Cold.
A chill ran through my body, and I instinctively curled in on myself.
I tried to fumble for a blanket, but my arms wouldn't move the way I wanted them to.
I felt the hard, cold floor pressing against my shoulders and hips—unforgiving stone instead of soft bedding.
Now that I thought about it, one of my arms—trapped beneath my body—had gone completely numb. The back of my neck throbbed with a dull, vicious ache, as if someone had struck me.
Wait. Someone did hit me. I was knocked unconscious!
"Ah—"
I opened my eyes with a start.
"Where... is this?"
I instinctively looked around, trying to determine my location.
Contrary to my expectations, the place where I'd been left wasn't some dank underground prison.
The bathroom—decorated in an antique style with red porcelain fixtures and black lacquered furniture—gave me an immediate sense of where I was.
This looks like a bathroom attached to Kavala's personal quarters.
I wasn't entirely certain, but I was definitely somewhere within the Empress's Palace. I'd been caught and mistaken for a thief after being caught by magic—or something similar.
But why would the guards lock a thief in the bathroom of the Empress's own chambers?
By the way... what is that smell?
I frowned at an unpleasant odor that stung my nose sharply.
The bathroom was filled with burning incense sticks—as if someone had deliberately left them there—but there was a pungent stench that couldn't be masked even by all that fragrant smoke.
The smell of... blood?
I had a horrible suspicion that might be the case, but I couldn't be sure.
I had never smelled the scent of blood so thoroughly saturating an entire space before in my life.
Frowning at the awful smell, I looked around more carefully and discovered some suspicious objects on the sink.
Knives?
Small blades—each about the size of my palm—were neatly arranged by size and shape.
They appeared to be ornate daggers meant for decorative or ceremonial purposes.
"Why are there so many knives in a bathroom? What could they possibly be for?"
I had no idea.
But that's not important right now.
If the guards had mistaken me for the thief through some kind of magic or illusion, didn't that mean no one knew I had snuck into the Empress's Palace yet?
There's still a chance to rob the vault!
First, though, I needed to get rid of the shackles on my wrists and ankles.
Fortunately, I had a feeling I could manage it.
I'm unusually thin compared to most people. My wrists, my hands, even my bones—everything about me is slight and delicate.
That meant the shackles were quite loose on me.
These chains must have been sized for the thief's body. She clearly has thicker bones than I do.
I twisted my hands experimentally within the loose manacles. They seemed ready to slip off, but they wouldn't quite release.
It's not easy.
I thought they might come off if I applied a bit more force, but the problem was that I simply didn't have enough physical strength.
After struggling for a while, I looked around the bathroom and spotted a bottle of perfume on a shelf near the bathtub.
There are so many fragrant things here—so why does it still smell so terrible?
With that idle thought, I maneuvered my body like an awkward caterpillar and shuffled closer to the perfume bottle.
I struggled and barely managed to raise my upper body into a half-sitting position.
Gasping for breath—which had grown ragged with the effort—I carefully gripped the perfume bottle with my mouth and set it on the floor.
Somehow, I managed to remove the cork and pour the perfume over my wrists. A strong fragrance spread through the air, and my hands—now slippery with the oily liquid—slid free from the shackles with ease.
Yes!
Using the same method, I freed my ankles from their restraints.
Let's get out of here quickly.
I crept to the bathroom door and pressed my ear against it, listening carefully for any sounds of movement outside. There was nothing—only silence.
Noticing that the lock was on the inside, I carefully turned the handle. The door opened unexpectedly easily.
"Let's see... where exactly am I...?"
I quietly left the bathroom and looked around—only to freeze in shock.
Isn't this Kavala's bedroom?!
A spacious, luxurious room decorated in an opulent antique style spread before me.
Anyone could tell at a glance that this was the Empress's private bedchamber.
There were even more scented candles burning in the bedroom than in the bathroom. Thanks to their flickering light, I could see my surroundings clearly even without additional lamps.
I stood there, utterly dumbfounded.
Why would they catch me, mistake me for a thief, and then lock me in the bathroom attached to Kavala's own bedroom?
What...?
Something felt deeply wrong. What could it be?
No matter what assumptions I made, my imagination couldn't quite comprehend this bizarre situation.
I don't know.
I didn't understand what had happened—but either way, this was undeniably a stroke of incredible luck.
My goal had been to infiltrate Kavala's bedroom all along—and they literally threw me right here!
I moved quickly, keeping one ear tuned to any sounds from outside the chamber, and began searching through Kavala's belongings.
Finding the magical key wasn't difficult at all. It was stored in the first drawer of the bedside dresser—exactly where I'd suspected.
It's more carelessly placed than I expected.
But that was a mistake on my part.
I clutched the dice-shaped key—about the size of a fist—with both hands and glanced outside through the curtains to gauge what time it was.
That's when I realized something crucial.
The window is locked by magic...?
When I reached my hand toward the window, an invisible force repelled it sharply.
Just to be sure, I touched the doorknob—and my hand was forcefully pushed away again.
Kavala hadn't been careless with the key at all. She had simply hidden it in a place far safer than any locked box.
And I was now trapped in a bedroom sealed with powerful magic.
If I hadn't known about this beforehand and had tried to break in on my own, I would have failed completely.
It seemed Kavala truly despised having anyone enter her private chambers.
Otherwise, why would she place such elaborate enchantments on a bedroom?
Even the main Empress's Palace wasn't this heavily warded.
I looked out the window once more.
It was still quite dark, but I could vaguely make out my surroundings—which meant the sun was beginning to rise.
Fortunately, I didn't seem to have been unconscious for very long.
I have to get out before Kavala returns.
But how? All the doors were locked with magic.
I stood deliberately in front of a seemingly ordinary wall.
There was a reason I had thought that once I found the key in Kavala's bedroom, the rest would be easy.
I knew about the secret passages hidden throughout the palace.
It's an escape route—so you can't enter from the outside, but you can exit from the inside.
Every time I had snuck out of my quarters without the maids knowing, I had used this method.
I manipulated the hidden mechanism built into the wall panel.
The secret passage door opened softly and soundlessly.
Kavala would never have dreamed that such a passage existed, connected directly to this very room.
This was a secret known only to the Emperors and Empresses of generations past.
My mother broke the taboo and told me her secret.
Now that I thought about it, my mother had probably suspected that the Empress and the Prince were plotting against our lives.
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