NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 22
Chapter 22 Katana told me a lot.“One day a woman stopped having seizures and looked different.”Stopped seizures meant she had some form of guidance.“Different? how?”“Yeah, they say the color of the hair has changed.”“… Yes?”It was an unexpected answer. The hair color change?“Well, the woman’s hair, which was originally pink, was getting redder. Afterwards, it turned red like a blazing flame.”The hair is getting darker…“And this is just a legend, but it seems she’s been able to use the power of fire ever since.”“Fire?”Katana said, scratching her head as if she didn’t understand.“She was able to start fires without any tools. But there’s no record of her becoming a wizard, or anything else.”She’s not a wizard, but she can use fire…. The possibility that woman was that person was increasing even more.‘Did that woman gain the power of fire at the same time as she awakened?’“Was there no new person next to her? Did she get married or have a lover?”“It doesn’t say that… Wait.”Katana closed her eyes again. After about five minutes, she opened her eyes again and she nodded her head and said.“There is no such thing, but it seems that she started living with a young boy claiming he was her long-lost younger brother. From then on, her hair grew a little darker, and after a few years she was able to use the power of fire.”‘Guide! That kid was the guide.’Looking at my confident expression, Katana asked.“Is this the person you are looking for?”“I think so. Almost certainly.”After contacting with the Guide, the rampage stopped, and the color of her hair began to change. Then, after a complete awakening, she gained power along with her completely red hair. If you interpret it this way, everything makes sense.‘Is it a coincidence that a woman had blazing red hair and used the power of fire?’I also wondered if physical features change as abilities are unlocked, and if appearance becomes more like abilities…However, I don’t think there was such a description of the male protagonist in the novel.‘Ah! White hair!’Male lead’s ability was to revitalize everything around him.‘What if he didn’t change because he had gray hair in the first place?’It was a possible story. Now, the remaining question was how to change the color of Caesar’s hair.Simply finding a Guide doesn’t change anything. Surely there must be some condition. If you only find out the conditions, you’ll be able to figure out which of the four maids is the guide.“Hey, Katana. I wonder if we can find out under what conditions her hair changed color? Any clues would be great.”At my words, Katana closed her eyes again. ***** The next day, I rushed into the Crown Prince’s palace and hurried to find Caesar. In the first place, it was my job to wake him up early in the morning, take care of him, and feed him breakfast, so no one looked at me strangely.Only Caesar, who looked like he had just woken up, looked at me with a furrowed brow.“You’re early today, aren’t you?”“I have something to tell you!”As I spoke in a lively voice, Caesar, who easily sensed the situation, snapped around. Soon everyone else had left and we were alone in the room.“So, was that what you said the other day, that one of the new maids might be a guide or something?”“Yes, that’s right!”I approached Caesar, who was sitting on the bed, and started explaining.“It’s true, I’ve found a way!”“How?”“A way to find out the Guide!”Caesar nodded his head as if to say, “Go ahead, tell me,” and slipped out of bed and into the drapery to change. It was the usual morning scene.“Maintain contact for at least a minute! That’s how we can figure out the Guide.”“More than a minute?”Caesar’s voice was heard over the veil.“Yeah, honestly, I can’t say for sure. They say you have to hold the contact for fifty heartbeats, and by my count, it should be about a minute.”“Where did you figure that out?”“Pardon?”You said you figured it out. Are you saying you didn’t know it until now, but you just found out recently?”He was unnecessarily sharp.“Ah, that….”What should I say? It was still early to talk about Katana now. When asked how I knew such a child, I had nothing to say.While hesitating to answer, Caesar, who had already changed into a uniform, walked out with the veil.“Evelyn?”A look of doubt appeared on his face, with his eyes narrowed.“That, what can I say? I’ve been doing some digging, and I found out that there was someone with the same symptoms as yours a long, long time ago.”“Where did you get the information?”It seemed that Caesar had no intention of retreating easily.“Ah… At the black market in town.”“What? black market? You mean you went to a dangerous place like that?”Caesar’s face crumpled in disbelief.Caesar screamed and wrinkled his face.“Shh, everyone could hear you.”“I don’t understand. Even if you’re two years older than me, which makes you seventeen, you’re still not an adult.”“Yes….”It was strange to hear this from Caesar. Caesar with a grown-up face nagging.“Next time you go to a place like that, bring an assistant with you.”“… Me? Who?”“Take me with you.”“Yes?”Are you saying that a maidservant should use the royal family as an assistant?At the absurd question, Caesar’s eyebrows rose.