Chapter 3

“…”

“…”

Though his eyes were wide open, he didn’t seem fully awake. Nine slowly blinked as our gazes met.

“…”

“…”

I couldn’t breathe. I was secretly hoping he would close his eyes again, thinking it was a dream, but when do things ever go according to plan?

In that moment, Nine suddenly sat bolt upright. He slowly looked around, his face, usually so expressionless and calm, now twisted into a frown.

‘I’ve never seen that expression before.’

This wasn’t the time to be thinking that, but Nine’s expressions in the last day or so were far more varied than the ones I’d seen from afar for five years. I just stared at him, too stunned to say anything, when his eyes landed on me.

I followed his gaze downward, and my own clothes, which I was too panicked to cover with the blanket, came into full view. My thin chemise had its front tie undone, revealing my cleavage, and the hem of my skirt was rolled up, exposing my legs.

Nine squeezed his eyes shut. I urgently flushed red and instinctively pulled the blanket to cover myself.

…I shouldn’t have done that.

As I pulled the blanket to my side, Nine, on the other side of it, became even more exposed.

“Gasp…”

Even though I had just pieced together what happened, I felt a fresh wave of panic. Nine looked just as startled as I was by his own state under the blanket. His shirt, which I thought was just unbuttoned, slid off his shoulders, leaving him completely topless. On his torso were scratch marks here and there, as if we had ‘done the deed.’ And the buckle of his pants was undone, revealing the underwear beneath…

He was dressed in a way that, even knowing nothing happened, was so scandalous it would make it impossible to convince anyone otherwise.

‘Did I actually do something last night?’

The faith he had in himself that it couldn’t be true began to crack on his face.

“Wait, I…”

As I hurriedly shook my head and reached out a hand to clear up the misunderstanding,

Smack!

He swatted my hand away, his face contorted with shame and anger. His eyes were filled with contempt for me.

“No, no…”

Just then, a voice came from outside the bedroom.

“My Lady, it’s morning. Are you still sleeping?”

It was my maid, whom I had given the day off yesterday. I quickly spoke, in case she came in to wake me.

“No! I’m up. I’ll be out soon!”

“Yes! I’ll go prepare breakfast then!”

The sound of footsteps faded, and a heavy silence descended.

He stared at me with a sharp gaze for a long time, then spoke in a hushed voice, his words laced with restrained emotion.

“…It would be wise not to run your mouth until I come to find you. If you value your life, that is.”

“Wa-wait…”

Wait, that’s a misunderstanding! I wanted to scream, but Nine seemed to want to hear nothing more from me. He said his piece and then jumped out the window.

The wind rushed in through the wide-open window, wildly shaking the curtains.

I stared blankly out the window before letting out a silent scream.

How could things get so twisted?!

I clutched my head and curled up, punching the pillow, when something suddenly occurred to me. I immediately ran to the vanity on the other side of the room.

“Instructions, instructions…”

The items on the vanity clattered and fell. But that didn’t matter. I frantically rummaged through the drawers, searching for the items I needed.

「Magical Tool User Manual」

「Antidote Side Effects」

They were the instruction manuals for the items I had prepared for my plan. I quickly scanned the words to figure out why this situation had happened.

“So…”

First, because I had acquired the magical tools in a hurry, their quality was poor, and their mana efficiency was terrible. That’s why I had mana exhaustion.

Second, one of the side effects of the love potion’s antidote was itchiness. That’s why there were scratch marks on Nine’s body.

“…”

My mind had wavered for a moment, seeing a scene so easy to misunderstand, but seeing this, I was certain again.

Nothing happened between Nine and me!

‘But what good does it do to know that now!’

The chance to clear things up had already left my hands!

As I sat there, exhausted and “oxidizing away” on the vanity chair, there was a knock at the door.

Knock, knock.

“My Lady… oh!”

The person who opened the door was my maid, Annie, who was more like a childhood friend. Had she prepared breakfast? The savory smell wafted into the room. Annie called out my name and then, seeing the clothes strewn about the bed, made a surprised expression and dutifully began picking them up.

