I was anxious. Afraid I might have to return the same.

Aren’t humans inherently beings who want to receive as much as they give?

Perhaps I thought that Lord Joseph expressing his feelings was no different from demanding the same from me.

Yes, that must be it.

‘That’s why I felt uncomfortable facing him.’

My mind seemed to grasp it somewhat.

More accurately, it was closer to finding an excuse to sort out these mixed feelings, but that didn’t matter.

What was important to me was that Lord Joseph wouldn’t demand feelings from me.

“……”

At last, I slowly walked towards Lord Joseph.

I slipped my hand into the arm still waiting for me, willingly accepting his escort.

“That distrustful look in your eyes is quite hurtful.”

“……You’re mistaken. It’s a look of relief.”

“Ahaha, if you say so, I’ll take it as such. For now, we have much to do, so let’s go inside.”

Lord Joseph chuckled with a breath and started walking. I followed him, escaping the cold wind.

As he said, we had much to do from now on.

To return to the Daiern duchy following the children as quickly as possible, we had to move diligently.

My mind was still in disarray.

Still, how fortunate that the awkwardness of dealing with a business partner had been resolved for now.

It would be troublesome to be unable to focus on other matters due to personal emotions.

In that sense, I was grateful that Lord Joseph took the initiative to resolve this uncomfortable situation.

Then I should make an effort too.

“Lord Joseph, I’m saying this just in case, but you are aware that you speak quite annoyingly, right?”

I said, holding his arm with both hands as if scolding him.

For reference, it’s not begging, but a joke to lighten the mood. Really.

“Well…”

Lord Joseph, far from being offended, turned his gaze to me as if he had heard an interesting story.

“But isn’t it quite charming?”

“My, how shameless.”

“Unfortunately, it only doesn’t work on you, madam.”

As if deeply regretful, he smiled with his eyes and mouth corners curled up.

Well, being human, I don’t feel that Lord Joseph, with his objectively excessively beautiful face, is not charming. But still…

We walked slowly.

A different, soft and comforting air seemed to envelop our surroundings.

‘Isn’t it closer to being cute?’

After seeing the children off, Lord Joseph and I decided to leave the imperial palace first.

Of course, Adeline told me I could stay comfortably until heading down to the duchy, but I ultimately declined.

‘If I accepted, I’d have to attend the Emperor’s dinner every evening and face Princess Seraphina.’

Ah, no. What am I thinking now?

From now on, Lord Joseph and I will be busy with the reconstruction of the Daiern imperial mansion.

We might need to go downtown very early or return to the annex very late.

Having to pass through the imperial palace security checkpoints and receive entry permits each time would be quite troublesome.

‘Yes, that’s the reason.’

Anyway, we found a place to stay sooner than expected.

The luxury suite at the hotel where Lord Joseph stayed before moving to the Daiern mansion was still vacant.

It was quite a lavish suite.

Inside were two large bedrooms and a space to use as an office, plus two side rooms for servants.

Thanks to this, we could give separate resting spaces to Loretta and Lord Joseph’s employee.

But it didn’t take long for me to understand why Lord Joseph wanted to leave the hotel so badly.

And also why he specifically planned a hotel business.

‘It’s not a hotel, it’s just a social gathering place.’

From the moment we got out of the carriage, through the lobby, until we were guided to our room, it was a parade of familiar faces.

Even while putting down luggage and briefly looking at documents in the room, I think I heard knocking sounds dozens of times.

“Count Alperon. Some nobles are gathered in the hotel lobby for a card game, and they’re wondering if you’d like to join them.”

“Duchess Daiern, the ladies are asking if you’d like to go to the exhibition hall together.”

“Count Alperon, would you like to join the game……”

“Duchess, an invitation for tea time……”

“Count Alperon, are you there?”

“Duchess, could you come out for a moment?”

Knock knock, knock knock, knock knock knock…

The knocking sounds were enough to drive one neurotic. It was becoming frightening at this point.

