“This, let go! This servant behaved rudely first!”

In response to Clémence’s words, Klaus, frowning, coldly retorted.

“If you enjoy raising your hand so easily, do it to your own servant. Why interfere with a noble’s servant?”

Clémence’s demeanor crumpled
In the noble society, if we were to judge by status alone, Viscountess Vernas is considered far superior to a viscount, a giant in the social circles who had disappeared for a while.

It was Viscount Vernas.

Amidst the sudden turn of events, while Klaus remained frozen, Viscount Vernas walked through the parting nobles like a red sea, looking at the bewildered Clémence Jazak, and spoke.

“If what you value is the title, I shall become the patron of that child.”

At Viscount Vernas’s statement, the nobles began to stir.

Viscount Vernas, one of the major noble families, volunteering to be the patron of a duke’s servant?

What exactly is the identity of that servant?

Eyes filled with surprise and curiosity were directed at Roselia.

On the other hand, Clémence Jazak, as brave as her red hair, stood her ground with a flushed face.

“Viscount, are you speaking sincerely?”

“Well, at this age, would I lie in front of so many people?”

Even though Clémence Jazak was impudent, facing Viscount Vernas, who came from a well-respected military family, proved to be difficult.

With an effort to smooth out her expression, Clémence Jazak, in a somewhat trembling voice, replied.

“Viscount, I heard you haven’t been well lately. Please don’t bother yourself with trivial matters.”

Although she said it turning away, the way Clémence Jazak, treated as if she were an old person, irked not Viscount Vernas himself but Viscount Blimonde, who was present next to him.

Blocking Clémence Jazak’s way with his hand, Viscount Vernas, casually addressed her.

“Hmm… Your late husband, the former Clémence Jazak, wasn’t this rude. It seems you inherited the title but not the manners of a noble.”

She, who used to be the wife of the former Clémence Jazak, was, in fact, from a high-ranking Cortisan background. Luckily, she twisted her way into the position of Clémence’s wife after the death of her husband, and after his death, she managed to secure the position of the lady.

Viscount Vernas was mocking her about that.

While Clémence Jazak froze with a crimson face, something sparkled in Klaus’s eyes, watching the confrontation between Viscount and Clémence.

Even that day, under the jacket-style coat that exposed her chest, Clémence Jazak’s sleeve revealed something inside.

At first glance, it looked like a sleeve button, but the thing, the size of a fingernail, was a small badge with an engraved pattern.

Klaus, who fixed his gaze, approached Clémence and roughly grabbed her arm.

Startled by the sudden movement, Clémence looked at Klaus with a displeased expression.

“Why are you… doing this?”

“Are you the Rugbella who tried to kidnap Roselia?”

At Klaus’s sharp question, Clémence stiffened. However, she soon nonchalantly feigned indifference and shouted in a loud voice.

“What nonsense are you talking about right now?”

In the act of injustice, as Clémence glared at him, Klaus, with a sardonic smile, forcibly pulled the badge from inside her sleeve.
“Oops!”

Caught off guard by Klaus’s rough strength, Clémence helplessly surrendered her arm. Watching him effortlessly detach the badge from inside her sleeve, her face turned pale with shock.

“What’s this?”

In Klaus’s gruff voice, Clémence, frightened, tried to act brave, raising her voice.

“Don’t you know? It’s just a decorative badge!”

Mockingly, Klaus pulled out the same badge from his pocket, his lips curling upwards.

“I took it from the group that was trying to kidnap Roselia. Do you still want to deny it?”

“……….”

Realizing there was no more room for excuses, Clémence shouted with a pale face.

“I… I just did as I was told!”

Having said that, as if looking for someone to save her, she began to look around.

Then, at some point she gazed at a specific spot and her face turned deathly pale.

It was an expression as if she had received a death sentence.

Suddenly, Clémence, who had stood there dumbfounded with a vacant expression, seemed to lose strength in her legs and slumped down.

Though Klaus immediately turned to look at where she was staring, there were only nobles gathered at that spot.

At that moment, Viscount Blimonde, the host of the event who had been observing the situation, stepped forward towards the seated Clémence Jazak and shouted.

“Summon the guards! The knight who insulted the royal family and nobility, the one who used to serve Rugbella, is here!”

The events that followed proceeded swiftly. The royal guards, having received the report, promptly arrived.

As she had boldly written gossip about the royal family and nobles for a long time, everything progressed rapidly once her identity was exposed.

Even as Clémence Jazak was being taken away by the royal guards, she did not release her venomous gaze.

“You’ve misunderstood. It’s not going to end just because you’re taking me away.”

Even with nobles murmuring in response to her mocking words, a discomfort lingered.

As if it were revenge against someone invisible or perhaps a curse directed at the Duke, she muttered with a heavily divided voice.

“Duke Valtasar, you should be the one most careful.”

With those words as her last, she left the mansion led by the soldiers, leaving behind a mocking laughter.