Zi You, after letting Ye Ling possess her, skillfully opened the door and walked out of the room with her doll.
The palace's style resembled Eastern European medieval castles on Earth, with a total of four floors and a rather dark aesthetic. Zi You's room was located on the third floor in the most open area, allowing a clear view of all the rooms on the fourth floor from the corridor.
Through Zi You's eyes, Ye Ling surveyed the palace's layout and then focused his attention on a room in the far-left corner of the fourth floor. He asked Zi You, "Zi You, can we go check out that room in the far-left corner of the fourth floor?"
"That room?" Zi You looked towards the room Ye Ling indicated, but shook her head. "That room is locked. The key is split into two halves, kept by the maid and the butler respectively. Without the keys, we can't get in."
"Is that so... then let's forget it. Escaping is the most important thing."
Upon hearing Zi You's words, Ye Ling took another careful look at the locked room, forced to abandon his desire to explore. The moment he sensed it, he felt an inexplicably powerful force emanating from that room. There was definitely a secret hidden behind that door. However, to enter now required two keys from the maid and the butler, and Ye Ling didn't believe he had the capability to snatch the keys from them in this place.
"Zi You, let's go to the butler's resting area on the first floor."
"Okay!"
Zi You nodded and hopped her way to the first floor, heading towards the butler's resting room. However, before Zi You could open the door, it swung open automatically. A bald old man in butler attire walked out, looking at Zi You with a sinister gaze that startled both Zi You and Ye Ling.
Ye Ling could sense that the butler's strength was even greater than the maid's. He immediately used runes to conceal his aura, evading the butler's scrutiny.
"B-butler?"
Zi You hadn't expected to run into the butler, and exclaimed in surprise!
The butler scanned Zi You with a suspicious look and asked, "Princess, why have you come to see this old servant?"
Zi You felt a bit guilty at this moment, but she was quite quick-witted and quickly masked her flustered emotions. She smiled at the butler and said, "I just finished my meal and was feeling a bit bored. I wanted to go play in the garden at the back, but the garden gate is locked. Could you help me open it, butler?"
The butler frowned slightly. "Princess, the Master will be visiting today. You should stay in your room. The maid will come to groom you shortly, and that will take some time."
Hearing the butler's words, Zi You immediately put on a wronged expression and cried, "No, no! I want to go play! If you don't agree, I'll tell the Master that you're abusing me!"
As soon as Zi You said this, the butler's expression changed drastically. He seemed to be very afraid of this matter, and his previously grim tone quickly softened. He said to Zi You, "This old servant understands. This old servant will go open the gate for the princess now."
Saying this, the butler sighed and ambled forward.
Zi You watched the butler's retreating back, intending to sneak into the butler's room and steal the keys. However, the butler, walking ahead, suddenly turned around and said to Zi You, "Princess, aren't you going to play in the back garden? Why are you still standing here?"
Called out by the butler, Zi You froze, unsure of what to do.
Seeing this, Ye Ling knew that Zi You couldn't shake off the butler for the time being. He transmitted his voice, "Zi You, follow him. I'll find the keys myself here."
Zi You secretly thought, "Can you do it alone?"
Ye Ling replied, "At this distance, I can barely avoid detection. You just need to keep this distance from him and follow. Once I get the keys, I'll find you in the back garden."
"Okay!"
Zi You agreed and then said to the butler, "Of course I'm going. Please lead the way, butler..."
"Mm."
The butler, not noticing Ye Ling's presence, nodded slightly and turned to walk towards the back garden. Zi You followed.
Ye Ling, however, seized this opportunity to break away from Zi You and hide behind a nearby flower vase.
Hiding in the shadows, Ye Ling watched Zi You and the butler walk away. Only then did he emerge from the shadows, open the door, and enter the butler's resting room.
The butler's resting room was a rather elegant study, about fifty square meters. The walls were lined with bookshelves filled with books. In the center of the room was a mahogany desk with a desk lamp. On the desk lay a half-read spellbook.
Unfortunately, Ye Ling had never seen the script here and didn't know what these books recorded.
Ye Ling surveyed the room's layout and chuckled, "I never thought Ye Ling would have a day where he'd be a thief."
After a self-deprecating remark, Ye Ling wasted no time and began rummaging through drawers and cabinets, searching for the keys. Perhaps it was because there were no outsiders in this castle for years, or perhaps the old butler had immense confidence in the castle's enchantments. Ye Ling quickly found two keys in the desk drawer, both of which were enchanted. One was complete, likely the key to the main palace gate. The other was only half, presumably the key to the room in the far-left corner of the fourth floor.
Looking at the two keys lying in the drawer, Ye Ling chuckled, "Although you people are very powerful, when it comes to setting up enchantments, you're still far behind runes."
White runes could bypass all enchantments in the world, including those the butler had placed on these two keys. Ye Ling managed to retrieve the keys with little effort, simultaneously using runes to create two fake keys and place them back.
Having stolen the keys, Ye Ling closed the drawer and prepared to leave. His gaze then fell upon the books on the bookshelf. After a moment of hesitation, Ye Ling couldn't resist the temptation and collected all the books from the shelves into his spatial ring. He then used runes to create fake books with similar appearances and placed them back.
"And this one too..."
After taking all the books from the shelves, Ye Ling became even more greedy, not even sparing the book on the desk. He directly took that one as well, then fabricated a fake one and placed it on the desk. Although Ye Ling didn't understand the content of these books yet, he could easily imitate the appearance and fabricate the internal content of the books. As long as the butler didn't flip through too many pages upon his return, he wouldn't discover the books had been swapped for a while.
Having collected his spoils, Ye Ling was about to leave contentedly when he suddenly heard the sound of a doorknob turning.
"Someone's coming!"
Hearing the doorknob turn, Ye Ling's scalp tingled. He immediately used runes to conceal his form, shrunk himself, and hid inside the lampshade of the desk lamp.
At this moment, the maid entered with a broom and began cleaning. Ye Ling, hidden within the lamp, observed the maid cleaning the room through the lampshade. He noticed a string of keys hanging from the maid's waist. And one of them perfectly matched the half-key he held!
"It's the key to that door!"
Ye Ling stared at the maid's waist, his mind instantly becoming active. He had to get that key!