yemalu

Tiara was also following along and we ended up being brought to a sitting room down the corridor from where the party venue was.

"Forgive us for this treatment, Young Mistress," Andrea, one of our Mahun maids, apologised with a bow.

"It\'s not that big of a deal but… I didn\'t know you girls were nearby… What\'s going on?"

"I can answer that, Mistress," Katsuki answered, already preparing two cups of tea for Tiara and myself.

I nodded at my maid to go ahead.

She straightened herself and looked at me seriously, "A few weeks ago, we had suspicions that someone, or maybe even a group of someones, may be trying to attack the Madam by targeting you, Mistress."

I blinked, "A few weeks ago? Ummm… Hmmm… That\'s after that event where I had already revealed my existence to the other nobles right? You\'re telling me they already started plotting the moment they saw me?"

Katsuki nodded, "That is correct, Mistress."

"And… No one told me anything?"

Katsuki shook her head, "Such instances of threats are the norm within Noble society Mistress. The Madam receives multitudes of such threats on a daily basis despite her position. Even the King and Queen themselves are not spared of this."

Tiara nodded beside me, "In this World, your closest friend might backstab you for some benefits and you might even be tricked into thinking your allies are your enemies if you\'re not careful."

Arghhh… It\'s all politics again…

My Inugami maid bowed, "It was not our intention to hide this from Mistress, but since there was no evidence that these threats would be put into action, we decided that we would simply keep watch and gather more information in the meantime."

Mmm… I get it… They didn\'t want to give me false info or even risk tipping off the culprits that we were on to them and risk them preparing something they did not expect to deal with.

"Did you know that someone would try to take off my mask?" I asked.

"We had some suspicions, yes. Thus we had been watching everyone who approached Mistress closely."

"I see… In that case, thank you for the hard work, that must not have been easy."

"Please think nothing of it, Mistress. Something like this is expected of us."

"So what happens now?"

Before Katsuki could answer, a knock came from the door, prompting all the maids to turn towards the door while pulling out their weapons.

"The dragon descends upon the open meadow," A voice spoke out from behind the door unprompted.

Andrea, who was closest to the door, answered, "The cave is dark."

"And a single egg rests inside."

Apparently that was some sort of secret code since Andrea went forward to open the door, revealing Mary behind it.

Mary took a moment to look inside the room, checking everyone to make sure it was who she expected to be before stepping aside, allowing Mother to enter the room. Following right behind her was Sebastian who had the baron and his daughter from earlier slung over his shoulders.

"Ara, ara~ Did little Katsuki already explain what is happening, my little one?" Mother asked.

I nodded before pointing at the two people that Sebastian was carrying, "What are they doing here, Mother?"

"Ufufufu~ Since they attacked my little one, I thought that you might want to be the one who decides their fate? Mama has already talked this through with little Justi so there\'s no need for you to hold back on them~"

Sebastian stepped forward and dropped the two Mahuns on the ground unceremoniously, revealing that the two of them were bound and gagged quite tightly.

Both of them were still conscious so Niaris quickly averted her eyes when she saw me while her father glared daggers at me.

Err… What am I even supposed to do?

Mother came up to me and picked me up so that she could sit me on her lap.

"Ufufufu~ Does my little one not know what to do with them?"

I nodded, trying to ignore the boobs that Mother was pressing against the back of my head.

"If my little one wants some suggestions, killing them is of course an option~"

Eh? Really? Just like that?

"But aren\'t they also nobles? Can we just kill them so easily?"

Mother giggled, "Ufufufu~ My little one doesn\'t need to worry about that~ They have already been stripped of their titles and everything that they own have been confiscated~ These two have now been relegated to criminal slave status so we own them now~ You can do whatever you want with them!"

Wait a minute… You\'re telling me they lost everything just from trying to pull off my mask?

Ok, actually… Considering the fact that this guy was only a Baron and how close Mother was to the Royal Family, that wasn\'t impossible.

These guys literally poked the sleeping dragon so of course they would get burned.

But there is one thing I want to say first though…

I gestured to Niaris, "Umm… If she was telling me the truth while we were dancing… She was coerced into it and actually harboured no ill will toward me…"

Niaris swivelled her head towards me, her eyes wide in surprise as though she could not believe I stood up for her.

By the way, her right hand was still severed though it was wrapped up in bandages right now. I\'m pretty sure they did that on purpose since there was definitely an Iatromancer on hand that could have just regenerated her limb if they wanted to.

Mother giggled, "Ara, ara? That means little Staphone over here forced his precious daughter to hurt my little one against her will? You are definitely a failure as a parent~"

The former Baron was still gagged so he could do nothing but glare at us.

I felt Mother wrap her arms around me, "Ara, ara? Why are you looking at my little one like that? Fufufu~ Are you angry that you failed your silly little plan?"

The former Baron\'s brows knitted together while he struggled against his restraints.

I guess he wants to say something?

Mother seemed to think so as well as she nodded at Sebastian, prompting our Wrunch butler to pull off the gag that bound his mouth.

"You… You may have gotten me for now! But you won\'t be able to take everything! Everyone knows I was set up! So I only got the minimum punishment for this! Soon enough, I will get back the power I lost and come back for you!"

I looked at Mother, "Does he… Still not know who we are?"

"Ufufufu~ Of course he doesn\'t~ It\'s not like there\'s any use in teaching him now, is there? Little Justi simply passed down her judgement on him and made him and his daughter a slave bound to us~"

"Ha… Haha! Hahaha! That\'s right! He only made Niaris and myself your slaves! My wife… She\'s left out of this! She will help me rebuild my House! Then when I return, you\'ll regret it!!"

Uwaa… Even if you do intend to take revenge on us, why are you even shouting it out loud right now? Don\'t you think that\'s the worst thing you can do?

In fact, did you forget that one of the options presented to me was to kill you?

I mean… I already know you\'re somewhat of an idiot since you fell for the scheme that landed you in this position in the first place but… Does he not even understand the position he\'s currently in?

Oh what am I talking about, of course he doesn\'t.

Mother ignored him and hugged me closer to her chest, "Ufufufu~ So what does my little one intend to do with him? We can send him to work in one of Mama\'s mines or farms, but Mama doesn\'t think he would do a good job there. Maybe he can be used in some way as entertainment?"

I don\'t even want to ask what kind of \'entertainment\' Mother had in mind.

But that does bring up a point… What can we even do with them?

Aside from Katsuki, I don\'t even think we have any slaves working for us? And Katsuki is even keeping a slave status willingly.

"Did he reveal who is the real mastermind behind this?" I asked.

Mary spoke up, "Unfortunately, he does not know the real identity since they had only communicated via anonymous letters and messengers. But Young Mistress does not need to worry, we will find out the real culprit soon enough."

That\'s good to hear.

I turned towards Niaris who had been watching me the entire time, "What are your thoughts on this, Miss Niaris?"

Mother giggled, "Ara, ara~ There\'s no need to be so polite with her, my little one~ She\'s no longer a noble after all~ Sebastian? If you would~"

The butler nodded and took out the gag from Niaris\'s mouth while binding the former Baron\'s mouth again.

Niaris took a moment to relax her jaw before answering my question, "I… Do not care, Lady Nilm… Unlike my father, I… I know about the Nilm Family… Thus, I was prepared to die when I had been given this task…"

"Eh? Then why didn\'t you tell your father about this?"

She hesitated for a second before sighing, "Because… He did not want to hear it… As a daughter… My words were not deemed important enough to be heard…"

Ah… So he\'s a misogynist… Got it…

In that case, I have just the idea for them~