The Stepmother Loves Harems

Chapter 26

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“Madame, the Baron has sent you a gift.”

Lujan, who had not shown up for several days, poked her face in. Benny approached first to check the item instead of Eliana.

“The gift is a necklace.”

Eliana gasped and exited the dressing room with a “huh” in her voice. Surely the Baron must have gotten it because he was jealous of the necklace Gillian had sent.

There was something very duplicitous about Karman’s behavior. While he put her away as she was nothing, he was very offended when he was excluded from anything related to her or when another man’s name was mentioned. And he gave this notice without directly informing her of his intentions.

The same was true of the gifts he gave her. In Gillian’s case, he was from a different family, but Karman and her lived in the same house.

‘Is it such a blow to his pride to give me a gift? Or is it to make Sharchen look good?’

It was the same as if it looked like neither. Eliana couldn’t figure out why he was so indecisive. The necklace, made of finely crafted white quartz crystal, was objectively very beautiful. However, Eliana’s gaze down at the necklace was not good.

“Not a single card. Was there no word conveyed by the Baron?”

“He’s going to select the guards himself……..….He said you were not authorized to pick a guard, but the butler!”

“That’s a load of crap.”

“……!”

Eliana shot back a harsh curse. She was nervous because not a single day was quiet. The people in this mansion seemed to study every day only on how to irritate her.

Eliana handed Benny the entire case of the necklace from Lujan’s hand. Then she made eye contact with Lujan.

“Lujan. I heard you’ve decided to become the Baron’s maid?”

“No, I ……. I just lost my way.”

“I haven’t fired you yet. But you didn’t show up for a few days.”

“But, ma’am. Lady Sharchen wouldn’t even let me in the room, and you told me to go to Lady Sharchen’s place, and I…..”

“So you went to the Baron. You found a new nesting place quickly, didn’t you?”

“That’s not true…….”

Lujan was speechless and bit her lip. Even she felt it lacked logic. Perhaps it was Pepe who took advantage of Lujan who was going back and forth between the two of Sharchen and Eliana, and made her work under the Baron.

Since that day, Pepe has been busy running away when he sees the hem of Eliana’s dress in the hallway. It would have been difficult for him to deliver such a necklace.

And Lujan, who could effortlessly come in and out of this room under such circumstances and could stand Sharchen’s eyes, was someone Pepe needed. Eliana wanted to pull her tongue at Lujan’s attitude, thinking she had caught the butler’s eye and changed her position like a bat.

“That would be better for you. More than me or the fickle Sharchen who might fall out of this mansion at any time. Lujan, I’ll officially fire you.”

“Ma’am ……!”

“Benny, from now on Lujan belongs to the Baron and his butler. She cannot enter my room without Benny’s permission.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Lujan, take this necklace back with you. Tell the Baron that I will visit him personally after lunch.”

“You want me to take it back?”

Do you think I’ll accept it? It is outrageous. How do I know if there is poison on here?”

“Well, it can’t be. This white crystal necklace is the most valuable product the butler had worked so hard to obtain.”

“Those are Pepe’s words. I don’t believe the butler’s words. Take it back with you. And tell them exactly what I said. If they ask for more reasons, tell them to wait.”

“The Baron… You want me to tell him to wait?”

Yes. If he’s so curious, he should take that heavy butt off the chair and come in here.”

As Eliana turned around, Benny gave the necklace to Lujan and escorted her out of the room.

Eliana headed straight for the dressing room. The dressing room was too far back to eavesdrop from outside the room.

“Ellie. That looked like a very expensive necklace. By the way, what is the Baron up to?”

“He doesn’t want me to wear the necklace Gillian gave me.”

“What?”

“The Baron doesn’t feel good when I’m happy about a necklace another man gave me.”

Karman’s method was clumsy. As if marking his territory, he tried to control it and no one could touch his. It was probably for this same reason that he refused to have Joseph as her bodyguard.

“What’s wrong with feeling bad? It’s really ridiculous. Doesn’t he even think about what he has done? He’s that way with his foster child!”

