Chapter 46: Mia and Esmeralda’s Sleepless Night

I won’t stand for this! No I will not!

Esmeralda grunted in displeasure as she spooned more of Nina’s special seafood stew into her mouth. The fullmoon palm fruit’s juice imparted a tasty zest to the sea salt seasoning, further enriched by the sprinkle of Nina’s magic spice powder. A pleasing aroma filled her nose as the hot soup flowed down her throat and warmed her body. Coupled with the greens that Mia had brought back, which were boiled to perfection as well, the stew proved tastier than most meals provided by your standard local inn.

That was all well and good. As a maid serving the Greenmoons, this level of culinary competence was simply expected. Esmeralda’s grievance lay elsewhere, namely...

How come no one’s complimenting me on the cooking?

The accomplishments of attendants belonged to their masters. Since Nina had produced tasty cuisine, as her mistress, Esmeralda deserved recognition. Yet to her frustration, everybody just kept commending Nina for the cooking. No one spared a word of praise for Esmeralda.

This is not right! It simply is not!

To her credit, Esmeralda had actually helped with the cooking, albeit reluctantly. It was bad enough that the two princes had involved themselves with the grunt work, but even Mia had gotten her hands dirty, leaving Esmeralda with no choice but to join in. And sweet moons, the girl had worked so hard. Had Mia possessed the good sense to slack off, then Esmeralda could have offered a pointed “Surely, such work is below ladies of noble blood such as us” here and a dissenting “Let’s leave the physical labor to the boys” there. But with Mia, her superior in rank and junior in age, fully committed to helping out, she had no excuse to do otherwise. As a result, the vector of her irritation naturally pointed toward Mia.

She’s always like this! We’re nobles, for the moons’ sake! We’re supposed to watch the lowly peasants work for us, and take pride in it! That’s how the tradition goes!

Tradition and custom governed the behavior of high-ranking nobles, and thus did they govern hers. There was a properness to it. A dignity with which those of elevated blood were expected to carry themselves. To someone who’d had such beliefs ingrained in her from a young age, the way Mia behaved was nothing short of perplexing. From the way she remembered the names of all her attendants to the eagerness she displayed when doing menial, tiresome chores, it was all very confounding. In Esmeralda’s eyes, Mia was like a walking enigma, one without a shred of common sense and a strong propensity to debase her person and princessly station.

And because of her nonsense, I’m stuck doing the same... Ugh, what a terrible bother.

Her anger continued to simmer throughout the evening, following her into her crude cot. The rest of the group, having exerted themselves figuring out how to live on an unfamiliar island, fell into a swift and weary slumber. She was left to brood on her own, any hint of sleepiness dispelled by her foul mood.

“...I can’t sleep. Ugh, I can’t sleep at all! Maybe I should take a walk...”

She sat up and blinked, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Seeing that everyone was sound asleep, she nodded contentedly and got to her feet. After taking a few steps toward the cavern entrance, she suddenly stopped.

“...That reminds me, didn’t they say something about not going any deeper into this cave?”

She recalled the warning from Sion and Keithwood with a mischievous grin.

“In that case, I think I know exactly where I’m going. That’ll teach them to tell me what I can or cannot do. I am a free and noble soul, and nobody can bind me.”

For the record, they also warned her not to go to the rocky area past the forest, but it was night out, and a free and noble soul like her didn’t appreciate the thought of walking through a forest in the dark. Too spooky. She’d planned to just loiter near the cave entrance for a while, or maybe wander the proximate surroundings at most. If she could stay inside the cave though, it’d be a different story...

With her mind made up, she sneakily tip-toed her way deeper into the cavern. One hand on the rock wall, she walked until she was a good distance away from Mia and the others before letting out a soft but victorious laugh.

“I bet they all thought I wouldn’t dare go any further due to how dark it is here. Well...” She pulled out the pendant that hung around her neck. “Check and mate.”

Embedded in the pendant was a very valuable gem she’d acquired from overseas called arystal. Commonly known as a moonlamp rock, it absorbed sunlight and glowed in the dark.

