“Mengdie, what were you talking to the Head Maid about? Why are you back so late?”
Penelope had been sitting in the room scrolling through her phone while waiting for Su Mengdie, but she hadn’t expected the wait to last for two hours.
“We discussed the Weekend Test. I’ve already settled things with the Head Maid. As long as the Young Lady can make a dish that satisfies her, it will be fine.”
Su Mengdie clutched her waist, her steps slow and deliberate.
She never expected the Head Maid’s hand to be even more ruthless than the Young Lady’s!
‘Curse her. It was clearly all the Young Lady’s fault, so why did I have to admit to her wrongdoings and get my bottom spanked?’
‘I never want to experience that shameful feeling again for the rest of my life.’
“Mengdie, what’s wrong? Does your waist hurt?”
Her waist didn’t actually hurt, but her bottom did.
However, if she walked while clutching her rear, it would clearly look unladylike.
“I’m fine. I just accidentally strained my waist. By the way, aren’t you going to sleep yet, Young Lady?”
Su Mengdie glanced at the wall clock.
The hour hand had already passed the eleven o’clock mark.
At this time of night, she would usually be fast asleep.
“I was waiting for you, of course. I haven’t bathed yet, and I want to wash together today,” Penelope said with a somewhat sinister smile. It was impossible to tell what she was plotting.
“Is the Young Lady planning to suddenly ask me about Swallowtail while I’m relaxing in the Hot Water Pool?”
Regardless of whatever Penelope was up to, Su Mengdie focused on picking out the pajamas she would wear tonight.
She had secretly hidden away yesterday’s pair because they were stained with a cloying, sweet scent, intending to wash them along with those bedsheets later.
“How did you know?!”
The smile on Penelope’s face suddenly froze.
Su Mengdie turned her head and gave her a smile without saying a word, yet it seemed as if she had said everything.
Was it really that hard to guess?
A little thought made it clear that the condition Penelope had proposed earlier was a trap.
How could someone as shrewd as the Young Lady be satisfied with just one question?
Su Mengdie eventually chose a white nightgown and followed Penelope into the dressing room.
Standing back to back, Su Mengdie unbuttoned her clothes, anticipating Penelope’s question.
“Young Lady, I’m not lying to you. I really don’t know the person you’re talking about.”
Because she was that person. No one tells others they ‘know’ themselves unless they are insane.
“Hmph — you said that yourself, Mengdie. It wasn’t my question, so I still have one more.”
“Go ahead and ask, Young Lady.”
She could ask whatever she wanted; Su Mengdie had already decided to play dumb.
No matter what the Young Lady asked regarding Swallowtail, she would just say she didn’t know.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. We’ll talk inside.”
Penelope took the towel Su Mengdie handed her, slid the door open, and stepped inside.
Watching the Young Lady’s leisurely attitude, Su Mengdie felt a sudden wave of unease.
‘What kind of trick is the Young Lady up to now?’
***
Although it was nearly midnight, the water in the pool remained at the perfect temperature.
This was all thanks to the Jinzhi Family’s unique technology.
To ensure the Young Lady could enjoy a comfortable hot bath at any time, the Jinzhi Family’s company had installed an entire Hot Water Circulation System beneath the headquarters.
The two of them soaked in the same Hot Water Pool, but their states of mind were completely different.
Penelope submerged her entire body in the steaming water, fully relaxing her mind and soul.
Beside her, Su Mengdie poured hot water over her exposed, pale shoulders and neck while secretly observing the Young Lady.
Having lost the initiative once again, she felt constant anxiety.
Finally, as if sensing the time was ripe, the Young Lady suddenly sat up from the shoulder-deep water.
“Mengdie, you secretly went to a department store behind my back after school last Friday, didn’t you?”
Finally, here it comes!
Although the Young Lady’s question caught Su Mengdie off guard, she immediately understood the implication now that she knew the Young Lady was ‘Canary.’
“Last Friday…?”
Su Mengdie tilted her head, her gaze drifting toward the ceiling.
“Oh, right! I did go! But I didn’t go secretly. Didn’t I tell the Young Lady? At the time, I said I needed to purchase some things for the Head Maid and told you to go home first. Wasn’t that it?”
Back then, Su Mengdie had used that excuse to reach the location Canary had announced she would attack, and then they had fought.
She didn’t remember much of what happened afterward, to the point she couldn’t even recall if she had actually bought the items…
But since the Head Maid hadn’t caused trouble for the Young Lady later, she must have bought them, right?
“That’s right. And then, did you run into anything? If I remember correctly, the news the next day reported that the department store had been attacked.”
As Penelope asked, she didn’t forget to poke Su Mengdie’s body with her finger, interfering with her thoughts to prevent her from making up lies.
What she didn’t know was that even without the interference, Su Mengdie couldn’t make anything up.
She simply couldn’t remember the situation at the time.
If she just made something up and it didn’t match the news, she would be in trouble.
“I don’t remember clearly… I think some villains attacked the second floor? I was caught in the aftermath and fainted. I don’t remember anything else.”
“Then how did you get back?!”
“I don’t know~ When I woke up, I was in the Young Lady’s bed. Then I saw my reflection in the window and realized I had turned into the Young Lady.”
This wasn’t just a question the Young Lady wanted the answer to; Su Mengdie wanted to know too.
If both she and the Young Lady had lost consciousness, then who exactly had brought them back, changed them into their pajamas, and placed them in bed?
It couldn’t have been themselves.
“Mengdie, you aren’t telling me the truth…”
Penelope suddenly sighed and stood up from the Hot Water Pool.
“Your earlier reaction clearly showed you know Swallowtail. Even if you don’t know her, you’ve at least met her… and my friend told me that the monitoring at the department store showed you being carried out by Swallowtail in the end!”
Wait?
‘There was monitoring in that place!?’
This was something Su Mengdie hadn’t expected. But what surprised her even more was Penelope’s final sentence.
‘What did she mean by me being “carried out by Swallowtail”? I’m Swallowtail!’
Before Su Mengdie could figure it out, she heard the Young Lady pat the soft bed fixed in the open space.
“Mengdie, come here. Lie down on this.”
“Young Lady, what is this for?”
That was the soft bed Su Mengdie usually used to give the Young Lady massages.
The Young Lady particularly enjoyed lying there and having her help.
But now… she didn’t think the Young Lady intended to give her a proper massage.
“Come here! Don’t make me say it a third time!”
Penelope’s tone was firm, showing no intention of negotiating.
After a moment of hesitation, Su Mengdie clutched a towel in front of her chest and anxiously lay down on the soft bed.
“This won’t be necessary — next, I’m going to make you feel very good, Mengdie. Maybe once you’re comfortable, you’ll be able to remember something —”
Looking at the white towel that barely covered anything, Penelope pursed her lips and smiled.
As her knee slowly pressed onto the soft bed, she suddenly yanked the towel away and tossed it behind her…