The knights flinched and came to a halt at Caradoc’s imposing presence.
In terms of physique, skill, and strength, few could match him.
Seeing the situation in the arena at a standstill, King Vortigern raised his voice once more.
“Sir Caradoc! Are you defying my orders now? This is treason!”
“No, Your Majesty!”
Caradoc swiftly drew his sword from his waist.
While others would need both hands to wield such a thick, massive sword, he held it effortlessly in one hand and shouted,
“I have devoted my life to protecting Britain, not for Your Majesty, but for Britain itself!”
“How dare you prioritize Britain over your King?”
“If Your Majesty intends to destroy Britain, I will gladly stand against you.
While he drew everyone’s attention, Cadric peeked out from behind the door and gestured.
“Miss Morgana! Over here, here!”
“Cadric!”
Quickly, Morgana slipped inside the door, where several knights from the House of Equator were already positioned.
At Cadric’s signal, they firmly stood behind Caradoc, who was blocking the door.
They just needed to hold out until they could steal the painting from the main palace.
Once again, a loud boom echoed from the main palace.
Morgana counted the explosions with her fingers.
‘In the original, there were five explosions. Only one remains.’
Cadric glanced around and then swiftly moved forward.
“I’ll guide you to the main palace! Follow me this way!”
Most of the palace servants had gone to watch the jousting tournament, leaving the interior relatively quiet, save for a few guards.
Cadric straightened his back and checked his attire.
Morgana, too, lightly tidied her disheveled hair from running and then nonchalantly headed towards the entrance of the main palace.
The passing maids merely greeted them, seemingly engrossed in their gossip.
“Earlier, when I was passing by the prince’s palace, I saw a man in a robe almost flying as he leaped along the walls.”
“Leaping along the walls…?”
“Yes. It was so strange that I reported it to the guards, but it seems he got away.”
“That’s scary. Was that strange loud noise earlier also from him?”
Cadric, who had subtly stepped aside for the maids leaving the palace, naturally informed the guards.
“I’m here on my father’s errand.”
“Ah, young Lord Equator? Please go ahead.”
The distance between the main palace and the arena was quite considerable.
If one came through the main gate instead of the back door, it took twice as long because one had to go around the arena.
Because of this, it seemed that King Vortigern’s orders had not yet reached the inner palace.
With a gentle smile, Morgana walked in gracefully alongside Cadric, but the moment they were out of the guards’ sight, she started running like mad again.
‘Running in Avalon, running in Britain. This is some serious stamina training!’
Morgana wiped the sweat that had reached her chin and climbed the stairs with anger.
‘This damn luxury is the problem. The mansion is the same, couldn’t they have built the ceilings a bit lower?!’
The main palace, which included the Great Hall for receiving guests, was three times the height of a normal mansion.
Consequently, the number of stairs per floor was not ordinary.
Unlike the exhausted her, Cadric seemed sprightly, perhaps because he was young.
Or maybe it was the knight family heritage.
“Just a little further to go! Hang in there, Lady Morgana!”
His clenched fists and restless cheering were adorably out of place with the situation.
Morgana grasped the stair railing, catching her breath.
“Whew, huff… Cadric is definitely going to participate in the equestrian tournament next year. Even if he doesn’t win, I’m sure he’ll at least make it to the semifinals.
“Really? Then I should start training right away!”
For a brief moment, the light conversation lifted the mood, but it didn’t last long.
The sound of knights rushing up from the lower floors echoed through the stairwell.
“The king has ordered the capture of a maid. I thought I was going to die running to the main gate.”
“Gasp, she just went in. What’s her crime?”
“Don’t know. We were just told to capture her. Everyone, spread out and find her!”
The thundering sound of footsteps grew louder, and Morgana, barely catching her breath, started running again.
It seemed that instead of heading to the back door guarded by Caradoc, they had circled around to the main entrance.
Cadric, who was ahead, peeked out to check if the knights were coming up the middle of the staircase.
As the legs of the knights became visible from the lower floor, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, he urgently said,
“The office is on the 3rd floor. Just a little further up!”
Just as they were about to pass the 2nd floor and head to the 3rd, a guard at the end of the hallway spotted them and shouted,
“They’re here!”
Cadric drew his sword and pushed Morgana’s back.
“On the 3rd floor, take the right hallway. There’s a door with a gold frame—it’s His Majesty’s office!”
“Thank you, I hope you don’t get hurt!”
“We have plenty of herbs. My father bought a lot.”
He chuckled awkwardly, then rushed off to hold off the guards.
