Chapter 40
“……Get up!”
The irritated voice pierced her eardrums. Chloe pushed up her sleep-heavy eyes and confirmed who had woken her. It was the Head Maid. The Head Maid, flinching as she met the crimson eyes full of annoyance, continued to shake her shoulder.
“The Madam has arrived, so get up quickly and show proper respect!”
Waking someone from sleep only to tell them to be respectful. Anyone would think royalty had arrived. Even the Emperor probably wouldn’t wake someone who was sleeping.
As much as she wanted to ignore her and keep sleeping, this wasn’t a problem that could be solved that way, so Chloe grimaced and pushed her upper body up. Then, she looked at the middle-aged woman standing behind the Head Maid. That woman was Bianca Lloyd’s stepmother, Ashley Lloyd.
The Viscountess Lloyd, whom she was seeing for the first time today, could be defined in a single phrase: a poisonous wild rose. She was beautiful but gave a strong, tough impression, like a rose grown haphazardly in a field, not an elegant one carefully raised in a greenhouse. Maria Lloyd was behind her.
“What is it?”
Chloe, far from offering a respectful greeting, scratched her messy hair and asked. She didn’t even stand up from the bed. At this, the Head Maid gasped, jaw dropped, and Maria Lloyd frowned deeply, pointing an accusing finger at her.
“What kind of attitude is that toward Mother! Get up right now and greet her respectfully!”
And what kind of way is that to speak to your older sister, who is four years your senior? Chloe wanted to snap back, but she couldn’t, as a wave of nausea rose up.
“That’s enough, Maria.”
This was partly because the Viscountess Lloyd had restrained her daughter in a soft voice. Ashley Lloyd, who was described as a wicked witch in Bianca’s diary, was an infinitely benevolent and tender mother to her own daughter.
“Yes. I heard you were so ill that you kept collapsing suddenly, but you seem fine now. Was it perhaps an act?”
Chloe had expected her to scream like Maria Lloyd, unable to control her temper, but she didn’t. Slightly perplexed by this image that was completely different from what was written in the diary, Chloe looked at the Viscountess.
Their eyes only met for a moment, but the green-tinged gaze twisted into a grimace. Such a reaction just from making eye contact. It seemed certain that the Viscountess disliked Bianca Lloyd.
Although she was currently in Bianca’s body, Chloe Elena and Bianca Lloyd were distinctly different people. For this reason, Chloe held no ill will toward Ashley Lloyd, but being woken up just as she had finally fallen asleep was quite irritating.
“Well. If I told you I was truly sick, would you believe me?”
Chloe, whose stomach was still churning and head throbbing, making her thoroughly irritable, asked sarcastically.
At this, the Viscountess’s noble face twisted mercilessly. To drop the mask after such a small attack. That woman seems to have a considerably weak mentality.
“Bianca, I heard you’ve been quite ill-mannered lately; it seems to be true.”
“It is true!”
Maria shouted in a highly agitated voice, perhaps feeling wronged and angry again after recalling what she had suffered at Bianca’s hands.
“Not only did she dare to hit my cheek, but she also splashed sewage water on Vessa’s face! She even forced the maids who brought that wretch her meals to eat bread and soup!”
It was astonishing that she was screaming and raging when she had only been given back what she had dealt out. Chloe wanted to refute every single one of Maria’s b******t statements, but her stomach was churning too violently. A terrifying sensation that everything she had eaten, even two days ago, would come out if she opened her mouth made her cover it with both hands.
“Look at that, Mother! She can’t even argue back because she knows what she did was wicked!”
Even amidst that, the b***h kept barking. If it were a real dog, it would be cute, but this was a crazy b***h in a dog’s skin, which only fueled her irritation instead of cuteness.
“Yes. Mother knows everything that happened, so calm down, Maria.”
Ashley Lloyd, who calmed her highly agitated biological daughter by stroking her head, crossed her arms and looked down at her stepdaughter. From the hair color, which exactly resembled her biological mother’s, there was simply no part of her that she found agreeable.
