Chapter 8
Lynette paused for a moment, wondering where to go, then headed toward the place where the lowest-ranked servants worked. There was a separate area where they did hard labor, laundry, chopping firewood, and the like.
Would she be able to meet at least one of them if she went there?
She knew it was a vague idea, but she couldn’t think of a better method.
***
Even though the sun had yet to fully rise, everyone was already working. It was obvious that this was the place in the Imperial Castle where mornings began the earliest.
“……”
She silently slipped past the workers. They all cast brief glances at Lynette, but their expressions showed little interest as they focused on their own tasks.
The cold dawn air was filled with the low murmur of conversations.
“This is tricky.”
If she at least knew their names, she could ask around to see if they worked here.
But all she knew were their faces, and neither had any particularly distinctive features. Even if she described one as “a black-haired woman with a cynical face,” it wouldn’t be enough to identify her. As for the other, the only thing she remembered was “a redhead of average height and build.”
Lynette slowly walked along, scanning her surroundings.
“Oh.”
At that moment, a sharp voice pierced her ears.
“Hey! Over there… the brown hair!”
The moment someone called out for the very common “brown hair,” about twenty people turned around. When Lynette also turned her head, she spotted one of the people she had been looking for, the woman who had sobbed in terror that day.
Perhaps because so many heads had turned, the woman’s cheeks were slightly flushed. She waved her hand, which was bright red from her fingers to her elbows, as if it had been submerged in cold water for too long. Red enough to match her hair color.
Lynette strode toward her. The woman had a face that didn’t seem to know how to smile, yet now she was smiling shyly.
“You’re the one who shouted for them to take me first from the prison yesterday, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
When Lynette calmly confirmed, the woman blew warm breath over her cold hands.
“I still don’t know your name. I’m Lara.”
“Lynette.”
So her name was Lara.
It was as common a name as her plain appearance. When Lynette grasped the hand extended to her, a cold chill seeped into her skin.
“You’re alive.”
“It’s thanks to you. I wanted to say thank you.”
Hearing those words of gratitude left Lynette slightly taken aback. She hadn’t expected to receive thanks.
When Lynette only blinked in silence, Lara smiled brightly. It was the kind of smile that made her wonder if the woman remembered her own miserable circumstances… having been sold into the Imperial Castle and relegated to the lowest rank, doomed to handle the dirtiest, hardest chores. Even now, wasn’t she doing laundry in cold water on a cool day?
“No one from the prison died, you know.”
Those words brought her a small sense of relief. If she had stood by and done nothing while someone died, she would have been haunted by bad dreams.
Lynette smiled faintly. As long as they were alive, that was enough.
“Good… I’ve seen for myself that you’re well. I’ll be going now.”
Whether or not living meant doing laundry in cold water through the winter, Lara seemed satisfied enough with simply being alive. Perhaps it was the relief of escaping the fear of death.
“If no one died, then that woman must still be alive too.”
Somewhere in the Imperial Castle, that cynical-faced woman was probably doing the grueling work other maids avoided. Now that she had heard the news from Lara herself, there was no need to go looking for her.
“Oh, right, Mari…”
As she rubbed her frozen hands, Lara spoke a name, quickly adding an explanation.
“That woman from the cell next to you. The one you talked to.”
“What about her?”
“Mari asked me to tell you something if I saw you. Where are you staying?”
“Me? Why?”
Lynette tilted her head.
She had barely spoken with that woman in prison, and even then, nothing particularly noteworthy had been exchanged.
Lara only gave a light shrug at her question.
“Beats me. She just seemed like she had something to say.”
“Where is this Mari?”
Even if she told her she was staying in the Mage Tower, it wasn’t as though Mari could simply walk in and find her. The fastest way would be for Lynette to go to her instead.
‘What could she want to say?’
Was it something like Lara’s thanks, “I’m grateful you saved me”?
She couldn’t guess. Mari hadn’t existed in her pre-regression life, and even the woman before her had originally been fated to die.
‘Saving them won’t cause some huge change, will it?’
She only hoped there would be no major consequences for what she had done just to ease her conscience.
“It was… what was it? Sist… something.”
“Sisstein?”
“Ah, that’s it! The Sisstein Detached Palace. That’s where she went. But I don’t know where that is.”
“Sisstein… Got it.”
Lynette knew exactly where that was.
“You going?”
Still blowing on her red hands, Lara smiled again. For some reason, she looked reluctant to part ways.
Lynette opened her mouth to say “Yeah,” but the words wouldn’t come out.
“I’ll… come again.”
Speaking different words from the ones floating in her mind, she left the smiling Lara behind and headed toward the Sisstein Detached Palace.
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