Chapter 33: Junior, Time to Eat Peach~

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“Anyway.”

“These maids are the group that chose to stay of their own will. Mother arranged this work for them. You could call it a kind of trust? Something like that.”

Mu Wan put away that serious tone and lounged back in the vanity chair.

Of course Mu Wan did not spell it out.

Mother had most likely taken an interest in their special circumstances and used the opportunity to buy all the slaves.

After all, a silent slave was better at keeping secrets.

As for what Mother was really thinking.

—Only she herself probably knew.

After she fully understood the whole story, Lisiluo’s taut body finally relaxed, and she let out a long breath.

“Hah, looks like I was overthinking it……”

Thank goodness.

It wasn’t one of those dark stories where a great family bought slaves specifically to keep secrets and then locked them away.

If it really had been like that, Lisiluo would definitely have tossed and turned at night, unable to sleep for half the evening.

Just then, the maid holding clothes patted Lisiluo’s shoulder.

She made a string of gestures with both hands, as if she wanted to tell Lisiluo something.

But Lisiluo could not understand at all.

I never learned sign language. How am I supposed to answer this—

Fortunately Mu Wan translated in time.

“Oh, she’s thanking you. ‘They live very well here, please don’t worry.’ That’s roughly what she means.”

The maid nodded.

Lisiluo’s nose stung, and she hurriedly tried to answer them with gestures as well, ending up in a fluster.

When Mu Wan saw that, she let out a pfft of laughter.

“Junior is so dumb. Just speak normally. They can hear you.”

Wait.

That’s right!

Because the maids had stayed completely silent the whole time and shown no reaction to the two of them talking, only doing their own work.

Lisiluo had subconsciously assumed they could not hear.

“Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to—”

Lisiluo’s face flushed whoosh red, and she hurriedly opened her mouth to apologize.

That maid was amused by Lisiluo’s reaction as well and covered her mouth as she laughed.

Halfway through the laugh she suddenly realized, then looked toward Mu Wan in a panic, as if worried her behavior was improper.

Mu Wan waved a hand at that, telling her not to take it to heart.

Then came the dressing stage.

Lisiluo clearly felt that the maids had inexplicably become full of drive.

They seemed ready to bring out even their hidden trump-card skills.

Outfits and pairings of every style were brought out in turn and held up against her again and again.

Hairstyles were compared one after another as well.

They changed them four or five times before they were satisfied.

When everything was finished, the maids half-pushed and half-escorted Lisiluo to the full-length mirror.

To be honest.

At first glance, Lisiluo could not even recognize the person in the mirror as herself.

The makeup was several levels more refined than when she did it herself, elegant in just the right measure.

Her long silver hair was braided and coiled at the back of her head.

The academy uniform had been swapped for a light-colored dress.

A wide-brimmed sun hat sat on her head, paired with a gauze sun scarf.

It swept away the usual sense of a little extra shrinking in the classroom corner.

She even had a bit of a sparkling quality, quite the feeling of a youthful girl.

Lisiluo turned her body in front of the mirror, and the light skirt hem drifted with the motion.

Looking at this unfamiliar self, Lisiluo did not know how to comment for a moment.

In the end she could only squeeze out one remark.

“I-is this still me? It’s too pretty……”

Mu Wan also came over to the mirror, stroked her chin, and looked Lisiluo up and down.

It was also the first time Lisiluo had seen Mu Wan examine her so seriously.

She couldn’t help taking a few steps back and asking cautiously.

“…Senpai? What do you think?”

“Mm… should I say the temperament changed? It’s way—better than I imagined.”

Mu Wan spread her arms and exaggeratedly traced a huge half-circle.

“But don’t worry. That timid, trembling junior from before is cute too~”

“Eh? Th-that, thank you for the compliment?”

“Anyway, it’s very good. I like both kinds of junior.”

“Like?! That’s too much. I’m not mentally prepared yet……”

Lisiluo was so shy she pulled down the brim of the hat and hid most of her face.

It was the first time in her life she had been praised for her appearance, and Lisiluo was a little overwhelmed.

After hearing Mu Wan say she liked both kinds of junior, Lisiluo was even more unbearably embarrassed.

There was a nameless feeling of being acknowledged.

It made Lisiluo’s heart skip a little.

“Mm… it just feels like something’s still missing……”

Mu Wan thought for a moment.

Then she clapped her hands and whispered something to the maid standing by.

The maid nodded, rummaged through the dressing room for a while, and brought something over on a tray.

It was a pair of round sunglasses.

The lenses were a light tea color, and the rims were inlaid with thin gold thread.

“Here, try these on.”

The moment the sunglasses went on, the whole person immediately gained a few extra degrees of maturity.

Lightly pushing up the sunglasses on the bridge of her nose, the Lisiluo in the mirror radiated composure in every gesture.

She looked just like a wealthy young lady on vacation.

The corners of Mu Wan’s mouth hooked into a familiar wicked smile.

“How about the two of us swap identities today? You be the young lady for a day. I doubt anyone would notice a problem.”

Lisiluo hurriedly waved her hands.

“No, no, I really can’t do this! I can’t be some young lady of a great house!”

Mu Wan let out a “hmph” and planted her hands on her hips.

“What’s there to be afraid of? This is what makes it feel more like a disguise.”

“Wait, then wouldn’t our role assignments overlap… No, we still have to take it a step further.”

After saying that, Mu Wan ignored Lisiluo’s protests and crooked a finger at the three maids.

Four little heads gathered together while Mu Wan whispered instructions.

The maids nodded again and again, occasionally casting a glance at Lisiluo, their eyes carrying a knowing smile.

Lisiluo stood in place, and an ominous premonition immediately rose in her heart.

— — — — — —

Half an hour later.

A dark luxury private carriage traveled smoothly down the street.

Lisiluo sat on the leather seat in the back row, her back held perfectly straight, both hands placed obediently on her knees.

Ever since she got in the carriage, she had been maintaining this young-lady posture.

It was not that she did not want to relax.

She simply could not relax at all.

Because at that moment, a petite figure dressed in a maid outfit sat at her side, holding a tray in her hands.

Lisiluo’s gaze flicked that way from time to time.

Those trademark twin-tails had been braided into a pair of buns, fixed on either side by a maid headband, with a few stray locks hanging in front of her face.

The corners of her eyes had been deliberately refined, making her whole person look less mischievous and more obediently cute.

She wore a black-and-white short-sleeved maid outfit.

The loose skirt hem reached just to the knees, revealing that familiar pair of black stockings.

If Lisiluo had not seen it with her own eyes.

She definitely would not have believed that the little maid beside her had been the young lady of the Mu family half an hour ago.

That’s right.

Now Lisiluo had become that “young lady.”

And Mu Wan was pretending to be her personal maid.

But what made Lisiluo even more unused to it was Mu Wan’s behavior.

Mu Wan kept her head lowered, and every part of her brows and eyes was full of deference toward her.

She was a completely different person from the usual little devil who crossed her legs and kept calling her “trash junior.”

No matter how you looked at it, she was a well-trained maid.

A chill ran down Lisiluo’s back.

Based on what she knew of Mu Wan, the more proper and serious she looked, the more she was up to something behind it.

Sure enough.

Mu Wan finally shifted her body and turned toward Lisiluo, those sly eyes full of amusement.

She gently forked a piece of honeydew melon, held it up with both hands, and brought it to Lisiluo’s lips, her voice so gentle it did not sound like something she would say.

“Young Lady, please open your mouth. I’ll feed you the fruit.”