Shen Yue knocked on the rusted door of the small room at the back of the servant's quarters.
She did not hear any response for a while but she still continued knocking patiently.
After some time, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the person had gone out somewhere.
However, the other maid had told her about this woman's nature and that she barely left the room.
So she ruled that option out.
Most probably, the person was inside the room and was not interested in seeing anyone and being ridiculed.
This should be why she was not opening the door.
"Hello. Madam, Ruth? Are you there?" Shen Yue softly enquired. "I have something of yours." She tried to pique the woman's interest.
However, there was still no response from the other side of the door.
It looked like the person really did not care about what Shen Yue might have in her possession.
She thought about this for some more time and then tried again, this time using money.
"Hmm… I was hoping to give Madam Ruth some allowance, now whom should I give this to?"
"Did you see Madam Ruth? I have some gold coins to give her?"
"Did you see the old maid? I have something that might interest her."
Shen Yue did not want to give up and tried all sorts of things, hoping to tempt the old woman into opening the door.
In the end, she even contemplated asking someone's help to bang the door open and barge in.
But she didn't immediately want to try such a forceful tactic. After all, this was the royal palace where the King and the other members of the royal family resided.
She might even be arrested and sent to prison if she did not behave properly.
Hesitating for some more time, Shen Yue took out the item to look at it again to see if there were more clues.
"What am I supposed to do now?" Her eyes dragged on the dilapidated necklace.
It looked so flimsy and fragile as if it was about to break apart and disappear any second.
However, as soon as she took out the necklace, something in front of her moved and the door that was banged tightly shut until now was suddenly wide open.
Shen Yue looked up to see an old woman standing in front of her.
For a second, she was too shocked and even gasped out loud. The woman wasn't just aged but it was something more.
Her entire body looked disfigured for some reason.
Her back was hunched, her skin was heavily wrinkled from top to bottom with huge flaps hanging and she was also covered by open wounds and sores all over her body.
A few insects even crawled on her and flies buzzed around her like she was a corpse.
Shen Yue's heart ached to see someone in such a plight.
Though it was a complete stranger and she was also in a video game, she couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
No one deserved to be treated like this. Just what happened to this girl?
"Madam… this is yours?" Shen Yue extended her palm on top of which the necklace rested.
The old woman in front of her seemed to be in more shock than her and kept staring at the necklace speechlessly.
Her eyes that were only slits trailed along as the necklace moved and followed it as if it was an extremely precious item to her.
She opened and closed her mouth and continued to look at the piece of jewelry dumbfoundedly.
"How?"
"How is it here?"
"Who are you?"
She looked at Shen Yue and then suddenly her hands moved at lightning speed. She was no longer slow and sluggish.
Her eyes widened, visible gleam shining from within them and she quickly snatched the necklace from Shen Yue's palm.
She held it carefully, running her index finger over the edges, tracing the design, and then brought it to her chest, holding it as if her life depended on it.
"Ahhhh! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't know who you are, but I am forever indebted to you. Thank you so much."
Big teardrops started falling out of her eyes and she cupped her hands, looking at Shen Yue pitifully.
But the next second, she again abruptly moved, wiping away her tears.
Her old scaly fingers clutched Shen Yue's hand and for a second she looked dazed, longingly looking at her soft moist skin.
"Ah. You have done me a great favor. I can't thank you enough. I don't even have the power to thank you enough. For now, I can only give you this small reward."
The old woman clenched her fist tightly, crushing down on the necklace. The next instant an intangible silver glow surrounded her body.
She then looked at Shen Yue, her eyes fixated on her.
[Ding. You have received the additional attribute 'Charm']
The old woman was about to mutter something when she couldn't hold it together any longer and started coughing violently.
She even spat out a few mouthfuls of dark black blood. "Sorry. It looks like I can only do this much right now. Cough. Cough."
"Only after my strength comes back, I can truly reward you."
Shen Yue nodded. She had no idea if the reward was good or not, but she felt happy helping out such a nice old woman.
"I am fine. Please don't worry about that. Take care of your health first."
"Ah. You are a kind person. Cough. Cough." The old woman coughed up some more blood. "This world is truly not for the kind."
"I can't stay here any longer. I have to leave now. Come find me in the western part of the Kingdom."
"For a short while, I will be staying in the Redmoon town's outskirts and recovering my strength."
"Come find me there and I will give you the reward that you deserve."
Shen Yue was about to open her mouth and respond when the woman in front of her was once again enveloped in a glow, silver in color and far richer and denser than before.
Before she could understand what was happening, the old woman suddenly caught fire out of nowhere and disappeared, leaving behind only some ashes.
She was completely gone. Poof! Just like that!
"What happened?" Shen Yue gasped. "Wait, why did she run away like this? Was she some sort of criminal?"
But it looked like the show wasn't over yet. Sparks from her magic act flew and caught on to the things in her room, starting another big fire inside the room.
It was extremely unusual. Just a few sparks made everything else inside burn. Flames raged wildly. There was no fuel or anything else that could explain this.
"Fire! Fire! What happened?"
"Someone bring over some water!"
"Please move, Miss."
A huge commotion erupted in the servant's quarters and all the maids and servants started scrambling to put out the fire and prevent it from spreading more.
Shen Yue saw this chaotic scene and decided to leave the place using this as a chance before she got into any trouble for associating herself with the old woman.