It Seems Like The Infamous Trash Can is Right Here! - Chapter 152
“What? Lionel returned at dawn?”
Dantère’s gasp echoed through the glass wall.
Having thoroughly defiled the master’s bed with Vivian, convinced he’d never come home, how could he not be stunned?
Even if they’d cleaned up perfectly, the timing made it impossible they’d gone unnoticed.
“The Young Lord seemed greatly shocked.”
“Of course, he should be.”
Lionel had waited until the afternoon to announce his return, and until then, he’d languished in my bed, sleeping in late.
We hadn’t meant to surprise the staff, but when we descended from the third floor, the servants all shrieked.
In the chaos, one maid had raced off to tell Vivian and Dantère.
Such a breach would be unthinkable in any proper noble house: a servant freely broadcasting the master’s every move to guests.
“I told you we’d let the staff manage themselves.”
Lionel had explained that Vivian’s maid, Ilina, was now under house arrest for her absence.
In the mansion, there were those who betrayed guests with gossip, those who pocketed valuables in secret, those who formed factions and tormented their colleagues, each a stain on their lord’s name.
In a mansion without a Lady of the House, all manner of troubles spring up whenever the Lord is busy with affairs beyond its walls.
Lionel left countless gaps inside, waiting for someone to bite the bait. He never kept anything truly important in the house, yet he locked every door with a key, and even built a safe to hold his forged documents.
No doubt the Information Guild papers I’d found in his room before were deliberately left there.
I wasn’t offended. On the contrary, I felt relieved to know Lionel was no fool.
“Sasha, big brother, welcome home.”
Vivian greeted us from the greenhouse entrance, and Dantère, seated beside her with tea, offered a casual bow.
“Good morning.”
Good morning? It was well past lunchtime.
Still, there was something disarming about that red-haired beauty’s grin in the sun, surrounded by flowers. I was speechless, but I found myself involuntarily smiling back.
Perhaps it was because I knew the secret of Dantère’s birth.
The horrors committed by the late Emperor had long since been buried, and the Marchioness of Ortatum had died years ago, leaving Dantère to carry that burden alone.
Of course, my momentary goodwill had nothing to do with Lionel.
After escorting me to a seat, Lionel strode toward Dantère with a distinctly menacing air.
Was he about to strike him… or fling him across the room?
This glass greenhouse had been tended with special care by the late Duchess of Luanax; its exotic blooms were unknown elsewhere in Lubarque.
The flowers were always in bloom, making it easy to forget the season.
The female lead, Vivian, in A Night of Entwined Serpents treasured this place above all.
I hoped that, possessed as she was now, Vivian wouldn’t damage its beauty because of Dantère’s schemes.
As I watched anxiously, Lionel reached out toward Dantère, only to halt his hand inches from his face.
“Key.”
He spoke the single word like a blade.
Dantère’s eyes flicked, and he drew a key from his pocket, laying it gently in Lionel’s palm.
“If you have any others hidden away, return every last one without exception.”
