episode_0020

After finishing all the laundry and arriving at the annex, Camilla was already gone.

“Where’s Camilla?”

“She went back after classes ended.”

“So quickly?”

“I finished quickly because I’m smart!”

Lily, who had been hopping in place, ran towards me before hesitating again. It feels like déjà vu.

Having just met Helena on the way back from doing laundry, I wonder if Lily caught her scent again.

With a serious expression, Lily held out her hand to me, palm facing downwards. Clearly understanding her gesture, I placed my hand on Lily’s.

As soon as I did, Lily swiftly took my hand and began sniffing it.

Sniffing and then looking up at me, Lily’s expression clearly showed annoyance. It was a look.

“I met Lady Helena on the way to do laundry.”

“Why does it feel so strong from your hand?”

“Lady Helena held my hand.”

“Your hand?”

“She gave me a hand warmer while I was doing laundry, worried my hands might get cold.”

“A hand warmer?”

“Yes, I received this as a gift.”

I showed Lily the hand warmer from my pocket. Upon seeing it, Lily seemed shocked, her eyes widening and mouth agape.

Then she plopped down on the floor.

“Lily!?”

I tried to lift Lily quickly, but she insisted she was fine, wearing a serious expression and deep in thought.

“I never thought… Did I do anything good coming here?”

“Did I really not think more than that woman?”

“A hand warmer. Damn, what a great gift.”

Once again lost in her own world, muttering to herself, Lily sat on the floor and I gently lifted her, carrying her to her room and laying her carefully on the bed.

Since it was lunchtime, I headed to the kitchen to prepare something to eat.

By the time the food was ready, Lily returned from her reverie and came downstairs for lunch.

While enjoying our meal and dessert, she mentioned she would go see Helena tomorrow.

“What?”

“She invited me for tea time.”

“You should have declined!”

“It’s hard to refuse in my position, and… I don’t know, it feels okay.”

“What feels okay…”

“Don’t worry. Please trust Lily. No, trust me. I’m surprisingly smart.”

Lily’s eyes expressed disbelief.

“And Helena seems to have a good opinion of me.”

“That’s the problem.”

“What?”

“Never mind. But before you go, get a spell from me.”

“Okay, got it.”

“And!”

– Clang.

– Drip, drip.

“Amelia Day Pass.”

“A day pass? What does that mean?”

“Just that. It’s a pass to use Amelia for a day!”

“Aren’t you already doing that?”

“It feels different!”

Perhaps because she’s still a child, she sometimes says things that are hard to understand. I nodded in agreement, and Lily looked pleased.

Finally, the day arrived for tea time with Helena. Today, like last time, I dressed meticulously and came downstairs fully prepared.

As Lily, who had been trembling, looked at me, she stopped in her tracks, mouth agape.

Even when I approached her, Lily only stared at my face. Kneeling down to her eye level, I wiped away her drool with my index finger.

“Oh!”

Lily snapped out of it.

I sucked the drool off my finger since I couldn’t wipe it on my freshly dressed clothes.

“…”

“Lily?”

Sucking on her finger, Lily’s face turned completely red. Worried that she might suddenly have a fever, I brought my forehead close to hers to check her temperature.

Fortunately, she didn’t have a fever.

“Lily, I think I should go now.”

“Uh, okay. I’ll cast a protection spell for you.”

“Wow, you can already do that kind of magic?”

“Of course.”

Usually, mages reach the level of casting protection spells when they become intermediate mages, but Lily is truly a genius.

Intermediate mages typically achieve this around the age of 20.

“Thank you.”

-Kiss.

I kissed Lily’s forehead in gratitude, then grabbed my knees and stood up.

*Groan.*

Did I tighten the corset too much? My body aches as I stand up. This needs to end quickly.

I gently stroked Lily’s still-dazed head and left the annex.

With Lily’s protection spell and nothing to fear now, Helena, I will uncover your true intentions.

