A little while ago, after the tea party ended, Loren Logia was dragging her feet listlessly, returning to her room.
The sky, as if mocking her heart, burned red and was nothing but beautiful.
“In society, they say you shouldn’t make enemies, but if someone insults my people, that changes things. Don’t worry about it.”
Instead of scolding her for failing to control her emotions and ruining her first tea party, Lady Kasallin had smiled and comforted her.
She had even praised and defended Loren in front of everyone.
At that moment, Loren, sighing heavily as if the ground would swallow her, was at a loss for how to repay such immense kindness and debt.
“Ow!”
Turning a corner, Loren collided hard with something, falling on her backside, and a shrill shout rang over her head.
“Where are you looking?”
“I’m sorr—”
Loren started to apologize out of habit but froze upon seeing the face of the person she’d bumped into.
It was the maid who had clung to Viscountess Rondo’s side throughout the tea party.
Realizing this, Loren couldn’t help but entertain the impudent thought that running into her here, of all places, might not be a coincidence.
Besides, from that corner, the maid could have clearly seen Loren approaching.
Pushing aside the weak urge to apologize vaguely and flee, Loren straightened her knees and stood up.
“Well, didn’t you also come and bump into me? Please apologize properly.”
When Loren spoke with a trembling voice, it must have sounded quite amusing.
The maid raised both eyebrows in disbelief and let out a mocking laugh.
“Can you stop stuttering and speak clearly? I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
“I—I said, please apologize properly!”
“No way, I don’t want to!”
The maid, with a booming voice and eyes glaring fiercely, seemed intent on crushing Loren’s spirit.
It appeared her creed was that the loudest voice wins.
“If you hadn’t been so rude to Viscountess Rondo at the tea party, I might have brushed the dust off your skirt.”
“I was rude to Viscountess Rondo?”
“What, is your head as bad as your farm-girl upbringing, forgetting what just happened?”
“Don’t talk like that. There’s no one in this world who isn’t precious!”
“That’s just the pathetic self-consolation of those born inferior.”
Loren felt her eyes grow hot as tears began to well up.
If only she could stand strong and retort to such low insults like Lady Kasallin, how wonderful that would be.
But Loren had a habit of crying first when angered or unfairly spoken to, overwhelmed by frustration.
“Crying so pathetically. Your mistress, dragging around a maid like you, must be quite something too.”
“Have you said all you wanted to say?”
“Did I say anything wrong? A rude maid just shows how low her mistress is.”
In a quiet corner of the promenade where not even a bird flew by,
this maid, seeing no watchful eyes around, was spouting whatever nonsense came to her lips.
“She will soon become the empress of this country. Even if you can’t respect her, isn’t it your duty as a citizen to show at least some decency?”
“An empress’s position is only maintained by His Majesty’s favor. Haven’t some people said? Lady Kasallin just got lucky or used less-than-honest means to capture His Majesty’s heart, so his favor will fade quickly.”
“How dare you say such things… after all the hardships our lady endured to get here!”
When the maid put Kasallin on the chopping block, Loren felt the last threads of her rationality crumble to dust.
“Apologize right now! I said apologize!”
Loren, unsure whether she was shouting in anger or sobbing, raised her voice and ended up shoving the maid’s shoulder hard.
The maid, stumbling and falling hard on her backside, glanced behind Loren, flinched, and suddenly began to fake a pitiful cry.
Wondering why she was acting this way, Loren turned.
“What a commotion.”
From the forest path leading to the imperial palace, Parnes slowly walked out.
A few steps behind him followed Lady Isabella Rudo, the duke’s daughter.
The maid, clearly intending to exploit the situation, sat on the ground, acting wronged and refusing to get up.
This was a disaster.
His Majesty Emperor Parnes must have only seen Loren shouting and pushing the maid, misunderstanding the situation.
His grim expression was proof of that.
“Explain what’s happening.”
“Your Majesty, it’s…”
“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty!”
Cunningly cutting off Loren’s attempt to explain the situation was, of course, Viscountess Rondo’s maid.
