Chapter 7

"……Late"

In the dark room, one person was waiting.

She felt something was wrong with her missing companion, who should have returned by now.

The job was to be done quickly and accurately.

No need for fun or entertainment.

After killing a palace maid, she should return immediately... doing anything unnecessary that might leave traces was not allowed.

This was the rule of the task.

"……Could it be?"

...Something must have happened.

She looked down at the headless torso lying on the floor in front of her.

If, by some mistake, the head couldn't return here... she needed to quickly retrieve this body and leave.

Just as she thought this—

The door of the room where she was hiding—supposedly locked from the inside so it couldn't be opened from the outside—was forcibly opened.

"!!"

No, it wasn't opened—it was destroyed.

Something with incredible force had blown the door from the corridor into the room.

"Ah!"

While protecting herself from the flying door, she looked towards the entrance.

"Of course, it was here."

Standing there were Koi and Bakurai.

Koi, looking around the room and seeing her, frowned.

"It's you... 'Deputy Head Maid'"

"You... you are..."

Looking up at Koi, illuminated by the moonlight, the Deputy Head Maid of the Flame Ox Palace revealed her surprise.

"……"

Koi looked around the room they had reached.

A storage room on the outskirts of the Flame Ox Palace, which had been left unused and untouched by anyone during the day.

Yes, this was the room that Koi had cleaned and brought back to life.

"…Bakurai"

"Yeah. That's a eunuch's outfit."

The headless body lying next to the Deputy Head Maid was wearing a eunuch's clothes.

It was the main body of the flying head.

So, it had infiltrated the palace as a eunuch.

Or perhaps it had become a demon after serving in the palace...

"I see... you used this room as your base of operations."

"It was perfect for hiding and doing something. It was a dirty, unused storage room."

"How... how did you know it was here!"

At this, the Deputy Head Maid revealed her frustration.

"Could it be... you interrogated this one and made him talk..."

"No, he committed suicide before we could ask him anything."

Koi explained to the Deputy Head Maid, who glanced at the eunuch.

As she had said, this room was the hiding place of the body of the flying head, the culprit behind the series of maid murders.

The fact that Koi was made to clean this room might have been to avoid suspicion that it was a base of operations.

An unused, unvisited place—such a place would be the first to be suspected in an investigation. They probably wanted to create the impression that it was a place that was regularly cared for by the palace staff.

So, they used a maid to do the cleaning, which should have been impossible for one person to do.

However, the miscalculation was that Koi had come.

Koi had cleaned the garbage-filled storage room in just one day.

But, they couldn't immediately change the location they had been using smoothly.

So, they had to use this room as their base of operations tonight as well, and that's why they were hiding here.

"If he committed suicide... how did you find this place!"

"By catching the head of the flying head and noticing a strange stain on its neck after it committed suicide."

Koi pointed to her own neck.

There was a slightly brownish pigment on the neck of the flying head.

"I was repairing the sun-damaged floor with walnuts during the day. After lying on my back and removing my head, the walnut pigment must have stuck to my neck."

"……Such a thing..."

Hearing this, the Deputy Head Maid gritted her teeth and looked down.

"The purpose was... to continue attacking the maids and make the Flame Ox Palace seem unstable and dangerous to the emperor. By doing so, you were trying to prevent the emperor from transferring to Jin Hua Fei. And, if possible, you were also aiming to assassinate Jin Hua Fei herself."

"……"

"Who is the mastermind? Another concubine... or a noble from another state?"

"……Damn!"

Suddenly, the head of the Deputy Head Maid flew towards Bakurai.

It seemed she was also a flying head.

With sharp fangs bared, her head flew towards Bakurai.

But Koi had already anticipated this.

She leaped in front of Bakurai, drew her arm back—

"Go!"

She slapped the incoming head of the Deputy Head Maid with all her might.

"Smack!"

The head, struck by the blow, hit the makeshift shelf Koi had built during the day and fell.

The stored items collapsed, and the head was buried under them.

"Good."

Bakurai pulled the unconscious head of the Deputy Head Maid from under the pile of items and firmly caught it with both hands.

"The capture is complete."

◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

Thus, the culprit behind the mysterious series of maid murders that had shaken the Flame Ox Palace was successfully arrested.

However, the case was not yet fully resolved.

They needed to interrogate the Deputy Head Maid to get her to reveal her purpose and whether there was a mastermind.

But that was the job of specialized agencies.

Koi and Bakurai's job was done up to this point.

"…You both have done well."

Early morning.

Koi and Bakurai were in the office of the Head of the Inner Palace.

They were there to report to Mizu.

After hearing the report, Mizu quickly wrote on the documents on his desk and said,

"Here are the copies of the report on this incident."

He handed a document to each of them.

As with Koi's cleaning yesterday, the work and achievements of individuals in the palace were properly recorded, even for the lowest-ranking servants.

(…Wow! A 5-star rating!)

This incident was considered a great achievement, and Koi received a 5-star rating from Mizu.

This rating system determined promotions and raises... though it didn't matter much to Koi.

"You did well, Bakurai."

"…Yeah."

The two left the office and walked down the corridor.

It was already morning.

The palace was already bustling.

Koi would soon have to return to her duties as a maid.

"However, I didn't expect to receive a 5-star rating twice in one day. Ah, but the first rating was given by the Deputy Head Maid. Is that still valid?"

"Hey, how old are you?"

Suddenly, Bakurai asked Koi.

"Huh?"

"How old are you?"

Why ask about age now?

Koi thought, but she answered.

"16."

"Huh, not much different from me. You can call me by my name. And no need for formal language."

"But, well, Bakurai is older..."

"It's fine. We'll be working together for a while. No need to be so formal."

Bakurai said this while looking forward.

It seemed he had a certain respect for Koi.

He was rough and simple... and a gorilla, but he seemed to be honest and basically a good person.

"Oh, by the way, Koi. That—"

Just then, Bakurai seemed to remember something—

"Panda!"

"Whoa!"

Something flew from the eaves of the garden and hit Bakurai's face.

"Oh, it's the baby panda!"

It was the baby panda they had found in the bamboo grove that night.

It used Bakurai's head as a stepping stone and clung to Koi's body again.

"Panda, panda!"

"Yeah, it's you, it's you! What the heck is this thing!?"

"Well… I don't know either."

Really… why is there a panda in the palace garden?

A wild panda? If so, there must be a parent around?

And it says "panda, panda"...

There are endless questions, but Koi had to go to work, so she decided to return to the maid's dormitory with the panda.