The Soul Reborn: From Silence to Sovereignty Chapter 61

Chapter 61: In My Garden, Snakes Don’t Survive

The next morning after that dreaded letter had arrived, I was still fuming. Damn royalty, always trying to enforce their will onto others.

I stood by the window overlooking the training yard, arms crossed, my robe pulled tightly over my bump like armor. The sky was clear, the courtyard peaceful, and all I could think about was the imaginary face of a smug, entitled royal advisor strolling into my home like he had the right to be here.

I turned sharply and declared, “I’m going to be honest with you, Noah.”

He smirked knowingly, almost like he had figured out my next words. “That’s always dangerous, but I’m already in.”

“Of course you are!” I stuck my tongue out at his provocation. “If this royal advisor annoys me too much, if he gets too close, talks down to me, asks for too much information on stuff he doesn’t need to know…”

“You’ll what?” He asked, amused.

“I’m going to introduce him to Bors on a much more intimate level.”

Noah blinked. “Well… that should be interesting.”

“I’m not saying I’ll kill him,” I muttered while pacing. “Just make him rethink every life choice that led him to breathe near me.”

“I think Bors would enjoy that type of bonding.”

“Oh, he absolutely would,” I agreed with a bright smile.

I spun back around. “Here’s the real question: how do they even know what we’re doing up here? Why is the school we only started building recently already on their radar? Unless…” I narrowed my eyes. "We’ve already been infiltrated!”

Noah set his papers aside. “It’s possible. The information might be slipping through letters or passed along by merchants and nobles with family in the capital.”

I couldn’t help but bring up the elephant in the room and what I feared the most. “What about maids!” I’ve been negligent recently, not paying attention to those backstabbers. “It’s in their nature to turn on their masters, especially with a little incentive.”

“Here we go…” Noah actually chuckled at my words.

I might have brought this up a few too many times in the past, but not without reason. Since nothing’s happened lately with the staff we’ve hired, he probably thinks I’m just going off on another one of my paranoid rants.

“No! Listen to me, Noah. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… Maids are evil!”

He coughed into his hand, clearly trying not to laugh. “Listen, Sera, I love you, but we’re nobles, and we need maids. How else can we take care of such a big castle? You’re a noblewoman married to an archduke; it’s a necessity.”

"The only one I trust is her," I said, nodding toward the door where Livia was probably eavesdropping. "She’s the exception. The rest… They’re all pretenders. One of them is behind this—I can feel it."

“We need proof, like when you first arrived and took care of those maids who looked down on you far too much. Is there any?” Noah suggested.

“I have a gut feeling about this, and that’s better than any proof.”

Noah walked over and gently placed his hand on my waist. “Then we can investigate, quietly. I’ll get my shadows to monitor the staff’s communications. Livia can also keep a lookout for any maids acting suspiciously.”

“We must go full-on surveillance,” I muttered. “No one leaves this castle without being watched. If even one of them has been whispering to the capital, I want them caught and interrogated thoroughly.”

“I can’t help feeling a certain way when I see you acting like this.” Noah commented as he wrapped his arms around my body.

“What can I say? I’m protective.” I said seriously as Noah tried to flirt with me more than listen to any more talk about maids.

“I love you.”

“Of course you do.” I said nonchalantly, matching his atmosphere.

After we stood in silence for a moment, the fire between us settled into warm embers, but beneath it, my nerves were still buzzing.

“They’re trying to undermine us before we even finish,” I whispered. “They have at least one viper in our garden.”

Noah tightened his hold. “Then we show them that in the North, snakes get frozen.”

I leaned into him, letting his presence quiet the chaos in my mind for just a moment, though a flicker of irritation still lingered at how easily Noah seemed to trust the maids.

“We can’t afford to be reactive anymore,” I said. “It’s far more efficient to get ahead of any possible action in the future. If they want to observe us, fine. But we decide what they can see, scripting it like a show.”

He nodded. “You want to trap them in your narrative.”

