"Welcome back, young mistress. We're relieved you've returned safely."
"We were worried something might have happened when you didn't return all night."
For some reason, the servants who would normally have ignored her comings and goings and gone about their work welcomed her warmly. Bewildered by the unexpected reception, Lili looked around at the servants surrounding her.
Then she noticed unfamiliar people huddled together behind the servants and tilted her head in confusion. They weren't servants of the Benjamin viscounty.
"Who are those people?"
When Lili pointed at them and asked, the servants showed reluctance and all closed their mouths at once. As they looked at each other as if deciding who should speak, the maid who had served Lili the most took the lead.
"Well... they are people brought by Countess Baliman."
Countess Baliman.
She was the woman who spent a passionate night with the newlywed groom in place of Lili on her wedding night with Fredrick. The fact that this woman had come here must surely be to mingle bodies with her husband.
"..."
Just thinking about it made Lili frown with disgust and nausea. If they wanted to roll around in bed, they should go to a hotel, doing this in their own home was absurd, but she wasn't angry. She just thought, ah, Fredrick is being Fredrick again.
When guests visited the mansion, it was polite for the mistress of the house to greet them, but Lili didn't want to treat Countess Baliman as a guest.
Above all, the mistress of this mansion was not Lili but Samantha. So she was going to ignore Countess Baliman's side and return to her bedroom to rest, but the maid spoke urgently.
"Co-Countess Baliman says she came to see you, young mistress."
Lili's feet, which had been climbing the central staircase to the second floor, stopped. Lili only turned her head to look at the maid.
"...She came to see me, not him?"
"Yes. The master is currently out."
"Since you were also not here, the elder mistress has been keeping the countess company in your stead."
"So please hurry to the reception room, young mistress."
The servants urged Lili, each speaking a sentence as if singing a round. It meant that Samantha was having a hard time.
Well, it couldn't be easy for Samantha, who came from a commoner background, to deal with Countess Baliman who had been nobility since birth. Suddenly imagining Samantha flustering, Lili laughed without realizing it.
Part of her wanted to leave Samantha suffering a bit longer, and part of her didn't want to meet Countess Baliman. So Lili stood motionless, staring in the direction of the reception room. As she didn't budge, the servants fidgeted and stamped their feet anxiously.
"Young mistress..."
As the servants called out desperately, Lili turned to look at them again. They all wore pleading expressions, but to Lili's eyes, it looked like disgusting hypocrisy.
It was laughable that they now sought her help when they had subtly tormented her at other times, like bringing ice-cold water for washing or deliberately brushing her hair too hard.
Moreover, it was rude of Countess Baliman to show up unannounced without a prior appointment. If it were someone else, she would have understood it as urgent business, but given that it was the countess who had spent Fredrick's wedding night with him, it was unpleasant.
For the same reason, she didn't want to meet Countess Baliman, but she couldn't avoid it. The countess's status was higher than hers. If she weren't in the mansion it would be one thing, but deliberately not meeting her when present was impossible.
If I had known this would happen, I should have spent more time leisurely at the hotel. I rushed back for nothing.
Regretting, Lili said to the servants.
"My current appearance is rather shabby to meet the countess, so I'll change clothes before going to see her."
"What? Bu-but wouldn't that keep the countess waiting too long..."
"It can't be helped. If she had come with an appointment, I would have prepared and waited, but since that's not the case, the countess will have to wait a bit longer."
As this was the only way to vex Samantha and the countess, Lili dawdled and stalled for as much time as possible.
Search "lover" on redcatty(.)com to read ahead up to chapter 70.