Though she didn’t want to compare this scheming woman to her mother, only a child could make a mother willingly abandon her pride.
Before leaving the prison, Xiliya also saw Charles, his eyes lifeless behind bars. The once-arrogant young heir of the Textile Merchant Guild looked even more wretched than Masha.
Xiliya knew Charles was in for an extended vacation. He’d originally been sentenced to a month for theft by the City Guard, but adding smuggling now, she wasn’t sure if he’d ever get out.
Back at the mansion, Xiliya naturally took Ximo back to her room—whether to discuss private matters or do something even more private, it was the best choice.
“I suddenly remembered something. The day my father met his end… I was supposed to go out with him.”
“Eh?”
Ximo blinked, not understanding why Xiliya brought this up suddenly.
To be honest, Ximo wasn’t familiar with Dos Camberlan. He never appeared in the original plot, serving only as background. When she transmigrated, the System hadn’t explained him either.
In comparison, even the cannon-fodder assassin Ximo, who was supposed to die at the start, had more screen time. So she thought for a while before recalling that Dos Camberlan had died in a landslide accident while riding in a carriage.
“A few months ago, my father needed to visit the City Lord of another city. On a whim, he wanted to take me to discuss a marriage alliance with that city’s guild heir.”
“I overheard some maids chatting about it, so the day he left, I hid outside early. Father probably couldn’t find me and went alone.”
Xiliya narrowed her eyes slightly. “I didn’t think much when Father had his accident, but now it seems that ‘accident’ might not have been an accident… and it wasn’t aimed at him.”
Ximo suddenly realized something, a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.
If all this was a premeditated assassination attempt on Xiliya, then it was very likely… because the landslide “accident” failed to eliminate her, that an assassin like her was sent to the mansion to finish the job.
“Ximo, you don’t know who commissioned the assassination, right?”
Ximo nodded. This was within Xiliya’s expectations. She really wanted to know who, besides Masha, had such murderous intent toward an insignificant sickly young lady like her.
“What about your organization?” Xiliya decided to approach from another angle. “Of course, if you don’t want to answer, I won’t force you.”
“Uh…” Ximo scratched her head awkwardly. “If I say I… lost my memory, would you believe me?”
Ximo could only recall fragmented memory shards now, unable to piece together anything useful. She was clueless about her own origins.
“Lost your memory?” Xiliya didn’t doubt her. “When did that happen?”
“It was…” Ximo scratched her cheek. “The day you choked me unconscious, Master… I lost my memory when I woke up.”
Ximo felt a bit awkward. She wanted to help Xiliya, but she truly remembered nothing. From that angle, claiming amnesia was the truth.
Xiliya froze, then guiltily and tenderly cupped Ximo’s face. “I’m sorry… I didn’t realize. You should have told me, Ximo.”
Xiliya suddenly understood many things. No wonder Ximo had done something so clueless as posting a bounty with ten silver coins. Amnesia explained it.
Thinking back, had she been too harsh punishing Ximo for it?
“It’s fine, Master… If I remember anything useful, I’ll tell you.”
Over the next few days, Camberlan City gradually returned to calm. Sifuke was highly efficient, and the guilds in the city couldn’t flee. As each smuggling guild fell one by one, the matter seemed concluded.
Only Samuer of the Northern Border Beastmen went quiet. After Masha’s arrest, the Beastmen Clan launched no more attacks on Camberlan City. Xiliya knew Samuer had likely shelved his plans for the city for now.
In her previous life, Masha had been a key piece in Samuer’s war plans against the Empire. With her exposure, his long-term preparations probably fell apart.
But Xiliya felt that for someone like Samuer, this failure wouldn’t deter his ambitions. She had a vague premonition that she’d face him again someday—but that was for the future.
These past two days, Xiliya focused on other matters. Though Masha was caught, her mood wasn’t great.
She’d turned the study and Masha’s bedroom upside down, visited Masha in prison several times alone, but found nothing. Until one evening a few days later, when Xiliya suddenly sought out Annaer alone.
In the time since Masha’s arrest, the mansion’s maids and servants buzzed with gossip, but Annaer ignored it all, continuing her routine as if nothing happened.
When Xiliya found Annaer, she was balancing accounts in her room. Though head maid of the mansion, Annaer’s quarters were no different from the other servants’.
“Miss? Why are you here?”
Surprise flashed in Annaer’s eyes, but as if she’d anticipated Xiliya’s visit, she quickly regained composure.
“It was you, wasn’t it, Annaer?” Xiliya pulled up a chair and sat across from her, getting straight to the point. “Mother’s things are with you, right?”
They stared at each other for seconds before Annaer suddenly chuckled softly. She admitted it without any concealment.
“Miss, you have indeed become different from before. Nothing can be hidden from you now.”
“It’s not hard to guess,” Xiliya shook her head. “I always thought Masha had secretly hidden Mother’s relics, but during this time, I practically turned the mansion upside down. I even confirmed it with Masha in prison several times. Mother’s things weren’t taken by her.”
“Besides Masha, the only person in this mansion who could have done this was you, Annaer.”
“Besides Masha, you hold the greatest authority over this mansion, and you were once Mother’s personal maid,” Xiliya lowered her head, concealing the emotions in her eyes. “Why did you do it, Annaer?”
In her previous life, Xiliya had received Mother’s relics again while studying at the Imperial Capital Magic Academy. They had come in a package from the Camberlan Family, but the items inside were already damaged.
She had always believed it was Masha’s malice at work, but now that she knew the relics were actually with Annaer, she couldn’t understand why.
