The Runaway Maid is Loved by the Archmage - Chapter 60
It was Lutan. Roina opened and closed her mouth slightly before shutting it again. Though she was still surprised, her curiosity about Lutan’s words outweighed it.
Lutan stood leaning against the doorway, his long hair cascading down. Upon seeing him, Maili’s expression noticeably darkened with displeasure.
“Eavesdropping on other people’s conversations—how very elegant of the Great Archmage.”
“To think that a conversation held within the Magic Tower wouldn’t reach the Great Archmage’s ears… You must have neglected your history studies back in the Academy.”
Maili looked indignant but didn’t say much. Seeing her reaction, Roina thought that perhaps it was because Lutan’s words were true.
Lutan rubbed his forehead with a slightly weary expression before stepping forward and settling into an empty chair.
“The reports about His Majesty being critically ill are undoubtedly false.”
“What? Just how much do you know?”
Maili grumbled, but Roina remained silent.
According to the original story she knew, the heroine, who had transmigrated into Veronica’s body, would treat the supposedly ailing Emperor. That event would lead to her entanglement with the Imperial Crown Prince.
The heroine would be blamed for healing the tyrannical Emperor, yet at the same time, she would feel a complicated mix of resentment and gratitude toward him, simply because he was her father.
“Though it has been some time since I last had direct contact, His Majesty acted as a father figure to me in place of my own. Naturally, I have been keeping a close watch on his condition.”
As he spoke, he gave a slight flick of his hand, and a small white bird fluttered over, perching on his fingertip. It quickly chattered something before vanishing into thin air. It was magic.
Roina recognized it—it was the same bird she saw every morning. It must have been something akin to a messenger.
Lutan furrowed his brows in concentration as if reading the message it had delivered, then spoke.
“After everything he has done to Roina, I already had my suspicions, but I didn’t expect it to have reached this extent. Having delved into forbidden magic, he is now losing his ability to make rational decisions and is crossing lines he never should have.
The Emperor has been imprisoned.”
“What I found out aligns with that.”
Maili hesitated for a moment, debating whether to share this much information. She was likely worried that Roina would get caught up in it. However, Roina’s expression remained composed, her determination clear—she intended to hear everything.
Seeing this, Maili inwardly smiled.
She was strong. Even if she had been burned to the ground, her core remained unyielding. Maili liked that about her.
Roina was someone who shone despite being born in the mud and enduring countless hardships.
She simply didn’t want Roina to burn away completely—she wanted her to regain her light.
That was why she had persistently sought her out, followed her around, and tried to provoke her.
“No one has been granted an audience with the Emperor or spoken to him directly. That struck me as odd, so Joseph—oh, Joseph is my younger brother. I’ll introduce you to him soon.
…Actually, he had already begun investigating on his own.
Most of his informants have either died or lost contact, making it difficult to get close, but… we recently obtained information that hallucinogens have been brought into the Imperial Palace.”
“Hallucinogens?”
“Yeah. And in amounts too frequent for it to be just a painkiller.”
Roina was taken aback by this completely unexpected revelation. No matter how much she searched her memory, the original heroine had never saved the Emperor from drug addiction.
In the novel she had read, the heroine had only used her knowledge from before transmigrating to recognize the side effects of the Emperor’s misused medication and acted swiftly to save his life.
“We can’t just stand by and watch the current Imperial Crown Prince any longer. He has long since crossed the line.”
“I see. So you’ve now fully made up your mind to bring him down?”
Maili nodded grimly, muttering under her breath, “I told you before, didn’t I?”
“Our domain is far from the capital, which works to our advantage. His Majesty the Emperor never forgot to keep our family in check, but once the Imperial Crown Prince took control, his surveillance actually loosened.
I was a hostage in all but name, but now I’ve managed to slip free.
The Imperial Crown Prince isn’t a fool—once he comes to his senses, he’ll immediately move to tighten his grip on us. But for now, he’s too preoccupied with seizing the Emperor’s power and making it his own.
After all, this isn’t a proper succession.”
Lutan gave Maili a look, silently urging her to continue.
“At first, I just wanted to get revenge for Roina. But the more I watched, the more I realized… this bastard should never be Emperor. So what choice do I have?”
We have to fight.
As Maili spoke, she was like a blade honed to a razor’s edge.
She still had a tendency to charge ahead without hesitation, igniting like wildfire, but even if she were to inherit the title of lord right now, Roina had no doubt she would handle it well.
She saw Maili in a new light. The meekness she had seemed to possess back in the Imperial Palace, when she had played the role of a lady-in-waiting, had never suited her in the first place.
But then, Roina recalled the Veronica she had met before.
She had seemed to dislike her, but she had been a young and beautiful girl.
What had happened to that person’s consciousness? Had she died, just like Roina’s original self had, due to some unknown incident?
The situation was entirely different from the original story, but the Emperor was still critically ill.
If the heroine were to transmigrate now, how would the story unfold?
‘Then what happens to the current heroine?’
Roina gazed down at the teacup before her, lost in thought.
Though she had not touched it, the surface of the tea quivered with faint ripples, as if reflecting her deepening concerns.