Benny shouted angrily on Eliana’s behalf. Eliana wondered how she could stop Karman from behaving this way. Kalman’s mysterious possessiveness only created jealousy and spontaneous behavior in Sharchen and hindered Eliana’s own future.

“Ellie. What are you going to do? It’s only a matter of time before Sharchen hears about it, and that will surely cause a great deal of trouble.”

“I have to talk to him before she makes a big deal out of it. I’ll be in trouble if she does anything weird, and at least I can’t be kicked out before the party.”

Eliana chose a dark navy blue dress. The dress was unique, not revealing, and meek. The deep open square neckline clearly showed off the neckline. However, it was modest compared to the clothes Eliana has been wearing lately.

The dress itself was good enough without a corset or pannier. Eliana deliberately chose that dress. She didn’t feel the need to put a lot of effort into the dress.

“Ellie, it’s a battle dress, is that okay?”

“There is nothing like this dress to shout at you. And this is enough combat clothing.”

Eliana pointed to an amazonite necklace in the middle of the dressing room. Benny raised Eliana’s long hair high as if she understood. The necklace could be seen clearly from all angles with the hair raised high.

Eliana looked carefully at her reflection in the mirror and inserted a hairpin that she had removed for some time. Karman had misjudged her. While he was behaving foolishly, Eliana already had the weapons of Gillian Hutt and Ulysses Mill in her hands. She hasn’t been swept away yet, but it wasn’t like the first night when she was hit with nothing.

“Isn’t Sharchen going to visit you?”

“She will visit the Baron, not me. I refused the necklace and it would be embarrassing for her to come to me and rough me up.”

“What will you explain to the Baron?”

“I don’t know. The important thing is that there’s a crack between the two.”

“Is it because of you?”

Eliana shook her head.

“I am merely an excuse that appeared at the right time. Their relationship had been fading before I came. He made her a foster daughter to protect the woman he loved? He should’ve known when he made that ridiculous choice and replaced three wives. No guts, no ambition.”

Eliana said with all her might. Even if Karman was here, she would have said it like that. Eliana went through the notes she had been making in and out of the library. Every time she discovered a problem with the mansion, she would write it down.

Normally, from the moment she became a baroness, she should have received the right of leadership to manage the mansion, but Karman did not allow it. Pepe was incompetent and lazy, and Sharchen was not interested. Karman was just a rich man’s son who did not even know what was wrong.

He looked like an uneventful little boy, as if he had been thrown outside without learning everything about the world. But he was the man who would become the next head of the Hunter family, and a Baron. It was time to get his act together.

In fact, the document was not for Karman. It was a proposal she had prepared to propose to Jerik Hunter, whom she would meet one day. It was a proposal for improvement that would rightly wake up the perishing mansion, and it was also an indicator of Eliana’s wisdom.

However, Eliana realized that Kalman was more foolish than she thought. At this rate, the barony was going to collapse before she could see Jerik Hunter’s face. Anyway,

Maybe Sharchen would realize she was scammed, or Karman could be blinded by possessiveness and attack Gillian and be humiliated. Eliana could see dozens of possible paths to ruin.

The Rose family has not yet received enough aid. Gaia had already started taking classes, and it would be some time before Gillian, Ulysses, and the rest of the people had full confidence in her. At least until then, she could not fail.

Eliana left the room straight away with the document. In the hallway she saw Pepe, the butler, rushing toward her room. As soon as Pepe spotted Eliana, he turned white and shuddered. As he did so, he started talking.

“Madam, the Baron has an afternoon schedule, and now, ah, you are coming?”

“I was just about to go, thank goodness. What about Sharchen?”

“Why Lady Sharchen. ….”

“Well, I guess she hasn’t heard anything yet. Maybe it’s a relief. While I’m talking to the Baron, keep her out of the Baron’s room.”

“But with Lady Sharchen’s insistence…..”

“Say the Baron’s name. Permission is granted by me. And the butler must come with me.”

“Me?”

Eliana continued, her mouth agape.

“If you don’t want to be kicked out naked for not being present and not knowing why.”

Pepe’s face went even whiter. Eliana stepped into the Baron’s room, unconcerned. Eliana’s necklace glistened in the sunlight streaming in through the window.