I remained in the confinement cell late into the night.
No windows, no food, just a cold darkness and the dampness seeping from the stone walls.
"Out."
The cell door opened. It was the matron. Behind her stood two guards, holding a few dim oil lamps.
"It's time," she said, her face expressionless. "Go clean the chamber pots."
I understood. They had deliberately separated the two punishments to torment me all night.
I said nothing, just followed them out of the confinement cell.
The courtyard was dead silent. I carried the heavy wooden bucket, collecting the filthy vessels from room to room. Every time I bent down, it was a silent humiliation. Clara and her followers weren't even asleep; they were leaning against their doorframes, arms crossed, gloating at me.
When I passed Lisa's door, I instinctively glanced inside. Lisa was curled up in bed, seemingly asleep. I breathed a small sigh of relief.
By the time I had finally cleaned up all the filth and returned the empty bucket to its place, the first hint of dawn was breaking.
I was not allowed to return to my room but was immediately escorted back to the confinement cell by the guards. The cell door closed again, completely isolating me from the outside world.
On the first day of my confinement, a new face brought me my dinner—a bowl of watery gruel.
It was a small girl, even thinner than me, who looked no older than twelve or thirteen. She wore ill-fitting old clothes and walked with a limp.
She placed the bowl on the floor and was about to linger when the matron's impatient voice sounded from outside the door.
"Hurry up! What are you dawdling for!"
The little girl flinched and quickly left.
The next day, it was she who brought the food again.
As she put down the bowl and was about to turn and leave, I called out to her.
"Wait."
She turned back timidly.
I beckoned her over, knelt, and pointed to her injured ankle. There was an old, festering wound that had been left untreated for so long the surrounding flesh had turned black.
"Don't be afraid," I told her.
Under her terrified but curious gaze, I reached out and placed my palm over her wound. A faint, almost invisible silver light seeped from my fingertips and flowed into her wound.
The black, necrotic flesh slowly dissolved under the silver light, and new flesh grew at a visible rate.
I tore a clean strip of cloth from the lining of my own clothes and carefully bandaged it for her.
She stared at her ankle in shock, then at me, her eyes filled with an incredible light.
"Come back tomorrow," I told her.
On the morning of the third day, when I was released from the confinement cell, I dragged my exhausted body to Lisa's room. I wanted to find her immediately and tell her I was alright.
But when I pushed open the door, I was met with an empty bed.
Lisa… was gone.
A terrible thought exploded in my mind.
I immediately rushed out and ran right into the matron, who was about to begin her morning address.
"Where is Lisa?" I grabbed her arm and demanded. "Where did she go?!"
The matron shook my hand off in disgust, her lifeless eyes on me.
"Lisa felt unwell last night and has been sent to the High Priestess to receive her blessing and purification."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it was like a clap of thunder in my ears.
"Purification?" my voice trembled with anger. "She was just weak! She needed a physician, not some purification!"
"That was the High Priestess's decision," the matron said, a strange curve to her lips. "Are you questioning the authority of the High Priestess?"
She took a step closer, her voice dropping to a low, threatening whisper. "I advise you to mind your own business. It seems three days of confinement haven't taught you the rules here."
I understood. In this castle, any public questioning was useless and would only lead to my own "disappearance" sooner.
I said nothing, just turned and returned to my room, my heart in turmoil.
I had to find Liam!
Just as I was pacing anxiously, at a complete loss, there was a soft knock on the door.
It was Noa, with my breakfast. Her ankle was completely healed, and she walked without a limp.
After she put down the tray, she didn't leave immediately. Instead, she knelt before me with a thud.
"Thank you, Miss Aila."
"Get up," I said, helping her to her feet. "What's your name?"
"My name is Noa, Miss Aila," she said, looking at me, her eyes full of hope. "I heard… you're investigating the missing girls. Please… can you help me find my sister too?"
"Your sister?"
"Yes," she said, taking a red crystal on a red string from her pocket. "My sister's name is Nora. We come from the 'Crimson Rock Tribe,' which is rich in rubies. She was our father's favorite daughter."
She paused, her voice dropping. "I'm an illegitimate child, and I wasn't welcome in the tribe. It was my sister… who secretly brought me to Winterfang. She said at least I could have something to eat here. We never dared to acknowledge each other publicly. I just took care of her as her maid. But a while ago, they said she had gone mad, and then… she disappeared. This is the only thing she left me."
I immediately thought of the mad girl Liam had mentioned during his investigation. So, this was Nora's sister.
"Noa," I said, looking at her solemnly, "I need you to do me a favor."