“Exactly,” I whispered with confidence. “They want to monitor a region that’s growing out of their control? Then let them watch us thrive until it terrifies them.”

"What fate do you wish for a potential mole?"

“If I find out which one of those silk-aproned traitors has been sending information south,” I said, eyes narrowing, “she won’t just be fired; she’ll become a warning. No one crosses the Archduchy, no matter the bribe or threat.”

Just then, the door opened quietly; only one person has the right to do that without knocking.

Livia stepped inside, as if summoned by thought alone.

“We’ve started pulling the maid rosters,” she said without preamble. “No one leaves the estate without Kellan’s knowledge starting today. I’ve already replaced the ink in the servant wing with ones that vanish after drying. If someone’s writing any letters, they’ll be blank before they reach the messenger.”

I blinked at her.

“You’re so amazing, Livia! This is why you’re the only maid I trust.”

Livia smiled. “I’m fully in agreement with you that one of them is for sure behind this. I’m a true believer in the fact maids are mostly evil.”

I turned to Noah with a smirk, “Right?”

He held up both hands. “I concede, of course I would believe in your gut that seems to always lead us in the right direction. What could possibly go wrong?”

My eyes narrowed at the door. “We’re going to find the mole, and when the royal advisor arrives…”

I smiled dangerously, showing off my teeth.

“…they’re going to regret ever thinking the North could be controlled.”

By mid-morning I was no longer pacing while thinking over my plan; I was now plotting how it would be done.

A large map of the estate had been rolled over the sitting room table, weighed down by teacups and inkpots. Livia stood on one side with her arms crossed, Kellan on the other with his usual stone-faced silence. I sat at the head of the table like a queen at war.

Bors just stood off to the side, not really interacting, as he fully admitted he wasn’t great with his mind.

“All right,” I said, pointing my chalk at the eastern wing. “Who works here?”

“Livia flipped through her records. ‘There are seven rotating maids, two kitchen runners, and a linen manager. Each of them has access to the hallways near your chambers.’”

“What kind of attitudes do they have?” I thought back to the way maids with too much ambition usually act. “Are any of them overly polite?”

Livia stared at me, trying to contemplate my words. “Define polite?”

“They smile way too often, are apologetic with absolutely everything, or look like they might make you a pie while poisoning your tea.”

She flicked her eyes over some names. “That would be Mirna or possibly Dalia.”

“Start watching them closely, with absolutely no alone time near parchment. If one of them so much as scratches their arm to ask for a bandage, assume it’s a ploy to sneak into the infirmary and steal a messenger pigeon.”

Kellan’s brow twitched. “That’s… a creative leap, Your Grace.”

“No one expects the pigeon,” I said darkly, “which is why it’s effective.”

Livia cleared her throat. “What about Serette?”

“Hmm… is she the really quiet one?”

“Yes, she never makes eye contact and only speaks when addressed.”

My eyes narrowed. “Suspicious… people like that are either very obedient or hiding something.”

“Also… Anea,” Livia added, “the one who keeps misplacing her keys.”

“I knew it!” I slapped the table. “No one misplaces their keys three times in a week unless they’re trying to sneak into places they shouldn’t have been.”

Kellan gave Livia a long look. “This is somehow more terrifying than a sword fight.”

“I’m not done yet,” I said, straightening up. “I want traps, lots of them!”

“Traps,” Livia echoed, obviously trying to understand my intentions.

“Yes. We need to plant a lot of bait. Fake letters in my writing, hidden in places only a nosy maid would find. In one, I’ll mention a fictional noble family secretly supporting us. In another, I’ll reference a fake school location near a southern ridge.”

“I see… And once that information leaks to the capital, we’ve got our suspect.” Livia mused, catching on to my intentions.

“Exactly, just make sure to pay attention to who entered what area, and we got them.”

Noah, who’d quietly, entered the room a few minutes ago with a fresh cup of tea for his wife, finally spoke up. “That’s a clever and dangerous plan.”

