“Was there anyone?”

“No. There was no one, my lady.”

Joanna, who had looked outside, shook her head. Then she stood politely beside her.

Leriana calmed her momentarily anxious heart at the news that no one was there.

It was a dangerously risky conversation that no one should have heard.

Leriana glared at the door irritably.

Her soft eyes were crumpled with annoyance.

Leriana was already in a very unpleasant mood.

As Joanna reported, people in the Delgado mansion had begun to favor Dietrich.

How hard she had worked to prevent that until now.

It felt like the sandcastle she had carefully built up was crumbling in an instant.

And the cause was probably with that maid.

‘I should have killed her or driven her out of the mansion earlier.’

She had known from when she seduced the naive Yurian.

That maid was not ordinary. How dare a mere commoner covet Yurian.

It didn’t matter how she baked Dietrich. No, it was rather good.

If Dietrich fell for a cunning commoner girl with only ambition and ruined his reputation, it would be rather beneficial.

But that was limited to Dietrich.

Thinking of Yurian who only looked for the black-haired maid at the hunting competition, her anger flared up again.

Leriana clenched her teeth, feeling rising fury.

Indeed, those who didn’t know their place were the most troublesome and bothersome.

After wallowing in the dirty bottom, it takes only a moment for their eyes to turn when they get a taste of sweet power.

From then on, the stupid lowly ones chase after the star before their eyes without proper judgment.

Not knowing that a cliff lies ahead.

It was a mistake to try to use that maid to find out information about Dietrich in the first place.

Recalling the letter that listed useless information she didn’t want to know, rather than important information about Dietrich, she was exasperated again.

At that time, she thought the letter had arrived by mistake. But the next letter that arrived, and the one after that, had the same content.

In the end, Leriana, furious to the top of her head, drove Heidi to the kitchen away from the main building.

She just thought it was because the stupid commoner girl had never done spy work before.

But now, thinking back carefully, that was definitely not the case.

That cunning wench had done it with the intention of making a fool of her.

Leriana clenched and unclenched her fist, shouting towards Joanna in a voice higher than usual.

“Joanna. Do you have any good ideas for dealing with that wench?”

“If you’ll wait a moment, I’ll think of something quickly.”

Joanna answered swiftly and rolled her gray eyes. Then, seeing that the duchess’s teacup was empty, she quickly approached and poured tea into her cup.

Watching Joanna trembling and checking her mood, Leriana tried to regain her composure.

‘That’s right. I am the mistress of the Delgado ducal family and the future.’

It was wisest to obey her words like Joanna did.

Leriana really liked the obedient Joanna.

Joanna, who had been the daughter of a humble baronial family, volunteered as a maid in the Delgado ducal family to pay off her family’s snowballing debts.

Leriana liked her from the beginning with her unusually calm ash-gray hair.

Until her family’s fortunes declined, she had been well-educated at home, answering questions properly and not speaking unnecessarily.

She did what she was told without complaint and was quick-witted, doing even things she wasn’t told to do properly.

If only all the servants were like Joanna, there would be nothing so annoying.

‘Except for her humble origins, she’s really a fine girl.’

On the day Yurian becomes the head of the Delgado family, Leriana intended to promote Joanna to head maid.

Joanna’s family seemed to have already paid off their urgent debts with the money she earned as a maid.

As head maid, her salary would increase, allowing her to live a more comfortable life than before.

Then Joanna opened her mouth.

“Um, my lady. It may be a very trivial thought, but I’ve thought of something.”

“Anything is fine, tell me.”

“As far as I know, the servants are looking forward to the summer festival these days.”

“So?”

Leriana leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. It meant to continue talking.

Joanna calmly continued.

“The summer festival is a big event where many imperial citizens gather every year. It’s easy to get lost in crowded places. Would anyone notice if one maid disappeared there?”

“And?”

“Kidnapping and eliminating Heidi within the mansion seems too risky. But I thought we could use the summer festival to deal with Heidi without arousing suspicion from anyone, my lady.”

“Oh, Joanna. You are truly clever and wise.”

Leriana was genuinely impressed. Joanna might be poor, but she was wise. She knew how to survive and knew her place.

The suggestion to eliminate her at the summer festival was very good. As Joanna said, it was a perfect place to deal with a maid who didn’t know her limits.

