Squeak!
Navia dragged her chair and stopped in front of a decorative cabinet.
Tak!
She climbed onto the chair.
As she raised her heels and stretched out her arms as high as she could, she caught an oil jar by the tip of her fingertips. She took it out carefully to avoid spilling its contents and looked inside. The jar was filled with extra oil for refilling her lamp.
Navia grabbed the oil jar and approached the room’s door, which had a small, unnatural hole. It was the hole Wood drilled to put a bee into Navia’s room.
She poured the oil into the hole as if it had spilled.
Pour pour.
Navia dispassionately poured the remaining oil into the door. To destroy the evidence, she threw a candle that had been softly illuminating the room.
Fwoosh!
Fire blazed over the spilled oil. The combination of painted wood and oil wasn’t a bad mix.
But it wasn’t enough. Navia wanted a bigger fire.
She needed a terrible fire that would swallow itself, burning this place to the ground.
Navia looked away and found a few books in her room. She picked up a history book that kept her up at night because she wanted to memorize it, an etiquette book that she studied to become the empress, and a liberal arts book for high-class society ladies.
Rip rip~
Navia tore the book to shreds with her bare hands. The books aimed at creating a good Princess Agnes became fuel to the fire.
“But the good Princess Agnes is dead.”
Those books were relics of the dead, and Navia was merely putting them to good use.
The fire spread like fear.
“Cough! Cough!”
The flames were hot and sharp, but Navia had not a grain of fear despite the flames.
She had died too many times to be scared of these flames.
Navia turned to the balcony. Dawn poured in through the window—a new morning, a new life.
Has she ever felt so refreshed?
Navia knew, from previous experiences, where Wood watched this place from. She headed to the balcony at a slow pace, like she was performing a ceremony.
It was time to meet the only spectator watching this place.
Navia pushed the balcony door wide open. The smell of a cold, late autumn morning filled her lungs and awakened her whole body.
As soon as the black smoke came out, tears spilled from her eyes. Navia took a deep breath and screamed as hard as she could, with all her might.
“Save me!”
Unlike a normal person trapped in a burning building, Navier waited calmly.
Instead of leaping down from the balcony to her death, Navia stayed trapped in her room, waiting until the maid in charge came.
She wouldn’t choose that path anymore.
‘Fire attracts people.’
Of course, people would have to extinguish the house’s fire, allowing Navia to leave the room. And in the process, nothing would happen to her.
It was still quiet because the morning sun had just risen. But soon, people discovered the black smoke wafting over the massive fire.
“Fire! Fire!”
Oh, the boy watching Navia’s room was the one who became frightened and informed everyone about the fire breaking out.
“There’s a fire in the second-floor room! It’s Lady Navia’s room!” shouted the first witnesses who had spotted the fire.
Not long after, Navia heard the sound of people running with buckets of water.
Rattle! Rattle!
Navia averted her gaze. The sound of violent thumping came from her door. Perhaps they were trying to break down the burning wooden door.
Bang!
“It’s open!”
“Cough! The flames are too big!”
The workers poured the water they had carried.
“Damn it, can’t you hurry?”
She heard someone roar. It was Wood’s voice.
“Why is it on fire? The next room is my toy room!”
Since Wood was a ‘water wizard’, he tried to extinguish the fire using his magic. However, the fire Navia had set did not fizzle out easily.
‘It shouldn’t be easily extinguished.’
“Please save me… Cough! Cough!”
Suddenly, Navia heard a cold voice through the roaring flames.
“What the hell is going on?” Nikan Agnes, her foster father, had come.
“How did this happen? Why is a fire starting in the morning?!”