The two quickly found Xiliya’s mother’s tombstone, where the dark stone was engraved with “Xiwei Camberlan.”
Xiliya spotted a small, blue jasmine flower placed in front of the tombstone right away. The flower was vibrant, clearly just placed there recently. It was obvious who had offered it—Annaer.
Xiliya had originally planned to clean the tombstone, but she discovered it had already been cleaned by someone. So, she simply placed the small flower crown that Ximo had woven in front of it.
“Mom, I’m back.”
Xiliya’s voice was very soft. She truly hadn’t visited her mother in a very, very long time. After all, ever since she left Camberlan City in her previous life, she had never returned.
She wondered if anyone had continued to tend to her mother’s grave after she left… This thought only strengthened Xiliya’s determination to seize the position of head of the Camberlan Family.
Xiliya stood in front of the tombstone for a very long time—so long that a thin layer of snow had piled up on her shoulders. It wasn’t until Ximo, standing beside her, let out a small sneeze from the cold weather that Xiliya decided to head back.
However, to her surprise, as soon as they reached the entrance of the cemetery, she saw Annaer waiting there. A carriage was parked beside Annaer.
“Are you heading home, Miss? I’ve already called for the carriage.”
“You could have gone ahead without us… Never mind.”
Xiliya stopped dwelling on it and boarded the carriage with Ximo.
Throughout the ride, Annaer said nothing unnecessary. A dutiful maid knew to minimize her presence when her master didn’t need her.
After they returned home, an furious Masha quickly sought out Xiliya.
“Xiliya, was it you who gave the study key to Malisi?”
“Ah, Aunt Masha, I was just about to tell you about that,” Xiliya replied with a smile. “I picked up the key in the hallway. It must have fallen from you by accident, right? I wanted to return it directly, but you seemed very busy in the morning, so I asked little sister Malisi to pass it on to you.”
“Mm, thank you, Xiliya.”
Surprisingly, Masha calmed down. She gave Xiliya a deep look before turning and leaving.
Meanwhile, Ximo got a firsthand look at the state of the study because Annaer asked her to help clean up… The decorations that had been messed up weren’t important. What mattered were the many documents that had been ruined by the two mischievous kids’ scribbling, all of which had been tossed into the trash.
Xiliya watched Masha’s departing figure with great interest. She wondered how long it would take before Masha finally lost her patience and made a move against her.
Having been reborn, she knew Masha’s personality very well. In her previous life, it was because of her own cowardice and lack of resistance that Masha had been able to methodically scheme and drive her out of the Camberlan Family.
This life, Masha had hit wall after wall with her. Xiliya didn’t believe Masha would sit idly by. This old fox would surely act against her soon, right?
…
Later that evening, Ximo brought red tea to Xiliya’s room. No sooner had she stepped through the door than she heard the “click” of the lock behind her.
Ximo’s heart sank. She knew exactly what that meant—Xiliya was about to call her out on her mistakes.
Sure enough, as soon as Ximo set down the tray while suppressing her fear, she saw the young lady leaning casually against the door with her arms crossed.
“Ximo, do you know what you did wrong today?”
As expected, there was no escaping the reckoning. Ximo figured Xiliya had simply held back during the day because of the need to pay respects at her mother’s grave.
“I was wrong, Master,” Ximo said as she smoothly dropped to her knees. “I shouldn’t have ruined those jasmine flowers in the rear garden. I really didn’t think it through at the time. I just wanted to weave a little flower crown…”
“That’s not it.”
Xiliya’s expression grew even colder, and Ximo knew she’d said the wrong thing. But… that shouldn’t be right? According to the task issued by the System, this was what Xiliya cared about the most.
Seeing Ximo hesitate and not dare to speak, Xiliya smiled. “It seems you really haven’t realized what you did wrong.”
“Why did you speak up for Malisi today?”
“Eh?” Ximo blinked in surprise, completely caught off guard. “That, um… I was worried you might actually lay hands on the second miss, and there were children from other merchant families there at the time. Doing it in front of them wouldn’t look good for the Camberlan Family’s image…”
“You still don’t get it, Ximo. From the start, I asked you to continue pretending to be a maid so you could be my personal maid, not the Camberlan Family’s.”
Xiliya pressed closer step by step. “You’re really thinking about the Camberlan Family, huh? You only need to obey me. You’re my maid and mine alone. Got it?”
“I understand, Master.” Ximo averted her gaze, her apologetic voice soft and sticky. She finally understood why Xiliya had gotten suddenly angry during the day—it must have been a test of her loyalty.
Since Xiliya was using her as a tool for revenge, she would naturally care deeply about her loyalty.
“Saying it isn’t enough. You have to prove it to me.”
Xiliya leaned in close to Ximo’s ear and whispered, then turned and took out a set of clothes. “Put this on.”
Ximo knew this was Xiliya’s punishment, but this outfit… With so little fabric, her eyes widened. Wait, why did it look so familiar?
It was a maid outfit, but compared to the one Ximo was currently wearing, the one in Xiliya’s hands had even less material and featured a pair of cat ears in place of a headpiece.
Ximo finally remembered—this was the maid outfit they had seen that day when they went to order clothes! Xiliya had actually ordered one!
“Mm… Okay, Master.”
Ximo hesitated but ultimately took the clothes. The main thing was that after double-checking, she was relieved—thank goodness it only had cat ears and no cat tail.
She stripped off her clothes and carefully changed into the cat-ear maid outfit Xiliya had given her. By the time she was done, her blush had spread all the way to the tips of her ears.
This skirt was way too short! At this length, even normal walking would…
A standard maid outfit had a long skirt, but this one was an impossibly short miniskirt, with the rest covered by white garter stockings pulled up to her thighs.
“Eek—”
Ximo let out a small squeak. She had been closing her eyes to pull up the skirt when a pair of cold hands suddenly caressed her from behind, making her body tremble involuntarily.
“M-Master, I’m changing.”
“Go ahead,” Xiliya’s voice came from behind her. “Keep changing. Don’t stop.”
Ximo struggled to finish putting on the skirt, then reached for the top. Clothes with so little fabric should have been quick to change into, but under Xiliya’s interference, it still took her a full ten minutes to get fully dressed.
