Patricia turned the corner.

The maids who were wiping the windows with dry cloths flinched in surprise and simultaneously clamped their mouths shut like clams.

They bent their upper bodies as low as possible, as if determined not to show their faces. The white collars of their neatly ironed maid uniforms stood out starkly.

“We greet Your Majesty.”

“The rising morning sun… We, we greet Your Majesty the Empress.”

Patricia spoke in a calm voice.

“Where is the head maid?”

“The head maid has gone to the main palace, Your Majesty.”

“To the main palace? Why? It seems she had a reason to go without telling me.”

“……”

Patricia pointed to the maid who had spoken last when she turned the corner.

“You, what’s your name?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It’s Amy.”

“Alright, Amy. When the head maid returns, tell her to report to me, and if she doesn’t return within an hour, go to the main palace and find her yourself.”

“Yes, yes, Your Majesty.”

Patricia silently observed the maids before turning away. She slowly walked down the corridor back to the reception room.

The maid standing in front of the reception room opened the door for her. Carolina was sitting upright. She was wearing gloves, and her cheeks were flushed. She looked as pretty as a flower ready to burst into full bloom if touched.

Carolina waited for Patricia to sit on the sofa before speaking.

“There’s something I really want to tell Your Majesty. It’s embarrassing, but I want to clear up any misunderstanding.”

“Yes, please speak freely.”

“When you returned from your honeymoon yesterday, when I asked if you enjoyed your trip, it wasn’t aimed at the accident during the journey.”

“Yes. I heard as much.”

“I’m glad. Well then, I’ll be going now. May I come to see you often in the future?”

“Of course, I’ll be looking forward to it. Are you going to reply to Patrick?”

“Ah, no. I’ve decided to do something else instead of replying.”

At that, Carolina’s face turned even redder.

“I see.”

After Carolina left, Patricia quickly skimmed through the notebook she had made once more. Then she stared blankly out the window and thought.

“I saw Lady Anna pinching her own waist, probably struggling to hold back laughter.”

“Ah, what sin has that maid committed? Following all the way here to clean up after the foolish Empress.”

So the head maid had been there with the other maids.

Perhaps before I lost my memory, I had noticed this atmosphere. Is that why I kept Eva and Annie close?

Patricia repeatedly pondered how to wisely resolve this issue. She had no knowledge, experience, or memories.

She could only rely on her instincts, her unconscious intuition, to think and review multiple times.

About thirty minutes passed. Neither the head maid nor Amy the maid had come. Patricia considered pulling the bell rope to call another maid, but decided against it.

She went from the reception room to the bedroom and picked up the sword leaning against the bedpost. The hilt was engraved with “Rikriksha.” She could guess who had given her the sword.

Hoo, so Patrick has such a kind and thoughtful personality. He would probably be kind to Carolina too.

Judging by how he had sealed her letter. Perhaps the reason Carolina’s cheeks had turned red was because he might have made some grand confession.

As she was leaving the reception room, drawing the sword from its scabbard, Anna the head maid entered with a knock.

Patricia turned to look at Anna and, with an indifferent expression, raised the sword diagonally, then changed direction in midair and swung it down. Anna couldn’t hide her surprise at seeing the sword slice through the air.

Yes, that’s the expression you should have made.

Patricia brought the sword close to her eyes and examined the blade.

Could people be replaced? Could affection once lost be restored? If someone is determined to dislike you, is there really no solution?

Patricia slid the sword back into its scabbard, positioning it diagonally at her waist.

She sat down on the reception room sofa and gestured for the head maid to sit as well. The head maid sat with a straight posture.

“Your Majesty, I apologize. I went to the main palace without informing you as you were in conversation with Princess Carolina.”

“Why did you go to the main palace?”

“I met with the administrator to check some documents.”

“Did Anna come first? Did a maid come to fetch you?”

“A maid came and informed me.”

“To the administrative office?”

“Pardon? Ah… no.”

“It seems difficult for you to answer. Do you know why I called for Anna?”

“I apologize. I do not know.”

“Amy, tell the maid who went to fetch Anna about the situation in the corridor with me. Have all four maids write the royal maid’s code of conduct ten times each and submit a letter of reflection. Tell them they must confess in detail what they did wrong.”

“Yes? Yes, Your Ma…jesty.”

“After assessing the sincerity of their reflections, I will call for them again. You may go.”

As soon as the head maid left, Jenny, the maid in charge of the restroom, entered with two other maids.

“Your Majesty, you have a dinner appointment with His Majesty the Emperor in the salon today.”

“I know.”

“It seems we should start preparing now.”

“Already? Is there much to prepare?”

“According to Karsik Empire royal tradition, the salon is open to painters, writers, performing artists, and royal chroniclers.”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

The Karsik Empire’s royal salon was opened to the public, with the Emperor’s approval, for specific events or daily life that the Emperor wished to have recorded in paintings or documents.

Court painters, as well as writers of poetry and novels, playwrights, opera writers, and comedians gathered there.

They freely created art from their desired positions and preserved that moment as works of art. Paintings by the artists were the main works.

The Empress Dowager Diana and past empresses even gave birth in the salon. When the current Emperor Harchen was born, about two hundred people gathered in the salon.

