A maid I hadn’t seen before was lying on the floor. Next to her, Nathaniel was standing with a terrifying expression.

I was frozen by his murderous intent, even though I knew nothing of the situation.

“What, what are you doing now!”

Bright red eyes shone sharply toward me. I flinched for a moment, but did not retreat.

I casually walked over and took Nathaniel’s hand.

“Nathaniel.”

His gaze fell to the maid. The trembling woman was a face I had never seen before in the crown prince’s palace.

‘Her clothes seem somewhat strange?’

The material was too fine to be called the basic uniform that was distributed.

Furthermore, there were bracelets and necklaces.

I roughly grasped the situation.

Some insane family had ignored Nathaniel’s words and disguised the woman as a maid to infiltrate.

“I’ll take care of this.”

“You?”

“Yes. It’s an internal matter in the crown prince’s palace, so it’s right for me to handle it.”

He, who had been looking at the woman, nodded his head. I ordered another maid to imprison the woman in the underground dungeon.

Then, I dragged Nathaniel out and took him to the small reception room next to the bedroom.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“I thought she came to clean the room, but she suddenly started taking off her clothes.”

“Oh…….”

I was momentarily at a loss for words.

I never imagined it would be so blatant.

“I clearly told them not to leave it alone at that time, but it seems everyone takes me lightly.”

I involuntarily shrank my neck from his vivid murderous intent. I was worried that he might make a big fuss.

First, I needed to calm his anger.

“What punishment do you want?”

“Just as I said then. The woman will be executed, and the family will be wiped out.”

At the sound of wiping out a family, I grabbed his hand tightly.

According to the original work, what he had to be most careful about was antagonizing the noble faction. It was a decisive reason for his narrowing position in the original work.

“That seems like an excessive punishment.”

“They blatantly invaded the crown prince’s palace and violated my direct orders. Of course, I must do that much.”

Of course, his words weren’t wrong. But I still thought it was too harsh a punishment.

“You said earlier that you would leave this matter to me.”

“You won’t handle it as I said.”

“Right. It’s not such a big deal, and I’ll handle it within reasonable limits.”

Suddenly, my fatherinlaw became quiet.

Nathaniel’s back, the window, the shadow deepened on his face as the sun went over.

So I couldn’t see his expression.

I squinted my eyes, trying to see what expression he was making.

“Do as you like.”

I stiffened at the cold voice. He stood up from his seat and passed by me.

I felt that I couldn’t let him go like this.

“Wait a moment!”

I reflexively grabbed his arm.

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“I told you to do as you like, why are you holding me?”

I inadvertently stepped back from the lookingdown gaze. Nathaniel flicked his clothes and just left the room.

“What, what’s this?”

I felt the disappointment in the brief eye contact.

‘Why?’

I was more bewildered than when I saw his murderous look earlier. It was even more so because I didn’t know the reason.

I pondered the reason for a long while in that place.

(This is a time separator.)

The next morning.

I sat down at the table for breakfast, pressing my throbbing head.

I spread jam and butter on the freshly toasted bread and added cheese.

Biting a mouthful, I stared at the empty chair on the opposite side.

Last night, Nathaniel did come to sleep. And he dutifully taught me magic and slept soundly.

It was a routine as usual, but it was different from usual.

Things like expressions or the atmosphere.

“Sigh…….”

I was doubtful, but I became sure when I woke up in the morning. Nathaniel, who would usually wake up later than me, was already absent from his seat.
I pricked the sausages grilled with a fork and reminisced about yesterday’s events.

“What did I do wrong?”

No matter how I thought about it, it seemed I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Haah…….”

First, I must quickly finish my meal and meet the maid who secretly came in.

(This is a time separator.)

After finishing my meal and changing my clothes, I went down to the underground dungeon.

As I opened the door to the fermentation room in the damp underground, the maid who had been brought yesterday was tied to a chair.

A woman with long blonde hair and green eyes glared at me as she raised her head.

‘What’s this? She looks similar to me.’

The knights shouted angrily as they slammed her face on the table.

“How dare you raise your head!”

“That’s enough. You all leave.”

“But!”

“She’s tied up, and she doesn’t have any significant power, does she?”

She neither knew how to use magic nor had a winged mount, so she was no different from an ordinary woman.

“Leave.”

“Yes.”

Reluctantly, the knights left the room. Alone, I sat across from her.

“You haven’t even revealed your name.”

“If I reveal my name, you will kill everyone, won’t you?”

Indeed. It seems she came in knowing.