Not a Villainess but a Maid

#045 Dia’s Cooking Class (2)

Dia smiled softly and whispered in my ear.

“Or is it because of me?”

There was something unusual about her today.

Should I say that I feel like the atmosphere has changed, but at the same time, there is something that cannot be denied.

If things continue like this… I think her head will go crazy…

-Ttogakttogak.

At that time, angry footsteps began to be heard from the hallway outside the galley door.

Diamond, who was clinging to me, seemed to have heard the sound and fell slightly as she spoke.

“…Who is coming?”

Regular yet confident gait.

It seemed like familiar footsteps, so I felt uneasy and looked down the hallway through the window.

“It’s Lady Ruby…!”

“Yes? “Ruby?”

I don’t know how he knew and came here, but anyone could tell that the person walking straight towards the galley was Ruby Sarka.

“What should I do…? “You probably think I’m taking a break because I’m sick…!”

Moreover, she would end up having her cooking practice discovered that she wanted to keep secret.

When I looked confused, Dia opened the cabinet under the countertop.

“Just get in here, Amber.”

“Hide here?”

“I will try my best. “Don’t ever come out.”

A storage cabinet that can barely fit one girl.

I crouched down there and quietly closed the door.

As I held my breath and hid inside, I heard the sound of the galley door opening.

A calm and scary voice rang out from the side where the door was opened.

“Dia. Why are you here…?”

It was definitely Ruby’s voice. The sound of her trotting towards this direction grew louder.

Dia immediately answered in a calm voice.

“Uh… I thought I would take a break from club today and do some cooking.”

“That’s strange. I heard you were hoarse because of a headache.”

“Well… My head got better quickly after resting for a while. hahahaha…”

“Hmm.”

-Ttogakttogak.

I heard her footsteps approaching the storage cabinet where I was hiding.

Ruby turned on the water in her sink and asked Dia.

“Are you sure you really came alone?”

“Of course. I was alone from the beginning.”

“Then why are the two bars of soap wet?”

There was silence in the kitchen.

If Diamond came alone and washed his hands, he wouldn’t have needed to use two bars of soap.

“···That’s…”

When Diamond was unable to answer, Ruby continued speaking in a calm voice.

“And from earlier, there was a faint scent of strawberries wafting from here.”

Just as I know her just by hearing her footsteps, she has also been with me for a long time.

It wasn’t that strange even if they recognized my presence through a faint body odor.

“As if there were Amber.”

“···!”

-Tuk. Tuk.

She felt Ruby’s fingers tapping her countertop.

“Now that I see it, it’s the perfect size to hide one person. Don’t you think?”

Dia responded as if embarrassed by her words.

“You’re hiding it, what on earth are you talking about…?”

“You’ll find out when you open it.”

The scene of playing hide-and-seek with a raptor in the movie Jurassic O-One came to mind, and I got chills.

I felt like the most terrifying fear I had ever felt was flowing through my body.

The sound of Ruby grabbing her handle rang out, and I knew the end was coming.

“Will I still be able to get away with this?”

She opened her cabinet and removed it.

-Rattling.

I closed my eyes tightly in fear.

After a while, Ruby’s embarrassed voice came through.

“It’s ridiculous. This can’t be happening…”

What was opened, fortunately, was the storage cabinet right next to me.

‘I survived…!’

Dia persuaded her as if she did not want to miss her opportunity.

“Aren’t you mistaken when you smelled this strawberry syrup?”

“···Hmm.”

Ruby closed the cabinet again, as if there really was strawberry syrup in it.

Ruby said to Dia as she took her steps.

“I’m sorry for doubting you, Diamond. I was a bit sensitive.”

“No, you can.”

“···Take care of yourself, too. Just because you feel better, don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Yes. Thank you for your concern.”

When I heard Ruby leave the galley and close the door, only then did Diamond open the door to my cabinet.

“Puha…!”

“Ruby is gone. It’s okay now.”

“She thought her heart was going to explode…”

I couldn’t even imagine what excuse I would have had to make if I had just been caught there.

She might have been sentenced to one month in prison and banned from leaving the dormitory.

After overcoming one crisis, Dia and I started cooking much drier than before.

The strange and sticky atmosphere just before Ruby appeared no longer came to mind.

As I was making the dough according to Dia’s instructions, she spoke to me.

“Amber. Is something wrong?”

“Yes?”

“I felt like you were being too impatient.”

“···.”

I stopped kneading the dough in response to Dia’s question.

“Actually, next week is the lady’s birthday. I want to make delicious cookies and give them to you by then.”

“Aha, now that I think about it…”

Until now, I had been trying to prepare a gift for her for Ruby’s birthday, but I was always caught by her in the process of preparing and was rejected.