“This lowly one failed to watch her surroundings carefully, which seems to have angered Lady Loren Logia here. I’m truly sorry.”
How could she tell such a brazen lie with a straight face?
Feeling fury boil inside her, Loren opened her mouth to explain to Parnes again.
But Parnes raised a hand, signaling that was enough.
“You there, help that maid up.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Sir Antonio and Sir Vincent, who had been following from a distance, came forward and offered their hands to Viscountess Rondo’s maid.
The maid, barely hiding a sigh of relief and a victor’s smirk, stood up shakily.
“Thank you so much, Your Majesty.”
“Whose maid did you say you were?”
“I’ve been serving Viscountess Rondo for years.”
“Such loyal devotion. Then you must have spent much time with Viscountess Rondo.”
The maid, thrilled that the usually cold emperor was showing interest, nodded eagerly.
“Yes, of course. We’re practically like family, together all day. It’s very rewarding for me.”
“…I see. Understood. It’s getting dark, so take your mistress and return home.”
“I’m deeply grateful for your boundless grace. I’ll take my leave.”
Parnes watched the maid’s retreating figure with a strange glint in his eyes before turning, belatedly, to Loren, who stood pale with dread.
“You, what’s your name?”
“Lor… Loren Logia.”
It was over.
This time, she had made an irreversible mistake.
Far worse than her slip of the tongue at the tea party.
The despairing thought that this incident might cause a rift between His Majesty and Lady Kasallin kept circling in her mind.
“Speak.”
“What…?”
The red hue in the sky had completely faded, and stars were beginning to twinkle.
In the dim darkness, Parnes’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“Tell me everything that was said at today’s tea party, without omitting a single word.”
[This is the timeline separator]Looking calm on the outside didn’t mean she wasn’t trembling inside.
Using the excuse of wanting a walk, Kasallin sent Loren back to her quarters first, finally finding herself alone and able to release the tension gripping her entire body.
“Goodness, cold sweat…”
Slumping onto a bench under a tree, Kasallin wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.
She let out a wry laugh despite herself.
If she confessed she’d been terrified just from hosting a tea party, who in the world would believe her?
No one would.
“The past can’t be undone. I just need to do better moving forward.”
Comforting herself for her hard efforts today, Kasallin returned to the empress’s palace chambers.
Unlike usual, when Loren would have greeted her with a beaming smile, she was nowhere to be seen.
Could she still not be back? Kasallin wondered.
“Milady, you’re here?”
Loren approached, her clothes carrying the scent of the outdoors.
But something about her expression was off.
She looked less lively than when they’d parted at the greenhouse, though not entirely dejected either.
Her eyes held a strange, puzzled air, as if she’d witnessed something bizarre.
“Lady Loren, what happened?”
“W-what?”
When Kasallin asked directly, Loren jumped, startled beyond reason, and seemed to lose her wits.
Kasallin narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“You can’t fool me. I told you to return straight to your room, yet you’re only back now. What happened outside?”
Loren’s eyes darted aimlessly, as if hesitating at a crossroads, before she gave a weak smile and shook her head.
“No, nothing happened. I just got lost on the way. Honestly, the empress’s palace is too big!”
“…Really?”
“Yes, really, nothing happened at all. Come on, let’s go up and eat. I’m starving!”
Returning to her usual cheerful self, Loren bounced and tugged at Kasallin’s hand.
Something was definitely strange.
[This is the timeline separator]The next day, Kasallin was preparing documents to nominate Viscountess Rondo’s maid for a position, to present to Parnes.
A quiet morning, no different from usual.
Enjoying the silence alone, she scratched her pen across white paper when unmistakably lively footsteps—clearly Loren’s—approached.
“Milady! Lady Kasallin! T-terrible…”
Loren, her face flushed with excitement and gasping for breath, couldn’t string her words together.
Kasallin casually handed her a glass of water.
“What’s got you so worked up today? Everything in the world seems shocking to our Lady Loren.”
“It’s a disaster! A huge disaster!”
“So what’s this huge disaster…?”
“Last night, there was a massive fire at Viscount Rondo’s estate!”
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
