Yilu was surprised by the maid’s words.
“But after he came to the Academy, he became quite popular among those girls,” Yilu said through gritted teeth.
Last time she saw Lyr surrounded by those people, she felt angry.
“That’s normal,” the maid said dismissively. “Think about it, your Academy doesn’t have many male teachers. Everyone’s just looking for something new.”
“Also, Young Master Lyr has already reached the age of marriage. Even if those nobles don’t consider Young Master Lyr’s personal situation, they have to think about House Geno to some extent.”
The two maids played off each other. Having grown up in House Geno, outsiders didn’t know as much as they did.
One maid shrugged. “Unfortunately, Young Master Lyr doesn’t seem to consider these things. That’s what’s strange about him.”
In their understanding, noble scions around Lyr’s age, even if not married, at least had fiancées. Lyr was like a free-range bird; he never considered things that might restrain him.
Sometimes they were really curious about what Lyr was thinking. Without any contact with girls or close female friends, who would Lyr eventually take a liking to? Who would be the other mistress of the mansion? Until Yilu appeared, they vaguely saw a direction.
“So that’s how he is.” Yilu didn’t know what to say. It seemed to fit that guy’s carefree nature.
Suddenly, one maid approached Yilu and whispered, “So, Miss Yilu, you need to seize the opportunity.”
“Huh?” Yilu’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
The maid smirked. “Miss Yilu, you understand what we mean.”
They couldn’t say it too clearly; just a simple hint was the greatest help they could offer.
“People don’t get angry at those who are irrelevant or indifferent to them,” the maid said, putting on a thoughtful expression. “Don’t blame Young Master Lyr either. He really doesn’t understand these things. If you just point it out to him a little, he’ll catch on.”
“I…” Yilu, who had been about to retort, became flustered. She naturally understood this principle. The reason she avoided Lyr was because she cared about how he saw her and what her status was. Now that the two maids had said it out loud, she felt seen through. At the same time, a surge of anger rose. Others could see it—why couldn’t that guy see it? Was he really not doing it on purpose?
After calming down, Yilu still said stubbornly, “Who wants to point it out to him? He can understand or not, I don’t care.”
“Then there’s no helping it,” the maid spread her hands. “Actually, Young Master Lyr cares about you quite a bit, Miss Yilu. You should have noticed that.”
“…” Yilu pursed her lips but remained silent. She didn’t deny Lyr’s goodwill. But she was still afraid that she had misinterpreted his intentions and would cause trouble for others.
“That day when he heard you were in trouble, Young Master Lyr went to see you without caring about anything else.” Not only were they present, even Tif was there.
“But Tif…” Yilu narrowed her eyes. Now she finally understood a bit. Tif had asked her how she saw Lyr—so that was what she meant. After all, Lyr had done that much, yet she herself seemed indifferent. Not to mention as Lyr’s sister, even outsiders would find it odd.
“That’s all we can say. Don’t tell anyone, okay.”
“We didn’t say anything, and you didn’t hear anything, Miss Yilu.”
The two still played their oddly coordinated act. To Yilu, it seemed somewhat amusing.
“Yo, haven’t seen you in a few days. Didn’t expect you to be having such a good time. Really caught me off guard.”
Suddenly, an untimely voice echoed throughout the carriage, startling the two maids.
“You spoke?”
The other maid shook her head, looking confused. They both looked at Yilu. “Was that Miss Yilu?” But the voice didn’t sound like her.
Yilu heard it too. Just as she was wondering what was going on, her whole body trembled. That familiar yet repulsive feeling surged up. Almost instinctively, Yilu lunged toward the two.
The carriage, which had been moving steadily down the street, suddenly exploded among the passing pedestrians. Before the nearby bystanders could react, they were all caught in the blast, and the entire street was thrown into panic. The horse pulling the carriage was crushed to the ground, struggled a few times, and then died. Blood flowed from under it, spreading and instantly sprouting thorns that extended across the ground.
In the nick of time, Yilu jumped off the carriage with the two maids, narrowly dodging the force that destroyed the carriage. The maids, having fallen to the ground, stared at the scene with horror and couldn’t recover for a moment. Only Yilu immediately became alert. She felt at her waist. “Damn, I didn’t bring it.”
Last time Lyr had brought her along; she hadn’t brought her sword. No one would have imagined that someone would launch an attack on a street in broad daylight. It was too insane. Noticing the thorns growing from the blood creeping toward her, and the feeling from before, Yilu knew exactly who that crazy person was.
A twisted laughter echoed from above. Yilu followed the sound and immediately spotted that figure on the rooftop. Still covered entirely in a cloak, a few strands of red hair were faintly visible under the hood. Meeting this person again, Yilu felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if she had seen her true face somewhere before.
She looked down at the chaos below, savoring the feeling. When her gaze fell on Yilu, she saw that stubborn expression on Yilu’s face hadn’t changed at all. “Tch, still such an annoying expression.”
“The work that should have been completed in my hands still hasn’t changed one bit. Truly irritating.” Without a sword in hand, Yilu still assumed a combat stance and demanded, “You, what exactly are you trying to do?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” The chaos all around was exactly what she wanted. Seeing everyone in panic gave her immense pleasure. The pain she had suffered would eventually transform through her hands into something else, manifesting on others. If Yilu hadn’t reacted quickly enough, those two maids would already be corpses.
“It’s all your fault, you know. Why couldn’t you follow my script? Instead, you look so happy—I can’t stand watching it.” According to her interference, Yilu should have been tormented by the curse by now, her will broken. But she wasn’t at all. Instead, she was laughing and chatting with others. That was absolutely unacceptable.