Chapter 102
The palace was an intricate machine, its inner workings precise and well-maintained. Every servant had a role, every guard a purpose, every noble a carefully measured place within its structure. Aeliana had spent years in this world, observing, learning how the empire functioned beneath the surface.
So when that structure began to shift, when the machine that had once operated seamlessly became unbalanced, she noticed.
It started with small things.
A kitchen attendant who had worked the morning shift every day for the past two years was suddenly gone-her replacement couldn't recall when she had started.
A chambermaid who had always lingered in the halls outside Aeliana's rooms, quick with a polite smile or a word of greeting, simply vanished.
A palace steward-one of the few who had served under Tharx before Aeliana had even arrived-had not been seen in over a week.
At first, Aeliana had dismissed it. Staff came and went. People left for their own reasons.
But then it kept happening.
One by one, faces she had seen daily disappeared.
And no one was talking about it.
She first brought the matter to Vaelkor.
The scholar sat before her in the royal library, flipping absently through a parchment scroll, but his usual ease was absent. He could feel her tension.
"You're certain they're not just being reassigned?" he asked.
Aeliana narrowed her eyes. "I have been in this palace long enough to know that staff reassignments do not happen this quietly. When guards are transferred, when maids are dismissed, it is always spoken of. But this?" She shook her head. "This is different."
Vaelkor sighed, setting the scroll aside. "If they are disappearing, there are only two explanations. They either left of their own will"
"Or someone made them leave."
The words hung in the air.
Aeliana exhaled, folding her arms. "I want a list of every servant who has left in the last three months. I want to know when they were last seen, and I want to know where they were before they disappeared."
Vaelkor nodded. "And Tharx?"
Aeliana hesitated.
She had not told him yet.
Not because she doubted he would act-he would, and brutally-but because she knew his first instinct would be to send a message.
And right now, they did not need a message.
They needed answers.
That night, Aeliana sat in the war chamber, staring at a single sheet of parchment.
The list.
Fourteen names.
Fourteen palace staff gone without warning.
Some had worked in the kitchens, others in the hallways, some even in private quarters.
One thing was clear.
This was not random.
She finally told Tharx.
He listened without interruption, standing by the fire, his arms crossed, his golden eyes dark with thought.
When she was finished, he spoke only two words.
"An investigation."
Aeliana nodded. "Quietly."
Tharx did not answer immediately. He simply turned toward her, tilting his head slightly. "You think I will handle this without subtlety."
She raised a brow. "You usually don't."
He exhaled sharply. "And yet, here I am. Listening."
Aeliana smirked. "A rare occasion indeed."
Tharx grunted. "You think they are being silenced?"
"I think someone does not want us asking questions."
His expression hardened. "Then we start asking louder."
But the palace staff refused to speak.
Guards were questioned. Servants were discreetly pulled aside. Yet the answers were always the same.
"They left."
"They were reassigned."
"I don't remember the last time I saw them."
It was a script.
A rehearsed one.
Someone had gotten to them.
Someone had warned them to stay silent.
Aeliana's unease deepened.
Whoever was behind this was inside the palace.
And that meant they were closer than she had realized.
She had only one choice.
She would go undercover.
Vaelkor thought she was insane.
"This is reckless," he whispered harshly as he helped her pull a dull gray servant's tunic over her usual gown. "If Tharx finds out, he will-"
Aeliana smirked. "He will scowl, growl, and remind me of how I should have stayed in bed."
Vaelkor muttered something under his breath about "mad queens and stubborn emperors" but finished helping her secure the disguise.
Aeliana pulled her hair into a loose braid, smudged dirt on her hands, and slipped out through the servants' entrance before anyone could stop her.
The palace looked different from here.
It was one thing to walk through these halls as a queen.
It was another to walk as someone unseen.
She moved quietly, listening. Watching.
A maid passed by, speaking softly to another.
"They're still watching her too closely. The Queen is too careful."
Aeliana stopped walking.
The second voice-deeper, nervous-responded, "Then we have to act soon."
Aeliana's pulse went still.
They weren't talking about her.
They were talking about Seraphina.
The confirmation sent a slow, cold fury curling through her.
She had been right.
Something was coming.
And now, she knew exactly where to strike.
She stayed long enough to hear them mention a meeting-a time, a place. An old servants' hall beneath the east wing.
Aeliana didn't hesitate.
She followed.
The room was dimly lit, a single lantern flickering in the corner. Three figures stood inside.
Aeliana recognized two of them-the maid and the steward she had overheard.
The third?
A man. Dressed like a commoner. But she knew he was not.
He spoke in a voice too calm, too measured.
"It must be soon."
The maid hesitated. "She never leaves her side. The child is never alone."
The man exhaled sharply. "Then make her alone."
Aeliana did not let herself breathe.
They were planning something.
And they had no idea she was listening.
She did not wait for more.
She turned, moving swiftly, retracing her steps back through the servants' corridors.
Her mind raced.
Who was he?
How long had this plan been forming?
How deep did this go?
She slipped back into her own quarters before anyone noticed her absence.
Her hands were shaking.
She clenched them into fists.
She had the information she needed.
Now, it was time to act.
Tharx was waiting when she entered their chambers.
He did not look surprised to see her.
"Where were you?"
Aeliana exhaled, pulling the servant's tunic over her head, letting it fall to the ground.
"Confirming my suspicions."
Tharx's golden eyes flickered with something dark. "And?"
She turned to him. "They are planning something, Tharx."
His expression did not change, but his posture shifted just slightly. "Who?"
"Palace staff. But not just them. Someone else. Someone giving them orders."
Tharx's jaw clenched. "What did you hear?"
Aeliana met his gaze.
"They want Seraphina."
The room went silent.
Then-
The softest sound of metal scraping against leather.
A sword being drawn.
Tharx did not move immediately.
Then, slowly, he stepped toward her, his grip tightening on his blade.
"Then we do not wait."
Aeliana nodded.
Because now, they knew who the enemy was.
And it was time to bring them into the light.