For that, they needed to make the maid named Heidi go to the summer festival.

That wasn’t difficult. A lowly maid would eagerly accept a suddenly granted vacation.

“Then it’s best to proceed as planned. When is the summer festival?”

“In two days from now.”

“Then we must hurry. Joanna, find suitable workers. Make sure to properly end that maid’s life.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Leriana felt like she could finally breathe a little easier.

The feeling that things kept going wrong was just anxiety stemming from nervousness.

After reassuring herself like that, Leriana thought about the next task.

It wasn’t time to focus all her attention on dealing with one insignificant maid.

‘I should convene the council of elders.’

The issue of succession to the duke’s position could no longer be postponed.

The council of elders was on her and Yurian’s side anyway.

At first, there was strong resistance due to aversion towards a duchess of commoner origin, but they were quick to cling to her when she promised to give them a share of the Delgado ducal family’s wealth if she helped Yurian ascend to the position of family head.

It was an even more effective promise because the stubbornly upright Dietrich could never make such a promise.

Even when they heard that Dietrich had found the legendary sword ‘Harpe’, they insisted that only one who could truly wield the sword was qualified to be the family head, stubbornly delaying his succession to the duke’s position.

‘Wait.’

Harpe?

The duchess, slowly recalling past events, suddenly rolled the unfamiliar word ‘Harpe’ in her mouth.

Leriana, of commoner origin, had succeeded in becoming an elegant duchess by gritting her teeth and learning etiquette, but she hadn’t fully studied the past footsteps of the ancient noble Delgado family.

That’s why she didn’t know much about ‘Harpe’.

She only knew it as the sword that the council of elders had told them to find in order to eliminate Dietrich’s claim to inherit the duke’s position and buy time to promote Yurian as duke.

She tilted her head, thinking of the sword that suddenly came to mind.

Come to think of it, Dietrich said he had brought Harpe, but she had never seen it even once.

It was also because she wasn’t interested in seeing him swinging around some sword.

But Leriana’s intuition kept sending signals towards ‘Harpe’.

Although she didn’t understand, it seemed she should know something about that sword as well.

They had made a big fuss that only one who could use ‘Harpe’ was qualified to be the family head, so it would be troublesome if he were to activate that sword.

She slowly rose from her seat.

There was quite a lot to do. She couldn’t be lazy for a moment, as she always had to stay ahead of Dietrich.

She spoke to Joanna, who was waiting for her orders with her head bowed.

“Joanna. Find out about Harpe as well.”

“Ha…rpe?”

Joanna asked with a puzzled look at the unfamiliar name she was hearing for the first time.

Leriana nodded.

“Harpe. I heard it’s the Delgado family’s treasured sword. Find out everything about it in detail.”

“Yes, I understand.”

This should be enough for now.

By the time the summer festival ends, the cunning wench will already be dead.

After that, it won’t be difficult. Getting the votes of the Delgado Merchants’ Association was even easier.

Promising the revival of the merchant guild and slipping some gold and silver to the guild master made them grovel.

Since Dietrich didn’t know how to flatter or use bribes cunningly, there was no need to worry about the Merchants’ Association or the council of elders.

She planned to quickly gather the approval of the council of elders and the votes of the merchant guild before Dietrich joined hands with the imperial family.

“That’s all, go and attend to your duties.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Joanna finished her greeting and left the room.

As the door closed, Leriana quietly gazed at the sunset blazing outside the window.

It must be the same sunset she used to see in Garbage Town.

Yet the sunset viewed from the grand mansion, built up meticulously with money and power, was completely different from what she used to see crying on the streets as a child.

The young days when she was afraid of tomorrow coming were all gone.

Now all that remained was to live the rest of her life more luxuriously and elegantly than anyone else.

‘Ah, poor Kate Roen.’

Had she realized by now how great the price of carelessly sympathizing was?

A snicker escaped as she recalled Kate Roen, who had disappeared without a trace.

Both her mother and son were incomparably foolish.

Kate Roen, who couldn’t endure until the end here, will never be able to set foot in the Delgado mansion again.

Never.

‘Even compared to my childhood, Kate’s life is pitifully incomparable.’

Leriana smiled, twirling her golden hair beautifully shimmering in the sunset with her fingers.