When Nine walked out of her bedroom, the servants were instantly stupefied. Having been gone for two days after Amanda, who had gotten close to the crown prince in the past couple of months, had come back without him, they had long assumed he was dead.
Paling, they immediately dropped to their knees, quickly slamming their heads on the floor. It was almost as if they were afraid they would be punished if they didn't do it hard enough.
"Crown prince!"
Nine's gaze was cold. At one glance, she could already tell that these servants had no intention of looking for her and had instead been whiling the time away.
While the previous Nine would have hurriedly asked them to raise their heads, Nine did no such thing. Instead, she glanced over each and every one of them, taking in the way their Magical Aura fluctuated. She sighed inwardly. This ability was too formidable! It was practically a living lie detector. From what she could tell, no one else seemed to be able to identify the magic particles in the air.
As if agreeing with her words, Blue sent a message to her.
[Magic Sight (Mythical)]
[Sight granted only to those who are loved by magic and touched by the fates of the world. Current users in existence: 1]
Inwardly raising an eyebrow, Nine pondered over this as she allowed the servants to wait. She could see some of the more impudent ones sneak a peak at her to gauge her expression.
The moment they met her cold and indifferent eyes, what little colour they had left fled their face. Since when had the crown prince been so formidable? Had he been hiding his true colours all this time? Thinking about the various deeds they did behind his back, they felt great regret.
"Where is Amanda?"
Shuddering, a female servant in the front pressed her head lower to the ground. Everyone in the residence knew she was close to Amanda. If she didn't answer, who knew what this crown prince would do to her?
"A-answering Your Highness, this servant has not seen Amanda since yesterday."
A male servant next to her shot a look at her before he actively disputed her words.
"Your Highness, this servant saw Amanda two hours ago. This servant saw her enter your bedroom. When this servant questioned her, she broke out into tears saying that your last words to her were to take a couple of things from your room."
By this time, Nine's expression had turned utterly glacial. She radiated faint killing intent as she thought about the lowly servant that had dared take her master's things. Nine was certain she had been installed by someone outside. It wasn't possible that a mere servant dared to steal so blatantly without any outside backing.
"Bring me Amanda," she said, her tone indifferent.
Trembling, the male servant all but leapt to his feet as he dashed around at full speed, trying his best to locate her.
"The rest of you stay," Nine said, no expression on her face.
Numerous servants knelt on the cold floor secretly swore at her, unhappy that they were being treated this way. They had long grown used to being spoilt by crown prince, so his change was particularly jarring. When had he ever treated them that way?
The male servant quickly burst back into the room, hauling a burst of bright colours with him. He dumped the woman in front of the crown prince, retreating a few steps before resuming the bowing position.
"Your Highness, this servant has brought her!"
Nine took in the woman in front of her, trying to connect the image she had in the fragmented memories with the woman in front of her.
Nine inwardly scoffed. The previous owner must have been blind to believe such a woman was her friend. Even those inexperienced could practically see the way her eyes shone with a crafty and sinister light. She didn't think any rules applied to her. Just based on the way she dressed already showed she had long moved on from a servant mindset.
Wearing bright colours of pink and yellow, Amanda dusted herself off as she stood up with a huff. She gave a quick glare at the man who manhandled her so abruptly before directing teary eyes at Nine.
"Your highness! I was so worried! After you told me to come back to get help, I did all I could but the rest of the servants couldn't find you!"
The numerous servants kneeling on the floor paled even further. They were practically as white as a sheet with no blood left in their face. This slut! Why did she drag them into it? She was the one who claimed with such certainty that the crown prince was dead and they could do whatever they wanted. Secretly, a lot of them had hopped residences and were about to move out.
Nine continued observing the paling servants, taking note of who was feeling what. She still didn't quite understand how it was possible she knew what emotions they were feeling just on the display of magic alone. Could it be that it was instinctive? This needed more testing.
"Your Highness!" Amanda wailed, inwardly unhappy that she wasn't being paid any attention to. "Did you hear me? Nine?"
Nine looked at her as the dense killing intent filled her eyes. The moment Amanda had that gaze on her, she crumpled to the floor in terror. What was this feeling? Was this still the same crown prince?
"Slap her."
The male servant who brought Amanda to Nine immediately stepped up and slapped her without any hesitation. Nine looked at him with slight appreciation. This kind of servant was crafty and had high emotional intelligence. Nine could tell that if she was able to gain the loyalty of such a person, they would be loyal for life, never wavering. She wanted him.
Wounded, Amanda clutched her face as she stared at the crown prince in shock. When had he ever treated her like this? How could she bear such injustice? She thought she had his heart firmly in her hands. How could he bear to treat her this way?
"Everyone, hit her once until she dies."
Shocked, there was no movement from any other servants. Was this really still their weak and cowardly crown prince who spent the whole day in his bedroom?
Nine suddenly laughed. Her laugh was chilling and indifferent, sending a chill up their spines. They couldn't treat the crown prince the way they had originally if they still wanted to keep their life.
"Why?!" shrieked Amanda, unresigned to her fate. How could the crown prince be so cruel? What had she done?
"You still dare to ask?" Nine said unhurriedly. "Addressing a crown prince by his name. It's already good that I'm not exterminating your entire bloodline and settling with your death alone. A lowly servant like you who dares steal and plot against her master deserves nothing less than death!"
Trembling from fright, the numberous servants hesitantly got up and lined up as they each slapped Amanda with their full strength.
Before long, Amanda breathed her last as unresigned eyes stared straight at Nine.
Nine swept her gaze over the rest of the servants, satisfied when they shrank back and ducked their head in fright. If she didn't do this to solidify her position in her own residence, then was this still her home?
She would only keep those loyal to her, and eliminate the rest of these plotting servants. She had to get rid of threats internally before dealing with external ones.
Eyes flashing, Nine remembered a spell that the previous host had theorised would work. Nine suddenly felt that it was very convenient magic spells were based in English, which hadn't been her old native language, but she had long reached the proficiency of a native speaker. This new world had a whole seperate language that hadn't existed on Earth, but apparently the first user of Magic had 'created' this language, causing Nine to suspect that person had similarly been reincarnated or transmigrated in this world.
Nine cast the spell in English in her mind, stretching the net to include all of them.
"Swear an oath you will never betray me, and pack your belongings and leave. This crown prince's residence is too small to hold all of you."
Shuddering, the servants in the hall swore an oath like they would be killed in the next instant, inwardly heaving a breath when they felt thr magic snap in place.
Though they had to leave, it was better than losing their life here. With this gaurentee that they couldn't betray the crown prince, they could sleep a little better knowing that no one else would come after them for their lives. The crown prince was magnanimous! He thought of their emotional well-being even though they had treated him so badly. At this moment, many regretted that they hadn't treated him better. This was what a real crown prince was like.
In fact, Nine had just been using them as test subjects, but it secretly amused her seeing the way their emotions fluctuated.
Looking at the sole male servant that she was about to keep, she inspected him.
"You, stay behind."