At least she was usually obedient, which was acceptable, but the news that she had been causing all sorts of trouble lately made her even more displeased.
“Why are you suddenly acting like this? Is it perhaps because your father is returning next week?”
Bianca’s father would be Ashley Lloyd’s husband, yet she spoke as if he were a complete stranger.
“Your father is busy with work anyway and has no interest in family or mansion matters. So, stop doing useless things and behave yourself quietly. That way, you’ll at least get to eat and live, won’t you?”
Bianca Lloyd was clearly a family member with the blood of the Viscount Lloyd household. Yet, seeing her treated worse than a sponger, Chloe let out a cynical laugh.
You really are a pitiful woman.
Her pity was momentary, as Chloe felt bitter liquid rising up her throat and covered her mouth again. Ashley Lloyd continued to nag, seemingly oblivious to her pale face. Of course, none of it registered in Chloe’s ears.
“……Bianca, are you listening to me?”
When her stepdaughter remained still with her head bowed instead of answering, Ashley signaled the Head Maid. The moment the quick-witted Head Maid grabbed Chloe’s shoulder and shook her.
“Uweck–”
Chloe threw up everything she had barely been holding in.
Since she had already thrown up several times, only thin stomach acid came out, but it was enough to make the Viscountess Lloyd and her daughter shriek and flee in dismay. With even the Head Maid fleeing in disgust, someone offered her a handkerchief.
“W-wipe up, Young Lady.”
It was Emily. This girl had been here too. The presence of the others was so overwhelming that she hadn’t noticed her at all. Chloe offered a short thanks and wiped her mouth with the handkerchief.
In the meantime, the young maid wiped the mess off the floor with a rag. The sight of her silently cleaning up without even wrinkling her eyes was somewhat impressive.
“You don’t hate Bianca Lloyd?”
So, Chloe asked a little impulsively. Come to think of it, the other maids would play small tricks when bringing food or wash water, but Emily didn’t. Of course, not doing so was normal, but it was abnormal in the Viscount Lloyd’s mansion.
That’s why she was even more curious. Why didn’t this girl bully or avoid Bianca Lloyd like the other servants?
In this kind of situation, there was a slight worry that Emily might be bullied by others.
Seemingly flustered by the sudden question, Emily blinked her eyes wide, then lowered her gaze and answered falteringly.
“I-I am just trying to do my job, Young Lady.”
“That was a foolish question, but you gave a smart answer.”
As young as she was, her career should be short, but her answer made her seem like a veteran with at least 10 years of experience. As much as Chloe liked Emily’s answer and attitude, she wanted to reward her, but regrettably, she had nothing.
Although there were a few silver accessories in the vanity drawer, they weren’t her possessions, so she was reluctant to give them away arbitrarily.
“Thank you, Emily.”
The only reward Chloe could give right now was a sincere expression of gratitude. Perhaps that sincerity was conveyed, as Emily also smiled faintly.
With even Emily leaving after finishing the cleanup, a profound silence fell over the bedroom.
Since her body hadn’t fully recovered, Chloe took the silence as a blanket and rested. She vowed that if the Viscountess or Maria came to cause a scene again, she would throw up directly onto their clothes, but as if sensing her resolve, no one came.
Not even anyone brought her dinner. Since her stomach was upset anyway and she wouldn’t have been able to eat even if they had brought it, Chloe didn’t care.
After sleeping soundly without any disturbance until dawn, her terrible physical condition had significantly improved. Chloe stretched fully, got out of bed, and checked Bianca’s diary.
[Force Lucy to eat moldy bread.]
As expected, a black line was drawn across the wish this time as well.
How many wishes are left now?
As Chloe flipped through the diary out of curiosity, a sentence struck her eye.
[……He ravenously licked my n*****s, sucking them like a lollipop.]
It was a brazen fantasy that Bianca had written between the diary entries.
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