The faint caused by suffocation was hardly worth mentioning among all the pain and abnormal states Flora had endured.
Once released, she regained consciousness almost instantly and heard Moria’s words.
She knew this woman was well aware she could hear, and thus didn’t expose her pretense of unconsciousness, letting Linko and the unidentified maid take her away.
Right now, all she felt was that everything she experienced was happening as if on a chessboard.
Moria, as the chess player, set pieces down here and there, with no one able to grasp her intentions.
Yet when she made her move clear, the game was already decided, the outcome sealed.
A crushing defeat.
If she was truly playing a game against Moria, then everything she’d done so far had been a failure.
Thinking this, she couldn’t help but shrink inward, and Linko, who was holding her, naturally noticed the movement.
“Consider yourself lucky—the young lady didn’t want to make things hard for you.”
Irritated, Linko couldn’t help but snap coldly at the maid walking with them to the dressing room.
She couldn’t be sure if the maid had been arranged by Moria on purpose, but even if not, for her to approach their table so closely with tea and snacks was not how a maid should behave.
A properly trained attendant wouldn’t be caught being so rash at a party like this.
“I’m sorry…”
The maid looked at Flora in Linko’s arms with concern and apologized quietly.
“Since Miss Flora is vouching for you, don’t even think about going back to the Marquis Laman’s house. You’ll stay by her side from now on. You know these little rules among nobles, right?”
Seeing the maid’s meek and docile demeanor, Linko’s tone softened a bit.
“Ah… Stay by her side?”
The maid looked a little stunned, but Linko only frowned deeper.
“A servant talks back to a noble, and you’re lucky you aren’t being punished. Miss Flora only made that request because she was worried you’d be punished if you went back. That’s just how she is. She probably just wanted you to come backstage with us, but in the end…”
Moria seized the chance and twisted her words, making trouble out of it.
Linko didn’t voice this out loud; there was no need to explain such a dangerous topic to others.
She let out a sigh.
“Either way, giving you to Miss Flora as compensation should ease Miss Kate and her family’s concerns. Once the party ends, I’ll have someone go with you to pack up your things and inform your acquaintances, then you’ll move into the Jade Villa in Dolan City.”
This was the usual way a kind noble dealt with a careless servant from another noble house.
Linko was just helping Flora wrap things up, but the maid showed no sign of gratitude.
“Wait, this won’t do… I…”
She refused the arrangement immediately.
“So, would you rather be beaten to death with sticks or whipped to death? Miss Kate is more than likely to tie you up as a plaything for the young lady, and with our young lady’s temperament, after what you just saw—do you think anything good will come of it?”
Linko liked this clueless girl even less, her tone growing more annoyed.
“But…”
“When the party’s over, find her a place to stay.”
Not waiting for her to finish, Flora opened her tired eyes.
“Let me down, Linko. I lost this time, but I’m not so fragile that I’ll lose heart over this.”
“Flora…”
Linko pursed her lips, her steps slowing, then finally stopping.
They had already reached the corridor behind the main hall, just a few steps from the dressing room.
Even here, the sounds from the hall could be faintly heard.
Someone was lecturing inside, a very familiar voice—listen closely, and it was easy to recognize it as Liz, the attendant by Lisette’s side.
The topic about demons Moria had brought up on the stairs earlier was likely on the princess’s orders.
Maybe there really were such beings among the guests, or traitors with demonic leanings.
But these weren’t things for the three backstage to worry about.
Linko set Flora down.
“Wait out here.”
She instructed, then opened the dressing room for Flora.
Not wanting to deal with the maid who, however unintentionally, had made today’s situation worse, she stepped inside first.
“It’s my fault. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”
Flora looked at the flustered maid and forced a smile, trying to comfort the unlucky girl with a gentle expression.
After saying this, she walked into the dressing room.
The maid hesitated, staring at her back, then, just before the door closed, stepped forward and slipped inside.
“The punishment you mentioned—I’ll accept it. Please don’t be so lenient with me. It makes me feel… uneasy.”
