Meanwhile, an unassuming wolf maid hid behind a tree, watching everything unfold.
Leah had been trying to attend to Mistress Sisi since dawn, but she had been repeatedly brushed aside. Sisi only instructed her to bring tea and snacks, then told her to stand quietly beside the pavilion for a long time.
Leah felt she should have been doing more to earn Sisi's trust, yet Sisi remained guarded around her.
In fact, when the little prince arrived at the courtyard, Sisi told her to leave the pavilion altogether and stand near the main building instead. That left Leah with no opportunity to curry favor with the prince and no chance to slowly make the boy grow fond of her.
So when Vestor arrived at the Queen's courtyard, Leah seized the opportunity. She slipped into the pavilion unnoticed, then quietly followed him to the training grounds, driven by curiosity about the rumors she had heard that morning—that Mistress Sisi was a witch.
What she witnessed there chilled her to the bone.
