Please offer everything to Her Majesty the Princess

Everything seemed to confirm the fact that the girl was dead.

Too many people.

Afro turned around and looked out the open window that connected to the night.

The moonlight seeped out from the dark clouds with a cruel brightness, and a clear tear slowly slid down her cheek.

She once asked troubled believers what kind of emotion liking is.

Some say it is sweet oranges, some say it is the summer sunset, some say it is happiness, and some say it is bitter lemons.

Afro didn't understand why different people had such different views on her.

But now she finally understood that love should be like a blunt knife cutting flesh, long and painful.

107. Countdown to Afro's Darkening

She was just a very fragile-looking girl, but even two or three maids couldn't hold her back.

Afro rested her right hand on the window frame and closed her eyes in pain, leaving the side without tears all alone to the maids who gathered around her.

She knew that the maids were surrounding her awkwardly, not daring to do anything to a noble lady, the future saint.

But I didn't know that when pain comes, it will make people so suffocated.

Afro opened her lips slightly and gasped with difficulty, unable to breathe, unable to control her emotions.

The flower in my heart seemed to be extinguished into wind-blown dust in this sudden fire.

Eight or nine maids surrounded Aphrodite, and even from a distance one could feel the girl's sadness.

They were either whispering to each other or looking at each other.

They discussed in silence, but in the end no one dared to step forward.

Sarah, Grace's personal maid, showed her qualities as a professional maid at this time.

"Let me do it."

She took a step forward from the crowd of onlookers, turned in front of all the maids who had come to watch, and placed her slender index finger to her lips.

Then he turned his wrist and made a "leave" gesture to drive people away.

Then, the bewildered maids quietly dispersed.

The huge bedroom suddenly lost its human warmth and returned to silence.

Sarah watched them leave, folded her hands respectfully in front of her stomach, came in front of Aphrodite, and waited patiently.

The wind blew the treetops, and the crying lasted for a long time. Then Afro slowly opened his slightly red eyes.

Now it was time for the maid Sarah to speak.

She bowed slightly, then asked in a tone as gentle as the spring breeze,

"Ms. Afro Argerich, you are here to look for Her Highness Grace, right?"

As haggard as a white flower that was destroyed and withered in the wind and rain, when Afro heard the name "Grace", the tears in her red eyes quietly overflowed.

Sarah doesn't need to answer her question to know the final result.

"Miss Afro, perhaps you already know something..."

Sarah paused for a moment, and she observed Miss Afro carefully with clear eyes.

"But what I want to tell you is that you don't have to be so sad. Her Highness Grace's remains were not found at the scene."

"Didn't...find it?"

Afro was tasting it in a trance. His eyes, which were lifeless as blood and filled with tears, lit up the moment he realized it, like a person struggling desperately to survive.

She tightly grasped the lotus leaf sleeve of the maid Sarah, as if she was afraid of losing someone again, and asked cautiously and fearfully,

"Does that mean Grace... is still alive?"

"Ms. Afro, there is no direct evidence that Grace is dead... but there was a huge fluctuation of magic power at the fire scene. The people in the procuratorate are still analyzing it and cannot rule out the possibility that Her Highness is dead..."

Sarah lowered her brows and spoke in a voice as quiet and soft as a bedtime story in the dark night.

The air pressure was very low. Seeing the tears in Afro's eyes suddenly overflowing, Sarah raised her voice slightly and said firmly:

"But I think... with Her Highness Grace's ability, she would not die so easily... the temperature of the flames was not very high at that time."

Yes, anyone with a little common sense would know that the temperature of a small fire is not enough to completely erase all traces of a person's existence.

The heavy stone in my heart fell down, and the panic that was tearing flesh and bleeding in my heart finally eased a lot.

"what……"

Afro trembled and let out a sigh of relief.

The girl's face was filled with a look of sorrow and joy that was uglier than crying. At the same time, she clasped her hands together and kept muttering, repeating hints to herself:

"Yes, she won't die like this... She is so dazzling... She also said... She also said..."

"Ms. Afro..."

Seeing the girl's lost soul, Sarah couldn't help but remind her softly,

"There were other people with Her Highness Grace at the time. This... might be a way to find Her Highness Grace."

"Really? Then... who is this person? Do I know him?"

Afro took another step closer, her anxious face eager to get an answer from the maid.

Steady, holy, gentle, these words have nothing to do with her now.

She is now just a poor person who has lost her loved one.

Sarah glanced down at the hand that was squeezing her with amazing force, hesitated, and finally whispered to the girl:

"Her Highness Victoria is currently searching the entire imperial capital for a girl named Nora. Do you know any women named Nora?"

