“Oh no!”

Farnese, seemingly genuinely surprised for once, threw down the documents he was holding and rushed out of his office.

Duke Ludwig and the attendants hurriedly followed after him, not knowing what was happening.

“Your Majesty, what’s suddenly the matter!”

Ignoring the calls of the attendants, he ran out to the garden, where Katharine was seen sitting, covered in leaves and such as if she had sprouted from the ground like a small fairy.

Farnese gently grasped Katharine’s shoulder as she stood up, brushing herself off as if nothing had happened.

Only now noticing him, she opened her eyes wide.

“Your Majesty.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. As you can see, it’s a soft lawn. Why were you so surprised?”

Farnese’s eyes quickly scanned Katharine’s entire body.

When he confirmed that, as she said, there was no problem other than some dirt on her palms and knees, only then did a sigh of relief escape his tightly pressed lips.

“You really don’t give me a moment’s peace.”

Farnese muttered in a reproachful tone while reaching out towards the attendants who had followed him.

Duke Ludwig, quickly noticing his silent command, brought over and handed him a handkerchief.

Farnese lightly dampened the handkerchief with water from the fountain, then clumsily wiped the dirt and dust from Katharine’s hands.

It was clearly evident that he had never taken care of or looked after anyone in his life.

The sight of his large frame bent over as he brushed off the dirt seemed like an ill-fitting game of house.

“Why were you alone in a place like this with your unwell body?”

“I was painting.”

“That’s not what I’m asking. How could you be moving those heavy art supplies by yourself without anyone to assist you?”

Katharine’s jet-black eyelashes above her large eyelids trembled slightly.

Farnese, realizing his mistake, forcibly softened his expression.

It seemed he had frightened her again.

It was due to his inherently intimidating appearance and the domineering attitude that had become a habit since childhood.

However, Katharine was merely thinking about how to explain about the maids who had left without waiting for her.

“I sent the assigned maids on an errand.”

Katharine spoke up after a brief deliberation.

“But it seemed they would be late, so I was trying to go back to my room alone. I can walk reasonably well now if I rely on crutches.”

Katharine calmly made up an excuse with an indifferent face, but Farnese easily realized she was telling a white lie to cover for the maids.

He could tell from the atmosphere alone that the dedicated maids who should have been staying by her side had left her without taking care of her to the end.

Since Katharine was so good at hiding her emotions, if it had been someone less perceptive, they would have been completely fooled by her words.

“Please don’t look at me like that. I really am fine.”

“……”

Farnese hated hypocrites the most.

He had seen countless sycophants who groveled and smiled insincerely to curry favor with him until now.

But she was always consistently the same whether facing an unidentified man napping lazily under a flower tree or facing the emperor who was like the heavens.

So Farnese decided to pretend to be fooled.

At least in front of her.

“If I see you tottering around alone and falling over one more time, there will be no forgiveness, understand?”

“Yes. I understand.”

Katharine responded appropriately to his gentle threat that wasn’t scary at all, bowing her waist.

When she tried to pick up the fallen brush and palette, Farnese stopped her.

“Stay still. I’ll do it.”

Farnese knelt on one knee and gathered the scattered art supplies around the grass.

The attendants standing a short distance away turned pale and hastily began to help with the cleanup, following their lord.

Farnese slightly raised his head and glanced sideways towards the second-floor corridor.

Two maids peeking through the window gap were looking panicked, not knowing what to do.

“I’ll do it. Your Majesty, what will become of me if you do this?”

“You’re already using me as a wheelchair substitute, so there’s no need to stand on ceremony.”

“That’s because Your Majesty carries me around like a doll as you please… Wait a moment!”

Katharine stopped mid-sentence and raised her voice in surprise.

Farnese was reaching out his hand to pick up a paper with his portrait drawn on it.

Katharine, uncharacteristically flustered, quickly shouted that he couldn’t, but unfortunately, his hand flipping over the paper was a bit faster.

“This is……”

Even Farnese’s eyes, scanning the paper, showed a very rare look of bewilderment.

One face, drawn as meticulously as if seen directly, was depicted in an unfinished state.

Katharine snatched the drawing away with an expression of obvious shame.

“I was going to throw it away.”

“……”

“I drew it for practice because there wasn’t much else suitable to draw around. I know it was disrespectful, but I really had no other intention. I’ll go dispose of it immediately. I’m sorry.”

For someone who said she would go dispose of it immediately, Farnese was at a loss for words at the sight of her preciously hugging the drawing with both arms.

Normally, one should be extremely displeased if someone drew their face without permission.

Farnese frowned, clutching his chest that was beating irregularly as if something was broken.

“Good morning, Lady Katharine.”

A woman with an air of elegance spoke while drawing back the curtains to let sunlight into the dark bedroom.

Katharine, who had just woken up and was still groggy, realized much later that she was not a maid.

She couldn’t understand why those two indifferent maids from yesterday were gone and why a noblewoman had come in to attend to her.