Upon reaching the 3rd floor and heading to the right hallway as he had said, there was indeed a single, grand, and massive door.
‘This must be it!’
With a creak, the heavy door opened, revealing a spacious and tidy office.
The bookshelves lining the walls and the large desk in the center were exactly as described in the original story.
‘Then it must be somewhere here…’
Morgana approached the bookshelf closest to the chair and began fumbling around with his whole body.
‘It said there’s a gap in the bookshelf, but where is it?’
In her haste, she couldn’t spot it right away. The only gap she could see was between the wall and the bookshelf.
‘Could it be…?’
Morgana pushed the bookshelf sideways with all her might using both hands.
“Ugh…”
As she applied force, the bookshelf slid with a heavy, rumbling sound, overlapping behind the adjacent bookshelf.
Morgana leaned crookedly against the wall and wiped the sweat dripping from her forehead.
“For a hiding place, this is surprisingly nice, isn’t it?”
The space she had thought was a wall revealed a room as large as a living room once the bookshelf disappeared.
On the wall directly facing her hung a massive painting.
To anyone, it looked like a scribble, but given the esteemed treatment it received, it was clearly one of Alex’s forgeries.
‘So this is what art appreciation is like.’
She had rushed here just to see this one piece, and now she couldn’t help but feel deeply moved.
Morgana strode into the room, stretching her arms out into the air.
“Open it up, and there it is! Perfectly placed for viewing.”
She clicked her tongue as she looked at the painting, still unable to make out its form.
“It’s not much different from a painting I could have made!”
If it turned out to be a hidden summoning circle, it wouldn’t be just a simple painting, but to the untrained eye, it really didn’t look any different.
Really. The 13th and final forgery was closer to a scribble, hastily dabbed with a brush.
Morgana frowned as she looked up at the enormous painting, large enough that she had to tilt her head back to see it all.
“How am I supposed to take this with me?”
She grunted, trying to lower the frame, but it didn’t budge easily, given its grand size.
Even with her face turning red from the effort, it seemed impossible without a crowbar.
Lifting it alone, like Lily could, was out of the question unless she was prepared to be crushed.
So, Morgana gave up cleanly.
“Didn’t Lord Aide say it’s okay to break it?”
Let’s just break it, then.
After dismantling the frame, I planned to take only the painting to Aide.
Morgana immediately rolled up her sleeves and lightly rotated her shoulders, neck, and feet, stretching.
“I have a bit of a knack for causing havoc, you know.”
Even before the possession, Morgana wasn’t this big, but she had a history of breaking frames in Fay.
Having also seen Morgause throwing sins, her audiovisual training was more than sufficient.
Grabbing a chair nearby, Morgana hurled it without hesitation towards the painting.
With a crash, the base of the frame broke, and scratches began to appear on the painting.
“Break, break!”
Morgana swung the chair, thinking the painting was of King Vortigern.
Thud, thud, under the frequent impacts, the painting shook and then, rip, it tore.
Sizzle, dark red sparks began to fly around the painting.
An unpleasant aura was clearly emanating.
“What, what is this?”
Flustered, Morgana belatedly tried to find a summoning circle in the painting, but this time, she couldn’t sense anything.
Well, there was no other choice.
“What can I do?”
Morgana swung the chair, sparks flying or not.
‘Anyway, I have the power, if it doesn’t work, I’ll just sacrifice a hand and take it, then heal it, whatever.’
Crack, as she swung the chair, the frame of the painting gradually lost its balance on the wall and tilted.
Soon, it fell to the floor with a loud, rough crashing sound.
Sizzle, the large dark red light that shot up, soon emitted black smoke on the carpet and calmed down.
Breathing heavily with satisfaction, Morgana quickly brushed off the debris of the frame and picked up the torn pieces of the painting.
She then pushed the bookshelf closed and swiftly exited the office.
At the same time, she ran into knights rushing from the end of the hallway.
A very brief silence passed between them, and then, boom! The fifth explosion sounded.
Only then did the knight shout in surprise.
“It’s that maid!”
As soon as he pointed with his hand, Morgana immediately turned around and ran.
As they descended the stairs they had just climbed, they saw Cadric’s back, holding his ground by blocking the guards with his scabbard.
“Cadric!”
“Ah, Miss Morgana?”
Despite holding back so many people from passing, he showed no sign of strain.
Instead, with a grunt of effort, he pushed the guards back all at once.
“Let’s get down! I’ll cover you!”
Morgana nodded in a daze, watching the knights tangle together, groaning and unable to get up.
“Cadric…you really are the son of Sir Caradoc.”
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