Before leaving, Ximo stared at the crate that had been returned to its original spot, her eyes revealing deep thought.
“I think Lady Annaer must know what Masha is up to, right?”
Ximo’s words made Xiliya pause in her steps.
“Didn’t Lady Annaer say it herself? She remembers every detail in the mansion crystal clear, and she patrols the mansion every night. Masha and Samuer’s meetings are also held in the mansion…”
Xiliya fell silent for a long time before she spoke: “Let’s head back first. We’ll talk about these things later.”
“The important thing now is to take down Masha first.”
That night before bed, Ximo heard the System’s prompt.
“Dearie, friendly reminder: You’ve got quite a few task rewards that haven’t been settled yet. Want me to settle them for you?”
“Oh, go ahead and settle them.”
Ximo replied listlessly. Ever since getting a bunch of useless rewards from the System in previous instances, she had lost all interest in claim settlements.
“Alright, dearie. Settling your task rewards now. Please wait…”
Ximo let out a huge yawn, listening absentmindedly to the System’s reward announcements.
Several more rewards like the previous “Easy-to-Cry Constitution” popped up, and just as Ximo sighed and prepared to roll over and sleep, she heard a mechanical voice: 【Congratulations, dearie. You’ve received the reward: “Magic Talent Boost ×1.”】
The unexpected reward instantly dispelled more than half of Ximo’s sleepiness. She immediately checked all the rewards—and sure enough, the latest two task rewards were different from before; both were Magic Talent Boosts.
“System, what’s going on here?”
“Because you’ve claimed all the rewards from the previous phase, dearie. Now we’ve entered the next phase.”
The System explained matter-of-factly: “Those earlier rewards were to help you better integrate into the role. Now we’re finally entering the proper reward phase~”
Ximo’s face lit up with joy. She hadn’t expected this crappy System to actually be useful after all; she’d thought her transmigration golden finger was completely worthless.
Moreover, the System’s reward had come at just the right time. After spending so many days in the mansion, she had realized how crucial magic and magitools were to people in this world. If she truly had no magic talent like the Beastmen Clan, that would be disastrous.
Not to mention, while the Beastmen Clan might suck at magic, their physical strength was maxed out! But she had neither magic talent nor a strong body—she’d be pure cannon fodder roadside trash, wouldn’t she?
At that thought, Ximo suddenly realized that the character “Ximo” seemed to be a cannon fodder role from the start. After all, according to the original plot, she got counter-killed by Xiliya, the sickly young lady, right at the beginning.
Whatever! From now on, she was going to defy the heavens, change her fate, and climb to the peak of life!
Thinking of those golden finger power fantasy novels, Ximo got excited and couldn’t help wriggling in the bed like a cute little maggot baby. In the process, an arm draped over her body.
“What are you squirming for? Can’t you even focus on sleeping?”
Xiliya’s lazy voice sharpened. “Or are you distracted thinking about someone else, Ximo?”
Ximo jumped in fright. Was Xiliya’s intuition this sharp? She had only been chatting with the System in her mind, and it got noticed?
This instantly shattered Ximo’s power fantasy dreams… With a certain wolf-like sickly young lady right behind her, power fantasy? She’d be burning incense if the young lady didn’t use her for fun instead!
Moreover, Ximo discovered that Xiliya was a total hypocrite.
Wasn’t it agreed no squirming in bed? Then what was her hand groping around for?!
—
To Xiliya’s surprise, the next day, Annaer actually took the initiative to seek her and Ximo out.
She had braced herself for any bad news from Annaer, but unexpectedly, Annaer wasn’t there about last night’s events.
“Young Lady, there’s something I must presumptuously bring up—” Annaer’s calm gaze swept back and forth between the two of them. “It seems Ximo hasn’t returned to her own room at night for quite a long time.”
Annaer was strict with the servants. In fact, she checked attendance every night, and Ximo had been missing for a while now. But Annaer knew where Ximo was going, so she had never said anything.
“But lately, people in the mansion have noticed that Ximo goes to your room every night. After all, there’s a distinction between master and servant, and on Madam’s side…”
Annaer had put it very tactfully, but Xiliya instantly understood her implication— Masha had realized Ximo was her person, hadn’t she?
After all, Ximo’s surveillance of Masha under the guise of attending to the maids had been too obvious. Masha must have noticed that her initial demand for Ximo as her personal maid by name wasn’t just to provoke her.
But not only did Xiliya not hide it, she boldly and possessively hugged Ximo from behind, resting her head lightly on Ximo’s shoulder.
“That’s right. Ximo has been in my room every night.”
“Ximo is my personal maid, isn’t she? So I have her take care of me in the room every night. There’s no issue with that, right?”
“Everyone in the mansion knows my health is poor. Assigning a dedicated maid to care for me at night—does Aunt Masha have any objections?”
“…I’ve spoken out of turn, Young Lady.”
Xiliya narrowed her eyes slightly. Annaer’s action didn’t seem like routine concern at all, especially the part mentioning Masha—it felt like a subtle reminder that “Masha has noticed.”
Interesting. Xiliya hadn’t expected a day when she couldn’t see through Annaer’s intentions.
That said, while Annaer had been decent to her, when she was kicked out of the Camberlan Family in her previous life, Annaer hadn’t spoken up for her either.
No help, no sabotage—come to think of it, she had never truly seen through the head maid’s stance.
“Speaking of which, Annaer, from now on, don’t assign Ximo any other duties. She only needs to follow my orders.”
“I feel like my illness has worsened lately, so I want Ximo to focus entirely on taking care of me. No problem, right?”
Annaer paused. She hadn’t expected Xiliya to not care at all about Masha noticing their relationship, and Xiliya’s reasoning was airtight.
“Understood. I’ll relay the Young Lady’s words to Madam.”
Once Annaer withdrew, Ximo spoke up worriedly: “Isn’t this basically going all-in against Masha? Is that okay…”
“No problem at all,” Xiliya said with a smile, cupping Ximo’s face. “Of course not. I want to tell everyone—you’re my maid.”
“Hey, Ximo, promise me you’ll be my personal maid from now on, okay?”
“Only taking orders from me, only serving me… with eyes only for me.”
Ximo swallowed nervously, a chill running down her spine. For some reason, the Xiliya in front of her suddenly felt dangerous.
