Vivia was tempted by that offer, but she hadn't lost her mind enough to become so easily swayed.
"Lady Judith…came all the way to the palace, disguised as a maid just to help me escape and find the very woman you drew your sword against at the tea party?" She summarized her source of disbelief.
"More or less, yes," she shrugged.
Her eyes narrowed. "Why? You treat Audreya as the culprit."
Judith made herself comfortable on the bed, leaning back on her elbows without a care in the world. Technically, this was considered disrespectful, but Vivia had a feeling Judith's natural disposition irked quite a number of people in the noble circles.
She raised a brow. "Look, I don't care whether she had attacked you or not. She could kill the entire royal family for all I care."
"Including my sister-in-law?"
"When I say the royal family, I exclude my dear Sierra."
"She's married to my brother."
"Who cares about that?"
I think the entire realm does…
She smiled. "So whether she almost killed you in the Realm of Harmony or Orseth's bell tower - it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is why the princess would go so far in helping the person who hurt her? You look like a madwoman to me right now. Since I detest normalcy, you interest me."
Her brow twitched.
"You were quite a…" her eyes squinted, "different person before."
Vivia kept her expression neutral, though her heartbeats were now ramping up.
"But since your return from the Demon Realm, the princess has been showing many colorful sides. Thank God for that because white is so awfully boring."
Hey, are you calling Clairette boring…?
She glanced at the ring but didn't notice any particular glow.
"My question remains."
"And I answered it," Judith spread her other arm sideways. "I want to see what the royal princess finds so fascinating about a commoner? Is it the red hair? Do you lean towards women?"
Vivia choked hard and could only give her a speechless look.
She then took a deep breath. "I just think we have a bigger conspiracy at play here. It's not as simple as it looks."
Yet Vivia wasn't convinced with Judith's arguments. She was twisted in her own way, but it was clear she shared a good friendship with Sierra and Melissa.
But Priscilla being Sierra's sister…Is this her way of keeping an eye on me?
She couldn't be sure. She hadn't expected much from Benjamin either, and he had reported her to Rosrell and Elvin all the same. Some part of her believed he wouldn't. He had anyway. Sobtrust was the last emotion that came to her easily.
"So you just randomly decided to help me escape?"
"Of course not."
"Which is why I don't think you came here on your own."
"I didn't," Judith said, lazily blowing air over her fine nails. "Let's just say many people here dote upon you. Personally, I can't understand why. So upon someone's humble request, I came to be your knight in shining armor~ Oh, maid it is."
Dotes on me…Only one person in this palace cares about Clairette.
Her heart bloomed, overjoyed.
Her Majesty Regina! If it's her, even someone like Judith would find it difficult to turn her down.
But after the near-death experience in the Realm of Harmony and then the attack on the bell tower, Vivia wondered how a protective mother readily agreed to send her into something so dangerous.
"What are you thinking?" Judith raised a brow. "Just so you know, this is your golden chance. You're free to decline, but understand that you won't get another chance like this again."
Despite appreciating the sentiment, Vivia couldn't fully shake her wariness of Judith. She was a wild card. On whose side she truly stood on within her own heart was another matter entirely.
That's assuming she knows what Priscilla did…
Vivia smiled. "Let's go."
Whether she's a friend or an enemy, I wouldn't find out from inside these palace walls.
—
Vivia stood at the same settlement where she had visited days ago. She unveiled her brown hood and looked around the house.
Audreya would've certainly locked the door from inside. How did they get in without making a sound?
She stepped outside again, scanning the surroundings. The settlement lay at the outskirts of Orseth, so taking her towards the city made no sense. The risk was far too high.
"Hey look who I found here~"
Her focus stirred upon hearing Judith's zealous voice. In the distance, she was looming over two men who were whimpering at her feet in pain.
"Who are they?" She frowned.
"I found them sneaking into an old house over there. Thieves. Seems like this isn't just a convenient place to abduct someone but also hide robbed and gambled money."
Vivia didn't care about that. "Do you two come here regularly?"
They had wanted to protest, but Judith's manic smile was enough to deter that voice of resistance.
"...Y-Yes."
"Have you ever seen a woman living here?"
They exchanged glances. "No…"
"But?" Her eyes squinted.
"I-If we tell you, will you let us go?"
"Depends upon the truthfulness of your answers," Judith yawned.
They grabbed onto that hope. "We don't know if it was a man or a woman, but a few days ago, we saw some masked people hauling someone out of this house in the dead of the night. They looked dangerous, so we ran and didn't return that night."
"Where did they take her?" She asked impatiently.
"Over to the north. That's the general direction they took her."
And so their next destination was set.
"North," Judith said, "It's Lake Morveth over there."
A lake that was formed more than a thousand years ago by a deafening eruption of Mount Lavos. The thunderous eruption had been powerful enough to crack open a massive crater that over time became Lake Morveth. The capital city, Orseth, had derived its name from it.
"Though the water looks pristine on the surface, just one sip would be a death sentence," Judith said, staring at the shimmering water under the sunlight. "Thanks to the Demon Realm's Blessed poisoning it ages ago."
Vivia's gaze dimmed. Even decades of research after the war had proved fruitless. Nothing could purify the water again. No underwater life could survive the toxicity and every plant that grew along the shoreline over the centuries was poisonous.
They walked the shoreline, following the canopy of trees that spread toward the hills beyond. She scanned everything around her but found no trace that pointed to Audreya.
"Whoever took her has quite some tastes," Judith observed. "I assumed some abandoned quarry but certainly not amidst nature. Where could they possibly hide her here?"
Or maybe…
Judith eyed the lake.
Her dead body is somewhere drowning in the poisonous lake? Certainly, a perfect place to dispose of someone. The toxins would melt even her very bones.
"I know what you're thinking."
Judith turned to her and observed a cold glint in her eyes.
"Really? How morbid do you think I am?" She gave a carefree smile.
"Audreya is alive."
"That's a lot of confidence in the abductors," she raised a brow.
Vivia's fist clenched. Her heart hammered against her ribcage with a nauseous fear. She knew she wasn't being rational about it. There were very high chances that Audreya could be very well dead. If Priscilla wasn't merciful towards her original self, then what merit did Audreya hold?
Yet she refused to entertain the truth that Audreya might be no more. It was so harsh and bitter, so final that only the illusion of hope was holding her sanity together.
"Princess still hasn't told me why you're so fixated on that woman? And please don't tell me a conspiracy against the royal princess. It could be, but I sense something more."
Vivia stopped walking and looked at her. "If Lady Melissa or sister-in-law Sierra were in this position, what would Lady Judith do?"