"There are plenty of young ladies in the household..."
Especially since two young ladies of the main family were still unmarried.
How could Old Madam and the legitimate madam allow a daughter born to a concubine to affect those two girls' marriage prospects...
The other madams were just as unwilling to let their daughters' marriages be affected.
"...I have another daughter, too..."
Fifth Madam murmured.
Her younger daughter, who was even brighter and more clever than Qianqian, carried even greater hopes for her.
Fifth Madam's expression turned solemn. "What happened to Qianqian must not get out."
"At the very least, we can't let people believe she's gone mad."
"Then we can't invite the master back to the residence."
"...Wouldn't his coming here make it obvious to everyone?"
Fifth Madam sighed.
They had been careless from the start.
At first, none of them had taken Qianqian's problem very seriously.
They had thought it was only a minor issue...
So they hadn't paid attention to keeping the news private.
Many people knew the master had come to see Sixth Miss.
It would be difficult to keep things secret now.
Fortunately, the rumors were all over the place.
There was no concrete evidence.
Now that Qianqian had left, there was no one to confirm anything, either.
"...Is that all?"
The Eminent Monk found that hard to believe.
"What do you mean, 'Is that all'?!"
Fifth Madam was offended.
"How important do you think a young lady's reputation is?!"
"Do you think I didn't want to call you over?!"
"The night you left, Qianqian was so frightened that she broke a bowl."
"I held that child and stayed with her until she fell asleep!"
She hadn't abandoned the girl.
He shouldn't look at her as if she were heartless.
Fifth Madam