Judith had left Qui Lin's presence feeling more jittered and frightened than a snake which just narrowly escaped the clutches of an eagle.
She made her way down the stairs and toward the door on the far right of the stairs which led to the hallway, that led to the kitchen.
Upon reaching the door — like last time — it had opened just as she was about to place a hand on its handle.
And when the door had swung open, she held in a gasp when she saw captain Qiao in front of her.
The captain steadied his gaze on her for a few seconds, before finally speaking.
"What might you be doing here?" He asked, as he found himself thinking back to the pillar and the presence he felt from it.
"I...I uh, came to find you." Judith had remembered what she was tasked with.
"Me?" The captain had asked with a raised brow.
"Yes, I was told to find you and...ask if we should prepare enough portion for Lady Qui Lin."
"Is that so?" The captain said, with his gaze still fixated on Judith. He stared at her, fully taking in her features.
He skipped over her most unique features and went straight to her ample chest, trim waist and generous hips that couldn't be hidden by her plain white robe.
He thought she was a treat from afar, but up close, he had never been so thirsty.
The captain had realized he was staring for far too long, so he lifted his gaze.
"Tell them to make enough for the Lady Lin, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to feast, considering the fact that I've found the prince's killer." The captain's words had left Xen astounded, but not Judith who couldn't get her gaze off of Xen.
"Captain, do you mean that?" Xen had asked, inching closer to Qiao.
"I understand captain Qiao, I'll relay the message. If you'll excuse me." Judith said whilst keeping her gaze low to the ground.
"Of course." The captain made way for her to pass and continued to stare as she made her way through the threshold and into the hallway.
Judith did her best to walk as fast as she could while doing so in the most neutral manner, because she couldn't be away from him and his gaze fast enough, his gaze which made her skin crawl.
It didn't take too long, but when she finally made it into the kitchen, she took a deep breath and then let out a sigh.
At that moment, the clanking of pots, sizzling of oil and gargling of boiling water had hit her auditory senses, along with an assault of delicious aromas to her olfactory senses.
This was a good relief to Judith, as she felt the busyness of the kitchen calm her fears.
But this moment of respite did not last, because she remembered what had to be done.
Which left her uneasy once more.
Pulling her out of her thoughts, was the footsteps of a maid walking up to her.
When she lifted her head, she saw the older maid in front of her.
"What did he say? We're almost ready." She asked with a more tamed tone this time around.
"He said we should prepare enough for the Lady Qui Lin." Judith responded, feeling a bit downcast.
"I see." The older maid had said, before walking away. "You better soak up the methods of preparing Qugan delicacies if you want to live here." The older maid had said before returning to her stove.
Judith did as told and walked up closer to them so she could watch the way they were preparing whatever it was they were preparing.
"Were you discovered?" A familiar voice had whispered, making Judith realize the maid whose hands she was watching from the side belonged to Tsai.
What followed after this realization was confusion.
"I don't understand." Judith said, eager to hear Tsai's response.
"From behind the pillar, did they see you?" Tsai responded, so Judith went mute for a moment.
"You...saw me?" Judith questioned.
"I did. I followed you to ensure you didn't get lost, but then..." She took an ominous pause, then removed her gaze from the pot in front of her and had placed it on Judith. "Are...you a spy?"
This question left Judith frozen.
"N..no, of course I'm not." Judith had responded, knowing her silence would be a clear indicator of the fickle truth, a shame her answer was so sloppy.
Tsai left the pot and made her way to the counter in the middle of the kitchen, where she began to pick out some ingredients from a tray, which she started to chop up.
Judith followed, as she had a question of her own.
"If...I was. Or rather, if you thought I was...why did you help me?" Judith asked.
Her question made Tsai to slow her chopping speed, as she began to think on why she helped Judith.
She stopped chopping all together and turned to Judith, bearing a smile on her face.
"You just...seemed too kind to do anyone harm." Once she had said this, she returned to chopping with a speed of light. Aspeed that enabled her to finish up in a split second and return to the pot with the ingredients.
Judith once more had followed behind.
"You know, spies aren't necessarily the one to cause harm, it's what they relay that's the problem." Judith said, unsure of why she deemed it necessary to see the inner workings of this maid.
Perhaps because they're so similar, they're both naive. Or at least, Judith once was.
"I know that," she spoke as she stirred the pot now filled with the ingredients she had chopped up. "I guess, I just wanted this Kingdom...to burn."