“Here it is!”

Diana introduced the room with an excited voice.

It was a well-lit spot at the end of the second floor corridor. One wooden bed, one desk, one nightstand, one wardrobe.

It was a simple space with nothing particularly noteworthy, but spacious enough for a 10-year-old child to use alone.

‘I decided not to overdo it in this life.’

In the past, she would have hastily offered a room fit for a noble young master, saying even this was insufficient. But now, she didn’t want to do anything that would burden Raoul.

“Still, the young miss is too kind.”

Angela muttered with her lips pursed, as if this room was excessive for a mere slave to use.

Diana poked Angela’s side with her finger, giving her a look to please stop.

‘Oh my.’

“How is it? It should be fine to use alone, but if there’s anything missing, I can add some more furniture.”

“…This is enough.”

Raoul hadn’t said a word on the way from the training grounds to the room.

Diana wanted to shower him with words of encouragement right away, but she barely managed to keep her mouth shut.

‘I’m dust, cosmic dust.’

From now on, she planned to minimize contact with Raoul and look after him from afar.

‘That would be the best path for all of us.’

“Here, take this.”

Diana handed Raoul paper and a quill pen.

“If you need anything in the future, write it down here and leave it with your meals.”

Raoul just silently stared at Diana without a word.

Ahem, how awkward. Diana put the items down on the desk and turned to him, speaking awkwardly.

“Um… about the lessons. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them.”

Though Allen was a loyal retainer of the duke’s family, he was known for treating soldiers roughly.

A flurry of cold glares flew at Diana, who was silent with worry.

‘What am I thinking.’

Raoul, in his disheveled state, was glaring at Diana with a displeased expression.

“I’ll be going now!”

Diana hurriedly ran to Angela’s side. The bedroom door opened wide and as she was quickly leaving the room, her body suddenly stopped.

‘Ah, right. I should say this.’

“We’re on the same second floor, but the corridor curves so we’ll hardly ever run into each other…”

Raoul’s expression upon hearing those words was puzzling.

A persistent, tenacious gaze continued, as if examining a suspicious animal.

Within it, a dark suspicion swelled up and took root.

As she was about to leave the room, with Raoul remaining silent to the end, Raoul muttered quietly.

“…You really are strange.”

Sigh, she had been branded as a strange woman again in this life too.

“How can you be so stubborn without knowing your place?”

Angela burst out in anger the moment they left the room.

“Angela, that’s enough now…”

At times like this, she had to forcibly stop her. She was truly a great assistant, but she was utterly ruthless towards anyone who could harm Diana even slightly.

Even after he grew up, Raoul was no different from the idol of the mansion, and the person who hated him most in the world was none other than Angela.

If one had to say, she was like an extreme anti-fan.

“Angela, why do you dislike Raoul so much?”

Diana looked up at Angela walking beside her and asked.

“…There’s no reason to like him. If such a pretty young lady says she likes him, he should be flipping over backwards. Instead he just glares with those arrogant eyes.”

Really, from start to finish it was like the words of a villain’s friend, to the point where there was nothing to say. Moreover, it completely lacked objectivity regarding the young lady she served.

Diana shook her head with a sigh mixed with laughter.

‘How silly, really.’ But it didn’t feel bad.

Rather, it was a feeling that made a corner of her heart ache…

‘Angela really only cares about me, consistently.’

As she was grumbling while rubbing her nose tip for no reason, a familiar man came around the end of the corridor.

He raised the corners of his mouth refreshingly and bowed his head slightly.

He was a handsome man with impressive fluffy golden-brown hair like whipped mocha cream and dark green eyes.

“Young lady, it’s been a while.”

Though he greeted Diana first, his gaze was fixed on Angela.

‘His name was Vincent, I think?’

Diana remembered encountering him occasionally as well.

In the past, he had shown his unrequited love for Angela so obviously that she had felt a sense of camaraderie with him several times.

As the man smiled with his eyes curved, the brightness of the faint winter sunlight seemed to increase even more.

Though he was clearly a knight with large, sturdy bones, his gentle impression stood out like a golden retriever, without any oppressive feeling at all.

‘What do they call a man like that…’

What was it again? Diana was falling into her own thoughts, muttering to herself.

The man didn’t miss the opportunity to greet Angela.

“Have you been well? I was worried because the weather has been so chilly… in case you caught a cold.”

“Ah~ Can’t you see these thick wrists? What are you worried about?”

“Well, if it’s alright with you, I could give you a scarf…”

“No thanks! Why have you been like this since before? I tell you, the young lady has new gloves and scarves made for me every winter?”

