“Brother, she gave Mother white Lepia flowers!”
“That’s nonsense. White Lepias don’t bloom in the garden of the Duke’s castle, so where would she get them!”
“That…”

However, the white flowers had already been thrown by Lilika into the fireplace and burned.
I was a mean sister who couldn’t even embrace my younger sister but used my mother as an excuse to use violence.

“Lady Lilika, what happened to your cheek…! Is it true that the Lady’s sister tormented you?”
“I-It’s because I made a mistake… It’s no big deal. I deserved it.”
“Even so, how could she hit you so hard on your face!”

Lilika attended various social gatherings as if showing off her swollen cheek, and my notoriety grew even bigger…

“What’s wrong, Sister?”

The person who did this once again was calm. Lilika tilted her head innocently, as if she knew nothing.

I thought my mother wasn’t saying anything because she was bothered by what Lilika was saying, but the flowers made me more taken aback and I couldn’t grasp the current situation.

“You… Did you bring these flowers when you knew what they meant?”

Instead of slapping her like I did in my past life, I held the flowers in my hand.
Even now, I wanted to do something, but I held back. What Lilika wanted was for me to hit her for this.

“I-is there any problem? I’ll look at the flowers again…”

Lilika seemed to be in despair as she moved her gaze along the flowers.
I was holding the piece of evidence that needed to be thrown into the fireplace and destroyed when the villainess wreaked havoc.
Lilika frowned for a moment and reached out her hand.
But I hid the bouquet behind my back, ignoring Lilika’s attempts to get it back. Then, I asked.

“You wouldn’t have done this to insult Mother. Who brought you the white Lepia flowers?”
“T-the flowers…”

Lilika immediately turned to the maids at my question.
Apparently, she seemed to be making an excuse that she didn’t bring them herself, but that they had been given to her by someone else.

‘I don’t think she brought them here without knowing what they meant.’

If this had happened in my previous life, Lilika’s loyal maids would have taken the blame on her behalf.
But what was different from before was that Lilika’s maids were not so loyal to her.

“Young Lady Lilika, you got them yourself…”
“…!”

The maids lowered their heads as if apologizing, but avoided the blame, saying that they were not responsible.
Even if they couldn’t confess it to me right away, they could mumble and tell the truth.
They must have learned something when Lilika blamed the kitchen maid for the lead pot last time, or when she accused them of telling me the color of the dress.

“You…”

The maid who answered that question was also very loyal to Lilika in my previous life.

‘It seems that Lilika has lost their trust.’

And at that moment, Jiksen appeared. Lillika tried to go in front of me and hide the flowers somehow, but I was no fool.
I immediately showed the white Lepias to my brother.

“Welcome, Brother. There is a problem in Lilika’s education that we need to discuss. There was also that incident with the lead pot last time…”
“No, I…”

Yeah, you didn’t think I’d be this rational. Normally, I was a person whose actions preceded my words.
Brother Jiksen immediately grasped the situation. Bewilderment also spread on his face.

“Did Lilika bring the white Lepias? Did she bring flowers you give to the dead… when paying Mother a sick visit?”
“Brother, I… I really didn’t know.”

No matter how much my brother cared about Lilika rather than his own mother, it was something that couldn’t be ignored.

“That’s right, she wouldn’t have done this on purpose. It must have been because Lilika didn’t know.”

But my brother took her side again this time. Would he have the same reaction if someone else had done this insult instead of Lilika?

‘Mother, though you suffered for ten months and gave birth to him, I guess he is Lilika’s brother before he is your son.’

Lilika looked relieved at my brother’s words. However, I had expected this much, so I continued right away.

“Yes, Lilika wouldn’t have known this time too. So we have to reprimand the tutor who taught Lilika.”
“S-sister? What does that…”
“How could the Lady of Primrose not know the meaning of a lead pot or a white Lepia flower? The tutor must have neglected to teach Lilika. It’s not like Lilika is dumb or insincere.”
“That…”

Lilika bit her lip.
I asked again, as if checking with her.

