As if matching Cecile’s scheming presence, Cassidy only keeps on her smug front and acts chilled.

The head maid is not a bit least pleased at how cheeky she’s making herself appear to be. In fact, she feels like going physical at this very moment. She badly wants to rip that goddamn red hair of hers or slap her across the face for making her go through a humiliating experience earlier.

​​

It just happened that Gertrude took out her anger on Cecile.

The reason why it was strange to see her patiently waiting in the lounge for more than half an hour was because she simply didn’t have that long of a patience. She had bottled it all up until the very end and stayed calm on her seat.

When Cecile finally went and confessed that Cassidy wasn’t there after all, she was still calm and in control of their temper.

“You see, Madam… I had told her that you’re here to see her, but she immediately ran away. I chased after her and begged her to stop. However, she was really determined not to meet you. She even tried to hurt and threaten me. Even then, I just kept pleading and eventually, I asked for help from the others. Right then, though, she was already out of our sight, and until now, nobody knew where exactly she had went and hid,” was what Cecile told her as a lie – a cover up for her slip-up. 

“I see… Knowing the new her, she does seem to be one who easily gets violent and aggressive…” was what Gertrude simply responded at first, still composed and impassive.

She then finally stood up from her seat and picked up her things. The head maid got ready to bid her farewell and see her out along with the other maids, but that’s all until she suddenly turned to look back at her and threw away her calm facade at last.

“Yet the moment you let her out of your sight, you already failed your job! That’s just one puny woman, and you’re a ton! How could you just lose her like that?! What a useless bunch you all are…!” Gertrude exclaimed in rage and aggravation, glaring daggers at the head maid all the while. 

“More importantly, your reason didn’t change the fact that I wasted so much time here! Do you even know how long I was here?! How very impudent of you to make me wait like this! You’re all utterly ridiculous!”

It was Cecile’s first time getting shouted at like that ever since she began working for the Millicent’s.

She was mortified in front of the other houseworkers, and it made her feel like a shame to her original mistress. Going by Gertrude’s hostile reaction, what Irish will do to her is probably going to be equally humiliating if not worse. After all, she did skip two dates for this meeting.

Cecile knows quite well, though – that the reason why Gertrude was that harsh on her was because she did not get to see Cassidy today. Her outburst would even be worse if the redhead was the one in her place. She did not get to take out her week’s worth of exhaustion on her usual stress reliever, after all. 

While Cassidy is a form of entertainment for Irish, she is something like a calmative for Gertrude.

“Right now, I want her to be both my entertainment and my stress reliever,” Cecile thought grimly, her scowl getting deeper and deeper as she continued looking at the redhead’s smiling face.

Cassidy, on the other hand, is only getting more and more amused.

Yet before the head maid can further spread her malevolence all around the place, she just chooses to proceed with her plan. Her neck is already starting to get stiff as she keeps looking up to her from down the stairs. 

“I did hear from the guards that my mother-in-law was here. So sorry for leaving without telling. I was really in a hurry, you see. I badly wanted to buy something I saw in the mall earlier, which was why I went back there as fast as I could…” Cassidy blithely reasoned out.

“In fact, I wanted it so badly that not even a locked door could stop me~” she then added while smirking meaningfully, her tone turning so sweet yet ominous at the same time.

Cecile and the other maids flinched at this.

The way she brought the locked door up like it’s nothing made it sound like it’s everything that they needed to be concerned about. Since everyone was in it, they knew what’s up. Nobody reacted like they didn’t know what happened.

“Hmph… So, this mansion has really become a den for two-faced tricksters now – in just a matter of hours even…” Cassidy thought to herself with a frown, crossing her arms all the while.

“Then again, they’re backed up by the ever powerful Irish. I gotta get a worthy nickname for her soon.”

“There must be something with the door knob that accidentally got you locked up inside. I’ll get a handyman to replace it. But you could’ve just called someone to open it up for you from the outside, you know,” Cecile started again, feigning innocence in a way that made the redhead cringe.

Cassidy couldn’t help but pull a flat look at such a lame excuse, thinking that she could’ve done better than that.

But at least it’s clear for her now. Since the head maid wanted to make it look like an accident and did not come clean, she’s probably underestimating her again. Perhaps, she thought that no one would believe her or side with her anyway, so why not just make a lame excuse.

It’s alright for Cassidy, though, considering that she really doesn’t want to continue dwelling on a crime that will only make Cecile reap a small offense.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you, then…!” the redhead beamed at her out of nowhere, taking her aback.

“By the way, can I ask some of you to help me put these shopping bags in my room? They may be small, by they’re pretty heavy,” she continued while showing them the baggage she’s actually carrying the whole time.

“Were those the things that you badly wanted to buy?” the head maid asked apathetically, raising a brow.

“Yeah! I got them from a popular jewelry store at the mall.”

Then, she paused.

At the drop of a hat, Cecile became strangers with apathy once again.

She kept herself from visibly perking up in surprise, not wanting to appear even a bit least engrossed. Yet within, her interest is completely piqued. 

After all, even when she already searched all the rooms in first and second floors of the mansion, she did not get to find a single jewel nor anything that’s as expensive as that.

“I got myself a very exquisite jewelry set and gems after I realized that I didn’t own anything like that yet. My husband told me I could shop all I want, so I went ahead and finally buy some for myself. I admit that it’s quite rare for him to be that generous. He must be in a very good mood~” Cassidy ecstatically gushed about. 

Seriously, though, she doesn’t have any jewelry with her nor does she even own half of the amount she bought. She noticed before that she didn’t have that many fancy accessories back at home, which was probably because her adult version was just as indifferent to those luxuries as she was when she’s younger.

“I see…” was all Cecile could blurt out at the moment, silently stunned as she took in everything she said.

The head maid may look blank and uninterested right now, but the redhead knows that she has said enough.

Surely, she is raring to take a peek at the jewelries. But then, she just decided to leave her like that and proceed to have the other maids help her bring the shopping bags upstairs.

As soon as Cassidy is inside her bedroom along with everything that she has bought, she takes time to savor Cecile’s reaction earlier when she walked past through her back at the stairs.

“She still looked indifferent, but her eyes were clearly following the shopping bags, not me. Just like how a dog would trail after its food~”

But then, dogs are loyal. Most only have one master.

Cecile, on the other hand, has two. Now, it’s up to Cassidy to know which is more important to her – Irish and Gertrude or her own greed.

“It’s all good if she ends up choosing the former, though. I still have an ace up my sleeve.”

With that in mind, she began her preparations and got ready to call for the head maid again. She needs to finish everything before Adrian returns home, which she thinks will be at sunset. 

“Ughhh… I’m really not used to doing schemes like these. I like confronting people head-on, but…” Cassidy grimaced out loud as she flopped on her bed and hugged a pillow to her chest, staring at the ceiling all the while. 

“My world back then is so different from the world where I am now. As much as I want to punch the hell out of everyone here, I know I can’t do that. At least for as long as I’m in this household, I have to keep stepping up my game in secret while everyone continues to see me as gullible and naive.”