DDSWTB 11

Chapter 11

“Milady, it’s almost time for dinner. Please return to your room.”

While I was talking with my sister, the sun had fully set and night had fallen.

“Onee-sama, may I come here again?”

“Yeah! Come visit again. Next time I’ll be the one to invite you.”

My sister gladly agreed to meet me again.

“Ellie, the necklace Milady is wearing is very lovely and suits you well,” Lily promptly said.

“Thank you. Mother gave it to me. It’s something precious to me.”

“It’s such a cute necklace.”

“Yes…”

Lily nodded in a small voice.

“Clearly, it is something Milady values dearly.”

Then we left my sister’s room.

On the way from the main building back to the annex, Tiana felt a question pop into her mind.

How did Lily know I was in my sister’s room?

Even if some other servant had told her that I was with Ellie, trouble always seemed to happen whenever I met with my sister.

If I — who live in the annex — were to go to the main building, the servants would likely accompany my sister out of concern. If anything happened to her, a report would surely reach Father or my brother.

Could it be that this maid has been watching me all along?

But why?

Even if she was spying on me, why would she need to keep watch?

“Hah.”

The head maid — Isabella.

Isabella, like Lily, disliked

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me intensely. She must have contacted Lily, who is my personal maid.

If she was my personal maid, it wouldn’t be strange for her to stay close and it would make surveillance easy.

Isabella had been one of the maids who served my mother. She had once been a fallen noble with nowhere to go, but by chance my mother had taken her in and given her work as a maid.

Isabella adored my kind-hearted mother and served her earnestly.

But when I was born, my mother gradually grew weaker.

At that time, on my mother’s recommendation and because of her past merits, Isabella was promoted to head maid.

However, becoming head maid increased her duties. The time Isabella could spend at my mother’s side dwindled.

When my mother had to leave for treatment, I expected Isabella to accompany her, but she couldn’t because of her responsibilities as head maid.

With my mother absent, Isabella — the head maid, whom everyone respected — treated me, a useless runt without exceptional talent, coldly for the sake of protecting the flawless Astelle household.

She spread the idea that I was not fit for the Astelle family.

I suspect she is trying to drive me out.

When they try to expel Lily from the Astelle household, Isabella will have to be expelled too.

And not just Lily or Isabella — the servants in the annex will have to be driven out as well. They probably think I know nothing, but I’ve heard their whispering and baseless rumors many times.

Tiana in the past would have merely thrown a tantrum and been unable to take real action.

But I’m a reincarnator now. I’m not the Tiana I used to be — I’ll make a plan and use it to have them dismissed from their positions.

Still, the servants in the novel are terribly malicious.

Without solid evidence, it will be difficult to actually get them kicked out.

I need some kind of opening.