Diana complained of the pain of difficult labor, unable to push properly due to being conscious of the audience.

After the Crown Prince, the tradition of giving birth in the salon was effectively abolished. Instead, the fifth birthday parties of the three princesses were held in the salon.

Paintings depicting the royal family’s private life were hung on the salon walls and then displayed to the public during the five-day New Year’s festival period through the royal salon exhibition.

“Last time, when we were adjusting the balance of your wedding dresses, His Majesty the Emperor ordered to open the salon. The paintings from that time should be hung there.”

Ah!

Patricia recalled that the Emperor had proposed dinner in the salon and mentioned the necklace. He had emphasized that even in Pana City, it was difficult to find diamonds for couple rings.

He wanted to preserve the image of her wearing the necklace with the dress she had worn at breakfast, that was certain.

Patricia had planned to naturally confess during dinner that she had lost the necklace.

“Jenny, we need to pay attention to the attire. Let’s go to the restroom first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As Patricia left the reception room and walked down the corridor, the head maid hurriedly followed behind her.

“Your Majesty, a request for an audience has been received.”

“From whom?”

“Lady Julia Leak has requested an audience during tomorrow afternoon’s tea time.”

“Julia Leak. Grant it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“What about the maids’ letters of reflection?”

“They are currently writing them after being severely scolded.”

“And the head maid?”

“Pardon?”

“Does the head maid have nothing to say to me?”

Patricia stopped walking and turned to face Anna. Anna slightly lowered her head with an expression of not understanding.

“My becoming a foolish Empress is a temporary condition due to an accident. It might last for a while. Fortunately, I’ve only lost my memories and haven’t become intellectually impaired.”

“Your words are most wise.”

“There are some mouths carelessly uttering ‘foolish Empress’ behind my back, so I conducted a self-test. My cognitive abilities and memory are quite high.”

“……”

“Seven.”

“Pardon?”

“I heard seven conversations exchanged between the maids. I’ll see how good the memory of those four maids is. Write down their exact words, you, the head maid.”

Only then did the head maid realize something was amiss, and she stood stock-still in the corridor, her face turning ashen.

A maid opened the restroom door. Patricia naturally straightened her back and entered.

*

“Harchen.

Things are progressing smoothly on this end. I told Risha I would go to Riswan after finishing everything here.

I hope you won’t accompany me, citing Risha’s health as a concern. How about you go somewhere other than Tane capital? You too, Harchen, come with just Calip and Lean. My request is for you to bring Roan, the witness in Pana City.

I sent a separate letter to Princess Carolina.

It seems our fates have become intertwined in pairs after all. When all this is over, on some leisurely day, let’s sort out how we address each other.

Patrick.”

How does he want to sort out our forms of address? What, ‘elder brother’? He folded Patrick’s letter, which specified the meeting place and detailed schedule on the back, and put it in a drawer.

Harchen signed the accumulated documents, resting his elbow on them with his chin propped up.

He grinned to himself, thinking that he could work more efficiently and quickly if he signed with Patricia’s name instead of his own.

The Emperor, signing with a cold expression, suddenly smiled. Philip felt a chill in his chest every time this happened.

Once this morning, and just now. He had signed with the Empress’s name instead of the Emperor’s in the signature field. Once could be overlooked as a mistake, but twice was problematic. Philip couldn’t understand it at all.

What kind of thoughts could lead to signing with the Empress’s name instead of the Emperor’s?

“Uh, uh. Your Majesty. What is this?”

Philip, looking as if he might cry, held up the document and trembled. He was pointing out the third mistake made today. Of all things, it was a document with tables and graphs comparing the harvest amounts for each gold mining area.

The Emperor, on the contrary, calmly took back the document.

“Then this single sheet is unnecessary, so I’ll keep it.”

The Emperor drew a heart next to where he had signed with the Empress’s name. Then he tore off the single sheet, folded it neatly, and put it in his jacket pocket.

Philip asked the Emperor to give the paper back.

“Your Majesty, I’ll have to redraw this table and graph. While I’m rewriting and redrawing this, please read this document and sign it carefully.”

“Well, that could be done. Love, it’s a bit difficult.”

Philip couldn’t understand what was going on in the Emperor’s mind at all. Did that even make sense in context?

Philip rewrote the last document, and only then did the Emperor sign it with a somewhat apologetic look, taking great care.

“Redoing the paperwork slows things down.”

Philip’s throat choked up, and he didn’t even respond. He placed the remaining stack of about thirty documents on the Emperor’s desk.

These were documents related to building construction near Kaosan and auxiliary facilities for workers, which could be reviewed relatively quickly.

Knock knock knock.

Calip entered.

“Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress has arrived at the salon.”

“Hmm, I see. Let’s go.”

Philip looked up at the Emperor in alarm.

“Your Majesty, you only need to review these last ones. Why are you going to the salon……”

“I need to eat dinner, don’t I? Will you kindly let me go if I tell Philip? You should rest too.”

The Emperor adjusted his uniform jacket and was about to leave when he saw Calip.

“Calip, stop following me.”

The Emperor turned abruptly and walked down the corridor. As Calip was about to follow, the aide grabbed his arm.

“Lord Calip. Please, just get this signed for me.”