After Zilu closed the door, Emilia remained standing in the hallway for a few seconds.
Then she began to walk with a smile plastered across her face.
Her footsteps echoed softly against the marble floor as she advanced through the palace hallways with a calmness that contrasted completely with everything that had happened in the last few hours.
She was no longer in a hurry.
She wasn't nervous, wasn't trembling, wasn't questioning her decisions.
Because now she knew with complete clarity what she needed to do.
Along the way, she encountered a couple of servants carrying clean sheets toward somewhere in the palace. Both stopped upon seeing her, probably expecting to find the same queen with red, swollen eyes that had passed by a while ago.
"Good night!" Emilia said, raising a hand and greeting them with a cheerfulness that left them completely bewildered.
The two servants exchanged glances without knowing what to say.