Seeing the girl with her fingers entwined, head slightly bowed, Flora found herself unable to refuse.
She’d already seen what kind of world this was.
This was just how the work of maids was.
If she refused, it really wouldn’t be a wise decision.
“All right.”
And honestly, she wasn’t in the mood to fuss over such things.
Linko had already taken out a spare dress from her portable trunk.
Flora glanced at it; compared to her current one, the style wasn’t much different—still a long, sea-blue gown, but more conservative.
A strappy dress.
“Looks like your luck’s really rotten today.”
Flora curled her lips into a smile at the maid.
To have such a dress prepared only proved that this mishap was within Moria’s plan.
“This was meant for you to change into after the conferment ceremony, Miss. Since you’re wearing it now, I’ll have this one cleaned for you.”
Linko clearly understood her meaning.
She couldn’t say much more on the subject, so she stepped up to help Flora out of her dress.
Even though she was somewhat exasperated by the maid, she naturally slipped into the head maid’s tone to give orders.
“Don’t just stand there. This dress is custom-made and expensive. Stand in front of Miss Flora—yes, like that. Hold here…”
Linko, speaking as she moved, grabbed the maid’s hand and placed it under Flora’s armpit, making sure the soft fabric was held securely.
This somewhat intimate, bodily contact made the maid instinctively avert her eyes and bite her lip, not daring to look at the downcast, thoughtful Flora.
“Shy, are you? Haven’t you ever done this kind of work? Then you…”
Seeing this, Linko grew even more irritated.
As an old handmaid, she found this maid more and more displeasing.
Servants of House Laman, raised to be like this?
From now on, the nobles’ social circles ought to exclude them.
“LinKo.”
Flora called to her, who took a deep breath and shot the maid a glare.
“You can’t even handle something this simple and still volunteered? Fine, just hold there, don’t grip too tight—if you damage the material, you’ll be sorry.”
After this warning, she circled behind Flora and carefully undid the dress.
Flora, who was still wondering what Moria’s next move would be, found herself intrigued by the maid gripping the fabric beside her chest and not daring to face her.
It wasn’t guilt—she was just shy.
Of all the maids she’d met, none had acted like this before.
Linko’s anger was understandable.
At a party like this, a maid so green as the one before her should never have appeared.
Flora gazed openly at the maid, her smile growing gentler.
“What’s your name? Let me take a good look at you.”
Because of all that had happened, her own mood had been off, so she hadn’t treated this maid properly.
No wonder the girl was so nervous.
Now that she was calming herself, she might as well adjust by chatting with her before dealing with the rest of the party.
The maid looked up at her.
In fact, this was the first time tonight the maid and Flora met face to face, their eyes truly meeting.
The blue-haired girl, even without the fancy dress, felt distant and untouchable—she was beautiful.
Before tonight, the maid could never have imagined such a lovely person existed, nor that someone so beautiful could be so uncommonly kind—not like an ordinary noble at all.
And Flora noticed that, compared to the other maids, this one had a pair of strikingly bright eyes—none of the numbness seen in well-drilled attendants.
Heterochromatic, gold and wine-red, as brilliant as the starry sky of this world.
These were the eyes a girl her age should have—the kind Flora once wished Moria might have.
So lovely.
A girl who gets shy under such a gaze—she really was lovely.
Surely this wasn’t just an act, or her own imagination.
Surely not one of Moria’s traps…
The maid’s breathing quickened a little, but before Flora could think further, she replied.
“Aurora.”
“Hm?”
Flora blinked, shaking off her gloomy thoughts.
“Aurora Valentine. That’s my name, Miss Flora.”
This familiar feeling of teasing a bashful girl made Flora set aside her idle suspicions, and Aurora’s adorable reaction brought a dazzling smile to her face.
“Flora Jade—that’s my name, Miss Aurora.Now that we’ve exchanged names, we’re friends, so there’s no need to be so tense. I won’t hurt my friends, trust me. When this party is over—no, perhaps I can see you safely away even now.”
Saying this, she felt herself relax just a little, for the first time in a long while.