Chapter 17: Unexpected Development!
“Knock, knock.”
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
Selicia’s farewell was interrupted abruptly. Her hand, which had been gradually retracting, stopped abruptly as she looked towards the door with a hint of displeasure in her eyes.
“Tell whoever’s outside to leave,” Selicia said coldly to Muen.
“No,” Muen shook his head vigorously. “This room is soundproof. Besides the knocking, no other sound can get in, and naturally, no sound from inside can go out.”
“…”
Selicia furrowed her brows slightly as she gazed at Muen, seemingly contemplating something.
However, in the end, she withdrew her hands that could bring death to Muen at any moment and slowly stood up.
“I’ll spare your life for now,” she said slowly.
“T-Thank… thank you?” Muen stammered.
“Put on your clothes and go open the door,” Selicia commanded.
“O-Okay… okay.”
Muen, who had been jumping back and forth nervously like a pardon at the gates of hell, quickly got up and grabbed the clothes nearby to put on. The specially made, twenty-kilogram dress was extremely difficult to put on.
If Muen hadn’t watched the maid dress him from start to finish, he probably wouldn’t have been able to put it on now, likely struggling even to get it over his head.
However, due to his panic and haste, he almost put the inner lining on backward several times, wasting a lot of time. Just as he was dressing, he heard the rustling of fabric behind him.
This reminded him of the earlier bliss…
“If you dare to look back, even if there are others present, I will kill you on the spot,” Selicia’s indifferent voice rang out from behind.
“…” Muen shuddered, focusing intently on battling with the dress.
After dressing, the voice behind him disappeared completely. Muen finally couldn’t help but glance back.
At this moment, Selicia was sitting dignifiedly on the sofa, elegantly arranging her silver-white hair through the hand-formed ice in her hand.
The simple yet elegant white dress perfectly hugged her graceful curves, exuding a breathtaking beauty without a hint of disorder.
If Muen’s legs weren’t still a bit weak from before, he would almost think that it was all just a wonderful dream.
“Wait,” just as Muen was about to open the door, Selicia suddenly stopped him. Then, she casually took out a bottle of exquisitely styled perfume and sprayed it several times into the air. After sniffing the air herself and confirming that the strange scent was gone, Selicia nodded and said, “You can go now.”
Muen walked up to the door. After experiencing the series of events just now, along with multiple brushes with death, his heart had finally calmed down slightly.
However, he didn’t feel the joy of a narrow escape. Because the plot had completely deviated from the original storyline, and he was now running headlong into danger.
The only paths left for Muen now were to be killed by Selicia’s own hands, hanged by the enraged king, or, like a premonition, to be mercilessly butchered by unknown assailants.
Whichever path he chose, it seemed like a dead end.
“So, protagonist, what use are you now that you’ve finally arrived?” Muen muttered to himself as he opened the door.
He thought it might be Eleanor, the protagonist, waiting outside. But it wasn’t. It was the maid, carrying pastries and tea. However, her face was obscured by the shadow cast by the door, making it difficult to see clearly.
“Young Master Muen, Madam thought that you and the princess might be a bit hungry after chatting for so long, so she specially asked me to bring some pastries,” the maid said.
“Oh, I see.”
So it was Mother after all. Did she see me inviting Selicia for some alone time? Mother really has impeccable timing.
Muen didn’t dwell on it and stepped aside to let the maid pass.
“Put them on that table over there,” he instructed.
“Yes, sir,” the maid nodded respectfully, carrying the tray into the room. As she passed by Muen, her face was illuminated by the soft light in the room.
“Wait,” Muen called out.
Muen suddenly realized something was amiss.
“Why have I never seen you before?” he asked.
The maids in the Duke’s mansion underwent strict screening and training. They were mostly raised and educated within the mansion from a young age to prevent any malicious individuals from infiltrating.
So even though Muen had only transmigrated yesterday, the memories of the original host in his mind should have left impressions of every maid in the Duke’s mansion. At most, he might have forgotten their names.
But when he saw the face of the maid in front of him, there was only one word in Muen’s mind: “stranger.”
“Young Master Muen wouldn’t recognize me, of course,” the maid continued without pausing her steps. “Because I was only selected to serve in the Duke’s mansion last night.”
“Last night…” Muen realized. “One of the people helping with the banquet?”
“Yes, that’s right. I’m here to assist,” the maid confirmed. She walked to the center of the room where the tea table was and placed the tray with cakes and teacups on it.
“But I also have another task to carry out.”
“Another… task?”
While Muen was still processing the maid’s words, he suddenly noticed her pulling a dagger shimmering with a cold light from the bottom of the tray.
Her action was so natural that Muen was momentarily stunned before he realized what was happening.
His heart and pupils contracted simultaneously, flooding his mind with adrenaline. In that brief moment, Muen’s thoughts raced.
– She’s not targeting me, because she had the perfect opportunity when she entered the room just now.
That means…
“Selicia!” Muen exclaimed.
Muen couldn’t help but shout out a warning.
The maid’s figure suddenly vanished, like a fragile illusion under the sunlight. And the next moment, she reappeared directly in front of Selicia.
“So fast!” Muen exclaimed in astonishment.
The rooms in the Duke’s mansion weren’t too small. Because the tea table had just been overturned and then set back up, there was a distance of several meters between it and the sofa. But this distance seemed nonexistent to the maid.
In the blink of an eye, the sharp dagger in the maid’s hand was already slashing directly towards Selicia’s fair and delicate neck.
The Grim Reaper raised His scythe at this moment…
…
*Clang!*
The scene of blood splattering that Muen had imagined didn’t happen. Selicia remained impassive, her cold gaze showing no sign of panic in the face of the maid’s sudden attack.
At some point, she had raised her hand, and the ice mirror in her hand had condensed into an ice-blue rapier, accurately blocking the dagger without hesitation.
At the center of the clash between the ice-blue rapier and the dagger, invisible ripples spread out, shattering the tea table and sofa, leaving sharp cutting marks on the surrounding walls!
“Let me guess,” Selicia stared at the maid, her voice chilling. “Was it my foolish brother who sent you?”
“Sorry, Your Highness, the employer’s information is confidential,” the maid replied.
Suddenly, the maid withdrew and retreated, but there was no sign of retreat in her eyes. She only intended to create distance to launch another attack.
But how could Selicia possibly give her that chance!
With a light tap of her toe, a thin layer of frost quickly spread towards the maid, leveraging the slight puddles on the ground to enhance its speed even more!
As the maid dodged, she couldn’t help but frown. “Where did all this water come from?”
Suddenly, Selicia, whose expression had always been as cold as an iceberg, showed a hint of embarrassment in her eyes, and her cheeks flushed slightly.
She stomped her foot, and the frost instantly formed countless sharp ice spikes, ruthlessly piercing towards the maid, who had nowhere to escape in the air.
Lol image using your *cough* as a mean to attack