章 23: Resolve
"Joseph is so reliable, he even gave me the mana stone right away," Shirley said happily.
At least Shirley did not have to think about the problem of which stone she should give to the system because Joseph had already given it to her.
And it could be said that the mana stone Joseph had given her was more than enough, there was even some left over for Shirley to use herself.
"The rest of these mana stones I can use to train my own magic, it would be great if I could get out of here soon, that damn witch is really giving me a headache," muttered Shirley vengefully as she thought about Rosemary's behaviour towards her.
"Hey, system! I already have which stone you want," Shirley said, eager to settle her debt.
When she didn't get a response from the system, Shirley herself became confused because she didn't know how to contact the strange system.
[Because you were so late in giving me the mana stone, now you have to give me five]
Since it was her fault, Shirley did not really mind, after all Joseph sent her a lot of mana stones, so she did not mind.
"Alright, then how do I give them to me," Shirley replied curiously.
[You can grasp the five mana stones with both hands]
Although confused, Shirley still did what the system said, she took five mana stones and grasped them with both hands. Then, shortly afterwards Shirley was surprised to see a sparkling light from her hands.
In an instant the mana stones in Shirley's hands disappeared and she felt a strange power circulating in her body.
"I still don't understand how this system works. But, I don't have time for that right now," said Shirley shaking her head and choosing to plan how she could go to Count Janice's banquet.
. . .
Because she was not allowed to go out by Rosemary, Shirley could only stay inside the family mansion without being able to do anything because Rosemary was monitoring all her movements.
Until finally, Shirley decides to invite a leading boutique designer to her house to buy a new dress.
And of course Shirley's behaviour invites Rosemary's suspicions. When Shirley was choosing the dresses in the catalogue brought by the designer, Rosemary immediately came with a displeased face.
"What do you mean by bringing a designer to the mansion?" Rosemary gave the designer a sharp glance.
"Madam wouldn't let me leave, so I brought him here. Since I couldn't go to the banquet with you and Charlotte, I wanted to cheer myself up by buying a new dress," Shirley explained, making herself miserable.
When she saw that Rosemary's face had begun to soften, Shirley quietly smirked and threw in her final attack, "Since I called her here, why don't you and Charlotte buy a new dress to go to the banquet?"
Shirley with her sweet smile tried to do something nice to Rosemary, she had already devised a plan for all of this.
Rosemary looked at Shirley suspiciously at the moment, she opened the folding fan she was holding and brought it to the front of her mouth, she had to think about this matter, she couldn't let Shirley fool her.
But, no matter what Rosemary thought there was no harm in her taking advantage of Shirley's kindness.
"I didn't expect you to be this nice to me and Charlotte." Rosemary finally replied.
"Think of it as my apology, madam. I've been upsetting you and Charlotte lately," Shirley retorted, standing up and bringing Rosemary to sit next to her.
"Since you insist, I'll accept." Rosemary closed her fan and patted Shirley lightly on the shoulder in appreciation.
Shirley merely smiled, then turned to the designer she had brought and signalled her to satisfy Rosemary with the dresses she had brought.
Rosemary also called Charlotte to join them. Shirley allowed that to happen as she had to make sure the two of them used the clothes they bought this time.
. . .
After the day where Shirley let Rosemary make use of the designer she brought, she was allowed to leave the mansion and she had expected that to happen.
But, being a good daughter and also not wanting to make Rosemary suspicious of her, Shirley stayed at home without going out at all.
Until finally today the banquet was to take place tonight and Shirley maintained her composure until the end. Shirley just stayed in her room without disturbing Rosemary in the slightest.
Shirley waited for Rosemary and Charlotte to leave their mansion before she got ready to leave. And when Shirley saw from her bedroom window that they had already left, she called Ivy into her room.
"We'll be leaving soon, Ivy. Get everything ready," Shirley reminded Ivy to get ready.
Shirley was currently dressed like a maid, and she even had a hood covering her head. No matter what, Shirley believed Rosemary was still watching her even though she wasn't here.
"Everything is ready, Miss!" Ivy said with determination, they were going to do something quite extreme this time.
"Then let's go now." Shirley, together with Ivy, immediately left the house through a hidden backstreet; she had prepared a horse-drawn carriage there to take her away.
Fortunately during Shirley and Ivy's escape they did not encounter any other people, so Shirley could breathe a little easier this time.
The back road Shirley was referring to was quite a long way for them to go, before they finally saw Shirley's trusted knight who was waiting for them at the end of the road.
"You've finally come, Miss! We must leave immediately, the banquet is about to start," said the knight worriedly.
"Yes, we're leaving now." Shirley quickly climbed into the carriage with Ivy's help.
During the journey, Ivy helped Shirley change into the clothes they had brought, it was impossible for Shirley to come to the banquet wearing a maid's uniform.
So beforehand Shirley ordered Ivy to pack the things she needed to dress up.
Despite the difficulties Shirley was patient and relied on Ivy to dress her up, she hoped that her make-up and dress could be completed as she expected.
It took about an hour for Shirley to arrive at Count Janice's mansion, fortunately she was ready thanks to Ivy's persistence in dressing her up.
"Do I look good enough?" Shirley asked Ivy for confirmation, she didn't want to embarrass herself, at least not tonight.
"Take it easy Miss you look stunning in that dress," Ivy replied proudly.
Shirley caught her breath before exiting the carriage, knowing that the banquet must have started by now.
However, much to Shirley's surprise when she found Noah already waiting for her there, she couldn't help but smile when she saw Noah approaching to help her off the carriage.
"I've been waiting for you," Noah said as he extended his hand to Shirley.
Shirley gently welcomed Noah's hand and they walked together into the hall that was used for the large banquet.
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