Chapter 2

I shyly fluttered my eyelashes at Qingfeng, who stood nearby.

Before my smile had even faded, Zhou Jichuan’s thoughts came roaring:

[You little brat! Got a twitch in your eye?! Where are you looking? Can’t you see your master is being framed and can’t get a word in?!]

[Hurry up! Tell her off! Tear that lying mouth of hers to pieces!]

Here we go again.

I sighed inwardly and lifted my head in resignation.

“Miss Xu, my master has been framed.”

Zhou Jichuan seethed with righteous indignation:

[Framed! Shamelessly framed! Someone spilled wine all over me, so I came to this side room to change. The moment I opened the door, this madwoman flung herself at me and pinned me to the couch! She’s unbelievably strong, and she started untying her own sash!]

[What did I ever do to deserve this?! Who even is this Xu girl? I don’t know her!]

[…Wait. What’s that look on Xiao Qiao’s face? Does she really think I did something beastly?]

[Hah! I am a beast, but a very particular one! That idiot girl is the only person in my eyes and my heart. Everyone else? They might as well be cow dung by the roadside!]

Her?

Which idiot girl?

Zhou Jichuan… had someone he liked?

The thought perked me up a little.

Good news!

If his heart already belonged to someone, I certainly couldn’t let him suffer this slander for nothing.

I collected myself and decided to clear his name. “Miss Xu, before anything happened, I was attending my master the entire time. I saw you walk into this room yourself. And it was you who… began taking off your clothes.”

Xu Lianyi’s sobbing faltered. She raised her tear-filled eyes and glared at me.

“You’re lying! If you were here the whole time, why didn’t I see you?”

I began talking utter nonsense. “Me? I was hiding under the bed.”

The comments:

[Under the bed? What is this supporting girl babbling about? This wasn’t in the script!]

[Exactly! When the door opened and everyone rushed in, all they saw was the young lord and Miss Xu struggling on the bed. There was no maid!]

[Tsk. She’s getting desperate and making things up. Too bad. Today the hero has to swallow this injustice, whether he likes it or not. He’s marrying her either way!]

Xu Lianyi seemed to have found her opening and cried all the more piteously.

“Everyone knows you’re Lord Zhou’s most trusted maid! Of course you’d take your master’s side!”

The guests whispered among themselves, looking at Zhou Jichuan as though he were a beast dressed in a gentleman’s clothes.

He bit his lower lip hard, his face going from red to white, mortified and furious.

[I’ve kept my chastity for twenty-two whole years… Am I really going to be ruined by this vicious woman today?!]

[I won’t accept it! Where’s a knife?! Give me a knife! I’ll cut my own throat to prove my innocence!]

[Her face… Tsk, it isn’t even as pretty as my little toe! I’d touch her?! What an absurd joke!]

The corner of my mouth twitched.