CHAPTER 220: MASTERMIND BEHIND THE MAID

"... can’t... being poisoned." Now it was Catherine’s voice.

Aristia’s eyes narrowed. How did Catherine know that Charlotte was being poisoned?

"It’s..."

Just as Catherine was about to reveal who was behind Charlotte’s poisoning, she stepped back slightly, but heard a crash.

Her head whipped to the side in horror. She had unconsciously knocked over a small vase standing on a stool beside the door.

[Damn it! Damn it!] She cursed inwardly.

She quickly looked back at the gap. Alistair had turned in that direction at the sound.

Suddenly, Aristia’s heart thumped at being caught.

Inside the room.

Catherine and Rowaine exchanged glances, and their expressions changed.

"Who’s there?" Catherine’s voice was chilling.

She and Rowaine stood up and walked to the door.

"Come out now. It’s an order." Rowaine said, her face unsmiling.

She pushed the door open and caught... nothing.

Her eyes narrowed and she looked at Catherine beside her.

Catherine stared at the broken vase that had obviously been knocked out by someone and then looked around. But there was no one there.

The faces of the two went dark.

They had specifically ordered that none of the palace staff enter this corridor, but someone had obviously been eavesdropping on their conversation, and they didn’t know who.

They left the room and closed the door after them, going somewhere.

Meanwhile, on another corridor.

Aristia leaned against the wall and gripped her chest.

[I almost got caught.] Her brows knitted and her mouth formed into a frown. [And just as they wanted to reveal who’s poisoning Charlotte.]

Thankfully, she had moved quickly and tried hard to be silent while escaping. If she had not reacted quickly, she would have been caught eavesdropping. Then who knew how awkward that scene would’ve been.

After making sure the coast was clear, she moved quickly towards the kitchen.

"Tia, you’re here. Odelia had just prepared the ingredients." Serina said when she turned around and saw her coming toward them.

Aristia nodded silently.

She gave out instructions haphazardly. Her attention was elsewhere entirely.

[Yes. There’s a Mastermind behind Charlotte’s poisoning, and it must be the same person as the one in the book.]

It wasn’t possible for a mere maid to just poison her lady. Someone had to be behind it.

It was either the maid had been bribed to do it, or she had been working for that person from the start.

[Which one is it?]

Aristia shook her head.

No. It didn’t matter which one it was, and it didn’t matter how her mother knew. What mattered was that Charlotte’s life was in danger and it was because of the maid and the person behind her.

She had been relaxed at the banquet, but now...

"I should do something, shouldn’t I?" She unintentionally asked aloud.

"What do you want to do?" Beatrix asked, looking at her curiously, making the others also turn to her.

The maid, Odelia, shook her head while working on preparing the food, thinking that Aristia meant that she should prepare the meal herself.

"It won’t be good if the princess gets hurt. Princess should just tell me what to do and I’ll do it." She said.

The other servants in the kitchen nodded quickly. "Yes. If princess needs assistance, we’ll be happy to help."

Aristia nodded, not bothering to correct their misunderstanding.

After they were done in the kitchen, they left the kitchen with the snacks they had prepared and headed to Beatrix’s room.

Not long after, Alaric, Lilith, Liam and Ivan entered the room.

"I heard we’re having another sleepover?" Ivan asked.

Liam rolled his eyes. "I’m still asking what a sleepover is?"

"I told you that you’d find out soon, didn’t I?" Ivan smirked.

Lauren rolled her eyes, looking at the royal siblings. "You really are brother and sisters." She muttered.

After the ones who knew explained a bit of what a sleepover was all about, the sleepover began. This time, there was no pillow or blanket fort.

The blankets were just spread on the floor with pillows for them to lie on.

"Millie also wants to join the sleepover." Lilith said when Millie walked into the room.

Millie had been somewhere in the palace since the banquet.

Now she moved straight towards Aristia and cuddled in her lap.

Aristia rubbed her fur and looked back at the others.

’What are you thinking about?’

Aristia heard Millie’s voice in her mind.

She looked down at Millie before looking back up.

’I overheard mama and aunt Rowaine discussing about Marchioness Oswalt. Mama said that Marchioness Oswalt was being poisoned.’ She explained.

Millie wasn’t aware that she was the original Aristia, and she also wasn’t aware that Aristia had had a vision of the events of this world.

It was something Aristia had been thinking about; the original Aristia didn’t have a daemon, but somehow she, an outsider who didn’t belong here, had succeeded in manifesting aura and a daemon.

This made her a bit conflicted. Who owned Millie? Was it herself or the original Aristia?

But no one would be able to answer her questions without her revealing that she was not part of this world.

She looked back at Millie.

Millie nodded to show she understood.

’So that’s why I felt your emotions rise. You’re worried about her.’ Millie hummed.

Daemons were connected to their humans and could feel their emotions, so it made sense that Millie felt it.

When her emotions rose was probably when she was almost caught by Catherine and Rowaine.

’It’s true.’ Aristia nodded.

Aristia thought Millie would say something else, but Millie didn’t say anything. Instead, she lay back on Aristia’s lap with her eyes closed.

After a moment of silence between them, Aristia asked.

’What do you think I should do?’

’Huh?’ When Millie asked this, Aristia asked.

’Do you think I should do anything about it?’

Millie looked into her eyes with a deep look. After more than a few seconds, she finally answered.

’If you want to. It’s up to you.’

Hearing Millie say this, Aristia was silent for a moment.

[Right. It’s up to me. The question is... do I want to?]

Did she want to interfere in the plot any more than she already had?