“I must say though, this cave just keeps going and going, doesn’t it? I do wonder what it’s like deeper in,” she murmured curiously as she steadily proceeded into the lightless depths.

Esmeralda was the type of girl who, if warned against going somewhere, would suddenly be overcome by an urge to do exactly that. It probably ran in the family. The walls steadily narrowed and the ceiling grew low, but she paid these signs no heed, dropping into a half crouch to keep advancing. On and on she went only to discover...nothing at all. There was nothing interesting. Nothing strange.

“Hmph. I thought I’d find something in here...but it’s just rock and empty space.”

Growing bored, she considered turning back, but momentum pushed her to crest what felt like a small hill, whereupon...

“My, now it’s all downhill.”

Grabbing hold of a conveniently sized stalactite nearby, she held up her pendant for light and leaned forward, trying to peer into the descending darkness.

“My...”

She heard a sharp snap—more to the point, felt it through her palm.

“Huh? What? Oh—” And with a long, echoing “Myyyyyyyyy,” she tumbled down the incline.

That night, Mia thought she heard a woman’s cry somewhere in the distance. It sent her imagination into overdrive, conjuring visions of ghosts and phantoms roaming the gloom. Needless to say, sleep wasn’t going to come anytime soon.

“O-Oho ho, how silly of me. Evil cultist specters? That’s obviously nonsense. I just heard the wind. It was the sound of wind, that’s all. It couldn’t possibly be anything else... Hnnngh, Anne, Anne...”

In the end, Mia fell asleep clinging tightly to Anne. She happened to sleep very well. Good for her!

After getting plenty of sleep, Mia woke up the next morning with a sleepy yawn.

“Mmm... Hm... Anne?”

She rubbed her drowsy eyes and blinked a few times. Finding that she couldn’t seem to find her loyal maid, she rubbed her eyes again to clear them.

“...Huh?”

It wasn’t her eyes. Anne wasn’t there. In fact, nobody was.

“My...”

She scratched her head and got up. Narrowing her eyes, she peered around the dim cavern, only to confirm that she was indeed alone.

“How terribly odd... I’m pretty sure Anne was beside me last night— Ah?!”

All of a sudden, memories of last night came rushing back. She recalled the unearthly wail that had echoed in the distance. It had sounded like a human scream. A human scream...on an island that was supposed to be deserted. What in the moons could that have been?

“We’re supposed to be the only ones on this island...aren’t we?”

Had they been mistaken? Maybe they had company. And maybe...it wasn’t quite as human—or as opaque—as she’d like. Evil cultist specters, for example...

“Eek!”

Spooked by the chill that had run up her spine, she gulped. It had felt far too much like the cool touch of a ghostly hand.

“A-Anne... Anne...”

Her voice strained, she whimpered for her maid as she nervously shuffled toward the cave entrance. She couldn’t shout Anne’s name, for that would give away her position, and then...it would know where she was. Or maybe...they would.

“Eeeek! A-Anne! Where are you? Anne...”

Her vision beginning to blur with tears, she poked her head out of the cave’s opening, only to find a fuzzy figure dashing toward her. She almost screamed but caught herself when she realized it was just Anne.

“Milady!”

“A-Anne...”

“Bad news! We— Waaah!”

Anne let out a surprised yelp when Mia all but pounced on her. Nevertheless, she safely caught the lunging form and gently stroked its back.

“What’s wrong, milady? Did you have a bad dream?”

After some tender reassurance, Mia finally retrieved enough of her wits to calm down.

“Wh-Where were you all this time, Anne? And where did everyone else go?”

“Oh, that’s right. I have bad news. It’s best if we wait for everyone to get back before I go over the details, but Miss Esmeralda has disappeared.”

“Huh? Esmeralda disappeared? What do you mean? How?”

Eventually, Sion, Keithwood, and Abel all returned to the cave along with Nina, who explained with a slightly troubled expression, “When I woke up in the morning, milady Esmeralda was nowhere to be found.”