Maya was pacing now, her voice rising with each word.

"And the WORST part—the absolute WORST part—is that she KNOWS we’re following her! She KNOWS, and she doesn’t care! She just goes about her day like we’re not even there!"

Meili said weakly, "Mistress, perhaps we should try a different approach? Maybe we could—"

"WHAT different approach?!" Maya snapped. "We’ve tried everything! We’ve hidden behind bushes, posts, barrels, lanterns, plants—EVERYTHING! And we learn NOTHING!"

She collapsed onto her cushioned seat, looking defeated.

"That girl is either the most boring person in existence, or she’s far too clever for us to catch her secrets through observation."

Meili hesitated, then said carefully, "Mistress, what if... what if she genuinely doesn’t have any dark secrets? What if she’s just... a normal girl who happened to marry the young master?"

Hearing that suggestion, Maya’s head snapped up, her eyes blazing with fury.

"NORMAL?! That servant trash is NOT normal! Nobody goes from servant to young mistress without having something suspicious in their past! There MUST be secrets! There MUST be!"

She stood up again, a new determination forming.

"If we can’t discover her secrets through watching her, then we’ll have to try something else. Something more... direct."

Meili looked nervous. "What do you mean, Mistress?"

Maya’s expression turned calculating and cold.

"We’ll create a situation where she’s forced to reveal her true nature. We’ll set a trap—something that will make her react, make her show her real self instead of this innocent act she’s performing."

She began pacing again, but this time with purpose.

"We need to attack what she values. What does she care about?"

Meili thought for a moment. "Well, she seems to care about the young master? And she was kind to the kitchen servants. And she collected some herbs from the garden—"

"The herbs!" Maya interrupted, her eyes lighting up. "She collected medicinal herbs. Why would a servant girl know about medicinal plants unless she had training? Unless she’s hiding an educated background?"

She smiled slowly, a plan forming.

"We’ll set up a situation where someone in the household becomes ill. A mysterious illness. And we’ll see if she rushes to help with her ’knowledge’ of herbs. If she does, it proves she has education she shouldn’t have—which means she’s been lying about her background."

Meili looked uncertain. "But Mistress, wouldn’t helping a sick person just make her look kind and capable?"

"Not if the illness is blamed on HER somehow," Maya said with a cruel smile. "Not if we make it look like she caused the illness in the first place, and then ’conveniently’ knows how to cure it."

She began working out the details.

"We’ll need someone to pretend to be sick. Someone trustworthy who will follow our instructions. And we’ll need to plant evidence that connects the illness to something she has access to—maybe those herbs she collected?"

Meili was shaking her head now, looking genuinely worried.

"Mistress, this sounds very dangerous. What if it goes wrong? What if the young master discovers we’re behind it?"

"He won’t," Maya said confidently. "Because we’ll be very careful. Very subtle. This isn’t like following her around—this is a real plan."

She looked at Meili seriously.

"Find me someone in the household who’s willing to help. Someone who also dislikes that servant girl and wants to see her brought down. There must be someone."

Meili bit her lip. "Most of the servants actually seem to like the young mistress, Mistress. They remember when she was one of them, and they’re happy she married well."

Hearing that, Maya’s expression darkened even further.

"Fine. Then we’ll have to use someone from outside. Someone with no loyalty to her."

She thought for a moment, then smiled.

"What about that Driver Li? The one who tried to assault her and failed? He must hate her now. He’d probably love a chance for revenge."

Meili looked horrified. "But Mistress, Driver Li disappeared after that incident! Nobody knows where he went, and the young master specifically warned him away from the household!"

Maya waved her hand dismissively. "We’ll find him. Or we’ll find someone like him. There are always desperate people willing to help for the right price."

---

’’[Meanwhile - Samuel and Heena’s Quarters]’’

While Maya was plotting, Heena was sitting in the room she shared with Samuel, reading through financial documents he’d provided.

Samuel was at his desk working on correspondence, occasionally glancing over at his wife who was completely absorbed in the papers.

Finally, he spoke up. "You’ve been reading those for two hours without a break. Find anything interesting?"

Heena looked up, her expression thoughtful. "Your stepmother has been systematically draining the household finances for years. It’s actually impressive how much she’s managed to steal while making it look like normal household expenses."

She pointed at a particular entry. "Look here—’silk fabric for new robes, 200 silver.’ But I’ve seen her wardrobe. She doesn’t have nearly enough new robes to justify this expense every single month for three years."

Samuel leaned over to look at what she was indicating.

"So where’s the money actually going?"

"That’s what I’m trying to figure out," Heena said. "But my guess? She’s sending it somewhere. Maybe back to her family? Maybe to a secret account? Either way, it’s embezzlement on a massive scale."

Samuel nodded slowly. "That’s useful information. If we can prove it definitively, we can use it against her when the time comes."

"There’s more," Heena said, flipping to another section. "Your father has been taking out loans. Significant loans from merchant guilds, using the family business as collateral. If those loans aren’t repaid soon, creditors could seize the business entirely."

Samuel’s expression became grim. "I knew the finances were bad, but not that bad."

"It gets worse," Heena continued. "Some of these loans are due within the next six months. Your father would need to generate significant profit from business ventures to repay them, or—"

"Or he’d need to sell off assets," Samuel finished. "Family property. Business investments. Possibly even this house."

They looked at each other seriously.

"This is why you need to take control soon," Heena said. "If you wait too long, there might not be anything left to control."

Samuel nodded, his jaw tightening with determination.

"I know. I’ve been working on building my own business connections separately from my father’s network. In maybe another year, I’ll have enough independent resources and support to challenge him directly."

"A year might be too long," Heena warned. "But I’ll help accelerate things where I can."

She set down the financial documents.

"Speaking of your stepmother—she’s stopped following me around."

Samuel raised an eyebrow. "Finally realized how ridiculous she looked?"

"Maybe," Heena said. "Or maybe she’s planning something else. The surveillance was stupid, but it was also relatively harmless. When she stops doing stupid things, that’s usually when she starts doing dangerous things."

Samuel looked concerned. "You think she’s going to escalate?"

"I know she is," Heena said confidently. "A woman like Maya doesn’t give up when her first plan fails. She just tries something worse."

She stood up and stretched, her back stiff from sitting so long. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"We should be prepared for whatever she attempts next. Increased vigilance, checking our food for poison, watching for people trying to plant false evidence—all the usual paranoid precautions."