“Honestly, what would my lady do without me?”

I managed a faint laugh toward Annie, who was scolding me cheerfully. My mind was in a jumble from the turmoil.

‘How to get out of this situation? That is the question…’

I wanted to pull my hair out, but I knew Annie would think it was strange, so I couldn’t.

As I sat there alone, brushing my hair and mulling it over, Annie, who had finished tidying up the clothes, handed me a letter.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a letter from Lady Oswald. A footman gave it to me on my way here.”

Annie said, “Since she sent it so early, it must be something urgent,” as she began to set out delicious-looking food on the table in front of me.

‘Here it comes…’

I took out a paper knife and tore open the letter. The content was very simple. Stripping away all the long, noble-sounding pleasantries, the summary was:

‘My minions, my plan went awry last night, and my mood is quite foul, so come and placate me.’

“…”

A sigh escaped me. I could already picture my attendance at the afternoon tea party. She would vent her frustration over the failed plan on the minions gathered there, hand over the cleanup, and then tell us to scram. And I, who had left the party without a word last night, would be a target for concentrated fire even among them.

I clutched my aching head and checked the time.

Even though the situation was obvious, not attending wasn’t an option.

***

“…”

“…”

I arrived at the Oswalds’ townhouse, and as expected, the atmosphere at the tea table was heavy. Even Helena, who never forgot her ladylike manners, greeted me with an expressionless face. The other young ladies were no different. I offered polite greetings to the ones who came in and watched Helena, who was clearly in a bad mood.

When everyone had arrived, Helena raised her hand and dismissed the servants.

‘Alright, it’s about to begin.’

Bang!

Just as I expected, as soon as all the servants were gone, Helena, unable to contain her anger, slammed her hand on the table. A high-strung voice, unlike the Helena who prized her dignity, erupted from her.

“Where did the plan go wrong? Didn’t you say the preparations were perfect?”

“Th-the bribed servant said he guided him to the room correctly…”

A young lady who spoke with great difficulty among the silent group trembled pitifully under Helena’s gaze.

“Did you confirm that he went inside the lounge properly?”

“Th-that…”

“You didn’t confirm that and still say it was correct? What did you do correctly?”

Our villainess chewed on each word in a low voice, blaming her minions one by one. Helena, scolding and blaming others with no regard for her composure, was like a child whose toy had been stolen.

Yes, a toy.

The first thing I realized while being Helena’s minion was that Helena didn’t love Nine Eclipse.

‘It’s obvious, but if she loved him, she wouldn’t have acted like this.’

But in the novel, Helena was portrayed as a villainess who was obsessed with Nine because she loved him so much. So at the beginning of my time with her, I had some misunderstandings, but now I was certain of her true feelings.

Helena was acting purely out of a childish belief that she had to possess anything and everything that was beautiful and good.

Helena’s gaze, which had been sweeping over the young ladies, landed on me.

“Lady Chacha, didn’t you say you got a strong potion?”

“Oh, well, it was indeed a very strong potion. But it seems it worked a little differently on the youngest swordmaster…”

“Then you should have prepared one that would work properly on a swordmaster.”

Helena’s eyes darkened. Her gaze was murderous, but what was fortunate was that Helena still didn’t know that I was the reason the plan had gone awry. She was only blaming me for the potion’s preparation, so it seemed she knew nothing other than that I had left the party without a word yesterday. That’s why I subtly used his status as the youngest swordmaster as an excuse, saying the potion’s effects didn’t fully take hold.

I managed to get past the immediate crisis by making excuses to Helena, but I was filled with immense regret.

‘If I had just done nothing, I would have at least ended up in the middle.’

If I had known things would get this twisted, I would never have interfered with the original plot. As I regretted this to myself, convinced that old sayings are always true, Helena looked at everyone and stood up.

“Lady Chacha, make sure to clean up the mess without any hitches.”

Helena left, and the tea party was over. Quiet sighs were heard from all around. Now it was time to resolve the mess she mentioned, in addition to my own mess.