Chapter 76
Chapter 76. Go Wait for Him with Me
Ink seeped across the vault of heaven — the Twin Moon Deities had replaced the great sun, casting the world beneath their reign.
"Your Highness, why have you come in person......"
Tanya knelt on one knee, saluting Serela, who had arrived accompanied by only two close-attendant female guards.
"Tanya, have you forgotten the identity we're using right now?"
The golden-haired Imperial Princess wore a plain white dress, her bare face free of powder and cosmetics, her gently curling golden hair stirring softly in the night breeze. Seen from a distance, she was the very image of a noble lady stepped out of a painting.
Her words were gentle, and her bare hands were clasped together before her — those violet eyes did not linger on the female knight who had grown up beside her since childhood, but instead gazed far ahead at the former mine shaft that had already caved in to form a basin, her beautiful eyes half-lidded as she pondered something unknown.
"Your High...... Miss, please punish this subordinate!" Tanya rose, but after a moment's thought knelt on one knee once more, lowered her head, and spoke aloud.
"Hm? Tanya...... why would I punish you?" The Imperial Princess lightly arched her brow, a hint of puzzlement surfacing in her eyes.
"This subordinate was incompetent and failed to protect Mr. Medillion properly."
Ever since Tanya and Anya had emerged from the mine, the two had been frantically searching the surrounding area for any trace of Luo Nan — right up until the moon had risen above the treetops.
"Your Highness Serela, Luo Nan...... he went back ahead of us, didn't he?" Anya stepped forward and asked cautiously.
Serela glanced briefly at Anya, whose expression was conflicted, then tilted her head slightly, lost in thought.
After a moment, she raised her head and replied in that same composed, gentle tone: "No — Luo Nan has not returned. At least, he has not come to find me."
"Then the Duke Manor? Has he gone back to the Duke Manor?" Anya pressed.
"...... Lady Anya, the situation inside the Medillion Duke Manor is not something I am privy to."
Serela found herself somewhat at a loss for words at Anya's question. Whether or not Luo Nan had returned to the Duke Manor was something she neither knew nor should know.
"I...... see......"
The girl scratched her head, and the pair of golden eyes that had been brimming with hope dimmed again.
Serela observed Anya's expression carefully, then walked slowly to stand before her and asked in the gentlest tone she could manage: "From what Tanya has said, it seems Luo Nan became separated from you all?"
"Your Highness Serela, it happened like this......"
Anya recounted what the three of them had experienced in the mine in full detail, including the matter of their joint effort to defeat the Abyssal creature that the "Nature" Secondary Priest Jeraf had transformed into.
Of course, the girl concealed the information that Luo Nan was already a Supernatural Practitioner.
"Tanya, is the account accurate?" Having heard Anya's telling, Serela turned her head to query the Knight Lady.
"The situation...... is as Lady Anya described. After I came to, I indeed saw no sign of Mr. Medillion."
Having heard both women's accounts, Serela gave a small nod but did not respond directly.
The Imperial Princess walked to the edge of the basin and gazed at the ruins below, and at the "rifts" in the air above — which, though already healed over, still bore a fair number of faint lingering traces. A subtle, elusive light flickered through those exquisite violet eyes.
"Is that...... so?"
Serela turned and walked back to stand before the two women, then murmured to the attendants behind her: "Notify the Special Intelligence Agency to intervene and investigate — I imagine this time around they will no longer refuse us on the grounds of 'insufficient evidence,' will they?"
"Yes, Miss."
With the follow-up arrangements settled, Serela smiled at Anya and asked softly: "Lady Anya, would you like...... to come visit the Medillion Duke Manor with me? I believe Luo Nan will be back very soon."
"Really?"
"Naturally."
"Then I'm absolutely going — that fellow Luo Nan still owes me a total of 14 Gold Faras!" The girl's tone brightened noticeably.
"Hm? Why 14 Faras? As far as I know...... wasn't the price Luo Nan agreed with you 10 Faras?"
Serela, who had detected the shift in the girl's tone, paid it no particular mind — it would be more accurate to say she had simply never paid much attention to Anya as a person.
At this moment she was merely struck by sudden curiosity and, maintaining her characteristic composure, asked the question offhandedly.
"Your Highness, you don't know — that fellow's life is genuinely something else......"
***
Upper District, Opalia. The Medillion Duke Manor.
Even though the hour was deep into the night, the magic gas lamps within the Duke Manor still radiated their warm, gentle glow, wrapping the entire residence in a layer of golden amber gauze.
Aina was somewhat absentmindedly making up Luo Nan's bed.
"Why hasn't the Young Master...... come back yet? He clearly told me before he left that he'd be returning to the Manor to sleep tonight."
Aina finished spreading the quilt, lightly pursed her lips, and after glancing around to confirm no one was present, quickly buried her small face in Luo Nan's blanket.
"The Young Master's scent......"
Her upturned nose twitched faintly — that pair of jade-green eyes filled with intoxication, and a faint blush spread unbidden across her face.
"No, no! I can't do this kind of thing!"
Calling upon the last of her reason and willpower, Aina with great difficulty lifted her head, her expression slightly flustered, and smoothed flat the crease her small face had pressed into the quilt.
"Ever since the Young Master came back from attending that banquet that evening, it's been as though he became a completely different person......"
"Aina likes the current Young Master — likes the Young Master's gentleness and thoughtfulness, just like back then......"
Aina's cheeks flushed again with a faint tinge of rose. "If it's the current Young Master, Aina...... could......"
The girl involuntarily pressed her legs together, letting the white lace stockings wrapped around her legs rub softly against each other, producing a delicate rustle.
As though this still was not enough to suppress the flutter in her heart, Aina extended her right hand, raised it to the tip of her nose for a light sniff, and after confirming that her hand bore the Young Master's scent (picked up while making the bed just now), slowly slipped it down between her legs......
Thump, Thump, Thump—
The rhythmic knocking at the door yanked the little maidservant sharply back from her fantasies into reality.
Aina came to her senses, swiftly withdrew her right hand from between her legs, hurriedly wiped it on her apron skirt, then patted her small face a few times to temporarily suppress the physical reaction that had arisen from 'indulging in something wonderful.'
"Aina, what are you doing in the Young Master's room? Why did you lock the door?" came the questioning voice of another maid from outside.
"S-sorry! Sister Pati, I just absentmindedly...... I'll be right out!"
Recognizing the voice outside the door as that of a senior colleague she held in respect, Aina quickly answered back and trotted on her high heels to the door.
She unlocked it and pulled open the door to Luo Nan's room, speaking to the maid outside who was half a head taller than her:
"Sister Pati, I'm very sorry, I......"
"Alright — I don't care about your reasons. I only want to ask if your work is done?" Pati tilted her head and cast a glance at Luo Nan's bedroom interior, which was neat and tidy as new.
Although Aina was a bit scatterbrained, she was still someone Pati had personally trained, and the bulk of her work she completed without the slightest sloppiness.
With that thought in mind, Pati's tone softened.
"It's...... done!"
"Good. Aina, there is now another task that needs you to complete......" Pati leaned down and murmured into Aina's ear.
"Yes, yes!" The little maid asked no questions. It would be more accurate to say she would never refuse any task assigned to her — especially one arranged by Luo Nan.
"Mm. Then go ahead."
Watching Aina's figure disappear into the distance, the maid Pati cautiously looked around in all directions, confirmed there was no one present, stepped inside, and slowly pulled the bedroom door shut behind her......