Taken by surprise, Lady turns around to find Maximilian towering over her with an unsmiling look on his face.
She tenses up at the sight, not prepared to take on an earful again. He might think that she really is the one who is causing them troubles. Little does she know that everyone else who is there has also turned tense upon seeing him with that strict and grumpy expression - but not for the same reason.
"U-Uncle Max, y-you see, it's her fault!" one of her cousins dared to speak up, making her uncles and aunts tense up even more.
"W-We weren't doing anything, Uncle Max! S-She started it!" the other one claimed, and for some reason, the atmosphere suddenly became heavy.
"Y-Yeah! We're being nice to her! S-She's the one to blame, Uncle Max!" another one piped in, causing the temperature to drop by several degrees.
Maximilian is not saying anything, but Lady can tell.
He is pissed - looks kind of pissed, seems pretty pissed. Other than her, among the children, the only one who noticed it was Fallon. The adults, on the other hand, were able to read his mood with one glance alone, which was why they weren't uttering a thing.
"So, you're saying that my daughter did something bad to you three...?" Maximilian muttered with his brows furrowed and his lips curved down, regarding his nephews intently.
"It's her fault, she started it, she's the one to blame - just what was it did she do exactly?"
The boys could have lied more - could have defended themselves at the expense of truth, but the cold, icy expression that their uncle had was just so unnerving that they could no longer speak. With that, he was able to see through their lies. He then let out an exasperated sigh and gave them a reprimanding look.
"Behave yourselves, boys. Remember that you're part of the Mireille family. Don't do foolish things," he told his nephews before reaching for his daugher's hand and tugging her along with him.
Maximilian then went ahead and walk past all of them, bringing her along. Lady can see that everyone is looking at them in surprise as they pass by - the adults show looks of resignation while the children still appear to be unnerved.
Lady is pleasantly surprised.
For once, Maximilian is acting like a father.
She thought for sure that he'd side with her cousins too, considering that even her uncles and aunts were telling all sorts of misconceptions to make her look like she's the one at fault. But then, it turned out that he wasn't the type to buy such nonsense. What's more, she feels like he was defending her back there - no one has ever stood up for her like that before.
Then, her gaze falls on their intertwined hands, making her cheeks flush a shade of pink.
'Maximilian Mireille, you...' Lady thought to herself as she slowly looked up at Maximilian who only continued to walk down the hall without sparing her a glance.
'You brute! The hell, dude?! That freaking hurts!'
She cries inwardly, then - apparently, his grip on her hand is so tight that he might break it.
Lady immediately snapped out of whatever good thoughts she's going to have about him at that moment. Just when she thought that Maximilian had it in himself to be a father after all, she found him totally failing as a gentleman.
"D-Daddy! That's not how you should hold a lady!" she screeched, trying to pull her hand away from his but to no avail.
"Didn't I tell you not to call me that?" he reminded her with a somewhat taunting tone, and though his grip on her hand had loosened, the glare he shot her then did not make her feel any better.
"R-Right, Father! I apologize!"
Maximilian halts on his tracks and turns around to take a closer at Lady.
With sharp, narrowed eyes, he peers at her as if studying her. She can't help but fidget slightly under his burning gaze. Rubbing her hand, she tries to focus on checking if it's swollen so as to not get any more nervous.
"What did you learn about dealing with the other family members?" Maximilian soon started again, stealing back Lady's full attention.
"Pardon? About what?"
"You have been taught how to greet and interact with your relatives properly - as far as I recall. Yet, going by what happened back there, you didn't seem to learn a single thing. Now, you've made quite the first impression. You basically ruined your chance to make the perfect introduction."
She's not sure what he's going on and on about this time, but what she's sure of is that this is basically child grooming. He keeps telling her to do this and do that, and while she may just be upset that she can't recall the past Lady's memories, he's still being a douche for ordering someone so young to save his image.
However, she has to remind herself - as his creator, this is all kind of her fault, too.
"If I had not stepped in and done what I did, those people would see me as an ignorant parent who would let his daughter get scolded by other parents in front of him..." Maximilian continued, feeling in between annoyed and disappointed.
"This is seriously troublesome. If you are just going to end up fighting with your cousins the whole night, then just stay still at the side and don't say a single thing."
Lady simply heaves out a defeated sigh and makes a deadpan look, no longer giving a damn.