“What’s wrong with your reaction?”“No, how dare I…. And wouldn’t that make it even more dangerous? You’re younger than me, and you’re from the royal family.”“Then take Alvin with you.”“Alvin?”“He is my aide. He is the strongest among knights of his age, he’s always with me.”It seemed to be the name of the knight who was next to Caesar when I played ball with Floria, and when I took the examination for the exclusive maid in the Crown Prince’s palace. He seemed quite reassuring, and he was Caesar’s aide.When I nodded without answering, Caesar’s face contorted strangely.“It’s true.”“What?”“Yeah, Alvin is for me… Ha, no, continue what you were saying.”“Ah yes. So, you just need to maintain contact for a minute to find the guide.”“So if I make contact, I’ll be awakened and gain the abilities you’re talking about?”“Not exactly, because true awakening takes time.”“So?”“Maybe… physical changes will occur.”“Changes? What changes?”I shut my mouth again. Can I say that his hair color will change? What if Caesar refuses to do so?It was not unusual for the royal family’s hair color to change. and it could cause a lot of gossip.Of course, rumors are nothing compared to death, but what Caesar didn’t know was that time was running out. If he didn’t find a guide, he would die before his fifteenth birthday.It’s probably the same reason he freaked out when I told him I’d found a way.“That… I don’t know that either! You will find out if you wait.”After a rough guess, Caesar nodded.“So how? What excuse would you give the maids to keep in touch with me for a minute?”“Oh, don’t worry about that.”“Did you have something in mind?”“Yes, I studied history a little hard.”“History out of nowhere?”“You know, you don’t study history to know the past, you study it to know the present.”I held up a finger in a smug manner, and Caesar shook his head as if to say, ‘Do as you please.’“Anyway, I just want you to listen to what I have to say.”“… Okay.” ***** So the method I chose was to lie about the theft. In my search for information about the guide, I was constantly learning from books and rumors.Among them was history. A history book written privately by the private individuals, not officially published by the Imperial Palace.I looked through it to see if there was anything about the rampage, but it was a waste. Instead, I learned about the theft of the Empress’s necklace decades earlier.A simple mistake caused many maids to lose their jobs. After hearing such a story, there was no way the maid would want to get involved with the theft case.It’s not unreasonable to think, ‘Let’s not make a big deal out of this and move on.’‘If everything is quietly resolved through a one-on-one interrogation with the Crown Prince, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to oblige.’With a happy smile, I reached out to the hourglass on the table.We were interrogating to find a guide in the private drawing room of the Crown Prince’s Palace.“Now,” I said, “I need you two to touch your fingertips and not move.”The ostensible reason, of course, was to find the thief who had stolen the palace’s treasures.Devit, the first violet doll to enter the room, looked flustered.Even if he has no power, the Crown Prince is the Crown Prince. The fact that they were sitting face to face at the same table and holding hands made her nervous.“As I said, the missing objects this time only respond to the blood of the imperial family. In other words, if you are a thief, you are bound to get a mark in some way when you come into contact with the Crown Prince.”Wrapping the nonsense in a plausible way, I glanced at Caesar. Caesar shook his head fluttering.“I see. It is an imperial treasure that has been in the family for generations. Whoever steals it will be punished.”He had agreed to my lie even before the maid came in.“Now, then, you must not take your hands off until the sand is gone.”Pursing her lips, Devit placed her hand on the table.As soon as their fingertips touched, I turned the hourglass upside down. In the quiet drawing room, only the sound of fine sand falling down could be heard.For a minute or so, I stared at Devit.‘I’d like to do it all at once, if possible.’A guide is a guide, but there was one more handmaiden I needed to find.The Empress’s spy who replaced Marriott. I wanted to figure out who the spy was among the four, at this point in time.‘Shall we give it a try?’“Hey, Devit.”So I called her out of nowhere.She looked at me nervously, like she didn’t know what I was doing.“You said you’ve been working at the palace for quite some time, didn’t you?”Her brow furrowed.“Who said that?”“Oh, isn’t it?”“I’m new to the palace, and when I heard they were looking for a maid to serve the crown prince, I rushed to apply.”“I see. You must have gotten in easily as a member of the central noble family.”“What do you mean, Central Nobility? Our family’s estate is the size of an eyeball far away from her.”“Oh….”“That’s why I was chosen to be a handmaiden, not because of my family’s power, but because of my own.”I see. I smiled invisibly.The easiest way to get the information you need from someone is not to ask questions, but to provoke them by telling them wrong information.