Chapter 9: She Is His Maid

Chapter 9: Chapter 9: She Is His Maid

Caius toyed with the pink card in his hand as he walked down the street.

The card read, "Lily."

Lili.

"Look into this," Caius said, handing the card to the servant behind him, his voice as cold as ice. "Find out who sent this."

He could tolerate those Nobles approaching Lilia because their motives were impure. Whether they gave her gifts or showered her with attention, they weren’t trying to curry favor with Lilia, but rather the "Beaumont" surname she represented.

He could also tolerate Carl Vance. Although he disliked the way the boy looked at Lilia, the gap between a mere Baron’s son and Lilia was like an uncrossable chasm. The clouds high in the sky would never consider the mud on the side of the road a threat.

But that flower was different.

The card read "Lily," which meant it wasn’t a gift chosen to curry favor with the Beaumont family.

It was a gift meant specifically for Lilia herself.

To Caius, this was a naked provocation.

At this thought, Caius’s jawline tightened, the gloom in his eyes practically overflowing.

He should have known. Since that girl could so easily win his mother’s affection, as well as the affection of all the servants in the Earl Mansion, it was only a matter of time before these messy flies started liking her too.

Even if that wasn’t their original intention when approaching her.

Someone liked Lilia. This realization made Caius displeased—extremely displeased.

Lilia was his maid. She had personally promised his mother that from then on, she belonged to the Beaumont family.

Since those flies couldn’t see clearly who she belonged to... he would make it clear to them.

BANG.

Caius pushed open the door and walked into the classroom.

Because it gathered all the top students of this cohort at Lien Academy, Class A had an extremely strong academic atmosphere. It was still a full half hour before class started, but half the seats in the room were already filled.

Caius didn’t pause for a single step. He strode up the tiered steps and stopped at the seat where Lilia usually sat.

As usual, it was piled high with all sorts of gifts.

"Take all this useless trash—" Caius ordered the servant behind him, making no effort to lower his voice as it immediately echoed throughout the entire classroom.

He didn’t care in the slightest. Or rather, this was exactly the effect he wanted to achieve.

Under the gazes of his many classmates, Caius coldly spat out the rest of his sentence, "Throw it all into the trash can."

The servant acknowledged the order and immediately did as he was told. All the gifts, whether valuable or not, were swept into the trash can.

Colorful wrappings scattered and rolled across the floor, looking like corpses laid out in a mass grave.

For a moment, a dead silence fell over the classroom.

About ten minutes later, Lilia walked in and immediately sensed that something was wrong. Her desk was completely clean, unlike before when it had always been piled high with gifts.

She didn’t pay much attention to it at first. Those people had only approached her because of the Beaumont Family behind her. After interacting with her for a while and realizing they couldn’t use her to connect with Caius, they naturally wouldn’t continue doing such meaningless things.

She even felt a wave of relief. She finally wouldn’t have to deal with those annoying guys anymore.

However, when she sat down and prepared to take out her Magic Book to start studying, the attitude of a classmate beside her immediately caught her attention.

Lilia had an excellent memory. As long as she had met someone once and heard them introduce themselves even a single time, she could pick them out from a vast crowd the next time they crossed paths.

She remembered this boy was one of the people who had surrounded her outside the cafeteria. His family’s status in Taronia was probably quite high. After all, while everyone else had been focused on whether they could become friends with Caius through her, he was the only one who asked if the Beaumont family’s estate was even larger than a Duke’s.

It was a kind of flattery tinged with arrogance and probing.

After that day, he had always surrounded her, just like the others. He persistently tried to invite her to hang out in his carriage with him. During regular classes, he would also try his best to sit with Lilia, under the guise of communicating and learning from each other. However, Lilia had never heard him ask a single question. Instead, he rarely paid attention to the lecture and frequently stole glances at her.

If this had been the past, the moment she sat down, he would have leaned over to enthusiastically greet her.

But today, it was as if he had some sort of scruple. He wanted to approach her, yet was too afraid to do so because of some unseen threat.

"Good morning, Evans." Lilia turned her head and took the initiative to greet him.

The girl’s smile was so radiant that it temporarily dispelled the misgivings in his heart.

"Good morning, Lilia."

"Tomorrow is the weekend. Do you have any special plans for tonight?" Lilia calmly tested the waters. "Perhaps we could go check out that shop you mentioned before? I’m very interested in the lava cake you talked about."

"Sure!" The boy’s eyes lit up, and he was about to nod instinctively, but... he hesitated for a moment. "Is Caius coming with us?"

"Why mention him all of a sudden?" Lilia asked.

"Because, well... doesn’t he go home with you every day?"

Seeing Evans’s evasive gaze, Lilia felt even more confused. Caius went home with her every day, but that wasn’t a recent development. He should have known that a long time ago. He had never cared about it before, so why was he acting so abnormally today?

It was as if he would be assassinated by someone sent by Caius the moment Lilia went out alone with him.

Suddenly, something occurred to Lilia. "Evans, I recall you saying yesterday that you were going to give me a special gift?" She feigned curiosity. "I was looking forward to it all last night. I wonder when I’ll get to see it?"

"Lilia..." At the mention of this, Evans’s gaze became even more evasive. He glanced behind her and whispered, "I’m sorry... I probably won’t be able to give you the gift anymore."

"There must have been an unexpected situation. It’s okay."

Lilia had always been understanding. She followed Evans’s gaze and looked behind her. There was the back door of the classroom, and beyond it was a spacious courtyard.

As Lilia was thinking, Evans beside her finally mustered up his courage. He shifted a seat closer to her. "About going out to play tonight... If you don’t mind, how about I arrange the itinerary? I’ll have my servants prepare your favorite cake and sweet tea in advance..."

"I’m sorry, Evans." Lilia didn’t look at him. "I suddenly remembered that Lady Beaumont specifically instructed me last night to go back early today. Let’s hang out another time."

With that said, Lilia stood up and walked toward the back of the room without waiting for Evans’s response. From his attitude, she could already vaguely guess what had happened.

Pushing open the back door, Lilia looked around and saw the trash can sitting in the corner.