==

Recently, due to Lily, Helena had been under stress. She sat lost in thought while eating sweet chocolate.

That wretched Lily. In her heart, she wanted to drive her out of the family, but her husband never yielded when it came to Lily.

Something about conscience or whatever. Allowing such a person to be left alone in the annex was incomprehensible behavior from her husband.

It was ridiculous to pay so much attention to an 8-year-old child who wasn’t even powerful. But having a bastard child was not looked upon favorably by society.

Even though our Estelle family is considered strong, we are not the strongest. Therefore, we couldn’t help but be sensitive to the opinions of those around us.

So, she tried to ignore everything related to Lily as much as possible.

But recently, things took a strange turn.

Of course, the maids must have done something wrong. They may have wanted a good job as family maids, but neglecting their duties as Lily’s maids because she was a bastard.

Still, it was just ignoring each other. But suddenly, Lily started cursing at the maids.

For some reason, as soon as the maids became Lily’s attendants, they began quitting one by one.

No one wanted to be Lily’s maid anymore, and rumors spread. Words like “little demon” and “villainess” were circulating everywhere.

The stress of how to handle this situation was overwhelming. Then one day, someone volunteered to be Lily’s maid.

This person was willing to give up if Lily proved difficult, even if it meant facing her husband’s wrath…

Lily treated the new maid very well. The maid, despite knowing Lily was a bastard, fulfilled her duties diligently.

It was evident from the reports of her meticulous handling of ingredients in the main kitchen every three days.

How good of a person must she be to make ten maids quit over her? It makes one wonder.

One day, she received new information. The head chef was revealed to be a spy from another family.

She felt a shiver down her spine. What was the head chef doing? They oversaw the food they were currently consuming. In other words, they were the easiest person to attempt an assassination.

As much as she wanted to confront them immediately, she had to hold back.

Having a spy as the head chef was a bigger problem than she initially thought. Surely, the head chef was not the end of it. If the position of head chef was compromised, it meant that our family needed a thorough investigation.

If we act recklessly here and kill them, the chances of finding other spies would decrease significantly.

Then, it’s not just about killing; you need a justification. While gnawing on my nails, a new piece of information came to mind. It was about the head chef taking an interest in Lily’s new maid.

So, although I felt sorry for the maid, I decided to use that to my advantage, and the plan was successful.

Since Lily was neglecting her illegitimate child, she had no suspicions about not being able to eat meat and had no doubts about executing the head chef for giving Lily bad meat through the maid.

Thinking everything was perfect, I assigned my loyal subordinate the task of uncovering the remaining spies, and I made my way to where the head chef lay dead.

To observe the reactions of the servants after the chef’s death.

Sure enough, many people had gathered. Thinking there must be a spy among them, I approached to observe their actions and reactions, only to see a girl trembling and crouching on the ground.

If she reacted to that extent, there must be something between her and the head chef, so I approached her to notice that she was the new maid of Lily.

So when I spoke, Lily’s maid turned towards me. The moment I saw her face, the world changed.

How could such a woman exist in this world? She possessed such a stunning beauty that one could believe she had come from a different world even if she claimed so.

Already beautiful, with her body slightly trembling and tears in her eyes, she was incredibly beautiful.

I almost said something strange for a moment, but since there were many eyes around, I chose to speak in a mocking tone as much as possible.

I’ve heard compliments like “beautiful” from my subordinates, but I never imagined it would be to this extent.

Slowly conversing, I realized as I looked at her.

She is very afraid of me and dislikes me.

‘Ah…’

Although I clearly saw her for the first time now, it felt like my heart was being torn apart.

It couldn’t be helped. From her perspective right now, I would only appear as someone who killed rather than someone who showed kindness to her.

For a moment, I really despised my past self. The one who devised such a plan.

At least for now, I had to act as naturally as possible to avoid suspicion about meeting her in the future and told her to come in as her maid.

Of course, there was some sincerity in it.

No, there was a lot.