At this rate, they might knock on the door even at dawn.

You might ask, couldn’t we just hang a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door? Of course, we tried that. It didn’t work.

Eventually, I came to understand them to some extent. Yes, both Lord Joseph and I are famous figures in social circles.

As it turns out, the reason nobles stay at hotels during the social season isn’t just because they don’t have private mansions in the imperial capital.

Eight or nine out of ten do it to enjoy these social gatherings, apparently?

Anyway, I, being one of the exceptions, said:

“We need to change our plans.”

Loretta quickly put my coat on me.

Lord Joseph, who had been holding his head, also had his employee bring his outer garment.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

We couldn’t do anything at the hotel.

Lord Joseph, who had been drawing the mansion’s blueprints, straightened his back while moving a paperweight. So we boarded the carriage, postponing all our work for the day.

“I hope we can get some proper rest at Hotel Chronos.”

“That’s why I made the lobby spacious. It seems the root of all evil is the social gatherings formed in the lobby.”

“Yes, it would be nice if we could at least avoid having to chit-chat with others during check-in.”

It was sad that the carriage felt more comfortable.

Anyway, because of this, Lord Joseph and I decided to revise our priorities. The timing and time were just right.

“Let’s go to the Baden mansion.”

It would be better to acquire that mansion first. If only to secure a private space.

To cut to the chase.

The acquisition of the Baden mansion proceeded smoothly. The whole process was faster than I had thought.

If I had known it would be like this, I would have bought this mansion earlier.

“To be honest, it might be thanks to the groundwork I laid in advance.”

“……What did you lay?”

“Oh, pardon me. It’s lower-class slang. It means preliminary preparation.”

“……”

When I first set foot in Wilhelm York Baden’s mansion, I involuntarily sneered at the black ribbon hanging on the entrance.

The meaning of the black ribbon is a period of seclusion. It means they’re not receiving visitors.

But that’s an etiquette only nobles who enjoy social circles observe.

Wilhelm York Baden has had his official position revoked and title reclaimed by His Majesty the Emperor, so he can’t attend social circles.

What etiquette is there to keep?

I didn’t care.

Otto, Lord Joseph’s employee, knocked on the door on our behalf. Wilhelm York Baden’s voice could only be heard after a long while.

“……It’s a period of seclusion, so I can’t receive guests. Who is it?”

“The Daiern Duchy representative. Open this door.”

“Duchy representative? Ah, the Duchess?”

At first, he didn’t want to open the door.

It was a natural reaction, as breaking the etiquette of the imperial capital’s social circles was tantamount to declaring that one would not participate in social circles for the rest of their life.

Moreover, he was quite clever.

Indeed, he hadn’t attended the Academy in vain, as he seemed to know that he was still of noble status.

That’s right. Strictly speaking, he is a noble of Daiern, not the Kalant Empire.

In other words, even if his viscount title recognized by the Emperor became invalid, he still holds noble status within the Daiern duchy.

Knowing this, he tried to maintain social etiquette while curling up his body, hoping for a chance to rebound.

‘How foolish.’

I am the regent duchess of that Daiern.

In other words, I’m the one who can truly demote Wilhelm York Baden to commoner status.

“Ah, it’s still a period of seclusion. In one more week, I can receive guests, so please come back then.”

His tone became polite.

Exchanging a smile with Lord Joseph, I shook my head.

“It seems difficult to last even a week. Hasn’t the person who was running errands and buying groceries been out of touch for days?”

Because he wouldn’t be able to pay wages.

“Let me get straight to the point. Sell this mansion to me.”

“Se-sell the mansion? What nonsense is that?”

After listening to his ranting for a while, I calmly continued.

“If you’re going to be stubborn, I won’t say any more. But you’d better remember this. The next time I visit here, it will be with Daiern’s knights.”

It means I’ll exercise my authority as Daiern’s regent then.