Vincent was in the middle of making his second proposal to persuade Angela.

“Ah! Bagel man!”

Diana suddenly blurted out the word as if hit by a refreshing waterfall. Both of them looked down at Diana with round eyes, as if surprised.

“…Young lady, do you want to eat a bagel?”

“…Ah, no. Just that Vincent’s hair color looks like a bagel…”

Diana buried her face in Angela’s skirt, unable to hide her embarrassment.

Angela, looking down at that sight, made a long groan of agony as if greatly shocked, and walked past Vincent standing in front as if he had never existed.

Flustered by that reaction, Vincent hurriedly called out behind her back.

“I’ll be staying at the castle for a while! The lord offered me the position of deputy commander!”

Angela made a disgruntled expression.

So what?

Even without words, the coldness transmitted made Diana feel awkward on his behalf.

In place of Angela who didn’t even look back once, Diana gave a thumbs up instead.

‘You’re the best, Vincent!’

Vincent bowed his head with a touched smile.

That sight somehow reminded her of her own past self before the regression, making her feel a bit sorry for him.

“Sigh, he really doesn’t know any manners, does he? How can he shout like that in front of the young lady…”

“I think I understand why he’s like that though?”

Angela grumbled sulkily as she undid Diana’s braided hair one by one.

Why did she find everything Vincent did distasteful? Diana couldn’t understand.

He was a handsome man as cute as a puppy for anyone to see.

By now, maids desperate to make even a small connection with him might be throwing flirtatious glances everywhere, but she wasn’t interested at all.

Come to think of it, even in her past life, Angela had ended up with a beast of a man like Allen instead of Vincent.

Not a handsome beast of a man, but a real beast.

Diana disliked Allen as much as Angela disliked Raoul.

‘A demon-like man who treated Angela roughly.’

She was 100 percent on Vincent’s side.

“I think it would be nice if Vincent made your winter gear this year.”

“No! Absolutely not that!”

“Sigh, you stubborn mule.”

Diana tugged Angela’s belly gently, not enough to hurt.

Angela pretended to be delighted as if even that was adorable.

Finding that amusing and also feeling happy, a childlike giggle burst from Diana’s lips as well.

Those were peaceful days.

Or so I believed.

“Did Angela know about this too?”

The ice-cold voice had not a trace of laughter in it.

Angela couldn’t even meet her eyes properly and just fidgeted with her fingers anxiously.

“I didn’t know he was being treated this harshly either.”

Raoul was hurt. The Raoul who I believed had been living fine for a month.

This is how the incident unfolded.

Diana thought nothing of the fact that no notes came from Raoul.

Given his personality, it was natural that he wouldn’t make requests even if something was inconvenient, so she had ordered the servants to keep a close eye on his condition and immediately report if he needed anything.

However, even as a month was about to pass, there wasn’t a single note, let alone anyone reporting news about him.

Even when she asked after him, everyone just awkwardly evaded the question and said nothing else.

Thinking no news is good news, Diana had just been focused on figuring out how to make money.

“Why are you injured like this?”

“His biting is so severe, there’s never a day my body is whole.”

Diana was passing through the corridor near the training grounds on her way to the library.

But then she heard Angela’s voice from somewhere.

Looking around, she saw Angela and Allen engaging in an intimate act hidden behind a pillar.

She was about to quickly pass by the embarrassing sight, but the words Allen muttered while fidgeting caught her attention.

‘Biting.’ Even hearing it in passing, it was clearly about Raoul. Diana concealed her presence and listened in on the conversation.

“I knew he was an arrogant brat, but to bite his teacher…”

“Don’t worry. I beat him much more. That bastard was beaten to the point he couldn’t even move.”

“…What? But he’s still just a child, how could you hit him?”

“After trying to teach him, he’s no different from a wild dog. Instead of lessons, a bastard like that needs to be stomped on until he’s half-dead before he’ll bow his head to humans. Once he gets used to the taste of fists, the day will come when he’ll grovel on his own.”

“But His Highness said to give him lessons…”

“What do you know? This is all a lesson in life too. You just need to say nice things when it’s just the two of us. Hm? Let’s stop talking about that son of a bitch now, come here.”

It was the moment the bastard pulled on Angela’s waist with a sleazy voice.

“Angela, what on earth is this…”

The shoulders of the man who was trying to cling to Angela with a gloomy look like a snake stiffened.

Angela pushed him away in surprise.

“Ah, young lady! How did you come all the way here? I was just about to go in…”

“What did I just hear?”

Diana’s fingertips trembled with anger and shock.

“Explain right now.”