No… I have to go find her.
With that thought, Su Ling unconsciously took a step forward, but a hoarse voice called out to stop her.
“Miss, are you planning to go that way? The royal capital isn’t as peaceful at night as it is during the day,” Rosalie walked slowly to Su Ling’s side, her eyes full of concern. “You’re still a young girl—wandering around alone is far too dangerous. How about this: you return to the palace and ask the guards there to help you search for Miss Phil. They’ll be able to find her much faster.”
“But…”
Su Ling hesitated. Though unwilling, reason began to return. She recalled what she had seen earlier that day—the city guards colluding with that vagabond—and unease filled her chest once again.
“Thank you, Miss Rosalie,” Su Ling’s voice trembled slightly, “I understand. I’ll return immediately.”
Dragging heavy footsteps, she pushed the cart toward the royal palace, silently repeating Phil’s name in her heart the whole way.
The night road was long, but from afar, Su Ling could already see the lights of Hailuosen Castle twinkling. Those scattered dots of light brought her some comfort, and she unconsciously quickened her pace.
She burst onto the top floor of the tower. The guard captain on night duty cast her a stern glare, but Su Ling had no time for formalities.
“Captain, something’s happened! Phil… Her Highness’s maid—she… she’s gone missing!”
The captain’s face turned serious in an instant. He immediately set aside what he was doing, his sharp gaze fixed on Su Ling, trying to glean more information from her expression.
“Missing? When exactly? Did she leave behind any clues?” A series of questions spilled rapidly from the captain’s mouth.
Su Ling tried her best to recall everything and reported every detail she knew. After listening carefully, the captain pondered for a moment, then decisively sprang into action. He quickly summoned several guards, and the next day, he contacted the commander of the guard regiment to report the situation and request backup.
However, days passed.
Despite the guards’ best efforts, and even extending their search to the nearby villages around the city, Phil was still nowhere to be found—as if she had vanished into thin air.
Phil never returned.
Neither searches nor inquiries yielded any results.
Her usual broom still sat in the tool shed. The laundry she hung in the small courtyard remained untouched. But Phil herself seemed to have been erased from existence, disappearing from everyone’s lives without a trace.
“Why… why would Phil just disappear like that?” Su Ling murmured, confusion thick in her voice.
Her thoughts were a tangled mess. She tried to analyze the possible causes from every angle. Could someone in the market have targeted Phil and kidnapped her when she wasn’t paying attention?
But she quickly rejected that idea. Though Phil could be willful at times, she wasn’t naïve—she was cautious enough to protect herself.
Then… maybe something sudden happened during the shopping trip—like falling ill or being involved in an accident?
But that didn’t make sense either. The market was bustling—if something had truly happened, she would have found a way to contact someone. She wouldn’t just disappear in silence.
A wave of helplessness washed over Su Ling. She realized she couldn’t find a reasonable explanation for Phil’s disappearance.
“Miss Su Ling, excuse me, but… why have you been spacing out this whole time?”
“Huh?”
Su Ling snapped out of her thoughts to find Bohm, a petite girl, looking at her curiously. Her round eyes blinked behind thick glasses, full of puzzlement.
“I… I’m fine. Sorry, I’ll get back to work.”
She realized she had become so consumed by thoughts of Phil that she had neglected her maid duties. Since Phil’s absence, her share of the chores had been distributed among the rest of them. Su Ling had to take care of an extra corridor now.
“Were you… thinking about Phil?” Bohm’s voice was small and hesitant as she stepped closer.
Su Ling didn’t hide her thoughts—she nodded.
Bohm tilted her head, slightly surprised. She looked Su Ling up and down, as if unsure.
“Um… but, Miss Su Ling, aren’t you supposed to be on Miss Tii’s side?” Bohm lowered her head, but her eyes still peeked toward her. “Phil treated Miss Tii so horribly… I think her disappearing might actually be a good thing…”
“You…”
Su Ling’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at Bohm in disbelief.
Though she didn’t know Bohm very well, in the time since arriving at the castle, Bohm had always struck her as a timid, soft-spoken girl. For her to say something so sharp—it was completely unlike the Bohm, Su Ling thought she knew.
“Or… or maybe even though Miss Tii’s been so kind to you, you still prefer to support Phil instead…” Bohm clutched her broom tightly, curling in on herself. Her accusatory tone created an unexpected sense of pressure.
“This isn’t about choosing sides!” Su Ling suddenly felt an irritation rise within her. “She was someone we lived and worked with every day—and now she’s just… gone. Bohm, do you really think that’s a good thing?”
“You were serious about what you just said?”
Bohm looked startled by Su Ling’s reaction and took a cautious step back, gripping her broom even tighter.
“So this is what kind of person you are, Miss Su Ling…” she muttered, as if speaking to herself—but loud enough for Su Ling to hear.
Just then, the clock tower outside Hailuosen Castle rang out.
Su Ling looked toward the window and realized it was time to head to Sista’s room.
“Sorry, I have to go.” She didn’t respond to Bohm’s final words—just left that sentence hanging in the air and hurried off toward Heather’s quarters, with no time to unpack what Bohm’s comments really meant.