“Miss Xiliya!” The soldier rushed in, panting and disregarding the occasion. “Sorry, there’s… something. I hope you can come out with me for a moment…”
Seeing the soldier, Masha’s smile at the corner of her mouth grew even brighter.
This little girl Xiliya didn’t have the strength to compete with her at all. Her scheme was gradually pushing Xiliya out of the heir position.
Charles, this child, understood her intentions well. Without his help, it wouldn’t have been easy for her to directly target Xiliya at the party like this.
“Why so panicked?” Masha spoke first. “Whatever it is, just say it here.”
“But,” the soldier looked at Xiliya, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes, “this is an internal City Guard matter…”
“It’s fine. Just say it here.”
With Xiliya’s permission, the soldier saluted, stood straight, and spoke loudly.
“It’s like this: just now, the Northern Beastmen harassed and robbed a cluster of farmhouses and warehouses outside the city…”
Masha smiled faintly and cast a triumphant glance at Xiliya.
As expected, everything went just as she had planned. Since this little girl was so eager to take the City Guard Captain position, she hoped Xiliya could still smile now!
With this incident, plus Charles’s earlier boost, any guest who wasn’t blind should see who was the more valuable investment target in the Camberlan Family…
“…However, under your orders, the City Guard successfully repelled those beastmen. The residents and property of Camberlan City suffered no damage.”
Masha froze, then jerked her head up, meeting Xiliya’s smiling eyes.
“Very good. You’ve worked hard. Dismissed.”
“Clean up the aftermath, and tomorrow I’ll personally go to the City Guard to handle this.”
“Yes! Miss Xiliya!”
The soldier saluted, his back straight as a rod, his eyes filled with undisguisable admiration for Xiliya.
He had complained earlier when they received the order for the entire City Guard to work overtime that night, thinking the Camberlan Family’s eldest miss only knew how to give blind commands that increased their workload. He never expected the City Guard to actually intercept the Northern Beastmen’s attack that night! How had Miss Xiliya done it?
How could this be? How could Xiliya have known there would be a beastmen attack tonight… Masha’s eyes clouded with gloom, but she forced a smile and stepped forward to praise Xiliya.
Of course, Xiliya knew the Northern Beastmen would attack Camberlan City tonight—it was something she had personally experienced in her previous life. She didn’t even need extra preparations; she just had to send the City Guard to guard the targeted areas in advance.
In her previous life, shortly after she took over as City Guard Captain, during a party one night, a City Guard soldier burst in to report that the beastmen clan had attacked the farmhouses outside the city, with heavy losses.
Masha had pretended to advise her earnestly back then, saying, “Managing the City Guard might still be too difficult for you. Why not wait a bit longer?” Thus, the blame fell squarely on Xiliya’s head, leaving her with an impression of “incompetence” in the minds of the visiting guests.
Even worse, just two days later, a rumor spread through the city that on the day of the attack on Camberlan City, the City Guard Captain herself had been feasting and reveling at the party. Resentment from the city residents poured toward Xiliya, and expectations for this potential Camberlan Family heir plummeted to the lowest.
The mastermind behind it was naturally Masha, but the current Xiliya merely gave Masha a slight bow.
“This is all what I should do, Aunt Masha. Didn’t I promise you I’d manage the City Guard well?”
“Ah, yes, you did well.”
Masha could only manage a perfunctory compliment or two, and the surrounding guests also showered Xiliya with praise. With this incident, the earlier conflict between Ximo and Charles was brushed aside.
Ximo had no idea about the scheming between Xiliya and Masha. She only breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the system task completion prompt in her mind.
Fortunately, Charles had gotten heated and argued with Xiliya. If that Chihuahua boy had backed down earlier, her task would have been completely ruined.
The lights in the hall suddenly dimmed, and soothing music began to play around them, signaling that the party had entered the latter half for dancing. The visiting guests paired up and danced to the music.
Ximo looked down at her skirt. “M-Miss… are we dancing too?”
She remembered Xiliya had asked her to be her dance partner because in her previous life, Xiliya had been alone at the dance and been mocked for it.
“No, we’re not dancing. That’s it. Come back to my room with me.”
She had just thoroughly thwarted Masha’s scheme, yet Xiliya suddenly lost interest in staying longer. Although she remembered that in her previous life, right after the dance began, Charles had come to cause her trouble, but now…
Xiliya coldly glanced at Charles. Charles, smug from winning the argument, had originally wanted to mock her with an expression, but he froze the instant he met those icy eyes, not daring to move.
“Eh? But if we don’t dance, won’t Miss be…”
“I said no dancing!”
Ximo’s soft, glutinous voice ignited a spark of anger in Xiliya’s heart. She grabbed Ximo’s wrist and practically dragged her out of the hall.
She dragged Ximo all the way back to the room without turning on the light. Instead, she pushed Ximo toward the bed. The frail little maid fell onto the bed.
“Why did you apologize to that bastard Charles earlier?”
“Eh? Y-You… are you angry, Master?”
“I’m not angry!” Xiliya acted unusually irritable. She strode forward, pressed both hands to Ximo’s sides, leaned down, and asked again, “I said it had nothing to do with you. I would handle it. Why did you apologize to him?”
In truth, Xiliya was indeed very angry, though she didn’t even know why she was venting such fury at Ximo.
“I…”
Ximo was a bit frightened by Xiliya. She couldn’t exactly tell Xiliya it was to complete a plot task, could she?
“But…” Ximo lowered her eyes. “If I didn’t apologize, it would’ve been very unfavorable for Master.”
“No matter whose fault it was, if Master argued with a family partner over a maid in front of so many guests, what would the other merchants think…”
“So as long as I admitted fault, it would resolve the issue without making it seem like Master was backing down, and no one would look down on Master for it…”
In fact, when she stepped forward to apologize, Ximo had considered this. The others might not have noticed, but she, who had long seen Xiliya’s true nature, had. At that moment, Xiliya had been on the verge of losing control.
If Xiliya had really done something for a little maid like her, it probably would’ve given Masha leverage.