“High stakes, high rewards,” I said, accepting the cup and sipping delicately. “Besides, if I don’t get ahead of this advisor nonsense, they’ll start thinking I’m passive or, worse, predictable.”

He leaned on the edge of the table beside me. “You really think the mole’s a maid?”

I tilted my head back. “Oh, I know it.”

He glanced at Livia. “What about the possibility of it being a clerk or messenger boy?”

Livia shook her head, “Too low-ranked to get near her notes. The only ones that clean the office, change ink, or handle personal items are maids. “We’ve already cleared the scribes; they don’t even come near the wing unless summoned.”

I tapped the map. “Now we strike!”

Later that evening…

I had Livia personally place three “trap” letters in carefully chosen locations: one in a wardrobe drawer in the sewing room, one tucked beneath my ink in the study, and another left half-hidden in a book inside the library where only cleaning staff were assigned.

Each letter carried different information but would seem valuable to the crown and just false enough to expose the rat.

So… we waited.

For three days, nothing happened.

But on the fourth day, Livia knocked on my door with the sharp-eyed look of a woman who had just caught a rabbit wandering into a fox’s den.

“We got one who took the bait,” Livia said with some excitement.

I smiled with the same joy. “Which letter?”

"It was the one tucked inside the library book."

I asked with curiosity, “Who?”

Livia dropped a folded apron on the table, “Serette.”

I stood slowly, my heart started beating quickly, “So… it was the quiet one.”

“She accessed the restricted shelf and wasn’t even assigned to that area. When confronted, the maid explained how she lost her way.”

I stared down at the apron of the accused like it was soaked in betrayal.

“Bring her to me.”

They brought Serette into the empty salon. Her hands were folded, head bowed, but her spine held straighter than one might expect.

She bowed without looking up, “Archduchess.”

I waved the guards out, keeping only Livia and Noah by my side. Then I stepped forward with Noah standing closely behind just in case.

“You know,” I said casually, “for the longest time I suspected Dalia with all her compliments, or maybe Mirna, who always ran her mouth. But you… you stayed quiet, hiding behind that shy little act just enough to slip under the radar.”

She remained completely still and silent.

“Only problem being,” I continued as I circled her, “in hindsight you should have been my number one suspect.”

Her eyes looked straight back at me, not showing any kind of fear.

I stopped in front and tilted my head.

“Tell me,” I asked sweetly, generally curious, “was it worth it?”

That broke her straight face slightly. Her eyes lifted sharply with defiance. “You’re poisoning the North with ideas that don’t belong here. You think you’re better than the ones who rule over us in the South? Then traditions that we’ve kept through generations.”

“No,” I replied casually. “I know exactly who I am. Someone who actually cares about the people you walk past every day like they’re nothing more than dirt on your shoes. Let me guess, a noble playing dress-up as a maid?”

She once again refused to answer. Makes sense; you wouldn’t want to implicate your house.

I nodded to Livia. “Give her to Kellan and Bors outside; take her to the dungeon.”

Serette paled, maybe finally realizing the situation she was in? “I was only doing what I was told…” She murmured.

“Oh good,” I snapped. “Then you can write your confession with the same fingers you used to steal from me.”

As the door closed behind her, I finally let the mask fall. My shoulders slumped, and my breath became shaky. I really hate this bastard; that’s why Livia is still the only hired help close to me.

“She was so... normal,” I whispered. “I might’ve trusted her with my tea someday. That’s why it’s hard to shake the way I see maids.” My gaze drifted to Noah.

Livia, who was right next to me, placed a hand gently on my arm. “You were right to be cautious.”

“She was just one of who knows how many maids waiting for us to turn our backs. How many more are out there?”

Noah came forward and wrapped me in his arms.

“However many it takes,” he said into my hair, “we’ll root them all out.”

I truly wanted to believe him, but sometimes he looks at me like I’m crazy when I talk about their nature.

There will be no snakes in my garden!