When Yohan came back to the mansion, he was greeted by the last person he wanted to see. Lady Freshia was waiting for him in the outside garden while drinking her team.
"So, where were you until now? You went out even when you have guests under your watch? Who permitted you to go out?"
Lady Freshia was letting her rejection show on her face. She seemed not to like Yohan much and her impressions as not getting any better. Yohan tried smiling at her but Lady Freshia just ignored his attempts to be friendly even more.
She ignored the faster beating of her heart as she looked at Yohan's face. She had to remind herself not to fall for him again and again since he was a charmer who was bad for her.
"Lady Rui asked me to retrieve her parcel from the town. Forgive me if I offended you this time. I will try my hardest to make it up to you."
Yohan gave a small bow in front of Lady Freshia, trying to appear as harmless as possible. It seemed to do the trick for her and Lady Freshia softened her look.
"W-Well, I was not trying to put pressure on you or anything. A-Anyway, since Rui was the one who asked you to do something, I cannot possibly ask her to take it back, right?"
Lady Freshia had an awkward look on her face as she faced Yohan. But she soon turned to look at her cup of tea with a thoughtful look.
"Yohan Strout, would you tell me more about yourself? I tried to ask the servants about you but no one seems to know anything. Don't you think it's weird that you have no friends?"
Lady Freshia sounded curious and her words betrayed her real interests. She did not even know that she was letting her real intentions shine from her words.
'How adorable but frustrating. Does this woman think I will tell her everything about me just because she asked? What did the queen see in her? Her innocence?"
Yohan frowned on the inside while he smiled on the outside. He tried his best not to show what he truly felt about Lady Freshia.
Unlike Lady Rui, Freshia was not hiding her character. This awkward mess of human mass who could not contain a secret to save her life was Lady Freshia Wells.
"Yohan, hurry up and take your seat. You should feel grateful for my grace in offering a civilian like you a seat in front of me."
Lady Freshia sounded proud of herself. Her eyes begged Yohan to sing praises of her and Keith decided to amuse Lady Freshia this time.
"Of course, my lady is the greatest. Her grace has touched the depth of my heart and I can't express my job now that I sitting in front of her. My lady, how do you become such a kind person as you?"
The false praise that came out of Yohan's mouth made lady Freshia happier and happier by the second. She looked proud of herself and puffed up her chest.
"You are right. You will not be able to find anyone more gracious than me even if you look around for it. Now, hurry up and tell me your story. I am curious to know more about you."
Lady Freshia's eyes sparkled with curiosity as she looked at Yohan. His plan to distract lady Freshia had not worked.
'Now, what can I tell Lady Freshia to shut her curiosity? Should I make her feel bad for me?'
Yohan had a lot of options available to him now. But the best one he had was to shut Lady Freshia's mouth without killing her.
"You want to know more about me, my lady? Well, I can tell you all about myself. You see, I am an orphan who survived thanks to the devil's and our queen's grace. I was low on my luck when I saw my lady's advertisement for a butler. And I decided to take this opportunity."
| сom Yohan spoke with his most sincere voice possible. He could see Lady Freshia wavering as she looked at Yohan.
His trick was working on him and he just needed a little more push to ensure Lady Freshia would feel sorry for him.
"Those truly were some difficult times before I met my lady, so I am very thankful to her. I have decided that I will dedicate all my life to my lady. She will be my one and only.
Lady Freshia looked awkward now, having realized that she had touched a sensitive topic she should have not. She looked at Yohan with a sorry expression on her face which made him grin.
"Y-You know, on second thought, maybe you don't need to tell me everything about yourself. You can go now as well. I will call for you if I want your help."
Lady Freshia decided to send Yohan back and he quickly took his leave. He had a feeling that things would go wrong if he stayed there anymore. Someone was looking at him so Yohan quickly looked up.
Lady Rui was looking at him from alive, her eyes glaring at him. It seemed like she had not appreciated Yohan making friends with Lady Freshia.
Yohan waved to Lady Rui, straddling her since she had not expected to be discovered. But she quickly clutched her chest and gave him a wave back. She did not need to show she felt uneasy to see Yohan talking with Lady Freshia.
……………………….
Lady Rui looked at Yohan and Lady Freshia having tea time together. There seemed to be talking with each other and Yohan looked interested in what he was saying.
He was quite different than how he was with Rui and it agitated him.
'Why is Yohan smiling at Freshia like that? Don't tell me that he likes Freshia. No, I will not allow that. Yohan cannot like Freshia when I am here.'
Rui knew that she should not entertain these thoughts in her mind.
No matter how much she came to like Yohan, a future with him was not possible if she wanted to achieve her and Yohan's dreams. She needed to seduce a high-ranking person if she wanted to aim high.
And then Yohan stood up and looked at Rui. He waved at Rui and she was startled at the sudden gesture from him.
'When did Yohan see me? I was hiding all this time, right?'
Rui wondered as she brought herself up and waved back at him. Then her eyes moved toward Freshia and the impulse to choke her came back with a vengeance. The desire to see Freshia die was getting stronger and stronger.
"Lady Rui, please look at our budget allocation for our next ball. We need it to be perfect because the queen will be attending this one as well."
The head butler handed Rui a small list of expanses he wanted her to take care of. Rui's eyes narrowed as she took in the budget and how much of it was being spent on Freshia.
Freshia was someone who was used to spending big on luxury when she was the queen's lover. So naturally, she was not able to cut the cost of her dress and jewelry this time as well.
.
The one who was spending her money on Freshia was Rui and her 'naive' self. It was a stunt to ensure her reputation was maintained.
'But who knew that I would feel such jealousy because of Freshia? She is a thorn in my side.'
Rui calmed down and looked at the documents in her hands. She was determined to find something to hold against Freshia and use it to her advantage.
Luckily, she found something to point out quickly. There was one area that lacked the funding needed and Rui pointed it out.
"Head butler, what happened here? Are we lacking finds? I thought I gave you enough to clever everything?"
The head butler looked uncomfortably back at Rui. He looked like he did not want to say anything to Rui but he had to say it anyway.
"W-We did have enough funds at the start but the Lady Freshia's budget turned out to be a little less than expected for her and we had to add emergency funds for her. This was the only place we could cut things out from."
Rui knew that the right choice would be to lend funds to Freshia and became the 'pitiful' lady of society. But her heart wanted revenge this time and she could not help herself.
"But the decorations are the heart of our yearly party. We cannot allow our budget to get cut off from there. Why don't you talk to Freshia and make her understand these things? I am sure that a nice lady like Freshia would agree with us as well."
Rui knew that there was no way Freshia would agree to cut off the funds for her but she ordered the head butler to do so anyway. She wanted to see their relationship fall apart and Freshia to feel upset.
'This is what you get for flirting with my man Freshia. You should know your place and not try to cut into my affairs. Otherwise, I will have to ruin you thoroughly.'
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