“J-Just now…”

I could see Jera, who was next to me, taking a belated gasp. Her face was more vividly surprised than mine.
Still, even if she closed her mouth belatedly, seeing that she was just a maid who worked in the castle, Lilika wouldn’t have heard her.

‘Lillika, I didn’t come here alone.’

I didn’t usually have maids with me.
No one applied to be my dedicated maid, and I’m also not the kind of person to take someone around with me…
In any case, it was only natural to think I was alone if I came to visit.

‘Jera heard Lilika’s cursing.’

In particular, what she said last.
What she said about not worrying about her was the same as what she had said in the carriage, but if there was still room for equivocation, saying that I was abandoned by my fiancé meant that I had to be someone with a fiancé.
In fact, commoners didn’t really use those expressions. It was only used among the nobles who exchanged marriages between families.

‘She was blatantly targeting me.’

I’m sure she thought that I would be angry, when I’ve been at this level of calmness these days… It’s not even funny.

“Lilika, I’m sorry. Just rest.”
“Do you like being insulted? Seeing that you don’t understand when I speak nicely?”

Lilika seemed to want me to get angry for being insulted. Even though I said I was sorry, she provoked me to the end.

‘But there’s a pale Jera next to me. Is there any need for me to step forward?’

I grabbed Jera by the arm and left Lilika’s room, walking out into the hallway.
Of course, I had to pretend to be as dispirited and hurt as possible.
Jera comforted me with a trembling voice.

“Y-Young Lady Yuria… What happened just now… I didn’t think Young Lady Lilika would say something like that.”
“Jera…”
“What she said about being abandoned by your fiancé. You really don’t need to worry…”

Rather, she looked like she was going to cry. I thought she would feel sorry for me, but I didn’t expect her to be like this.

‘Come to think of it, was Jera the maid who recently broke up with her lover?’

I thought that I had heard someone say among the maids that the man either cheated on her or abandoned her.
I managed to look hurt on the outside, but I came down from the second floor with a satisfied mind.

“You really haven’t done anything wrong, Young Lady. I’m being serious.”
“Thank you. I’m glad that it was you who came upstairs with me, Jera.”
“Lady Yuria…”

I was serious.
If it was any other maid, I would have induced her to go to Lilika’s room with me the moment she showed me her favor.
But I was lucky that it was Jera.

‘Jera usually has a light mouth, but things are going to work out better than I thought.’

At first, I thought I’d just make one maid come to my side…
But this could affect the other maids as well.

***

And there was a fact that Yuria did not know.

‘… What did I just hear?’

It wasn’t just Jera who had just witnessed Lilika say something harsh to Yuria.
Duke Primrose, the father of the two, was also there. He was a little far away, behind a pillar, so no one noticed.

‘I came here because I was worried that Lilika had skipped two meals, but… just now…’

At first, he thought he must have heard wrong, because her words were so shocking and lowly.
But his memory was not wrong.
When he recalled and recalled once more, there was no mistake in what Lilika had said to Yuria.

“That’s why you were abandoned by your fiancé.”

Lilika had clearly said that to Yuria, who was just worried about her.
The shocked Duke Primrose tried to think somehow, with his blank head.

‘That’s right, sisters could say those things when fighting each other…’

Could they?
Even if that were the case, that fiancé asked to break up with her own sister because he liked her.
If she felt the slightest bit sorry for her sister, she shouldn’t have said something like that.
Though Yuria had also said horrible things to Lilika until now…

Still.
Sir Vieira was a man that Yuria liked so much.

‘In the end, she even hoped for him to be happy with Lilika and gave them her blessings…’

There was no way that his little daughter, who was so good-hearted that he worried about how she was going to survive in this world, had said that.
Duke Primrose thought that Lilika could not have said that to Yuria.

‘She must… have said that because she thought a maid had come.’

Of course, it was shocking that Lilika, who was kind to everyone, had said such a thing, but it was because she was sensitive enough to even skip her meals.
Everything must have been a misunderstanding.
It was all because Lilika was having a hard time.

But what she had said just now… even if it wasn’t her older sister, who got entangled with her and broke off her engagement, wasn’t it too much to say that to a maid?

Duke Primrose recalled Yuria suddenly turning around in front of him without saying a word.

‘Even if Yuria didn’t say anything to provoke her, she couldn’t endure saying something like that…’

Even if he avoided properly facing what he had seen, Duke Primrose was feeling it inwardly.
It meant… that Lilika was not the fragile child that needed protection that he thought she was, and Yuria might have a more affectionate heart than he thought.

***

Lying on the bed, she curled up and swallowed her tears, hugging the blanket.

‘This is ridiculous. Everyone is ignoring me because I’m an illegitimate child…’

She tried her best to make a presence in the social world.
She made Yuria persecute her, and made it so that the people around her who saw that felt sorry for her and sided with her.
But it all came crashing down.

She thought she could pass the funeral flowers if she said it was the responsibility of her tutor.
Had it been the usual Yuria, she would have slapped her cheeks as soon as she saw the flowers. And in the meantime, she would pretend it was a mistake and burn the flowers.
But securing the flowers as evidence and putting her in a predicament?
And the fact that it was known in the social world meant that Madam Tiller had spread a rumor.

‘They didn’t foolishly tell her what happened in the castle and fire her, did they?’

Could it be that the stern butler was the culprit? Or did one of the employees hear about it…
Doubts aroused suspicion.

‘How could my brother and father do this to me?’

The two said they would love and care for her at any given moment.
She was saddened by the fact that they were acting like they didn’t know about it when a crisis came.
They said that they would protect and love her, even if everyone in the world insulted her. They said they would make sure no one ignored her for being an illegitimate child!

Knock, knock. When she heard a knock, she pulled the blanket and covered herself to the top of her head.

‘It’s too late! I’ve been stuck in my room since I got back yesterday!’

Had it been like before, word about her being upset and locked in her room would have reached her father and brother.
The maids were anxious and impatient, with an even more pitiful face, if Lilika was just the slightest bit upset.

‘That’s right. There are many times when my father and brother are busy and can’t come to the dining hall. But are they only now asking about me?’

She was also saddened that the maids didn’t bring up the story about Lilika first, and that her father and brother, who usually asked about her first when they had a chance, didn’t do so today.

She had already pulled up the blanket, but she closed her eyes tightly and buried herself again.
Soon, the door opened and the person who was waiting came in.

“Lilika. I heard you didn’t eat breakfast or lunch. Why are you skipping meals?”

Hearing her father’s warm voice, she made an upset face without hiding it.
Lilika pouted, sullen.

“I thought someone like me didn’t really matter.”
“How could that be? When my dear Lilika is starving herself?”
“I don’t believe that!”

Lilika turned her head around, sulking.

“Didn’t you also ask Brother Jiksen “Are you Lilika?” last time! Do you know how upset I was at the time?”
“Yes, yes. I’m sorry. Father was wrong.”

It was somewhat unfit for her age, but her father liked it when Lilika acted like a spoiled child. She heard that Jiksen and Yuria being blunt was enough.
However…

“But you shouldn’t act like a kid forever, Lilika.”
“What?”
“I can understand, but… other people can see you as a bad child.”

Lilika stared at the Duke of Primrose in front of her.

Was her father telling her this?
She didn’t know about anyone else, but her father shouldn’t do this.
Shouldn’t he always think about her and love her first and foremost?
Even if it was something that could make her look bad…!

“This time, you should apologize formally to your mother.”
“…”
“Wasn’t it your fault that you brought her flowers used for funerals? I can’t just forgive you forever.”

——