Nora?

All the clues were connected together in my mind at a flash.

Afro's pupils dilated incredibly.

So... as long as we can find Nora, we can find Grace's whereabouts?

The person that Grace couldn't forget, the person whose whereabouts even her brother couldn't find...

Even if Her Royal Highness deliberately distanced herself from me, she would still seek me out...

"So, Miss Aphrodite, do you know Nora?"

A clear question interrupted Afro's thoughts, and the maid Sarah asked while maintaining the etiquette of a servant.

"what……"

The girl's eyes quickly focused as she thought about this and that. She remembered Grace once said, "You are the only person I trust in this palace."

Assassination attempts occurred one after another almost one after another on Her Royal Highness the Princess.

Someone wants Grace dead. If I rashly say something wrong to Miss Sarah, would it be possible to cut off Grace's last chance of survival?

If Maid Sarah is someone who can be trusted, then why did Grace look for Nora Francis to be her personal maid?

Be cautious in your words and deeds.

"do not know……"

Afro shook his head in pretended disappointment.

She knew that there was little hope ahead, and she knew that fate always liked to play tricks on people.

But she still wanted to believe once that the goddess would be kind to the kind and gentle child.

Grace is someone who deserves to be liked by others, and she deserves to be loved...

The blurry mist once again covered my eyes, revealing my true feelings just right.

"It's okay, Miss Afro, don't worry. Now you can go home and wait patiently. Maybe Her Highness Grace will come to see you tomorrow."

Sarah gave a comforting smile and her conversation was flawless.

Afro nodded obediently, and she slowly walked out of Victoria's palace with Sarah and got on the carriage for the return trip.

It was not yet curfew, and the carriage was galloping forward steadily in the moonlight.

This time, Afro was still in a panic, with her eagerness to see someone mixed with her worry about the uncertain fate.

The girl lifted the curtain with her fair hands and looked out through the clean car window at the brightly lit palace gradually receding into the distance. She thought in silence for a long time.

Finally, after making sure that no one was following her, she closed the curtains neatly.

Under the dim yellow kerosene light in the carriage, Afro's eyes were bright and as determined as a sword that could not be retracted once it left the body.

"Mr. Mullen, don't go home after this. Take me directly to the Francis family."

……

It gets dark very late in winter, and as the illegitimate daughter of the Francis family, Nora does not enjoy the treatment of a master.

The union between stepmother Gemma and father Dal Francis was a marriage in name only.

After the death of the head of the Francis family, the stepmother Jima had to handle the family's property and power in the name of the eldest wife of Francis.

Anything involving power and money will not have much humanity.

Nora had no one to rely on. If she, as the eldest daughter, could easily take away most of her father's property and her brother McMeg's things...

Madam Jima would definitely go crazy and kill herself.

Therefore, Nora would rather survive as a marginal person in the Francis family.

Although it was embarrassing, at least there was no danger to life.

The stepmother also showed considerable kindness. As long as he remained non-competitive, she would still show him some mercy.

At least there is a place to stay.

Nora worked tirelessly carrying the barrel, going back and forth between her cottage and the kitchen.

She usually took a bath in the bathhouse with the servants.

But Grace is a beautiful girl with outstanding looks and temperament after all. Once the servants in the house find out, it will be the end of her.

Grace's plans would be ruined, and her stepmother would have more reason to torture herself.

So Grace couldn't go to the bathhouse to take a bath, nor could she accompany him to fetch water.

The cold wind blew chillily, the moonlight shone on the cobblestone path, and Nora felt a strong sense of discomfort amid the noisy roar.

what is it……?

She lowered her head, looked at her slender shadow being dragged, frowned, and thought hard.

It seems like something is missing...

It seems that the particularly annoying noise has disappeared...?

It's Lucia!

Nora finally realized something, the water in the bucket swayed slightly, and she hurried to release Lucia from silent mode.

She was ready to be annoyed by the noise.

But this time, the witch Lucia was exceptionally quiet. She took twelve steps without saying a word.

Nora couldn't help but gently call her in her mind, "Lucia?"

no answer.

"Mister Witch?"

"Um……"

A low response came from her mind. Lucia was like a lovelorn person who had fallen in love and was living a life of luxury, having lost her original vitality.

"Why is this happening...? She clearly did a calculation before she died, but she didn't know she would die in the future..."

Nora vaguely sensed that something was wrong, so she simply put the bucket on the side of the road and asked:

"Are you talking about...the dream I had today? Was it real?"