“Actually, I’m the one who took it. I’m sorry, Lady Selina…”
The seemingly timid little maid stepped forward, blocking Xiliya from view and shielding her from Masha and Charles’s barrage of accusations.
“Ximo, as a mere servant, don’t stir up trouble at a time like this! Do you think you’re helping Xiliya? You’re only making things worse for her!”
Masha grew anxious inside. She hadn’t expected Xiliya’s personal little maid to be so loyally devoted, willing to step up and take the blame even now.
But Masha couldn’t let Ximo have her way. She had already made up her mind to pin the blame squarely on Xiliya! She had to make Selina see that Xiliya was unfit for her position!
“How can you prove it wasn’t Xiliya who stole it?” Charles chimed in from the side, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “The evidence is overwhelming now. Are you still trying to clear Xiliya’s name?”
“Of course I can prove it…”
Ximo took a deep breath and recited the lines she had prepared in advance.
“I lost my head and saw how valuable Lady Selina’s pocket watch was, so I gave in to temptation… Logically speaking, would my lady steal something just for money?”
“Besides, if my lady wanted to steal, she wouldn’t choose such a sloppy method full of holes and leave so many flaws behind, right?”
“It was me,” Ximo lowered her head. “I snuck the item away, which was why I panicked so much when you questioned me this afternoon. I was especially careful not to leave fingerprints or any other clues. I hid the item in my lady’s room in secret.”
“I thought no one would dare search the eldest lady of the manor’s room… But I never imagined it would backfire and shift all the suspicion onto her.”
Ximo looked up, gazing at Selina with eyes full of remorse.
“If you don’t believe me, check the pocket watch—there shouldn’t be any of my lady’s fingerprints on it.”
“If my lady really went to the guest room to steal and left fingerprints, there’s no reason the stolen goods would have none at all, right? I can guarantee there are no fingerprints from my lady on the pocket watch because she never touched it!”
Ximo revealed the crucial evidence. At her words, Masha and Charles’s hearts sank. They hadn’t expected their plan to be foiled by this little maid spotting the loophole.
The evidence had seemed airtight, pointing straight at Xiliya with no room for denial, but Ximo had pulled the blame onto herself to protect her lady!
“I’m sorry, Lady Selina. This has nothing to do with my lady. It’s all my fault…”
Ximo bowed her head in apology to Selina. Once she finished speaking, she heard the system notification in her mind announcing the task’s completion.
Her thinking had been spot on. Masha had already pointed the finger at her as the culprit earlier. Now, as long as Selina believed she was the thief, the task was done.
Ximo knew Masha wouldn’t falsely accuse a lowly maid like her without reason, so at a time like this, she had to use solid logic to “claim” the guilt. In hindsight, her earlier refusal to let Masha check the laundry basket had turned into a blessing in disguise.
“Miss Ximo, this…”
As expected, Selina was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure what to say to Ximo.
Masha and Charles fell silent, but the looks they shot at Ximo carried an unmistakable trace of venom.
Their plan had been one step away from success! And yet Ximo had ruined it at the last moment…
Both thought the matter was settled and over with, but after Ximo apologized, Xiliya—who had stood silently by—suddenly stepped forward.
She sighed, her expression complicated as she looked at Ximo and pulled the brave little maid back to her side.
“Thank you, Ximo.” Xiliya patted Ximo’s head. “But I just remembered something.”
“A couple of days ago, I installed surveillance in my room. If someone really snuck in to hide stolen goods, the surveillance should have caught them.”
Xiliya spoke leisurely, casting a look of amused anticipation at Masha and Charles standing together.
“What?!”
Sure enough, Charles blurted it out instinctively, but he quickly caught himself.
“I mean, you only remember the surveillance now that everything’s over? Isn’t that a bit too convenient, Xiliya?”
Xiliya smiled. “I installed it just a couple of days ago and didn’t think of it right away. But since we have it, why not check the surveillance now? That’ll clear everything up.”
Ximo was a bit surprised too—not by the reversal itself. She knew Xiliya would never let anyone slander her indefinitely. She just hadn’t expected Xiliya’s countermeasure to be so… straightforward and brutal.
Installing surveillance in her room? It was simple and effective, but like the camera and recording device from before, this overly modern term popping from Xiliya’s mouth felt off to Ximo.
How strange. Though she could guess the surveillance worked via some magitool, the magitech in this world overlapped too much with modern tech from her own society, didn’t it?
Xiliya pulled Ximo protectively behind her, but after she suggested checking the surveillance, Charles’s face turned green not far away.
“No need for that, right? Your personal maid already admitted she stole it. There’s no point looking at the surveillance now, is there?”
“How is there no need?” Xiliya eyed Charles playfully. “This is just confirming the facts, isn’t it?”
“And since Ximo stole it, why is Young Master Charles so eager to stop us from seeing the surveillance? Or… does Young Master Charles have something to hide?”
“No, I just think it’s unnecessary and a waste of time.”
Charles forced the words out one by one. Anyone with eyes could see something was off about him.
Charles was indeed panicking. He hadn’t expected Xiliya to install surveillance in her own room—who does that normally?
And she waited until the very end to mention it… She was definitely doing it on purpose! With that thought, the resentment in Charles’s gaze toward Xiliya deepened.
“The culprit has already confessed. I don’t see the point in checking the surveillance anyway. Xiliya, you’re wasting everyone’s time, you know?”
“It’s fine. Let’s just check it. I don’t want to wrong anyone.”
Charles tried to find another angle to stop her, but Selina’s words settled the matter once and for all. Now, Charles could only stand by anxiously, utterly speechless.
