Whitney faced trouble after Cheston left. Melissa’s spite had reached its peak. Almost every day, the attic was in disarray, and her meals became increasingly meager as days passed.

“Come down. The lady is looking for you. Oh, and knock.”

Rael once again knocked on the door after already entering, as if to make a point. Whitney lightly ignored her and left the attic.

‘Why would my stepmother be looking for me?’

Could it be that Cheston had sent her a letter? If not, she couldn’t fathom why she was being called.

Whitney clutched her dress tightly with trembling hands. Thanks to Prince Cheston, she had obtained Melissa’s clothes. The circumstances of acquiring her first proper dress at the duke’s residence were laughable, but it was better than nothing.

It didn’t matter if she was a lady with only one dress. Whitney also had the dress entrusted with her mother’s keepsakes.

Whitney went downstairs and followed the servant to her mother’s office. As soon as the door opened, her stepmother grabbed her hand.

“Ugh.”

A stinging pain spread from her arm throughout her body. The familiar pain she hadn’t felt in a long time, ingrained in her body, once again made her head spin. Whitney, who had been looking at her caught arm, extended her other hand to remove her stepmother’s grip.

“It hurts. Let go and talk.”

“What on earth did you do while I was bedridden? You’ve completely ruined the duke’s residence!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t know? I heard a royal knight came and went. What connections do you have?!”

“It seems the butler didn’t report properly.”

Whitney sighed. If not that, then he had deliberately delivered only unfavorable information about Whitney.

“What do you mean he didn’t report properly?”

“It was just that a book I bought from the bookstore was exchanged. I’m worried if the butler might have caused other issues while you were ill and bedridden. I hope he hasn’t harbored any strange thoughts?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m concerned that the butler, whose job is to report everything properly to you, didn’t even do that. If he summarized the circumstances of the royal knight’s visit at his discretion, it means he judged what’s important and what’s not on his own.”

Cecilia’s expression became subtle as she listened to Whitney’s words. Her face showed she had never thought of it that way before. Though she tried not to show it, her trembling eyes already revealed that her mood had been disturbed.

“I thought it was fortunate that we made a connection with the royal family through this incident. The social season is coming up soon. I thought there might be an opportunity to help my sister during her debut… Or was I mistaken in thinking so?”

“No, no. You’ve had such a thoughtful idea.”

Cecilia, her face contorted, softened her expression at Whitney’s words and took a step back. But unable to fully trust the offer of help, she quickly gave Whitney a dubious look, glancing her up and down.

“If you have nothing else to say, may I go? Oh, Mother. I’d like to receive the dress expenses I mentioned before.”

“Yes, I did say I would give it to you.”

Cecilia returned to her desk and took out a ledger. Then she pulled out a check used by the Orlean ducal residence and wrote an amount.

Whitney hadn’t expected her to willingly write a check. She thought she would just throw a few coins at her, but what wind had blown in? Whitney received the check while still keeping her gaze on her.

“Thank you. With your consideration, I don’t think I’ll bring shame to the honor of House Orlean.”

“Yes, I think so too. I hope you’ll be of help to Melissa as a lady of Orlean. Now that you’ve made a connection with a royal knight, I’m looking forward to your debut.”

“I’ll try my best to be helpful.”

Whitney nodded and smiled brightly at Cecilia’s words. She thought she understood why she had given her enough money for a dress.

“By the way, Mother, the food lately seems to have gone bad, so I can’t eat well. If I collapse like this, I won’t even be able to attend the debut… I’m worried I won’t be able to help my sister.”

“I’ll tell them to prepare food well so you don’t collapse. Don’t worry.”

But Whitney turned away with a face that knew nothing. Cecilia’s greed would pave another path for Whitney.

Just because a royal knight had visited the duke’s residence, Whitney was able to receive humane treatment. How long had it been since proper food was brought up to the attic?

“What kind of trick did you pull?”

Rael asked as she brought in the tray and set down the food. Her sidelong glance at Whitney was sharp. Whitney tilted her head to the side and asked.

