Chương 73: The Weight of Justice

It had been two weeks since Lira had left Thadwick hanging from a ceiling beam. Two weeks of wondering whether the next noose would be for her neck. She imagined Emberborn casting a spell that made him see the past, or maybe she had accidentally left a loose hair at the crime scene, or more likely, an eyewitness had heard Thadwick's last thrashing struggle and seen her leave. She waited for the library door to burst open, royal guards arriving with orders for her arrest.

So naturally, with her paranoia, she spent the two weeks planning increasingly desperate escape routes. Unfortunately for her, none of the plans were particularly good. The most practical involved using her paper rope to scale the outer wall of the palace under the cover of darkness before fleeing into the city. Sadly, the rope she had made had Thadwick's blood on it and needed to be burned. A new rope was in progress, but it wasn't ready yet.

Even then, she had only managed to sneak out last time because she was not actively being pursued; she doubted she would be able to repeat the feat with guards on her back. The second plan involved setting half the palace on fire with Fireball before escaping amidst the chaos. It was an objectively terrible idea. Thousands of books would be destroyed, innocent people would be injured or killed, and she would probably become the most wanted criminal in the kingdom. The third plan was somehow even worse.

At one point, she had seriously considered constructing a giant paper kite, gluing it together from loose paper, then attaching herself beneath it and attempting to control the entire contraption with Wind Magic and Paper Manipulation. The idea had progressed as far as acquiring a jar of glue. Fortunately, even panic had limits. After several hours of calculations, she had reluctantly concluded that trusting her life to a glorified arts-and-crafts project was perhaps not the best strategy.

The glue was still sitting beneath her desk... just in case. Lira sighed and glanced over the busy library. The waiting would have been difficult enough on its own, but Prince Lyth had somehow managed to make the situation even more stressful. For reasons she still didn't fully understand, the prince had practically moved into the library. Every morning, he would arrive shortly after breakfast and leave shortly before dinner.

At first, she had a feeling that the break in routine was because of her and the stack of letters she had left with Thadwick. Eventually, she had been forced to accept the possibility that he simply enjoyed being there. His constant presence created so much additional work that she had eventually recruited reinforcements in the form of Tessa. The energetic maid had become an unofficial courier between the library and the palace kitchens.

Throughout the day, she delivered meal requests, refilled drinks, brought snacks, and most importantly, procured meals for both the prince and his bodyguard, as well as an extra plate for Lira. The arrangement had produced several unexpected changes. First, Lira no longer needed to leave the library to eat. Second, because the prince ate royal meals, everyone else got to enjoy similar privileges.

Lira wasn't entirely certain how this worked, but she wasn't about to complain while consuming food that cost more than her weekly salary. Third, and perhaps most importantly, Prince Lyth's presence had transformed the library itself. Nobles could no longer treat the building as a convenient meeting place. Apparently, engaging in love affairs became significantly harder when a prince might overhear every word. Most nobles had stopped visiting altogether, while others reluctantly started reading.

Lira had witnessed a pair of teens, Lord Giladon and Lady Basma, age fifteen, who used to exchange kisses behind the geography section, enter the library, only to be called by name by the prince. They ended up seated next to him while he showed them a historical atlas that displayed the region's changing political landscape over the centuries. A few hours later, the trio of youths was completely engrossed in the book.

To Lira's shock, the couple started requesting books of their own, and over the following days, the library started filling up with noble youths. Most of them were nowhere near as polite as Lyth and were probably being forcibly sent by their parents to interact with the prince, but still, the library was finally being used for reading. Luckily for Lira and Tessa, a few of the children arrived with their own guards and servants.

Soon, Tessa and the household staff started dragging trays of meals instead of individual plates and turned one of the reading tables into a dining area away from the books and shelves. Lira spent so much time answering questions, locating books, organizing shelves, and cleaning up spilled food that finding even a few minutes alone became nearly impossible. Which was a problem. Because while everyone else believed the library's caretaker was a model employee, Lira had never been aiming for that.

She wanted to use the space to become powerful enough to survive whatever happened next. And over the last two weeks, she had barely practiced any magic at all. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Lira was currently cleaning the library floor after the nobles had finished their lunch when Celene entered the library. The headmaid's gaze roamed across the busy room before finally settling on Lira.

As she walked closer, Lira noticed her bloodshot eyes.

"Lira, we need to speak," she said quietly.

"In private."

"Of course." Lira nodded.

