( The royal maid outside Lin Mu's room's POV )
The Royal Maid brought out her brightest fake smile when she saw the old Royal Counselor walking towards Lin Mu's room, a few minutes ago.
At that time, she appeared to be cheery and purposefully plumped her breasts up so that it may catch his eye, as although she hated the man himself, she acknowledged the fact that her fortunes could indeed turn overnight if he took a fancy to her.
Unfortunately for her however, the Royal Counselor had no interest in her, as his mind was completely occupied with Lin Mu as he walked into her room without even paying the Royal Maid any attention.
'Tch, Lecherous Bastard….' thought the Royal Maid as she felt pissed about the fact that despite her trying to make herself appealing to him, the old man did not even spare her a glance.
She was a hypocrite, one who loathed the pervy old man for his lecherous ways, however, was also ready to sell herself to him, for a shot at a better life.
Seething with anger, she sat outside Lin Mu's room with cross hands, hoping that the old man got a limp and was unable to perform at all tonight.
Minutes passed by and the room felt awfully quiet to her. The loud moans she expected to hear were never audible as despite trying her best, she could not hear anything that happened within the room.
'It's already been 40 minutes…. Can the old man even last this long even if he's going for a fourth round?' The Royal Maid wondered, as she feared that the old counselor might have fallen asleep on Lin Mu's bed itself, opening the doors for a political scandal if he was caught leaving the room early morning tomorrow.
Then, almost suddenly, a shrill scream pierced through the door, slicing through the silence like a hot knife.
*KYAAAAAAA-*
For a moment, the Royal Maid's eyes widened with shock, as she could not even imagine what perverse thing the old counselor was subjecting Lin Mu to for her to scream so loud.
Initially she was hesitant to interfere, however, as the scream continued for over a minute, she finally started feeling uneasy.
The scream was not a normal sounding cry of pain, it sounded more like someone shrieking out in pure horror, as her heart pounded wildly in her chest.
She stood frozen with fear, hesitating to touch the door handle, afraid she might walk in on the Royal Counselor brutalizing Lin Mu. But the harrowing cry did not stop, and the bloodcurdling fear behind it finally broke through her nerves.
Unlocking the door with her key, she took a peek inside as her eyes scanned the dimly lit room.
Initially she expected to see the saggy naked butt of the old man, however, she was instead attacked with the metallic stench of blood and the horrid image of a mangled corpse lying in a pool of blood, causing her to gasp and forcing her to choke back bile.
Swinging the door open, she took a better look at the room, realizing that blood was everywhere inside it, staining the walls and pooling on the floor around the mangled corpse of the Royal Counselor.
Inside, Lin Mu sat on the bed, semi-naked, her face twisted in terror as she screamed uncontrollably, tears streaming down her cheeks.
As the Royal Maid stumbled into the room, hand over her mouth, taking a couple of hesitant steps toward the bloody spectacle before freezing in place. A soft thud sounded behind her, and she turned slowly to see a hooded figure standing by the door, his back turned to her.
The silhouette, draped in shadows, seemed imposing and familiar, but the maid could not see the intruder's face as it was at that moment that Lin Mu's voice rang out, trembling and accusatory, "That's Ben Faulkner!"
The Royal Maid felt the blood drain from her face as the name sank in, the weight of the implication settling heavily on her shoulders.
Ben Faulkner, the legendary elusive rogue of the Night Guild, had somehow infiltrated the palace and left the Royal Counselor in a heap of gore.
The King Slayer was back! Striking the most strategic mind in the entire empire this time, as he killed him even more brutal than he killed the crown prince.
The Royal Maid stood rooted to the spot, trembling in fear as the black hooded figure darted away, slipping into the corridor and disappearing into the shadows with ease.
"INTRUDER…. THERE'S AN INTRUDER….MURDER!
THERE HAS BEEN A MURDER" She finally screamed, coming back to her senses as she ran out of the room to look for help, however, with the Royal having already made it so that no guards were patrolling this particular corridor tonight, to save him from a political conspiracy, the maid found no-one immediately around these parts as she rushed back into the room instead.
Looking towards Lin Mu, and then towards the window on the other side of the room, the maid rushed past the bed and opened the window to scream out of it.
Meanwhile, Lin Mu herself continued to scream and sob uncontrollably, her hands shaking as she pulled her blanket closer to her chest, keeping up the act of being a victim in this scenario.
For a long moment, the Royal Maid could only stare, horror etched on her features as the blood-soaked scene unfurled before her eyes, however, thankfully as she screamed out of the window, royal guards rushed to the scene and within minutes the entire room was filled by either Virex Corps members or the palace guards.
"Inform the men to man the walls well, even if Ben Faulkner has managed to slip into the palace, make sure that he doesn't slip back out-" The Virex Corps commander said, as a castle-wide man-hunt began.
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/// A/N - This is a bonus chapter for hitting the Power stones target, good job everyone! ///