“Isn’t that right, Lilika? You didn’t learn about the lead pot and the white Lepias from your tutor.”

Of course, there was no way she really didn’t learn.
However, if she refuted this, Lilika would be the one who deliberately tried to kill her mother and insulted her, telling her to die.
After a moment of caution, Lillika spoke softly.

“But I like my current teacher…”

But Jiksen shook his head.

“Lilika, don’t try to cover up for the tutor for no reason. Would you have done something so cruel to Mother if you knew this? This is the tutor’s responsibility.”
“Yes, Lilika, you wouldn’t have caused such a big incident if you knew. It’s because you didn’t learn.”

Giving funeral flowers to a sick mother?
Even if it was Brother Jiksen, he wouldn’t be able to let this incident go.
He needed someone to take responsibility.
Instead of Lilika becoming a bad child, he wanted to blame everything on her tutor.

‘I can’t believe he thinks that she really doesn’t know. How blind is he?’

I sighed and continued.

“What happened in the Duke’s castle can be overlooked because we know Lilika’s situation, but if something like this happens outside, I’m sure Lilika will be ridiculed because she’s of a low bloodline.”

Then, I criticized Lilika’s bloodline. I pointed out something that I really didn’t have to say, exactly like Lilika talked to my mother earlier. Lilika’s face hardened.

“The lead pot the last time, and now the flowers. There is a problem with Lilika’s education, so if this is really for her sake, we can’t let it go.”
“Yes, Yuria is right. You have to change tutors. Someone with their head in the right place.”
“But I just like my current teacher. She is a really wonderful person. If you talk to her, Madam Tiller will…”
“Absolutely not. How could I let you be swayed from learning from an incompetent teacher?”

When I changed the situation so that changing Lilika’s tutor was for her sake, Brother Jiksen also quickly stepped forward.

‘He seems to be assuming that I’m doing this for Lilika and not to reprimand her.’

It was unsightly to see her trying to force herself to smile, which was unlike her.

“Yes… I understand.”

In the end, Lilika agreed to change her tutor. Still, she seemed relieved that things ended up not being her fault.

‘But is it really a relief?’

A few days later, I joined the butler and secretly visited Madam Tiller, Lilika’s tutor.
She was bewildered by the sudden notice of dismissal.

“What do you mean I taught Young Lady Lilika wrong? Can you tell me what this is about? I was so disconcerted to get an angry notification from the duchy out of nowhere…”
“I’m surprised the Lady said it was so sudden. Are you sure you don’t know what you did wrong?”

I pretended to be angry with Madam Tiller and hinted at the reason for the dismissal that the duchy had not told her.

“The Lady raised Lilika as a child who doesn’t know the dangers of lead pots or the meaning of white Lepias.”

In other words, it was Lilika’s disgrace, which she had been desperately hiding.

“Sorry? What do you mean?”

Indeed, as soon as she heard my words, Madam Tiller was startled and asked in an exasperated tone.
On the other hand, unlike Madam Tiller, I kept my cold eyes on her.

“Are you pretending not to know?”

The Primrose duchy instructed not to be mentioned that my mother had eaten a syrup boiled in the lead pot Lilika had bought, or that she had handed her white Lepias as a sick visitor gift.
It should come as no surprise that it was because there was nothing good about others knowing that Lilika had done that.
Wasn’t it Lilika who was neglected for having the blood of commoners?

However, I took the attitude of refuting Madam Tiller’s avoidance of her mistakes.

“This is ridiculous. Then a person could die of lead poisoning!”

And Madam Tiller, who had listened to me and raised her voice for the first time,

“No… Did she give the white Lepias to Duchess Primrose? Young Lady Lilika? It’s already extremely rude to give those to someone, but to someone who’s sick…”

She soon let out a long, dejected sigh. She looked like she didn’t know why things were like this.
Madam Tiller was confused for a while, but she soon hardened her face and spoke seriously.

——