CHAPTER 67: JINN’S TRUE MOTIVES

On the other side, Agnes had reached her room. Just as she was about to open the door, her hand froze.

’She will die tomorrow.’

The terrified face of the maid flashed in her mind. Before she realized it, Agnes found herself standing once again before the room she had stumbled upon earlier.

Walking inside, she saw the maid still tied to the bed. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying.

The woman looked broken, empty—her spirit already fading even before her life had ended. She knew what awaited her. The church would not take any risks. They would rather silence her than let her spread the plague around once again.

But before that, they would take their time to find out how she got the disease in the first place.

"What a pity," Agnes whispered to herself as she stepped closer, her gaze fixed on the helpless woman. "Letting a young woman like you die here..."

The maid flinched at her voice. Her eyes moved weakly, trying to follow Agnes as she circled the bed.

"They say those who catch this disease have been in contact with the devil," Agnes said softly, leaning close to the woman’s face. Her tone was calm—too calm. "So... have you ever met one?"

"A devil, I mean."

The maid shook her head as much as the leather restraints would allow.

"I thought so." Agnes straightened, studying the woman for a moment longer. Whatever happened to Tessa... it’s connected to the lady of this house.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "What happened to Tessa? Do you know anything about it?"

The color drained from the maid’s face at the mention of the girl’s name. Her body jerked against the restraints, panic flickering in her eyes.

"No?" Agnes asked quietly, watching her closely. When the woman shook her head again, she tried a different question. "Then does it have anything to do with the lady of the house?"

Tap.

Both of them froze. The sound of footsteps echoed faintly from down the hall.

Without hesitation, Agnes turned and slipped out of the room, moving quickly into the shadows.

Moments later, another figure appeared in the doorway—Maya, the head maid. She held a tray of food in her hands, her calm face illuminated by the flickering candlelight.

"Dinner, dear," she said softly.

The tied woman flinched violently, pressing herself into the bed as if the sight of Maya alone filled her with dread.

The head maid didn’t react. She only smiled faintly, set the tray down beside the bed, and adjusted the covers with eerie gentleness.

From behind the half-open door, Agnes watched everything in silence.

’There’s something very wrong going on here.’

Her stomach twisted with certainty. Without another glance, she turned away and did not stop once she ran into her room.

Instead of going to the bed, she went and searched through her belongings. She noticed a small nail-sized button with an extended tip and several coins of various colors in the attractive bag.

Looking at the device, she recalled Jinn’s voice that touched her ears seconds before she boarded William’s carriage.

"If you ever want to make contact, slip this in your ear and think of me." Following the voice, the sensation of his fingers grazing her waist surfaced as well.

Shaking her head, Agnes placed the small object in her ear, making it disappear from plain sight.

She closed her eyes and followed the instructions she recalled from him.

’Jinn...’

She could hear her own voice echo in her mind as she chanted the name in her heart.

"Sister Agnes?" After a second, a new voice appeared in her ear. "I did not think you would have to use this thing so early."

"Just think whatever you want to say, and I will be able to hear it. No need to use words."

Agnes was surprised; she had never heard of such a magical object in her life.

’You really are full of surprises.’ She replied with a thought and slumped in her bed, letting her hair spread around like her arms.

Hearing no reply from the other side of the line, Agnes stared at the roof with a complicated expression and thought, ’Jinn... can you be honest with me?’

"I don’t lie to people I care about." After a second, Jinn replied with a serious tone. "If there is something I cannot tell you, I will refuse to say it. I might omit things but not lie."

Agnes fell silent before a chuckle escaped her lips. ’That is more than enough for me.’

Then, taking a breath, she asked, ’Did you make me take that specific carriage for a particular reason?’

Her voice trembled with doubt and uncertainty; she did not want to accuse Jinn of anything, but she had a gut feeling that Jinn was connected to something one way or another.

The reply came almost instantly: "Indeed, I had chosen that carriage for you on purpose."

Jinn made no efforts to hide the truth and revealed everything from how, on the day he left with Sally to reach for an exit, he saw William with his daughter, looking around the city.

’Then did you know what was happening to Mr. Herbert’s wife?’ Agnes tried, but she still could not understand why the boy would send her here.

"You see, devils have access to information based on their rankings, their power levels." Jinn’s voice contained a hint of indifference when he spoke, "I could see that there was a tragedy linking to Mr. Herbert’s family, but that is not the reason I let you ride in their carriage."

’It was not?’ Agnes was genuinely surprised. In her mind, Jinn wanted her to solve the troubles of the Herbert family and gain their trust.

When she voiced out her guess in an embarrassed tone, which only grew worse when Jinn laughed back.

"Oh no, I did not want things to be so complicated. Their troubles are not something you or even I could touch. Let the church handle it. Your focus right now is to recruit a maid for me."

’A maid?’ Agnes almost blurted out loud, but she held herself back at the last second. ’Could it be...?’

"It seems you have already met her." Jinn caught something in her thoughts and said, "I will talk to you about the details tomorrow; for now you should sleep. It is already close to midnight."

’Okay...’ Agnes replied with a whisper before suddenly asking, ’Where are you, Jinn?’

"I am..." Somewhere in the warm plains of the eastern region of the Mars Kingdom, a luxurious carriage with the seal of the Nightshade Academy was running across the stone road leading to a very huge city in the distance.

The city was so big that both the Veloria city and the Gloria city looked like nothing in comparison to it. The tall spires and the majestic castles beyond the city walls could captivate someone’s soul the moment they laid their eyes on them.

Peeking his head through the curtain, Jinn watched as the city gleamed under the pale blue moonlight and whispered, "Just about to enter the Nightingale City."