Ivy chatting casually with Onii-sama.
Ivy practicing hard with Philip in the training grounds.
Ivy discussing the faults of our ancestors with Aaron.
Ivy picking out herbs for potions with Ellios.
It was quite annoying, me being coincidentally there whenever this happened.
Now, our dear Crown Prince was next.
I wonder what was going to happen?
The hardest thing about Albert's route was that Ivy had the most enemies there.
There was jealous girls all over him that tried to remove Ivy, who was the closest to him.
But ultimately, all the 'accidents' led to Roselyn, who manipulated behind the scenes like a spider plucking it's web.
'I just hope at least has a hard time on it.' I thought, without a speck of guilt.
I closed the door to my room. There was a nice smell to it.
I sniffed around the air a few times, and then recognised the scent as honey lemon.
Tasha was sitting there, brewing a cup of tea.
"Welcome back, M'lady. I decided to spray the room with a 100% natural lemon and honey formula. I also made a grapefruit tea to accommodate the scent. The perfume will naturally go away in about 2 days. " She explained after seeing my confused face.
I checked with magic to see if there were any poison or irregularity with the tea and walls. Turns out, it's actually completely natural as Tasha said.
"Mmmm. This tea is well done, Tasha." I told her after taking a sip.
No wonder Ivy had hired her.
I bet Tasha was well trained to please someone as a maid.
It's a shame I couldn't keep her forever.
Just before I could take my third sip, I heard a knock on the door.
'I wonder who it is? I mean, who would come to my door right now, in the evening? If they had some business with me, they could have found me at lunch or break.'
I hesitantly put down the lovely cup of tea, and pushed my chair back.
I looked into the peephole implanted on my door.
A girl still wearing the school uniform stood in front of my room.
I realised right away that this was the very person who sent me to the Nurse's Office.
If I remembered correctly, she was the Lady of House Arden.
You see, Earl Arden's household used to be very wealthy.
But apparently, Earl Arden took in a mistress and had an illegitimate child with her.
I think that was right when Countess Arden's child was born as well.
But the fact that there was another child to share the wealth made Countess Arden very angry.
She straight up left Count Arden, but brought her daughter with her to her own household.
But Countess Arden came from a Marquess's family, and was the whole reason why Count Arden struck rich.
Count Arden became less wealthy immediately now that the former Countess left him.
Some say that Count Arden made the mistress and the bastard daughter stay there and become maids for him.
Others say that he abandoned the 2 and begged his former wife for forgiveness.
But anyways, the Earl's family was ruined.
And the girl standing before me was the daughter of the former Countess.
I swung the door open and greeted her warmly.
"And who might you be?" I asked even though I already knew.
If I told her that I already knew her, it might come of as arrogant as if I had been waiting for her to apologize.
"I'm Aurelia Arden." She did a polite curtsy.
"I came here to express my regret of......", She bit her lip. "wounding someone as high as you."
"Oh! You must be that lady!" I said in a cheerful voice to indicate I wouldn't do any harm to her. "It's fine, really! We all make mistakes, don't we? I've already forgiven you from the first day. I didn't think you'd actually come to apologize! But, thank you very much for coming here. It must have taken a lot of courage to stand in front of my door!"
I hoped I sounded enthusiastic.
If rumours said that I'd forgiven a lower lady who hurt me, then I might have bought myself another ticket to surviving from the capture targets and Ivy.
I looked at the girl, expecting a very grateful expression.
Instead, she looked like she'd seen the person she wanted to kill the most in the whole world.
I was moderately confused, until I noticed that she wasn't looking at me. Not at all.
Instead, it was behind me.
My heart started to pick up pace.
I looked at Tasha, who was just standing there, frozen with a rather shocked expression, with a bit of fear.
"You—!" Aurelia yelled. She lunged forward with flaming eyes.
I stuck out a hand in front of her.
Since I was stronger than most people, it was enough to stop her in her tracks.
"Let me go!" She said through clinched teeth. She started clawing my arm.
Did this girl hate Tasha so much she would show this behaviour in front of me, a Duke's Daughter?
But..........This could prove useful. I had to do some serious facial controlling to stop myself from smiling.
"Please calm down. What you're trying to hurt is my maid. Furthermore, you do not have any permission to touch her." I told her in a calm state.
"But—! She........!" Aurelia tried to tell me something, but then her senses returned.
"Please watch out. She's sly as a fox, just like her mother. " She said with a blood-curling tone.
"I will." I responded with an appreciative tone.
Shutting the door, I looked at Tasha.
"M-M'lady........Excuse me for losing my composure. I'll go clean up the tea." She scurried off.
This gave me some time to think.
Based on how Aurelia reacted to Tasha, Aurelia detested Tasha a whole lot.
And, this was a guess, but, who else but the illegitimate daughter would make Aurelia look like that?
It was thanks to Tasha and her mother that Aurelia's family collapsed.
Now, I just had to make sure.
"Tasha, do you know why Lady Aurelia was looking like that?" I asked her cluelessly.
Tasha looked hesitant to answer.
"Could it be...... that she hates you? But that's impossible! You're the nicest girl I know!" I held her two hands in my palm.
Tasha gave me a painful look, and looked down with guilt.
"M'lady. I have something to tell you." She lips slightly trembled while saying this phrase.
'Ugh. Spare me on these serious scenes that are 99% chance cliffhangers. Why does everything in this world have to be so cliche and cringy?'
"Tasha, what.....are you talking about.....?"
I acted surprised and dashed a bit of fear into my eyes as if I was scared of the truth.
But on the inside, I was laughing hilariously. Was this some sort of soap opera?
How does the mind of the people inside this world even work?
It's like they're unconsciously following a script.
"You see, I'm working for the Lady of house Castria. She wants me to report your moves and try to tell her if you were plotting anything against her." She bit her lip with an uncertain look. "But, after some time, I soon realised that Lady Castria was the evil one. Even though she was clearly trying to ruin you, you kept on forgiving her. The guilt of serving a devil such as her to get rid of a saint like you.....is simply starting to be unbearable! I thought that she truly cared for me," Tears started to flow down her cheeks, "But she saved me just to use me! You see, Lady Castria convinced Lord Castria to buy me as a maid. She was pure and innocent before, but when she gave me the order frame you for a crime, I-I just couldn't take it anymore!"
Now she was hysterically sobbing on the floor in a pitiful position.
'God, just how much did she underestimate me to think that I haven't known that all along? Was she actually not considering the possibility of me acting like just so that I could manipulate her?'
I bent down and patted her back.
"I.................Lady Castria is not at fault. I think that the plague of jealousy filled her. While I was born with a golden spoon in my mouth, Lady Castria had to work hard for her family since birth! Please, do not blame her. I may be at fault. But, I feel.........betrayed. How could you do this to me, Tasha? I thought I could trust you." I looked away, with sorrowful and dejected eyes.
"M-M'lady! I will earn your trust back! I swear on my life! You give me any order, and I'll follow!" Tasha looked at me with determined eyes.
I smiled with my head facing the other way, out of Tasha's sight.
"You'll do anything?"