A Night Encounter with Sadako (Monthly Ticket Requested)

Eman saw this and hurried forward two steps, pushing open the kitchen doors before lowering his head to await the Crown Prince's entry.

Guard Captain Kexer had not expected His Highness to suddenly turn toward the kitchen. He quickly pivoted, gestured to the two Personal Guards, and strode after him.

Joseph stepped inside and found the kitchen extremely spacious. Six or seven enormous worktables had been pushed together in the middle, giving off the smell of fish and spices, while all manner of ingredients and cooking utensils were piled around them. Only half the lamps in the room were lit, yet there was not a single cook on duty in sight.

He remembered that even when there was no ball or celebration at the palace, there should still have been at least three to five Imperial Chefs on night duty. What was going on tonight?

Joseph walked farther in, circling around a brown storage cabinet over two meters tall and more than four meters wide. From the corner, he vaguely heard a faint rustling.

But a rack hung with pots and metal ladles blocked his view, preventing him from seeing what was happening there.

Joseph was rather curious. What were the chefs doing hiding in the corner? Playing cards to pass the night?

Puzzled, he went around the wooden rack and looked up, only to see a short figure standing under the light in the corner with its back to him. The person wore a wrinkled white robe and had a mass of disheveled black hair.

Only then did Joseph notice the enormous slanted wooden board in front of the figure. It was scarred with countless knife marks, with quite a bit of blood around it, making it look exceptionally eerie in the flickering candlelight.

The white-robed figure seemed utterly engrossed and only now heard the movement behind her. She immediately spun around.

Joseph's pupils contracted. The front of the figure was covered in blood, and she clutched a black-red pointed knife. Her face was hidden behind her tangled hair, through which he could vaguely see a pair of round, green-glowing eyes. Sticky fragments clung to the hair that trailed down to her waist, like the innards of some creature...

Joseph's mind buzzed. Adrenaline flooded through his body in an instant, leaving him with only one thought: Holy shit! Sadako?!

He immediately leapt backward with all his strength, his back slamming heavily into the wooden rack of ladles and producing a clatter of chaotic noise.

Ignoring the pain, he was about to turn around when Eman flashed to his side. A short sword was in Eman's left hand, while his right hand pulled the Crown Prince behind him.

Protect His Highness! Eman shouted.

Kexer inwardly cried out in alarm. He rushed over in several long strides, drew his sword, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the attendant.

Guard!

He shouted again, then turned his head toward Joseph. "Your Highness, withdraw first!"

More than a dozen of the Crown Prince's Personal Guards surged in. Suppressing their fear of the thing in the corner—whether ghost or witch—they grimly pulled back their gun bolts and aimed their guns at Sadako.

Just then, that Sadako finally moved.

She flung the knife in her hand into the air, thrust her fingers into her long hair, clutched her head, and squatted down on the spot, letting out a piercing scream. "Aah—"

Joseph froze. Peeking out from behind Eman, he suddenly felt that this Sadako seemed a little familiar.

"Hey, stop screaming." He tried to communicate with Sadako. "What... are you?"

Hearing his voice, Sadako was evidently stunned as well. She raised her head and looked over through the gaps in her hair, her voice trembling slightly. "C-Crown Prince?"

"Hm? You know me?"

Sadako nodded desperately. "It's me! Your Highness, I'm Perna! D-Don't shoot!"

Kexer cautiously stepped forward and brushed aside the woman's hair. He could not help letting out a long breath, sheathing his sword before turning around.

"Your Highness, it is indeed Miss Perna."

Black lines filled Joseph's face as he looked Perna over, then glanced at the bloodstained board behind her in confusion.

"You? What are you doing here?"

"I..." Perna instinctively looked at her hand, discovered that the knife was gone, and explained with shifty eyes, "Um... I was helping Mr. Valister butcher meat."

As she spoke, she frantically wiped the blood from her hands again and again on her brown apron. Then she grabbed a hair tie from the floor, tied her long hair behind her head, and hurriedly curtsied. "Your Highness."

Joseph looked at the blood on her face, took out a handkerchief, and gestured. "Wipe your face."

Eman hurriedly took the handkerchief, stepped forward, and handed it to Perna.

She carefully accepted it. As she meticulously wiped her face, an ivory-white countenance gradually emerged.

On that delicate face, her pale green eyes resembled two translucent emerald beads, framed by thick black lashes. The pair of dimples beside her charming red lips made her look especially sweet. She was utterly unlike the horrifying Sadako from before.

Joseph was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "I've never seen you dressed like this before. You look quite beautiful."

He looked at the board behind Perna, where a small animal had been neatly fixed in place with nails.

It was a rabbit. The incision along its abdomen was clean, and its organs had been neatly separated.

He could not help asking curiously, "Are you practicing dissection?"

Perna was alarmed and waved her hands repeatedly. "I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense..."

Joseph stepped forward to inspect the rabbit and nodded. "Such professional technique. You must have practiced for quite some time, right?"

Then he looked at Perna again. "By the way, why are you practicing dissection in the kitchen?"

Hearing the certainty in his tone, Perna's heart tightened. The Crown Prince even knows anatomy. There's no denying it now.

She gripped the fingers of her left hand hard with her right, hesitated for a while, and finally seemed to make up her mind. She suddenly thrust out her chest and declared loudly:

"Your Highness, yes, I am practicing dissection!"

She took a deep breath, as though she had finally voiced words she had held in for a very long time.

"I believe the current social climate is extremely detrimental to the development of medicine!

"For example, forbidding women from studying medicine is a severe constraint on medical progress, and an injustice to women!

"I admire my father very much. Ever since I was young, I accompanied him as he treated patients, and that filled me with longing for the profession of a doctor who saves lives and heals the wounded.

"I know my father loves me. He even agreed to let me wear men's clothing and assist him in treating patients, and I am very grateful to him.

"But even so, he still firmly forbade me from entering the operating room or practicing dissection, because it would make me impossible to marry. No one would want to marry a female doctor! That is reality!

"Yet I still hope to become a doctor capable of standing on my own and saving patients. I cannot obtain corpses, so I can only practice dissection on animals in order to familiarize myself with the structure of living organisms.

"Mr. Valister and I reached an agreement. Every night, I may come here to practice dissection and, while I'm at it, cut up the meat the chefs need for the next day. In return, he keeps my secret."

By this point, her eyes were brimming with tears. Clearly, she had suffered countless grievances over this matter through the years.

She sniffed, and her tone became calm. "Your Highness, report me. I frightened you just now. This is the punishment I deserve."