"Follow me upstairs." As they climbed the stairs, Celene noticed the dozens of sacks filled with dirt and debris stacked against the walls. Lira had cleared most of the first floor by now, making sure her progress remained within what a normal maid could realistically accomplish. Neither woman spoke during the climb. Lira eventually led her into one of the small side rooms. The room was almost empty. A table occupied one corner while a folded blanket and pillow rested on top of it.

Celene raised an eyebrow at the sight of the improvised sleeping arrangement but chose not to comment.

"Lady Celene, what did you want to talk about?" asked Lira. The headmaid stood silently for several moments before answering.

"Hesta was executed today." Lira froze.

"Did you go see it?" asked Celene. A grimace crossed her face, and she shook her head.

"No," Lira finally said. She couldn't do it. No matter how much she had wanted Hesta dead, whenever she considered attending the execution, it felt as though a cold hand had wrapped itself around her heart. She simply couldn't, and she knew exactly why. She had killed Hesta. There was no denying that. Instead of using a knife, a rope, or even a Fireball to the face, she had killed her the same way Lord Kelroth had killed her father. It was murder by execution. There was no point in lying to herself.

The woman had not been executed for helping cover up the deaths of maids. That crime officially did not exist. Nobody was talking about the missing girls. The entire affair had been buried so thoroughly that most of the palace staff probably didn't even know an investigation had taken place. No, Hesta had died because of the royal seal. Because of the golden dagger. Because Lira had planted it. If Hesta hadn't taken the bait and stolen the dagger, the woman would probably still be alive.

She might even have been rewarded for her loyalty to the First Prince. The realization sat heavily in Lira's stomach. It was strange. When she had killed Thadwick with her own hands, she had slept like a baby that night. The man had deserved it, after all. Yet Hesta's death troubled her. It wasn't the death itself; it was how it happened. The whole thing made her feel dirty.

It made her feel as though she was becoming like Kelroth, manipulating events from the shadows and arranging deaths through other people's hands. As if she weren't any better than him. Celene lowered herself into a chair.

"Don't feel too bad for her," said the headmaid, mistaking Lira's silence for mourning. Lira looked at the older woman's bloodshot eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"You're the one who looks like you've been crying," she said.

"Those tears were not for Hesta." For a moment, Celene's expression hardened into something cold.

"I also skipped the execution because I had better things to do."

"This is top secret, so keep it to yourself," The headmaid paused for a second.

"Aric... he found found Carry's grave, so he and Sir Deren decided to interrogate Thadwick's second-in-command and managed to locate Mara's and Amelia's as well." Lira's stomach tightened, remembering a baby's skeleton nestled beneath its mother's rib cage.

"It took a lot of convincing for the king to agree, but the three of us went there and dug up the poor girls," Celene's voice softened.

"We brought them back and laid them to rest in the palace cemetery alongside the servants who died in service to the crown." Her eyes immediately began watering again.

"I spent the entire morning writing to their families, telling them that their daughters died with honor and sending them silver from the royal treasury."

"Why are you telling me all this?" asked Lira, not liking the fact that such important state secrets were being shared with her. This could make her a target if the information got leaked. Celene looked at her for a long moment, as if understanding Lira's concern.

"I thought you should know," the headmaid hesitated, "even if no one besides me knows you were involved." Lira nodded slowly. Celene didn't know the half of it. If the woman believed Lira's involvement was limited to hiding Maren and finding the ledger proving the maid's disappearances, she could never imagine that Lira had personally killed Thadwick.

"By the way," Celene continued, "the king has officially lifted the search for Maren. He even hinted that if she returned to the palace, she would likely be rewarded."

"Not a chance," said Lira immediately.

"Not while Kavard is still around."

"Fair enough." Celene smiled faintly.

"Still, it is good news. She's no longer being hunted." The older woman leaned forward slightly.

"Maybe now you can finally let me meet her."

"Soon." Lira nodded.

"Everything is still too fresh. I can't help thinking the prince might have us followed or something."

"The prince won't be a problem for much longer," said Celene.

"What do you mean?" Lira leaned forward.

"Lord Estophon has been ordered to follow him like a shadow. The moment the social season ends, Kavard will be sent to one of the royal country estates for a while." Lira remained silent. A slap on the wrist. That was all it amounted to. The punishment for murdering maids was nothing more than a vacation. No, Lira would only feel satisficed once the prince was dead. Unfortunately, killing a prince was considerably more complicated than killing a guard or framing a headmaid.