Olivia did not look back even once. Her steps remained steady until her figure vanished behind the corridor doors of the estate.

The moment Olivia disappeared from sight, Delia’s face, which had been flushed red from holding back her rage, suddenly twisted into a deeply terrifying smile.

The burning hatred in her chest could no longer be contained. Every time she looked at Olivia’s face, she felt challenged. Her newly acquired ego and status as the Duke’s guest seemed to have absolutely no effect on that maid.

"You challenge me, Olivia... you think you are safe just because you have that knight?" Delia whispered to herself.

She turned toward the back garden gate that connected the Duke’s estate to the outside world.

Delia slipped her hand into the pocket of her gown, pulling out a gleaming gold coin a coin she had previously obtained through the courtesy of Duke Herold.

She walked over to a section of the gate hidden from public view, where a heavily built man dressed entirely in black had been leaning against the stone wall all this time.

The man was one of the secret mercenaries who frequently did dirty work on the outskirts of the territory.

"Did you hear what I want?" Delia questioned in an incredibly low voice, her eyes darting around with utmost vigilance.

The hooded man nodded slowly. His face was not clearly visible, but his cynical smirk could easily be detected.

"A kidnapping? Inside the Duke’s estate?"

"Not inside. That is too risky,"

Delia cut him off sharply. She did not want her plans to jeopardize her standing with Duke Herold.

"Find a way to lure her out of the estate gates. I don’t care what you do to her... beat her, lock her away, or make her vanish from this world entirely, I don’t care. What matters is, I don’t want to see her innocent face in this house ever again."

Delia tossed the gold coin to the man. The man caught it deftly, then bowed respectfully before his figure vanished in the blink of an eye behind the shadows of the trees.

I already know what you are going to do, Olivia.

That is why I am not going to let you bring me down.

Delia took a deep breath, lightly fixing her hair which was blowing in the wind. A sense of profound satisfaction began to spread through her heart.

"Let’s see... who will be the one crawling first, Olivia."

Meanwhile, in a quiet corridor...

Olivia walked with her chest still heaving. The moment she passed a rather secluded corner of the corridor, a strong hand suddenly pulled her arm gently yet firmly, dragging her into the space between the massive pillars.

Olivia nearly screamed, but the sound caught in her throat the instant she saw a pair of very familiar violet eyes.

"Javien..." she breathed, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Javien did not release his grip on her hand. His sharp eyes scanned Olivia’s entire face, ensuring she was not harmed in the slightest.

The residual murderous aura she had felt in the garden earlier still lingered around his body, making the atmosphere between them feel incredibly intense.

"She threatened you," Javien said, his voice deep and vibrating with suppressed anger.

"Why did you stop me earlier, Olivia? I could have ended her life right then and there."

Olivia held Javien’s wrist, where the bright red thread glowed as usual against his skin, and looked back at her own wrist that was connected to his. She tried to project a sense of calm to the knight.

"Javien, listen to me. If you had acted earlier, Duke Herold would have known. You are Lady Ophilia’s personal knight. If you cause trouble, Lady Ophilia will be the one facing the consequences. I don’t want either of your positions to be compromised because of me."

Javien stared at Olivia with an unreadable expression. The frustration of Olivia always worrying about others mixed with the increasingly powerful sense of dejavu inside his soul.

The glowing thread on both of their wrists suddenly emitted a brighter flash, as if reacting to their tangled emotions.

"I don’t care about my position, Olivia," Javien whispered closely, causing Olivia’s heart to hammer wildly once again.

"I only care about your safety."

Olivia was startled. Even though those words sounded like something romantic, she merely let out a breath.

The two of us are just human beings protecting each other, not like a pair of lovers... but rather, companions.

Olivia whispered in her heart. She could never comprehend everything Javien had been saying all this time were those words spoken as a friend, or something more?

Yet, for some reason, she felt a pang of disappointment thinking about it. A faint smile graced her lips. She slowly tilted her head up while smiling.

"Thank you, Javien. But please... just this once, listen to me. Don’t act recklessly," Olivia said softly, trying to gently pull her hand away from Javien’s grip.

Javien stared into those brown eyes for a long moment, before slowly loosening his grip. He released a heavy, cold sigh.

The moment their hands parted, Olivia caught a fleeting glimpse of her own wrist. On her skin, the glowing red thread that had been shining brightly just seconds ago slowly returned to its original dim state, visible only to her own eyes.

She knew that Javien was completely unaware of the existence of this magical thread connecting their fates. The man protected her purely out of a sense of duty... or perhaps something far deeper that Olivia herself was too afraid to dive into.

