With her eyes widening in surprise, Cassidy only stares back at Cecile for the next seconds to come.

The way the head maid glowers at her like a pugnacious beast is telling her that she judged wrong. She has more fangs than the ones she showed, and she's not that gullible enough to fall for her bribery, especially right after she tricked her.

​​

'I may be greedy, but I still think wisely. I will not lose anything if I choose to continue siding with Ma'am Irish. On the other hand, if I go to her, who knows what she wants me to do once I accept the deal...?' Cecile pondered deeply until she suddenly thought of something that made her smirk schemingly.

'Or better yet, I should just accept it! Siding with her doesn't mean I'll have to betray Ma'am Irish completely. This simple-minded woman wouldn't even know if I decided to stab her on the back. With that, I can get the jewels and be a spy for my mistress at the same time.'

While she's having these mischievous thoughts in mind, Cassidy only stays quiet. She can sense that she's plotting yet another scheme in her head. It shows through her conniving expression.

"You... didn't want to accept my proposal?" the redhead asked incredulously, still looking dumbfounded.

"Hmmm... Well..." the head maid thought out loud while pretending to be contemplating about it.

"I suppose it depends-"

"But Cecilia, you don't really have a choice here, you know."

At that, Cecile froze.

Cassidy sounded so assertive and firm as she dropped yet another flummoxing remark. All the while, she's making a cold and steely expression. Her wide crimson red orbs seem to be glowing menacingly as if taunting her wordlessly.

Time and again, she has something to retaliate. Just when Cecile thought that she ruined her plan by refusing her offer, she suddenly disclosed something at the last minute.

"After all, if you don't do as I say..." Cassidy trailed off before walking closer to her, making the head maid flinch and back away in confusion and perturbation.

"I'll make sure to reveal your dirty little secret to everybody and drag you to jail."

That's when she suddenly turns to the side and looks at her bed, making her do the same.

Cecile whimpered in aghast shock and dread as soon as she found her cellphone hiding between the pillows - with only its glinting camera lenses peeking out in the open. As it continues laying there, it proceeds to capture more of her unsightly expressions of horror and trepidation.

At that very moment, the head maid feels her soul leaving her body.

It turns out that Cassidy is filming the entire thing all along - from start to finish.

"You were so confident that no one would believe me if I told everyone about your misdeeds, and that gave me this idea. Thank you for that..." she continued with a mocking tone, making her shudder in fear.

"You think that the Millicent's would tolerate a thief like you? Two of them may be backing you up, but that's only because they thought they could trust you. Try asking for their help once I spread the evidence. Let's see if they'll still accept a two-master dog like you~"

Right then, Cecile could no longer hold it.

Her knees were trembling the whole time, which now finally buckled and gave in. With that, she slumped on the ground like a helpless heap. Her face has completely drained out of color while her lips continued to quiver uncontrollably.

Cecile appears so frightened that she's whimpering and close to bursting into tears.

All the while, Cassidy only watches her with an apathetic look on her face.

'What's with this reaction? I was still threatening her, though. I still haven't done anything as bad as what they all did to me back then...' she thought silently as she narrowed her gaze in repugnance.

'Why do people find it so easy to oppress others but can't even handle a bit of that oppression themselves?'

It vexes her.

Here she was suffering a lot worse for five years, but when it's their turn, they would crumble so easily. Perhaps, they never once imagined themselves in her position. They thought that they were never going to reap what they sow, and because of that, they didn't find the heart to stop abusing her.

They never thought that the same could happen to them one day.

'Wow, thinking about all these... I feel like I want to make use of her even more...' Cassidy proceeded to ponder spitefully, the air of menace around her thickening.

'And then leave her falling thousands of feet below in the end.'

Right then, a knock on the door suddenly interrupted them.

It's one of the other maids. She came to inform her that her husband finally arrived along with the others. The head maid jolts at this in surprise while the redhead stays looking impassive.

"M-M-Ma'am... M-Ma'am Cassidy..." Cecile tremulously called out from below her, nearly begging on her knees.

"P-Please... D-Don't t-tell the President. I-I'll do what you want... Anything you want!"

At that, Cassidy perks up a little in enlightenment.

On second thought, she doesn't have to go all the way to Irish or Gertrude. She actually has a more powerful family member living under the same roof as her. Her husband makes most of the decisions in this household and the family's business, after all.

Because of his indifference to her in the past, a lot of houseworkers found it easy to treat her badly. In reality, though, everyone fears him the most - even more than they do to his mother. It's just that he never executed his power to discipline them because he couldn't care less about his wife back then.

Right now, though, Cassidy is going to make sure that Adrian will be using his demonic power for once - soon after she's finished with her business, that is.

"Of course, I won't tell him~ I mean, why would I go through all the trouble of buying you those jewels if I could just film you away and be done with it...?" she then told the head maid while smiling down at her reassuringly - which did nothing but double her trepidation.

"I'll have you work for me. Depending on the quality of your help and how much you worked hard on the task, I'll even think of rewarding you with jewelry every time you complete something for me."

That's when Cassidy walks back to her vanity mirror and picks up one of the jewelry boxes. She then opens the lid and shows Cecile the most exquisite rubies she has ever seen in her whole life, making her jaw drop in awe and astonishment.

"If you continue to do your work properly up until the very end, I'll give this to you," the redhead offered with a magnanimous smile, earning an even better expression of craving from her.

"S-So then... W-What is it I must do?" the head maid asked to which she just grinned wider in reply.

"Mostly, you'll be spying for me, but at times, I'll have you run some errands."

---

After settling her deals with Cecile and wrapping things up, Cassidy goes ahead and makes her way to the living room to meet Adrian and the others.

By others, it appears like Charles, Edward and Ray have returned with her husband. Even now that they came back, though, they still seemed to be discussing something serious, which caused them not to notice her coming.

As she was about to enter and announce her presence, she suddenly heard them talking about this dreadful news that made her halt on her tracks.

"As it was Ma'am Gertrude who prepared Ma'am Cassidy's vehicle, it's only a given that we have to investigate and interrogate her. She is the only remaining strong lead now, especially since that driver is already dead along with his other affiliates."

As Ray disclosed the information about the driver's death, Cassidy felt herself stiffening on the spot.

Finding it hard to believe, her face paled in aghast shock. It only happened yesterday, but she felt like this chain of events was cascading so rapidly that it's now making her blood run cold.

"Our other family members are still unaware of this since the guests in last night's party haven't left yet. They're taking care of that and dealing with them for both me and Adrian," Edward chimed in, which made the redhead grimace and huff indignantly.

'No, they're not! They're too busy tormenting me all day to be filling in the shoes of a good hostess!' Cassidy silently bolted out in her head.

"Nevertheless, I want this investigation to wrap up as soon as possible. Even if it means vexing Mother or whatever, we'll have Ray and the others interrogate her tomorrow morning," Adrian muttered firmly, placing the final decision.

'Yeah, that's right! Way to go, you momma's boy. Good thing you're siding with your wife for once,' the redhead mused to herself while pumping her fist and nodding her head in his direction supportively.

"Huh? Ma'am Cassidy?" Charles then suddenly called, making her snap out of it and flinch in surprise.

That's when Adrian and the others finally notice Cassidy and turn to look at her - only to end up reacting both astonished and speechless at the sight that comes into view.