This time Sienna was quite surprised. Shaylin looked barely in her late teens, but this meant that Shaylin was supposed to be older than Sienna herself.
‘I do remember Carl once told me about the characteristics of the Tromil people.’
They are now known to be extinct. Those who lived in the Tromil area are said to have extremely longer childhoods compared to ordinary people. Therefore, they had to live in the form of a child for a long time, and it was said that the tribe was destroyed because it was sold into the hands of slave traders.
Shaylin spoke in a calmer voice, perhaps she felt better after she had confided in a big secret.
“Originally, people in the Tromil area can’t work in the castle. An acquaintance of mine helped me forge my background to come into the castle. It was hard to live outside the world as a child.”
Shaylin said plainly, “It was hard.” But Sienna could feel how hard Shaylin had lived in her cracked voice.
“If it becomes known that I’m from Tromil and that I’m actually 27 years old, I’ll be kicked out of the castle. I didn’t want to.”
“It must have been hard for you to tell me your secret, but thank you for telling me this. But there are still lingering questions. It’s been a while since I came in here, but you’ve been acting strangely only lately, and as I said before, you had a point of contact with the Dowager Empress. Above all, you and Hain were the only maids I left to clean the bedroom. So I have no choice but to doubt you.”
Shaylin shook her head violently at Sienna’s words.
“Leia. Leia cleaned it with me.”
In Shaylin’s words, Sienna recalled the day, too. When asked to clean up with Leia, Shaylin refused with an embarrassed face.
“I appreciate that she tries to be friendly, but…she’s been asking too many questions. I’m afraid I’m going to slip my tongue and talk too much. So I went around the palace avoiding her. Then, I went a different way than usual and I made a mistake with the Dowager Empress. The empress scolded me several times for doing that on purpose. I think she was trying to blackmail me into becoming a spy.”
“Leia asked you this and that? Like what?”
“At first, she just asked me what I liked and how I got to work at the castle. And then she wanted to know more and more. What kind of conversation I had with the Empress, where I cleaned up. Like what I saw there… it was so uncomfortable that I just tried to avoid her.”
Sienna frowned and thought hard. If Shaylin’s words were true, Leia was suspicious. But all charges against Shaylin could not be cleared. A more careful thought was needed.
‘If Shaylin’s lying…’
If the witness that Arya spoke of was Shaylin, the fact that she was from Tromil and had entered the castle falsely could have taken issue with the credibility of the testimony. But what if Shaylin’s words were true and the witness was Leia?
Shaylin’s discomfort with Leia was a fact that Sienna witnessed. As she said, Leia also went into the room with Shaylin.
“That day, the day you went into my room to clean up with Leia, was there anything strange? Like whether Leia searched my drawer or saw the letter?”
“Your Majesty told me to put the letter in the drawer, so I put it there. I haven’t seen Leia go through drawers or find letters. I haven’t been looking at Leia very much, so… Ah! Come to think of it, when she asked me what the letters were, I answered, “Her Majesty loves it.”
Sienna nodded with a troubled look.
“Okay.”
Shaylin was still wary of Sienna. As the palace’s master, she found out that Shaylin was from Tromil, that she faked her identity, and got a job as a probationary maid, so she had to be punished accordingly. But Sienna didn’t want to do it right away, and she wasn’t in a position to punish anyone.
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Sienna headed to the bedroom with a tired face while devising a plan for the orphan relief project in her study all day long. As there was nothing else to do since she was trapped inside her residence, and it was expected that the questioning would begin tomorrow, so she decided to take care of urgent matters in advance.
As soon as she entered the room, she saw Carl. She wasn’t as surprised as before because she had expected him to be here. Carl seemed a little disappointed in Sienna’s calm reaction.
“You’re not screaming or collapsing today.”
“That’s once or twice.”
“It felt weird to climb through the wall after using the main entrance for a long time. But I guess I have no choice for two weeks.”
Sienna went to the table where Carl was sitting and sat in front of him. Carl untied a bundle on the table.
“Your maid Hain asked me to bring it for you. She said you probably have eaten properly because of the situation.”
Carl brought out many of her favorite foods, but Sienna just couldn’t get an appetite. She just sipped on a fruit juice.
“Thank you.”
“About what?”
“Because you believe me in this situation.”
“Of course. I’m rather sorry. For putting you in this situation.”
At Carl’s words, Sienna shook her head with a sad smile. Who would have expected Arya to use such a cheap method?
“Oh, I have a favor to ask.”
“Is this the one?”
Carl took out the sky blue letter envelopes from his arms. Sienna was amazed by him, who knew what she wanted before she could even speak.
“I thought you would miss these.”
Sienna looked over the letters and easily found envelopes of letters from Roy and the children. When she examined closely, the envelope was different from other envelopes.
“Do you see this? Other than this letter, the seal on the other letters are sloppy. The handwritings are different from priest Roy’s. It looks similar at first glance, but it’s clearly distinguishable.”
Carl nodded at Sienna’s words.
“I took a look with Pavenik today already. But that won’t be a clear enough proof. Rather, they would claim that you have exchanged letters with Castro under the pretext of a letter with the priest Roy.”
It was very unfair, but she knew it wasn’t clear evidence, as Carl said.
“By the way, I wonder who the witness is. Judging from the fact that she handed the key to Arya, she’s one of the maids who can get in and out of this room…”
“I think it’s Leia.”
“Is Shaylin not the one?”
Carl seemed to have done his own research. He seemed to have noticed her thoughts since Sienna picked Shaylin, not Hain.
“I thought it was Shaylin at first, but I don’t think so. Hain and Shaylin were originally in charge of cleaning the bedroom, but I asked Shaylin and Leia to do it together once before. It’s one of the three, but I think it’s Leia.”
“So she is the most suspicious one.”
Carl was deep in thought. Seeing his troubled face made Sienna feel at ease. The answer was not immediately apparent, but it seemed that Carl would somehow solve it.
“You’re going to prove my innocence, right?”
“Of course. I shouldn’t have called it a two-week trial. I think it’s too long. I can’t believe you have to suffer this much.”
“After the two weeks, it will be nothing. If it turns out I’m innocent.”
“Don’t worry.”
Carl gave a refreshing, trusting smile.
“Now I feel better.”
Arya drank wine with a happy face. The strong aroma of alcohol made her drowsy.
“I’ve tried to control both, but I can’t help it because one is trying to get out of my hands. But it’s true that I’m worried that the little Bluebell girl might run wild after I get rid of the redhead one.”
Before that, Arya planned to make proper use of the rivalry between Sienna and Bluebell to make it a game of her own advantage. But it wasn’t easy. Sienna kept interrupting her plans, and Bluebell was stupid and spoiled.
Eventually, she decided to deal with Sienna and use Bluebell to regain power. With Bluebell’s great weakness, Sienna was of no use.
“There are evidence and testimony, so they can’t turn the tables now. No matter how much the Emperor steps forward.”
She laughed at Carl. She was not happy with Carl, who took everything from her. She felt bitter from the thought that if her son had lived a little longer, at least if he had left a child behind, she wouldn’t be having such a hard time right now.
“It’s annoying, but I have to deal with it.”
Arya wanted to be the supreme power and ruler of the Leipsden Empire. She wanted to sit in an arrogant seat looking down at the top of everyone’s head, not having to bow her head to anyone. And she didn’t want to just dream about it.
“Carl gave Sienna his heart, so he’ll try to cover this up somehow. I’m grateful. The more we protect Castro’s mole, the more the nobles will leave the Emperor…”
Arya held the wine in her mouth, thinking of the soon-to-be-coming success of sweet power.