Chapter 34

Bump.

While Ayla stopped for a moment to look around the interior, someone bumped hard into her shoulder.

How violent it was, that Ayla’s delicate body shook greatly.

“Oh my. Be careful. Do maids these days not look ahead?”

‘What is this woman saying, when she bumped into me?’

Ayla adjusted her rumpled clothes and raised her head, slowly.

In front of her stood a woman in a fancy outfit, which was somewhat familiar.

Seeing that she was bringing along two girls that looked like private maids, she seemed to be a daughter of a good family.

The woman, with dark brown hair, rolled up in a pretty way, and brown eyes, seemed to be either the same age or a little older than Ayla.

A waistline so tight that she doubts she can breathe, and a champagne gold skirt that spreads abundantly underneath it.

Even lace gloves with an unusual structure that cover only the fingertips, which is said to be in fashion in the Stellen Kingdom these days.

The woman in front of her seemed to care about her appearance very much and was beautiful like that.

‘But… She looks strangely familiar?’

Seeing Ayla staring at her, the woman grimaced as if she had seen a bug.

Soon her eyes, which had been looking at Ayla thoroughly, bent like a bow and she opened her mouth.

“Hmhm. I was wondering who it was, and it was Ayla? No wonder you looked familiar. I’m meeting you here?”

‘Do you know me? Have we really met before?’

As she left for Fencers when she was 10 years old, she didn’t have any friends to talk with and Louis was her only friend, so who on earth is she?

She was immediately imprisoned in the Royal Palace upon returning to the Stellen Kingdom, so her personal connections were so narrow they consisted only of Louis and Lily.

However, this woman in her twenties seems to have been close enough to her to know her name.

“Excuse me, who are you?”

“Oh my. This girl, really! It’s me, Claire Charne.”

‘Claire Charne? So, who are you…’

The woman named Claire grinned at Ayla. She tried hard to remember her but…

She doesn’t know her at all.

Ayla, who had been silently agonizing over it for a long time, let out a small ‘Ah!’, as if she had remembered something.

The day her father received the title of Count, when Ayla was around 9 years old, before going to Fencers.

A party was held in Ayla’s mansion in celebration of her father’s promotion, and the little girl and Louis were hanging out in the garden.

After most of the guests had arrived, a man dressed in saggy clothes and a young girl holding his hand arrived late.

Even though she was wearing a worn-out dress, the girl holding the man’s hand was quite pretty, so you couldn’t help but look at her.

Looking at them, her father said he was Baron Arthur Charne.

The Baron, bowing excessively at the sight of Count Serdian, was frowned upon even in Ayla’s young eyes.

The young girl, who was looking at her father with an embarrassed expression, said she had just turned 12 years old.

With disgust, the Baron told the young girl off, who was trying to touch Ayla’s dress because it looked pretty.

Did they meet a couple more times after that?

After going to Fencers, she thinks she heard a story about how her father felt pity for the Baron and made him his subordinate.

But were they close like that?

“Ah… Back then, that Baron…”

“I see you remember everything even when you were young? But look at this. It’s been a long time since my family detached itself from the Baron label.”

“Haha, that’s right. Then, I have work to do…”

“I guess the maid’s education is awful these days?”

“…”

Claire’s smiling face turned cold in an instant.

The two maids behind her looked at her face at the same time.

“I heard about you through rumors. I feel sorry for you. Who would have imagined that Count Serdian, who was always upright, would do something like that? Isn’t that right, guys? That’s why you don’t know how people are on the inside.”

“…”

‘Is this girl pretending to know me to try to mess up with me?’

Ayla felt her face slightly distorting at Claire’s rude words.

She was quietly contemplating when to kill her.