Noa nodded without hesitation. "I'll do anything to find my sister."
Half an hour later, the water-carrying party passed by the outer fence of the courtyard. Ulf, on patrol, was striding towards them from the other end.
Noa, walking at the very end of the line, "accidentally" slipped as she passed Ulf, spilling her bucket of water.
As she bent down to clean up, she, with incredible speed, slipped a note I had written into a gap in Ulf's cold gauntlet.
The note was hastily scrawled:
"Courtyard, midnight, urgent. Please arrange a meeting with Lord Liam for me. —Aila"
At midnight, in the abandoned courtyard, the moonlight was like frost.
With Ulf's help, I had successfully evaded the courtyard's surveillance. Liam was already waiting there, his face full of anxiety.
"Aila, how did you get out? It's too dangerous!" he said, striding forward. "My uncle has me under house arrest in the military intelligence office. If Ulf hadn't summoned me under the pretense of 'urgent military intelligence,' I wouldn't have been able to leave. I tried to see you, but the courtyard guards stopped me."
"I don't have time, Liam," I cut him off, telling him everything about Lisa's disappearance. "From Nora going mad, to the matron being silenced, to Lisa today… they're disappearing one by one! Every day we wait, another girl might be gone forever. You promised me!"
Liam's face was filled with guilt.
"I'm sorry, Aila," his voice was full of frustration. "I failed. I found Nora. She was locked up in a secluded room in the courtyard, and her mind was completely broken."
"From her ramblings, I managed to get some clues about a 'black rune' and a 'shrine.' She said… she was taken to a cold place, and a priest in a white mask forced her to drink a potion that emitted black smoke, and she saw many twisted faces…"
He paused, his face growing even darker.
"But the next day, Nora completely 'disappeared.' And then, everyone who had been in contact with her… was silenced. The clues… they're all gone."
"No, they're not," I said, looking at him, my gaze firm.
I told him about Noa and placed the red crystal in his palm.
"The 'black rune' Nora mentioned in her madness, I saw it in Creek Valley Village. It's an evil sigil used for sacrifices. The 'old hag' she mentioned, who else could it be but the High Priestess Morgana?"
I paused, then stated my crucial conclusion. "And Lisa, the matron said she was sent to the 'High Priestess' to receive 'blessing and purification.' Liam, don't you see? All the clues point to the same person, the same place!"
Liam's body jolted, as if he had just realized something.
"The Lethe Shrine…" he murmured to himself. "That is Morgana's private sanctuary. No one is allowed to enter except her followers. All the girls… were sent there!"
Just as he reached this conclusion, he seemed to remember something else, and his face grew even more grim. "Aila, on the day I returned, Hakon risked everything to find me."
He looked at me and relayed, word for word, "Hakon said he didn't dare to investigate the shrine any further. But he did look into the files of the people who came from the South… that mute maid, Willow, her registration information is problematic. It seems to have been deliberately altered! She is the only one whose record states that she 'left the castle alive'!"
Willow!
The name was like a key that instantly unlocked all the dead ends. From Willow's disappearance, to the girls in the Moon Shadow Courtyard, to the shrine… there was an unseen hand manipulating everything from behind the scenes.
"You're right, Aila," his expression became incredibly determined. "I've been too cowardly. From Willow to Lisa now… there must be a source to all of this. We have to find out the truth!"
"Our target—the Lethe Shrine," Liam said, enunciating each word.
The two of us reached an agreement under the moon, unaware that in the dark shadows of the abandoned tower above the courtyard, a pair of malicious eyes had seen everything.
It was Clara.
Ever since I had publicly humiliated her, she had been secretly watching my every move, trying to find something to use against me.
She looked at us plotting in the courtyard below, a vicious smile on her face. Without a sound, like a cat, she slipped back into the darkness and ran towards Barton's study.
In the Regent's study, the fire in the hearth still burned.
After listening to Clara's embellished report, a triumphant smile appeared on Barton's face.
He had been waiting for an opportunity to "catch them in the act," an opportunity to expose Aila and Liam's ambiguous relationship to the public and to justifiably convict Aila.
Now, that opportunity had arrived.
"Well done, Clara," he said, taking a necklace studded with small gems from a velvet pouch and rewarding her. "You have done a great service to the North by rooting out this traitor."
Clara, ecstatic, took the reward and left, showering him with thanks.
Only Barton remained in the study.
He walked to the window and looked out towards the Moon Shadow Courtyard, a cold curve to his lips.
Investigating the shrine? A secret midnight rendezvous?
There could be no better crimes.
He knew it was time to close the net.