“Excuse me, but who are you?”

“I am Grantia. Though temporary, I will be serving Lady Katharine for the time being. It’s a great honor to meet you like this.”

She greeted with a very graceful posture.

Feeling awkward to receive such a splendid greeting in her disheveled nightgown, Katharine also quickly paid her respects.

‘Come to think of it, the Grantia family, I feel like I’ve heard of them somewhere.’

After pondering deeply, Katharine recalled overhearing nobles talking about the Grantia family at a previous banquet.

They were one of the most prestigious families in the Renel Empire, and if her memory was correct, this noblewoman in particular was likely one of the ladies-in-waiting who had closely served the previous empress.

Why on earth had such an important family’s mistress suddenly appeared to attend to her?

“The weather is warm. It would be nice to bask in the sun after breakfast.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“What scent would you like for the perfume? The newly arrived jasmine is quite nice.”

“Then please use that.”

Countess Grantia spoke gently while brushing Katharine’s hair.

To be honest, her delicate and meticulous touch was on a completely different level from those maids yesterday.

“By the way, I don’t see the two maids who were in charge of me yesterday.”

“Those two probably won’t be coming anymore.”

“Why?”

Countess Grantia made a meaningful expression.

“Well. Don’t they have their own circumstances?”

“I suppose so? I was worried that something troublesome might have happened because of me.”

“What I can tell you is.”

Countess Grantia continued speaking while pinning a pretty butterfly-shaped clip in Katharine’s hair.

“His Majesty the Emperor is an unforgiving person.”

“Unforgiving? What do you mean by that?”

Katharine looked at the countess reflected in the mirror with a puzzled expression.

She let out a single “oh” sound a beat late, then unnaturally closed her mouth, saying she had spoken unnecessarily.

An ordinary person might have brushed it off, but Katharine, with years of experience in high society, realized she was hiding something.

What was even more incomprehensible was that she didn’t seem to be trying to hide that secret, but rather subtly letting it slip to Katharine.

As if luring a stray dog with tempting treats.

‘Countess Grantia wants to tell me something.’

Katharine decided to keep an eye on her for a while, harboring a small suspicion in her heart.

Katharine quickly became close with Countess Grantia.

She became a small source of vitality in Katharine’s daily life, like a kind mother or older sister.

Unlike someone who had lived her whole life as a high-ranking noblewoman, she was not arrogant but rather had an unassuming personality.

Just when Katharine had completely let her guard down, thinking perhaps she had been oversensitive about that strange conversation on the first day.

“My lady. Are you not going to continue painting that portrait?”

Countess Grantia said while glancing somewhere.

The unfinished portrait of Farnese was left abandoned in a corner of the room, half-hidden by a curtain.

Katharine awkwardly shrugged her shoulders.

“Why? You painted it so well.”

“It’s a serious offense to draw His Majesty’s likeness without permission in the first place.”

“You say that, but you can’t bring yourself to throw it away?”

Countess Grantia hit the nail on the head.

She would act docile but occasionally throw out pointed remarks.

“I’ve tried to throw it away several times, but it’s a bit of a shame.”

“Why don’t you finish it and give it to His Majesty? He might unexpectedly like it.”

“Even if I gave him something drawn with such clumsy skills, His Majesty would be displeased. Though he’s so kind, he’d say thank you on the outside.”

Katharine said casually while continuing to read her book.

Countess Grantia, who had been knitting as a pastime, abruptly stopped her hand holding the needle.

She held deep bewilderment in her eyes as if she had heard a ghost’s wail.

“His Majesty is kind?”

“Yes. Why?”

“No… it’s nothing.”

Countess Grantia refrained from speaking for a moment and put her knitting needles in the basket.

The knitting yarn that had been beautifully shaped in her hands was now a tangled mess.

“Countess?”

“Do you know why the atmosphere in the imperial palace has been quieter than usual these days?”

Katharine silently shook her head.

Countess Grantia continued speaking while picking up a teacup with steam rising from it.

“It’s because it will be the anniversary of the late emperor’s death in a few days. So every year around this time, all the officials are careful with their conduct.”

“Careful with their conduct?”

Countess Grantia put down her teacup and came to sit closer.

Then she took Katharine’s hand and lowered her voice even more.

“His Majesty is far more terrifying than you can imagine.”

Countess Grantia slowly tightened her grip on the hand she was holding.

“The incident that made me think that way was long ago, on the day the late emperor passed away. I had sent my lady-in-waiting on an errand to the imperial palace. But as she happened to pass by a building called the Crescent Moon Palace…”

Just as Countess Grantia was in the middle of saying something, there was a voice from outside.

“His Majesty the Emperor has arrived.”

Farnese, who entered through the opening door, slightly furrowed his brow at the sight of Katharine and Countess Grantia sitting unusually close together.

He muttered while crossing his arms askew.

“It seems you’ve become quite close while I was away.”