Ch#59
“Oh dear, where could it be?”
While organizing Linia’s clothes, Edel turned to see Linia opening and closing the vanity drawers, searching for something.
“What are you looking for?”
“The pearl hairpins. I remember wearing them in my hair just last week, but I can’t find them anywhere.”
“If it’s the pearl hairpins, aren’t they in the black velvet case with just the pearl accessories?”
“That’s what I remember too, but they’re not there.”
Edel tilted her head and approached Linia.
Linia’s expression grew more serious as she opened each of her jewelry boxes one by one.
“It’s not just the pearl hairpins. There were definitely a few more earrings here, and three or four thin gold necklaces over there.”
*Spoils of war*
Curiously, the missing items were ones Linia hadn’t worn much before.
Edel and Linia pulled out all the velvet boxes filling the drawers and even removed the drawers themselves to search every corner, but the missing accessories were nowhere to be found.
*Duchess*
“If just one pearl hairpin was gone, I’d think I’d lost it somewhere, but with this many missing, someone definitely stole them!”
Truly written by Lemon Frog
Convinced it was theft, Linia summoned Marsha and yelled.
“How much do they have to look down on me to think they could steal from my room? Gather everyone right now!”
At her furious command, all the servants working gathered in the lobby. It had been a long time since they’d seen Linia’s angry face.
“A thief broke into my room? Did they think I wouldn’t notice small things missing?”
Upon hearing that the young lady’s jewelry was gone, everyone exchanged nervous glances, but Linia suddenly barked at Marsha.
- 2 -
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“Marsha! Who are the maids that come in and out of my room?”
Edel snapped out of imagining turning Linia into a splendid noble lady when she saw Marsha rushing over with the other maids.
“Vivian, Jina, and May took turns cleaning, and otherwise just me… and Edel.”
“Is that so? Then take two maids and thoroughly search those maids’ rooms from earlier.”
“Miss! We, we found them!”
“Understood.”
Marsha, who had hurried over walking fast then running, held items that were clearly Linia’s.
Marsha immediately searched the rooms of the maids who had cleaned Linia’s room.
Linia, who hadn’t expected them to find anything, was instead flustered.
The rooms weren’t large and had few furnishings, so searching them thoroughly didn’t take long.
In the meantime, the servants lined up in the lobby were dying of anxiety but couldn’t whisper among themselves with Linia, furious to the top of her head, holding her position.
“They were really there? Where exactly?”
Having searched all the maids’ rooms, Marsha returned and reported.
“Uh, so… where was this, Mina?”
“I searched the three maids’ rooms thoroughly, but none of the miss’s items were there.”
Mina answered Marsha’s question with a feigned serious expression.
“You’re sure?”
“Why would I lie? It wasn’t just me searching.”
“We found hairpins and two earrings in Daisy’s room, and two necklaces and one earring each in Celia’s and Laila’s rooms!”
“What?”
The moment the furious Linia was about to snap something, Marsha hurriedly added.
Edel was the one startled enough to ask again.
“Should we search the other maids’ rooms too? They might be hiding them for their close friends.”
Daisy, Celia, and Laila, standing and listening with the other servants, were equally shocked.
“……Yes, that makes sense. Search all the maids’ rooms.
“Wh-what’s that supposed to mean?”
Linia sent Marsha off again and irritably clicked her tongue. But her face as she whispered to Edel beside her was calm, unlike when facing Marsha earlier.
“They came from my room?”
“No way!”
“Probably nothing will turn up. They’ve likely sold them off by now.”
“They must have tried to dispose of the stolen goods as quickly as possible.”
Instead of the flustered Linia, Marsha commanded the other maids in a stern voice.
“But making this fuss like this will prevent it from happening again, right?”
“Drag those ones out!”
Edel confirmed once more that Linia was thinking quite shrewdly.
In truth, Linia didn’t regret losing the items. They weren’t particularly valuable anyway, nor were they cherished accessories.
She was simply putting on this show on purpose to stop the servants from looking down on her.
Then the maids loyal to Marsha dragged Daisy, Celia, and Laila out and made them kneel before Linia.
But a question lingered.
She was smart and fearless in handling servants—if only properly taught, she’d show quite a decent side!
“This is slander, miss! How could we steal your things?”
“I don’t even know what your room looks like! I’ve never once been in your room!”
Of course, her commoner habits hadn’t fully been corrected, but her basic attitude wasn’t bad.
“Miss, it’s really not us. Something’s wrong here!”
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