Read Novel Full Chapter 644: Crisis Within a Crisis?
Chapter 644: Crisis Within a Crisis?
As the incoming crisis was about to arrive, Lillian was currently undergoing one of her own.
“Huh!? She wanted me to stay behind?!” Lillian shouted in dismay.
“That would appear so.” Elara nodded indifferently.
Upon waking up and discovering Marionette was not by her side, Lillian immediately got dressed before scouring the entire residence for the Assassin.
Unfortunately, she was left disappointed.
After being briefly filled in by the active servants and also Elara, Lillian sighed in defeat, her mind throbbing with frustration.
The entirety of yesterday was a mess! Nothing she had wanted and expected went completely as she had hoped.
The missing nobles, Marionette’s sudden loss of control, the True Darkness situation, the destruction caused by her inability to take out the Salesman in time, the… passionate night she had…
Pausing briefly at the last bit, Lillian fell into momentary thought. If it wasn’t for the fatigue she gained from their love session last night, she wouldn’t have been able to miss Marionette’s leaving.
‘But would that have changed anything?’
Would Marionette still have allowed Lillian to accompany her if she had woken up earlier?
“Aaargh…!” Lillian clutched the sides of her head with an annoyed look on her face. She couldn’t believe Marionette was still upset about what had happened yesterday; it wasn’t even her fault in the first place!
‘Misunderstandings are such a pain to deal with, especially without proof.’ The Rabbit paused for a split second before thinking, ‘Does… does she not trust me or something?’
As the awful thought was about to take root inside her mind, Elara’s voice woke her up.
“May I ask you something, Miss Lillian?”
“Huh? Oh, sure…?”
“What exactly is your relationship with the mistress?” Elara asked, suspiciously, “For all my time I worked in the Roselle family, I haven’t ever seen Lady Marionette be so close to someone.”
“You, uh… haven’t figured it out?” Lillian smiled wryly before answering, “I’m her lover, that’s why we’re so close.”
Lillian’s shocking revelation caused the prim-and-proper maid, Elara, to almost miss her step.
The woman’s eyes were wide and filled with shock.
Afterwards, she continued to ask Lillian a variety of questions, which the Rabbit was more or less happy to answer.
Luckily, the number of questions she asked was more than enough to fuel the walk back to the bedroom, which left no room for awkward silence.
Elara held the side of her face, still rather befuddled.
She had obviously seen cases where Marionette and Lillian were suspiciously close and intimate, but she hadn’t even thought the two were in that sort of relationship.
“Why on Earth did you allow yourself to go through that rigorous training to be a maid, then?” Elara asked, still reeling from the idea that the lady was now in a romantic relationship. “It wasn’t for some perverse reason, was it?”
“W-wha—? Of course not!” Lillian exclaimed, “I just wanted to come with Marionette to the event, but I could only do that if I were her servant.”
“Couldn’t you have just asked her to take you along? I’m certain the level of training you received isn’t what’s needed in this event, but your strength.” Elara inquired, her voice having a certain edge as she remembered the injuries she suffered from fighting the girl.
Lillian nodded, but then shook her head.
“That’s what I wanted to do originally, but I was forced to be trained.” After stating that, Lillian asked, “By the way, I haven’t asked, but why are you here? You’re the one who drove Marionette, right? Aren’t you meant to be over there waiting for her in the parking lot?”
“I should be, but the mistress wanted me to watch over you while she was away.” Elara then added, “And while on this topic, how are you feeling? Do you require any form of medications?”
“Huh? Medications?” Lillian blurted, “Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“Mistress said you came down with something and I’d rather you’d not croak under my supervision.”
Lillian’s face twitched, distinctly remembering Marionette’s concern for her yesterday; she hadn’t yet told her why that happened. ‘So, an illness is what she believed caused it…’
“I-I see, well, I’m alright. Maybe a little tired, but that’s about it.”
The Rabbit then walked over to the windowsill and leaned against it. And as she did that, a thought popped into her mind.
‘Now that I think about it, why do I feel so drowsy? Is it really because of last night?’ Lillian asked herself, sighing and deciding to put it in the back of her mind. ‘I need to escape and get to Marionette… And perhaps make a stop along the way…’
As the girl absentmindedly planned out her route for escape, Elara’s eyes momentarily blanked as she thought back to an hour ago, to when she drove Marionette to today’s event.
***
“Are you certain you don’t want a servant to accompany you, Mistress?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Looking in the rearview mirror, Elara found Marionette staring out the car window, half-absentmindedly, with a cold, indifferent look on her face.
This look made the maid feel partly concerned for the woman, but also relieved in a weird way—this was the look she was most familiar with seeing on Marionette.
“Had something happened? May I ask why you don’t want a servant to accompany you? The one from yesterday, to be exact. If you require it, I can substitut—”
“That won’t be necessary, Elara.” Marionette answered in an emotionless tone, “As for why… Lillian had been afflicted with a mysterious illness last night, and I’d rather she stayed in bed to rest. I’ve already made her administer something that would help her rest.”
In reality, Marionette just didn’t want Lillian accompanying her to the event at all. Before the Legacy Table, she had feared that due to Lillian’s beauty and status as a maid, she would be constantly targeted by other nobles.
Since she wasn’t too keen on openly announcing that she was from the Roselle family and gaining the attention of bootlickers, she had to stay on constant guard for Lillian’s sake.
Fortunately, now that Lillian was out of the picture, she didn’t need to be so tense and could somewhat relax.
Unbeknownst to Marionette’s true intentions, Elara pitied Lillian, “Is that so? Quite the unfortunate timing… I do hope she recovers fast.”
“Mhm. Me too.”
Woahhh, I wonder what’s gonna happen next. If Millis was a noble, do you think Marionette let Millis be her dance partner if Lillian wasn’t there?
Also! Do you guys prefer long chapters or split up ones? The answers for this one will help me a lot!