Lia followed Hailey silently, her eyes wide with shock at what had just happened.
Who is this person? Is this really my lady?
Just minutes ago, she had watched her gentle and timid mistress slap a maid across the face. There was not a hint of hesitation or a flicker of fear.
This cannot be real.
The same girl who once trembled at raised voices now didn't show any fear and even silenced them with just a few words.
How can someone change so much in just one day?
Just a few days ago…
"I'm sorry… please don't tell Aunt," Hailey had whispered, her voice barely audible as she knelt on the cold floor in front of the maids. The very same maids who were meant to serve her.
Her hands trembled as she reached out to pick up the shattered pieces of the broken vase.
Then, without warning, another vase crashed to the ground.
"Oh, my bad," one of the maids said with a mocking smile. "Why don't you pick these pieces up too?"
Hailey didn't protest.
She simply nodded and began cleaning again, her fingers carefully gathering the sharp fragments.
Lia had taken a step forward, wanting to help. But one of the maids grabbed her arm and held her back with a firm grip.
Lia couldn't move. She couldn't do anything.
All she could do was watch.
Back to the Present.
Lia never imagined her mistress, someone who once couldn't even raise her voice, could one day slap a maid without hesitation.
Hailey led Lia into her room and locked the door behind them.
For a moment, she just stood there, staring at the girl she failed to protect in her last life.
She's really here…
Even now, Hailey could hardly believe it. That Lia was standing before her again felt like a miracle. She had been given another chance, and this time, she wouldn't let anything happen to her.
She gently guided Lia to sit on the old, creaky bed and took a seat beside her.
She missed her so badly.
She just wanted to sit and talk with her like they used to.
But now wasn't the time.
She was relieved, yes. The Crown Prince's birthday was still a week away. She hadn't been engaged to the Crown Prince yet.
But if she stayed silent and did nothing… if she let things unfold as they had before… that future would come crashing down on her once more.
She would have to walk the same path again, the same nightmare waiting to consume her.
She couldn't let that happen.
She would be engaged to Crown Prince Cedric again. And she would have to endure the same hell all over.
Part of her wanted revenge. The heartbreak she experienced still burned in her bones. But even she knew it would be foolish.
Crown Prince Cedric was not someone she could touch.
He was the empire's strongest warrior. The future Holy Hero. The one destined to defeat the Demon Lord who would awaken once every thousand years.
And she? She was merely the neglected daughter of House Sinclair. Nobility in name only. Treated worse than a servant in her own home.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Lia gently reached out and held her hand.
Hailey looked down, seeing the lingering shock in Lia's eyes.
She knew what she was thinking.
It was because of what happened in the kitchen.
Hailey knew how she once couldn't even speak up for herself, let alone even think of hitting someone back in her first life, when she was thirteen years old.
But now, things were different. And this time, she would not stay silent.
She wasn't the same thirteen-year-old, but a twenty-year-old young lady who had been abandoned by her own fiancé and executed.
"My lady…" Lia whispered, unsure how to respond. The person standing before her felt like someone completely different.
"Lia… I know. You're shocked because of what happened in the kitchen, right?" Hailey asked gently.
Lia could tell Hailey had changed a lot. The confidence in her voice was unlike the Hailey she had known for years.
"My lady… you've changed so much," Lia said softly.
Hailey smiled, her thoughts drifting to her past life. "Yes, Lia… I have changed. But I'm still the same Hailey you know."
Lia opened her mouth to speak, but then the scene from the kitchen flashed in her mind—Hailey slapping the maid. She knew those maids would surely report it to Aunt Margaret.
"My lady… those servants will tell your aunt, and she will punish you," Lia said, rising to her feet. "You need to hide. Don't worry, I'll stop her."
But Hailey gently pulled Lia back onto the bed.
"You don't have to worry about her. I can handle this," she said calmly.
Then her lips curled into a smirk.
"Let her come."