That was right. This freckled maid was "Liyana," created by Leona after using Shapeshift to assume Aria's appearance and changing into maid clothes.
Shapeshift could only transform her into people she had seen before. Since the King didn't have a good relationship with God anyway, even if Leona's identity were exposed, it likely wouldn't cause trouble for Aria.
Leona calmly looked at the Guard Captain. She didn't believe a Guard Captain would have nothing better to do than memorize the faces and names of every maid.
"I'm not interested in your name," the Guard Captain said coldly.
Just then, two guards hurried over one after the other. One of them had a deep wound on his thigh, looking as though he had just been attacked and hadn't had time to treat it yet.
"Lord Servan, this is bad! An assassin has snuck into the royal palace! Leon was wounded just now while fighting the assassin!" a guard said, embellishing the story.
The soldier named Leon clutched his wound, seemingly drumming up emotion.
He said through clenched teeth, "That assassin was only one corridor away from Her Highness the Princess's room. He was undoubtedly intending harm against the Princess, but he didn't expect to run straight into me!"
"The Princess is such a kind person, how could I let him succeed? Unexpectedly, the opponent came prepared, and I was no match for him."
Leona's lip twitched slightly. The general turn of events was roughly what Leon said, but looking closely, they were two completely different stories.
The assassin Leon spoke of was also her, but at present, she couldn't possibly fight a well-trained guard head-on.
At the time, she had struck from around a corner. The reason she wounded his thigh was simply because her agility stat was low, making it easier for her to escape.
Servan didn't praise Leon for his speech; in fact, he was quite furious.
"Why didn't you chase the assassin first instead of running over to me?" he demanded, seemingly unable to control his temper, his voice rising a few notches.
The Guard Captain had the highest status among everyone present, but if this matter wasn't handled properly, his head would be the first to roll.
Having climbed to his position step-by-step after all, Servan knew that anger solved nothing and slowly tried to suppress his emotions.
At the same time, the two guards explained their reason for coming here.
"The assassin ran in this direction, but when we chased here, she vanished," Leon said with a pained expression.
"Did you see what the assassin looked like?" Servan asked, his tone calming down.
The other guard shifted his gaze to Leon. He had only followed because he saw Leon chasing after something, and though he had run ahead of Leon, he hadn't even caught a shadow of the assassin.
Recalling as he spoke, Leon said, "It was an old man, but his body was very sturdy, with a pair of sharp, ruthless eyes. I've seen that kind of look on my uncle, who is an experienced hunter. This assassin must have killed a lot of people."
"Is that all?" Servan said, committing Leon's words to memory.
"He wore a dark red cloak. Besides that, he had two patterns on his arm: a book and a pair of wings."
"A book and a pair of wings?" As Servan wondered, the guard standing next to him suddenly stepped closer and whispered into his ear:
"Golan seems to have a book on his neck. I heard him say the book was drawn in the likeness of the Holy Bible, praying for God's protection."
Golan was merely a minor guard who had been completely obscure before this, as if he didn't even exist.
Yet just this morning, the Queen had praised him lavishly and even rewarded him with a box of pastries, which quickly spread to the ears of all the guards.
Only then did Servan learn his name and remember his appearance.
Servan had received favors from the former Queen and greatly disliked the current Queen, though he never dared reveal it on the surface—after all, he was only a minor Guard Captain.
But now he had a new consideration.
Could the Queen be moving against Her Highness the Princess?
He thought to himself, inner conflict seemingly warring within him, before finally raising his head with a flash of resolve in his eyes.
"Notify all guards to heighten vigilance. Search the servants in the royal palace to see if any of them have similar patterns on their bodies, including the guards themselves."
Servan instructed the guard beside him.
After a series of questioning, several guards soon left, leaving behind the guards handling the corpse and the bewildered maids.
"Why are you all standing around dazed? Get back to work!" Servan said coldly, looking at the maids.
A death in the palace didn't mean they stopped working.
The maids nodded, one of them helping up Margot's trembling body as they departed. Leona walked at the very back, holding a bucket with a cleaning rag laid over the top in one hand.
"You, the one with freckles on your face—wait a moment."
Servan suddenly called out to Leona from behind. The latter gripped the bucket's handle tightly, her other hand unconsciously pressing against her wrist.
She turned her head away, trying her best to show a face that hadn't yet emerged from panic.
"Does my Lord have any other orders?"
Servan paused before saying, "You were late. Go tell Milan yourself to dock your pay. I'll follow up on it when the time comes, so don't try any tricks."
"Thank you for the reminder, my Lord. I understand," Leona replied. Turning her back, she rolled her eyes and walked away at an unhurried pace.
...
Finding an empty spot, Leona hurriedly pulled the cloak out of the bucket and put it on.
If she had been a moment later, she estimated she would have been driven mad by the pain.
In that brief time, she had calculated the guards' patrol intervals at several locations. She estimated that before long, security would become much tighter, and those intervals would shorten accordingly.
The heightened security brought Leona both advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage was that the Princess's life was secured; the disadvantage was that hiding herself would become exceptionally difficult.
However, she had to do this. Facing a single maid was fine, but if a soldier had entered the Princess's room, she would have had no power to resist.
Leona shifted her appearance three times in succession. At the same time, she worked out that every hour she spent without the cloak would trigger a headache, requiring her to wear the cloak for another hour before taking it off to remain pain-free.
Otherwise, the headache would continually compound.
Leona deduced that once this pain exceeded what she could bear, she would be consumed by darkness.
She raised her head, her gaze involuntarily drifting out the window, suddenly staring blankly at a single spot.
It was a wishing well.
She recalled what Anna had told her not long ago, saying she had been found unconscious beside the wishing well.
Yet the wishing well was separated from the Princess's bedroom by two corridors. With the Princess's fragile physique, how could she possibly have moved her from outside to inside over such a distance without being noticed?
Had the Princess lied?
However, there was no time to delve into that right now. For now, it seemed her faction consisted of only herself and the Princess.
Calculating the time, Leona took off her cloak, transformed into Margot, and walked briskly toward the Princess's room.
Rate on N.U.
