Guidelines for the Perfect Goodbye - Chapter 112

Louise had opened every possible hiding spot in the room, turning it upside down. But nowhere did she find the item she was looking for.

‘Not here either…?’

Frustration crossed Louise’s face.

After years of thorough searching, to find nothing…

‘Then where could it be… perhaps in the Amethyst Room?’

She hadn’t yet searched Cecilia’s room. She hadn’t expected to find the item there in the first place. Cecilia was just a foolish girl, aimlessly circling around the periphery.

But…

‘Something feels different lately.’

Recently, Cecilia had changed. She seemed compliant, but occasionally she asked sharp questions that embarrassed her.

She didn’t get upset or morose even whenever Louise downplayed her to buoy Caroline.

As if she knew you’d come at her like that, she let hurtful words pass by like a breeze.

‘Yeah… Can’t take her lightly anymore. After all, that girl is Adam Lasphilla’s child, isn’t she?’

Unless Lilith Dust had the child alone, she must have inherited some of Adam Lasphilla’s cunning traits.

‘I can’t let my guard down.’

Louise stopped her actions and straightened up. It was clear that ‘it’ wasn’t here.

Now to tidy up the mess and move to the next room. The Amethyst Room, Cecilia Lasphilla’s room…

‘Thank goodness. That one’s empty too…’

Today was indeed the right day. Louise breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

However, at that moment.

“Excuse me. What are you doing?”

The question dropped like a bolt of lightning.

Gasp…!

Louise gasped, nearly having a heart attack from the shock.

“Miss… Miss Cecilia.”

Louise stammered involuntarily, and then a voice like a command fell in her head:

‘Don’t panic.’

‘Not in any situation.’

‘No matter what happens.’

‘Even if you are on the brink of death.’

‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has a price.’

“…”

Louise straightened up, straightened her back further, and put on her usual smile.

With the same demeanor as always, she clasped her hands amidst the chaotic room as if she were a marionette standing alone in the middle of a battlefield, her expression strangely out of place.

“Miss, what brings you here?”

* * *

Cecilia looked around the room expressionlessly.

This mess in an empty bedroom, the audacity of it.

‘She takes people for fools. How insulting.’

…Wearing such a cheap mask.

Although it was brief, Cecilia clearly saw the look of shock on the woman’s face. This was why lying required talent and effort. If you show a gap even for a moment, the naive get devoured.

The wave of emotion Cecilia saw for a moment made her finalize her assessment of the woman.

‘Louise Cléon. You are more of a sewer rat than I thought.’

Had she still been the same girl she had been before, she could have easily been manipulated. Hadn’t she lived being swayed by the likes of Hannah Linfitt for a long time?

But Cecilia’s mind wasn’t seventeen anymore, and she was not inclined to accept or excuse Louise’s brazen attitude, not even by a grain of sand.

Without twitching an eyebrow, Cecilia responded.

“I heard noises inside and thought perhaps a burglar had entered, but… oh, it’s you, Teacher.”

As Cecilia spoke, she naturally closed the door.

Click—

The sound sealed off any view from outside.

Cecilia did not call for help but instead closed the door, as if the situation being reduced to just the two of them was somehow to her advantage.

It would give Louise an unexpected boost in confidence, and on the other hand, arrogance. Louise saw this action as the girl giving her a chance to explain.

What a daring thing to do as a mere illegitimate child.

“You must have thought there was a burglar and still opened the door; that was reckless. As a noble young lady, you should have shown prudence rather than letting curiosity get the better of you.”

Like she had done with Caroline, she reprimanded Cecilia, thinking it would give her the upper hand.

But Cecilia did not even respond to her barb, as if it was not worth listening to. Chillingly indifferent, like when she practiced dancing.

“I asked you. What are you doing?”

Her tone was like that of a police officer interrogating a criminal. Louise’s forced smile twitched.

“I was looking for something.”

“What exactly could you, Madame Cléon, be looking for in Miss Lilith’s room?”