"No, no, that's a bit too much don't you think?" Helen shook her hands.

"Not at all!" Catherine exclaimed. "You only lived with your grandma right? We have no problem of accommodating the two of you!"

"That's not the point!" Helen tried to reason. "I'm sure that grandma would be inconvenienced to go to the market if we lived here." After all, they would be deep in the Northern District.

"Ehem! did you forget about the carriage?" Catherine replied complacently.

"Gah!" Helen staggered, finding that she had no reason to refute. But she decided to steel her heart and said, "Still no!"

Catherine pouted. "Since you are trying to be unreasonable, then I can be one too!"

Catherine stood up, grabbed Helen's hand and dragged her to the door opposite to where they first came in.

"Ah, not again!" Helen protested, but still followed her anyway.

Behind the door was another hall that has a magnificent set of stairs covered in red carpet. Catherine brought Helen to the second floor on which she pushed the door up front, revealing another wide hallway with a door on each side of the wall on the right and left. Two young maids stood by the end of the hallway like statues.

Both of them went inside the door on the left.

"Whoa!"

It was a big bedroom half the size of the dining room they were in.

In the middle was a large bed as tall as Helen's belly enclosed by a silky violet quilt. To the right of the room was a table with several bottles of beauty-enhancing potions on top of it, while a gold-framed mirror hung behind it. To the left of the room was a wide and tall wardrobe made out white wood that somehow permeated musky smell. Two tall windows were located behind each side of the bed, which lead to a balcony outside.

While Helen was still admiring the room, Catherine grabbed her from her side and threw both of them onto the bed.

"Ahh!" Helen's first reaction was to rise up, but Catherine quickly held her back down.

"I will make you sleep here tonight!"

"Noo!" Helen tried to resist again. "Grandma gonna get worried."

But, Catherine pushed her down again. "Then I'll just send someone to bring your grandma here!"

After she said that, Catherine noticed that Helen has stopped resisting.

"There!" Catherine sat, then crossed her arms in victory. "Relieved yet?"

"Grandma… has not come home…"

"Huh?"

"After she left this morning, she has not returned yet," Helen said as she stared at Catherine. "Actually, I came here without her knowledge. I don't know if she is home already, but I'm really worried."

Catherine frowned after hearing her friend's explanation. Somehow, she got reminded about the afternoon incident.

"How about this," Catherine replied, "I will send my men to look after your house and search for your grandma. When they found your grandma, they can notify both sides and even bring her here if she's willing!"

"Really?!" Helen sat up and gave a sparkling eyes. "Won't that be too much of a trouble?"

"Yea, really!" Catherine lifted her chin a bit. "Not a problem at all! I'm a noble, remember?"

"Yay!" Helen cheered. "By the way, what kind of noble are you? I never heard a high noble's daughter named Catherine…"

"Err… that…" Catherine hesitated as she showed a complicated emotions. But in the end, she forced a smile and put a finger on her lips before saying, "Secret!"

Helen pouted. "I'm gonna assume that you're an illegitimate child then."

"Hey!"

While both were bickering, three soft knocking sounds came from the door.

"Young miss Catherine, is miss Helen with you inside?" an old voice came in.

"Ah, yes!" Catherine leaped down from the bed to answer the door.

Opening the door, she saw a white-haired butler.

"What is it Franz?"

"Miss Helen left this in the carriage." The old butler handed over a white scarf. "Can you give it to her?"

"Sure, thank you!" Catherine took the scarf.

"By the way can you send someone to watch over Helen's house and bring her grandma over if she returned?" Then she whispered to Franz who tilted his head to offer his ear. "I've got a feeling that 'that' woman and the incident are related to this."

The old butler's face turned serious and the amiable smile on his face has disappeared.

"If you say so, young miss Catherine, I will trust your outstanding intuition as always," Franz said in a low voice. "I will go there personally."

Catherine nodded once and asked, "Is Yohan still around?"

The old butler looked around for a while and took a deep breath, which strangely caused Catherine's body hair to stand up in a split second.

"Yes, he is nearby," Franz replied.

"Good, you can go."

Franz nodded then proceeded to leave the hallway.

Having done all of that, a smile returned to Catherine's face as she turned back into the room with a cheery mood once again.

"There, problem solved!" Catherine puffed up her chest. "So stay here tonight, okay?"

"Mkay!" Truth to be told, Helen really desired to sleep on such luxurious bed; it was obvious that her bed was not as comfortable as this.

Now that Catherine had promised to help her find her grandma, Helen was relieved and found no reason to reject the offer again this time.

Catherine was also secretly cheering inside, but then she suddenly got reminded about the thing in her hand.

"Ah right, Franz said that you left this in the carriage," she said, while handing over the white scarf.

"Ah!" Helen shook as she shy away in embarrassment. "T- that… I planned to gift it for you."

"Wah!!!" Catherine exclaimed with sparkling eyes. "For me?!"

Helen nodded once again with a flushed face.

"Thank you!" she hugged her best friend tightly. "I will make sure to treasure it!"

"I was thinking that you wouldn't like the scarf, you are rich after all…"

"No such thing!" Catherine took the scarf onto her wardrobe. "Look, I'm putting it in-"

Just as she opened her wardrobe, several scarves of various colours and of far greater quality than that in her hand, dropped down.

"See…" Helen pouted so hard that she looked like on a verge of crying.

"No, no, no! Don't cry, um-" Catherine flailed her hand around in panic, before yelling, "Nina! Nina! Come quick!"

Immediately, rapid footsteps resounded from outside. Soon, a young maid with distraught expression barged into the room.

"Yes, yes, my lady, I'm here! What can I do for you?"

"Come here and disposed of these scarves! Donate them, burn them, I don't care, just take them away!"

The maid was flabbergasted as she heard the command, she picked up the scarves one by one and asked, "Young miss are you sure? This one was a gift from Marquis Herold's son, and this one was from Prince..."

Each domineering name that the maid mentioned caused Helen's heart to shook. "Um, maybe it's better not to-"

Before Helen finished her sentence, Catherine had commanded once again, "Yes, take them away!"

The maid could only follow her young mistress order. She nodded as she carried the pile of scarves out of the room. Now, there were only four pieces of scarves left in Catherine's wardrobe, including the one from her best friend.

"Now, let's play!" Catherine said as she dusted off her hands. "I will show you some of my games, it will be fun!"

Helen was forced to swallow back her words and replied with, "Okay…" She found out that this friend of hers can be scary at times…