“Now that I think about it, all the gifts I gave Ruby were rejected.”

“Is that so? The lady always says she’s fine when it’s her birthday. I want to take care of it.”

Dia, who was helping me knead the dough next to me, asked as if she suddenly remembered me.

“That’s right. What’s Amber’s birthday?”

“Me? I don’t know my birthday. My parents aren’t there…”

Dia slightly bowed her head in response to my answer and apologized.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t even know that.”

“I’m fine. Could you take a closer look at the dough?”

After being possessed, I took it for granted that I would not have a birthday.

I would have known if I had a blood-related family, but I was possessed by a commoner girl who was an orphan.

No matter what, I promised myself that I would make it for this birthday, so I decided to make perfect cookies until then.

***

After the kidnapping attempt, Clara and her followers did not show much activity.

One of her followers cautiously asked Clara, who was strangely silent and focused on her club activities.

“Hey, Clara…?”

“Yes. “What is it?”

“Are you sure you will no longer engage in sabotage?”

After hearing those words, Clara hit the desk and argued.

“Yes? “Who on earth does that?”

“But you haven’t done anything lately…”

“···.”

In fact, it was true that she hadn’t done anything these days.

At first, Clara was full of thoughts of getting rid of Amber, but as time went by, she herself became assimilated into this hazy atmosphere.

‘I have to come to my senses too. “If you don’t remember your original purpose…!”

After enlisting Ruby Sarkar with her enormous wealth and power, her own plan to hide behind her and control her academy as she pleases is gradually fading away.

-Slurp.

Thinking like that, Clara brought black tea to her mouth.

At some point, drinking tea poured by a pink-haired commoner became as natural as breathing.

Even though she knew it was just bait to assimilate her, she found it irresistibly delicious.

‘She truly is a scary woman, Amber…’

She barely got up, resisting her urge to take another drink.

Clara came out to the backyard and sat down with a confused expression.

‘How did things end up like this?’

If all had gone according to her plan, she would have pushed aside commoner Amber by now, and she would have been smiling next to her Ruby.

Instead of pushing it out, he was sitting in a corner, miserable, cutting out colored paper and gluing.

‘Vacation will come soon… If we don’t do something by then…’

After more than 50 promotional materials for the club created under Ruby, Clara was starting to feel a sense of crisis.

At that time, female students gathered around Clara, who was feeling discouraged.

“···?”

The women who were looking at Clara with great nervousness looked around her and opened their mouths.

“By any chance, are you Clara?”

“Yes. “Is that correct?”

One of the women held out one of her paintings to Clara.

“···I heard that you also have quite a grudge against this commoner. Is that right?”

The picture they held out depicted a woman with pink pigtails.

‘This is Amber…?’

Clara, who took her picture, looked slightly wary.

If Clara came to ask for her, it was clear that she had a clear purpose.

“First, tell me who you are. “The purpose of coming to me.”

At her words, the unidentified female students looked at each other in turn, then nodded at her as if they had decided on something.

“We are members of the musical instrument performance club.”

“Musical instrument department?”

That club whose manager was put on trial not long ago?

The fact that the manager of the club was brought to trial was an incident that had such a big impact that there were no students who didn’t know about it.

“After our manager was brought to trial, we continued to try to resolve the injustice. “I failed many times…”

The manager of the evil relationship department was put on trial after being exposed for continuously sending anonymous threatening letters to Ruby.

The result of the trial was a one-year suspension.

This was an incident that could have resulted in expulsion, but since the culprit did not cause direct harm, it ended in suspension.

Clara, who had been listening to this in silence, asked with a questioning expression on her face.

“It’s unfair…. “Are you saying that your manager was framed?”

“It must all be a misunderstanding!. There’s no way our manager would do something like that! “What a thoughtful and warm-hearted person he is…”

Clara was familiar with the usual behavior of the ill-fated captain.

It was said that he was a person who earned the respect of his juniors for his exemplary attitude, words, and actions.

‘As expected, this is a level of loyalty that is scary…’

Looking at the attitude of the women who steadfastly believed in the director’s clarity even after seeing the results of the trial, it was clear how thorough he was.

“If it weren’t for that pink-haired commoner, the manager wouldn’t have been caught unfairly.”

“So, you want to take revenge?”

“Yes. “But it’s a plan we can’t realize on our own.”

“It’s a plan…”

“That’s why I came to see you, Clara, because I heard you share the same goal.”

“···.”

It seemed clear that Amber was the common enemy for Clara and her friends.

“What are you going to do? Will you join us?”

Clara, who was listening to their suggestions, tapped the wooden bench with her fingers, then stopped her movements and opened her mouth.

“···Let’s listen first. That’s the plan.”