The Villainess's Exclusive Maid Is Too Good at Her Job - Chapter 42

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 42

They said nothing was impossible within the Ludwig Family, and it proved to be true.
Four days before the banquet, Jeron’s birthday ball transformed into a masquerade.
The day after news of the change to a masquerade spread.
Carriages laden with guest masks arrived at Ludwig in procession.
“Where on earth did they procure all of those so quickly?”
“Who knows. They would have found them somewhere.”
Julietta Ludwig answered absently, her gaze fixed vacantly into empty space.
‘She’s been like this since yesterday.’
More precisely, since Jeron and Joanna had visited.
Julietta Ludwig had taken to staring blankly like someone lost in thought.
I was beginning to grow concerned and was about to ask if something was wrong.
“This won’t do. This simply won’t do!”
With a sudden start.
Julietta Ludwig, who had been standing vacant, suddenly cried out loudly and rose from her seat.
“M-My lady?”
“What’s the matter, my lady?”
Sandy and Mary, who had been tidying Julietta’s Room, asked in bewilderment.
“The both of you, leave now.”
“Yes?”
“I have something to discuss with Janet. Go on.”
“Oh, yes! Understood, my lady.”
“We’ll leave you to it.”
The two of them bowed respectfully and scurried from the room.
Once they were alone, Julietta Ludwig beckoned Janet with a gesture.
“What is it, my lady?”
“Janet. I… ”
“Yes, my lady.”
At Janet’s composed response, Julietta Ludwig’s lips moved anxiously.
Sensing her hesitation, Janet smiled faintly and spoke first.
“My lady. I am on your side. So you needn’t hold back.”
Emboldened by those words, Julietta Ludwig gave a small nod.
And then.
“…I think I need to see Nova Morgan.”
“Nova Morgan, the Head Maid?”
“Yes. After seeing the boy and Joanna, I’ve come to want to ask Nova Morgan something.”
Julietta Ludwig’s voice as she spoke sounded like that of a frightened child.
“I simply must confirm something.”
Like a child who, having mustered courage, finally faces the darkness beneath the bed that she had feared and avoided.
“You’ll come with me, won’t you?”
“Of course, my lady. I’ll stay by your side.”
At Janet’s response, Julietta’s lips curved into a faint smile.
Though the tension coiling through her entire body made it falter almost immediately.

***

Nova Morgan remained confined to her room.
She had persisted in her claims of innocence, insisting it was all unintentional, and her pleas of injustice had worn thin.
The drug incident at Julietta’s Annex that same day had also diverted attention away from her.
Nova intended to endure as long as possible in this state.
‘With his help, I can bury the bribery scandal easily enough.’
Then her position as head maid would remain secure.
As for the drug incident….
‘I’ve already dealt with Sien.’
Ideally, I would have silenced Sandy and Mary as well. But eliminating them now, when the drug investigation was drawing scrutiny, would be far too risky.
‘Fortunately, they don’t seem inclined to speak.’
Besides, even if they confessed the truth—that the head maid ordered them—their own guilt wouldn’t disappear.
‘If they want to live, they’ll keep silent until the end.’
That was enough.
I simply needed to remain quiet and wait for all of this to blow over.
He would come for me.
He would save me!
…But.
‘When exactly is he coming?’
Tap, tap—Nova gnawed anxiously at her fingernails, and not a single nail remained intact across both hands.
The longer her confinement stretched, the more Nova withered and deteriorated.
Her once-lustrous hair had grown dull and brittle, and her smooth skin had turned rough and coarse.
Deep wrinkles had etched themselves across her face from the constant frown born of fear and anxiety.
Unwilling to witness her own pathetic reflection, Nova had removed every mirror from her room.
By now, doubt had begun to creep in. What if she had been abandoned?
If that were the case….
‘I would need to find another way out.’
It was precisely as she was desperately turning over possibilities in her mind.
“It’s been a while, Nova.”
Nova’s lips twisted upward as she saw who had come to find her.
Found it. My way out.
“Oh! Lady Julietta! I’ve missed you so very much, my lady!”

