren was a friend in a bit of trouble. If he could help her get on her feet, she would appreciate it. Finally, she warned him to avoid dealing with both Lord Kelroth and Steward Harwin. They were doing something magical with their money, and it was above his pay grade. Pallan was a cautious man. He would understand. She sealed the letter with wax and left it at the center of the desk.

She also left the rope and the few supplies she had purchased sitting in one corner. She would return for them before heading back to the castle. She had another side trip in mind, somewhere she could find the resolve to do what needed to be done. Lira stood over a small patch of undisturbed earth. Other than a few extra mushrooms growing there, the location looked completely unremarkable. It was in a forested area on the outskirts of town, and the journey there had taken her nearly an hour.

Lira stared at it for several seconds. She had found it using the Divine Place spell.

"Ladar. Oshkan. Pika." Normally, the spell was unreliable, but the more knowledge you had about a place, the narrower the ping became. And Lira had gotten enough information from a certain journal.

"Pika. Terran. Farshum." The ground shifted, and the soil rolled aside beneath her magical might. Several moments later, white bone emerged from the darkness. Lira watched with a frozen expression on her face as a skeleton lay buried beneath less than a meter of dirt. Tattered remnants of a dress still clung to the remains; the fabric was stained dark with old blood and torn in multiple places. Long strands of hair remained attached to the skull, but it wasn't the woman's skeleton that held Lira's attention.

It was the second skeleton. A smaller skeleton curled within the larger ribcage. For several seconds, Lira couldn't breathe. The journal had lied, or perhaps Salvek simply never cared enough to learn the truth. Carry hadn't run because she knew too much. She had run because she, too, was pregnant. The pregnancy had advanced far enough that it became impossible to hide. Lira stared at the remains of the former maid and her unborn child. A future prince… a royal heir…

buried with his mother in an unmarked grave like discarded rubbish. The wind moved softly across the forest. Somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted. Lira slowly clenched her fists until her nails bit into her palms and her hands began shaking. The anger she felt toward Salvek, Kavard, Hesta, and everyone involved had been simmering for days. Now, standing over the grave, it finally hardened into something else: Resolve.

This world was rotten, and there was no justice in it other than the justice you could claim for yourself.