"I will comply. For now," Javien replied shortly, though his eyes still flashed with the same resolve before he turned around to head back to his guard post.

An hour passed by in a flash.

Olivia was carrying a large basket filled with clean linens to be delivered to the laundry house located on the outer grounds, near the boundary fence of the Duke’s estate.

The atmosphere along her path was rather quiet, considering most of the other servants were busy managing Prince Avvion’s tea party at the front of the palace.

Suddenly, a young maid she rarely saw came running toward her.

L

"Miss Olivia! Ah, thank goodness I found you," the maid said while panting heavily.

"Madam Irene is calling you to the old storage shed at the back. She said there are royal silk fabrics that need to be inspected immediately before Lady Ophilia uses them this afternoon."

Olivia furrowed her brows.

"The old storage shed? Why over there?"

"I’m not quite sure, but Madam said the fabric is sensitive to sunlight, which is why it’s kept in a dark place. Please hurry, Madam is already waiting there," the maid urged before hastily departing.

Olivia looked at the basket in her hands, then looked toward the path leading to the back shed.

Although her heart felt slightly heavy as she remembered the entity’s warning last night and Delia’s mysterious message, she brushed aside her suspicion for the sake of her duty.

She shifted her steps toward the old shed, which was located in a secluded area surrounded by massive trees.

The moment Olivia pushed open the worn wooden door of the shed, the scent of dust and silence greeted her senses. The interior was pitch black.

"Madam Irene?" Olivia called out softly. There was no reply.

Olivia’s steps halted. At that exact moment, her instincts screamed that something was wrong.

However, before she could even turn around to escape, a dark figure lunged out from behind the large crates.

A thick cloth heavily soaked in a highly concentrated herbal sleeping potion immediately swiped forward, tightly clamping over Olivia’s mouth and nose from behind!

"Mmph....!?!"

Olivia thrashed with all her might. The linen basket slipped from her hands, sending the white fabrics scattering across the dusty floor. She tried to elbow the attacker’s stomach, but the hooded man’s grip was like iron far too powerful for a mere maid.

A midst the pain and her fading consciousness, the magical thread on Olivia’s wrist throbbed violently, emitting a fractured red light, sending out a distress signal that no one could see.

Olivia’s vision began to spin drastically. The chemical liquid seeped rapidly into her nervous system. Within mere seconds, Olivia’s body went limp, and her eyes closed shut.

The hooded man smiled cynically, catching Olivia’s unconscious form and hoisting her over his shoulder before slipping out through a secret door in the back fence, vanishing into the thick forest at the edge of the territory.

At the exact same time, in front of Lady Ophilia’s chamber doors...

Javien stood tall at his usual post. Both of his arms were crossed over his chest, leaning against the stone wall of the quiet corridor outside Lady Ophilia’s bedroom.

His gaze was directed straight ahead, displaying a frozen expression that no one could read.

Suddenly, his right wrist felt incredibly sore.

Throb!

A piercing pain, as if his skin were being ripped apart from the inside, suddenly attacked right at his pulse point. Javien flinched slightly, his shoulders shifting. He lowered his arms and gripped his throbbing wrist tightly.

He gritted his jaw. Instantly, Olivia’s anxious face from the corridor downstairs flashed across his mind once more. A terrible foreboding began to creep in, gripping the strings of his soul.

Olivia...

Javien knit his brows, his pair of violet eyes staring blankly at his own wrist.

Beneath the sleeve of his knight armor, his skin looked perfectly normal there was no mark, nor a single thread to be seen.

From inside the room, the sound of Lady Ophilia chatting softly with Celine could be heard, indicating that everything inside the Prince’s fiancée’s room was perfectly peaceful and under control.

Javien took a deep breath, then exhaled straight into the cold corridor air to calm his heart, which had suddenly begun to beat erratically. He adjusted his stance, reassuring himself.

You are just overthinking, Javien. You are thinking too much about that snake-woman’s threat that it’s getting to your emotions

Javien whispered in his heart, trying to push away his subconscious instincts that were beginning to churn anxiously. After all, Olivia only worked inside the confines of this Duke’s estate.

No one was crazy enough to kidnap a maid right under the noses of the royal guards.

Javien hardened his expression once more, trying to focus on guarding Lady Ophilia’s chamber doors.

He had absolutely no idea that at the exact moment he forced himself to ignore that mysterious pain, Olivia had already been carried past the boundary of the back fence, dragged far away into the dark forest.