Chapter 8 Another Assassin

• Emery took a long stride and immediately covered the maidservant's mouth with her hand as she pressed her against the wall. With her sharp gaze and a fake tone of voice, she warned her.
• "Keep this mouth shut or else, I'll cut your tongue and make sure no word will come from you," she threatened.
• The maidservant nodded a few times as her tears filled her eyes. She saw Emery's katana behind her and it made her scared even more. And since she was given no choice but to keep quiet, she could only do such or she’ll definitely suffer. Out of nervousness, the maidservant lost her strength and fell to the ground.
• Emery kept her eyes on her while stepping back to reach the pot of food.
• "If you're gonna cry, cover your mouth before I do it myself," she stated.
• The scared maidservant spared no time and covered her mouth with both hands. She was just given the order to get more food for the king and his concubine and yet this was happening to her. If only she had known, she should not have volunteered to be a serving maid that evening.
• As she whimpered at the corner, Emery got herself a bowlful of warm food. Her only problem was how she was going to eat with her mask on and with the maidservant stealing glances at her from time to time as if anticipating the moment she takes off her mask, it would be trouble if she sees her bare face.
• Emery clicked her tongue and walked towards the maidservant. She removed the pink ribbon that decorated her hair and used it to tie her hands behind her back. Upon doing so, she grabbed the apron hanging above her and used it to cover the maidservant's eyes.
• "I need to eat in peace, please," she muttered before walking back to the table to have her dinner.
• Just when she was at her fifth spoonful of food, Emery heard footsteps from behind the door. She had no choice but to gobble up the remaining food on her bowl and immediately jump out from the window. Upon landing on the ground causing no sound at all, Emery hit her chest for being careless and leaving evidence of her presence in the kitchen.
• "Rita! Who did this to you?!" a woman yelled when she saw the poor maidservant at the kitchen's corner.
• Emery had no choice but to leave them be and all she could do at the moment was find a good spot to hide in while keeping guard at the king. Hiding on top of the roof, she heard the heavy footsteps of soldiers running towards the kitchen.
• "It's just their first day here and I caused such an uproar," Emery mumbled to herself as she watched the soldiers scatter around the villa to secure the place.
• After a while of watching from the roof, the king came into sight together with Royal Concubine Hazel. They were walking in the hallway just across the pavilion where Emery was. The two of them were headed to the east wing of the villa, thus, it was time for Emery to re-locate.
• The night passed without any troubles occurring, well, except for the fact that Emery had to take just quick naps on the roof. When dawn arrived, she snuck into the maidservant's room and found a spare of clothes she could change into. She quickly changed into them and pretended to be asleep alongside the other maidservants. Just staying on the lookout on top of the roof was not a good idea since it was daytime so she needed to blend in with the maidservants.
• When only three minutes passed, the maidservants' doors opened and the head maidservant woke them all up. They needed to prepare breakfast and tend to the king and his concubine so they needed to wake up early. However, the moment the head maidservant reached where Emery was, she noticed that she did not know her face.
• "Who are you? I don't remember seeing you yesterday," she asked with scrutinizing eyes.
• "I'm Tera. I'm new here," Emery lied.
• The head maidservant looked at her from head to toe before telling Emery to go wash up as fast as she could. Emery joined the others and much to her surprise, she was assigned to deliver the food to the king and the royal concubine.
• If she let them see her face, then it'll be over for her if they also see the queen's appearance later on. It was something she had to avoid.
• "Can you switch with me?" Emery asked one of the maidservants and they were all willing to volunteer.
• She couldn't believe how the maidservants were getting all hyped up with the thought that they'd be seeing the king first thing in the morning. Emery could not imagine herself being like them because she felt disgusted if ever she did swoon over the man who rejected and ignored his queen.
• "Tera, I don't like maidservants who are picky of the chores they want to do. Go get their breakfast and serve them in the dining hall," the head maidservant demanded and chose another four maidservants who'd help her carry the trays of food.
• "Don't forget to put on your masks," the head maidservant reminded before leaving.
• "Masks?" Emery asked in wonder.
• "They're used to prevent us from unconsciously contaminating the food. Here, use yours," one of the maidservants replied. She handed Emery a white mask that could be tied at the back of the head and would cover the face from the nose down to the chin.
• Emery was lucky enough that such a mask was needed while serving the food. She needed not to worry about her getting discovered by the king or anyone from the palace. Just as she was instructed, she carried the food and they headed to the dining hall where the king and his concubine were seated.