“Are you curious? I don’t mind telling you. But it’s not good behavior for a servant to show too much interest in the master’s affairs.”

Rael’s eyebrows twitched slightly, and though she seemed to have many questions, she opened her mouth and then closed it firmly. Whitney smiled at Rael’s hesitation and gestured.

As she opened the window, a cool breeze entered the room.

“At least you’re not stupid. Seeing you keep your mouth shut, come here and look. Something interesting is happening at the duke’s residence.”

Whitney settled by the window and stared at Rael. She approached Whitney awkwardly.

“Watch carefully. See what results my words have brought about.”

Rael furrowed her brow as she looked down out the window.

Whitney placed the plate of food on a small table and perched on the windowsill.

“It looks like it’s going to rain. How unfortunate to be thrown out on a rainy day.”

The scent of rain-soaked earth and the damp air. When it rained, the attic became unpleasantly humid, but today Whitney didn’t feel bad. As she put warm soup in her mouth while gazing outside, her gaze turned downward.

“My lady! Please don’t throw me out! I have nowhere to go! How can you dismiss me when I came here trusting you!”

“Shut up! Someone shut that mouth, it’s noisy. It’s my decision to fire you. You should have done your job properly. How dare you make judgments on your own?!”

The butler’s voice, dragged out by the servants, resounded loudly outside the mansion.

Cecilia had fired the butler after hearing Whitney’s words. Hallao, who had always ignored Whitney and acted like a superior, insisted that it was unfair, but it was useless.

Rael, seeing the butler’s miserable state, covered her mouth with a shocked expression.

“You’ll regret this! You’ll regret it when I’m gone!”

In truth, Whitney hadn’t expected such a quick decision either.

Whitney tore off a piece of soft bread, dipped it in the soup, and put it in her mouth while taking in the butler’s pitiful appearance. Even so, after her father passed away, to fire someone who had been with them for so long, all at once, while replacing all the people in the duke’s residence.

It had been eleven whole years.

It took less than a week for Cecilia to take over the duke’s residence without Whitney’s father and fill it with her own people, but the people she chose had followed Cecilia’s orders better than expected.

They had obeyed Cecilia’s words without complaint, catering to her whims.

“They say you shouldn’t do things you’ll regret. The people in the duke’s residence seem to regret a lot. Don’t you think?”

“…Could it be that you, no, my lady, suggested firing the butler?”

Rael immediately corrected how she addressed Whitney. Whitney, with an unburdened expression, looked at the butler prostrated on the ground and said.

“I just said one thing to Mother. Not reporting properly means failing to fulfill one’s duty as a butler. We can’t let the duke’s residence fall into disarray.”

Rael tensed up and straightened her posture. Seeing the gaze that had been looking at her naturally lower, a sneer spread across Whitney’s lips.

“I’d appreciate it if you could pay more attention to the food from now on. Like desserts. And I hope there won’t be any instances of tampering with the food at will. Am I asking for too much?”

“No, not at all. Don’t worry about the meals brought to you from now on, my lady.”

Rael smiled artificially. Whitney knew too. That things wouldn’t change easily with just this one time, but she was satisfied with the fact that she had created a change.

‘This is how you change things one by one.’

But if things stayed like this, that position would once again be filled with her mother’s people.

‘I need to find an information broker.’

She planned to find and recall her father’s scattered people in the duke’s residence. She had secretly sent a letter to her aunt, but there was no reply yet.

Perhaps she was calculating. Weighing whether taking Whitney’s side would be a gain or a loss. Whitney desperately needed her aunt’s help.

‘If she would become my guardian, it would be much easier.’

There might even be progress in her relationship with Cheston. Knowing her position in the duke’s residence, she was more likely to be a liability than an asset to him. Whitney hoped that the herbs she had given him would be effective.

‘I don’t know why His Highness smelled of Libenia, but if he’s taking it, there will surely be improvement.’

Whitney watched the falling raindrops and moved away from the windowsill. She stared blankly at the butler prostrated on the ground, weeping, and then closed the window.