***

I settled beside Julietta, maintaining a deliberate distance.
Not so far as to feel isolated, yet close enough that a simple reach would allow our hands to touch.
A distance where one could sense another’s presence without the burden of forced conversation.
‘What does she wish to discuss?’
I observed the two of them in silence.
Unlike Julietta, who sat rigid with tension, Nova Morgan across from her radiated an almost feverish excitement.
‘Theo mentioned she’d had few visitors.’
According to his intelligence, during her confinement, almost no one had come to see Nova Morgan.
And truthfully, how many eyes within the Ludwig Family would dare to witness such a thing?
‘She’s hardly worth enduring those stares for.’
A woman who brazenly extorted bribes and tormented others without hesitation.
Who would willingly visit such a person?
“Sob, sob. You have no idea how lonely I’ve been, my lady. With no one to confide in, even my grievances and frustrations….”
At the sight of Nova Morgan’s tears, Julietta flinched slightly.
Her hand, moving instinctively toward her handkerchief, froze and returned to her lap.
“I see. That must have been difficult, Nova.”
“My lady. You do believe in me, don’t you? Why would I accept bribes? I merely thought of them as gifts given with good intentions. Is sincerity a crime?”
“Sometimes, it is.”
“…Pardon?”
Nova Morgan questioned in confusion.
She clearly hadn’t expected Julietta to respond with such coldness.
“My lady, why do you speak so harshly? It’s me, Nova. Your nursemaid who cared for you like family since you were ten.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“You remember, don’t you? How well I treated you.”
At Nova Morgan’s desperate plea, Julietta exhaled softly.
“You’re right. You treated me well. Nova, you were like family to me. In this vast Ludwig Family, I thought of you as the only person I could truly rely on.”
“My lady. So you do….”
“But lately, I’ve been thinking something.”
“…What is it?”
“Whether you truly treated me well at all.”
At Julietta’s icy tone, Nova Morgan went rigid.
A gulp.
The sound of her swallowing hard echoed starkly in the silence.
“You always told me that there was no one trustworthy in this world. That everyone mocked me, that everyone pointed fingers at me.”
“…My lady.”
“You pitied me, saying that because my mother was merely an actress, people would regard me as a half-blooded noble.”
Julietta’s voice trembled as she continued—not from tears, but from rage.
“It was you who said my misfortune stemmed from Kendrick. That being born a twin, he had stolen my destiny, my very fortune. You whispered endlessly that all my shortcomings were Kendrick’s fault.”
And gradually, I saw her less and less.
Meeting Janet.
Learning the truth about Sien.
Nova Morgan, whom I trusted, committed a crime and was imprisoned.
Through this series of events, Julietta Ludwig could do nothing but feel endless confusion.
Until now, I had believed everything Nova Morgan told me was the truth.
‘But perhaps it wasn’t.’
Perhaps Nova Morgan’s words were not the truth at all.
Or rather, everything might have been a lie.
The result of acting solely on Nova Morgan’s words—
‘I grew distant from Kendrick, and began to suspect everyone.’
Only the inferiority complex, jealousy, and anxiety buried deep within my heart continued to grow.
The quiet doubts that had been building finally erupted when I faced the situation involving Jeron and Joanna.
Unlike our disastrous first meeting, I found Joanna to be quite a decent person now.
Because I could see she genuinely cherished and loved Jeron.
For his sake, she didn’t hesitate to bow her head or ask for help.
She made an effort to shed her old nature, and her gaze toward Jeron was filled with affection.
“You’ve never looked at me that way, not even once.”
As the words spilled from my lips, the doubts that had filled my mind began to slowly resolve.
“You did it on purpose, didn’t you, Nova Morgan? You deliberately isolated me so that I would trust and follow only you.”
Julietta Ludwig, having found the answer herself, smiled coldly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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