• Emery and the maidservants served the food on the table with silence since the king and the concubine were talking about something. She avoided eye contact with the king because there was a chance of him recognizing her, especially that he saw her wearing a mask during the fire incident in the West Palace. When they were all done, Emery was about to make her exit with the maidservants, Gina stopped her.
• "You're ought to stay here until they are finished eating," she said before closing the doors right in front of her.
• Emery found no problem with that since she needed not remove her mask. Plus, she was not the assigned tester of the food if it had been poisoned. She stood at the corner of the room and lowered her head.
• "I have heard that you did not enter the hot springs even once yesterday. My king, could it be that you are bothered by the queen's words?" Royal Concubine Hazel asked.
• Emery scoffed and thought that the king should indeed be bothered by what she stated to let him realize that the kingdom always comes first before anything else. Besides, his duties as the king should not be taken lightly.
• "I just needed to finish looking into some matters. Besides, if you're enjoying yourself, then that is enough for me," the king responded.
• Royal Concubine Hazel insisted that the king must also enjoy the hot springs for his recuperation since that was the very purpose of their trip. The king simply agreed with her and told her that he would do such after he finished working on the documents that the eunuchs brought with them.
• When they were done eating, Emery was the one that stepped forward and was about to take away the empty plates but Royal Concubine Hazel stared at her.
• "Why are you still wearing that mask?" she asked with a worried look. A crease on her porcelain-like skin was formed on her forehead, showing genuine curiosity.
• Emery lowered her head to avoid meeting her gaze and replied, "I shall be taking it off when my duty's over, Your Highness."
• Emery even had to fake her voice and make it a pitch higher so she won't be recognized. She wished so hard that the royal concubine would simply ignore her since it'll be more hard work to speak with her.
• Holding the plates, Emery stood by the door and the other maidservants opened it for her. However, upon looking ahead of her, she immediately raised the plates and covered her head. A loud clang resounded in the room when an arrow broke the porcelains. The maidservants screamed at the sudden attack and in the midst of all that, Emery was still able to see a man clad with dark clothes on the rooftop just across the building they were in. He immediately vanished in sight and she was sure of one thing—another assassin was tailing the king and she needed to take action.
• She turned around and with her fake voice, she said, "Your Highness, Your Majesty, please do leave the premises before that assassin returns."
• She didn't have to hear any response from them so she took her exit and ran to the hallway, lifting her silk dress to avoid tripping over her foot.
• However, King Lawson won't just stay still and oversee the suspicious maidservant. Though she seemed to mean well, he still suspected that she was a threat.
• "Seize that maidservant!" he commanded and the soldiers followed without hesitation.
• Emery was shocked at the quick response of the king but instead of going after that assassin who shot the arrow, he was instead keeping his eye on her which was very unnecessary. She headed to the kitchen and shut the door closed before pushing the wooden table towards the door so it would give her time to escape. She removed the maidservant dress and used her original black mask before escaping through the window.
• Her priority at the moment was to capture the other assassin loitering around the villa. For sure, he was after the king's life and before he succeeds, she needed to stop him.
• With the presence of danger in the villa, King Lawson decided to cut their trip short before his royal concubine would be targeted and get hurt.
• "Make a thorough search in the vicinity and capture the assassin who shot the arrow and that woman who pretended to be a maidservant," King Lawson instructed the leader of the platoons before returning to the quarters of Royal Concubine Hazel. What made him really upset was the fact that a spy managed to infiltrate the villa, and not to mention, she even served them food.
• Upon entering, the royal concubine got on her knees and apologized, "I beg for forgiveness, my king! If I had not insisted on this trip, nothing of this would have happened."
• She was in a panic that the king noticed her shaking in fear. He held her and made her stand back on her feet before wrapping her with his arms. Giving her a kiss on the forehead, he said, "Nothing of this is your fault. I know we just came here, however, we needed to get back to the palace tomorrow morning."
• Royal Concubine Hazel returned the king's embrace and replied, "Yes, my king."
• Still, something just bothered King Lawson about the woman who pretended to be a maidservant. If she intended to assassinate them through her infiltration, why didn't she attempt to poison the food? It didn't just make sense to him, especially that there were a lot of ways for her to execute her plan since she succeeded in blending in with the maidservants.
• Meanwhile, Emery ran into the woods to lose her pursuers whom she thought that she managed to escape from just a minute ago.
• "You stupid king," she heaved under her breath. "You should go after that assassin who planned to attack you!"