Perhaps Natasha also did not want to open the Blue Beard’s door. She did not pester Sieghart, who was trying to hide the truth.

The situation demanding confession was thus covered up.

Afterwards, Natasha barely calmed down while being comforted by Sieghart. Exhausted from crying, she fell asleep as if collapsing.

The voice did not appear.

Today, which I thought would be a very deep day, passed unexpectedly quickly.

The next morning, Natasha woke up feeling the bright sunlight after a long time. It seemed Sieghart had raised all the curtains in the bedroom.

On the side table next to the bed were a teacup and a letter. Judging by how it was still hot, he must have left the room not long ago.

“May your day be peaceful, my lady.”

The phrase written on the outer envelope caught her eye. It was amusing that the man who knew better than anyone that today could not be peaceful would say such a thing.

Still, as Sieghart wished, Natasha was more peaceful than yesterday.

Opening and reading the letter, she found his schedule meticulously detailed inside. He had even kindly specified where or whom to find in order to call for him.

Natasha put the finished letter back on the table. She also neatly placed the empty teacup on its saucer.

After stretching fully, she eventually rang the bell.

“D-Did you call, my lady?”

A maid who came running shortly after asked in a faint voice.

The lady, who had been confined to her bedroom for a while, had also avoided meeting with the servants.

Occasionally, when the lady rang the bell used to call servants, it was mostly due to accidental calls, resulting in many fruitless trips.

So this time too, the maid seemed to believe it was a mistaken call.

But when the duchess’s confirmation came, she rushed into the room, surprised and flustered.

“Wh-What can I help you with? Please just tell me!”

The day before had been the worst day for the duchess. Since she couldn’t have pulled herself together as soon as dawn broke, the maid became very tense.

Fearing that the ailing lady might give some strange order, she was already intimidated.

“Oh, it’s nothing much. I was hoping you could help me with my grooming.”

Contrary to expectations, the duchess gave a normal order. Moreover, her tone of command was more peaceful than usual.

Is she alright?

The maid hesitated, unable to easily grasp the situation. The pressure was immense, fearing that if she acted rashly and made a mistake, it could be a big problem.

Then, suddenly encountering the duchess’s lovely smile, she gained confidence.

“Of course, I’d be glad to help!”

The maid who received the request soon returned with a group.

Even though there was no separate outing today, and it was just changing from nightwear to indoor clothes, several maids were assigned to help with the grooming. They chatted beside her with smiling faces, trying to brighten the mood.

They earnestly suggested trying something new today, saying that the bright dress she wore on the day she had tea time in the flower garden suited her very well.

“Shall we?”

“Yes! You really looked great that day! Oh, by the way, there’s a new dress that just came in under your name recently! Would you like to try it on as a sample?”

“Why try on indoor clothes? If it doesn’t suit me, I can just wear it anyway. I’ll try it on, so please prepare it quickly. I just remembered I have work to look at this morning.”

“Yes! I’ll be right back!”

The maid who had been most enthusiastically agreeing took her colleagues and headed to the dressing room.

After pleasantly finishing her preparations, her next destination was her private office.

Come to think of it, it had been over a week since she had neglected this place. Yet, could a reunion after just a week feel this unfamiliar and even welcoming?

“On your way back, could you call for Jenkins?”

“Yes! Certainly. Have a good day today as well!”

“Thank you, you have a good day too.”

She had something work-related to discuss with Jenkins. Natasha asked the maid to call him, then slowly looked around her office.

Even though the owner showed no signs of coming, they had kept it clean. The table was so spotless that not a speck of dust stuck to her fingers when she unconsciously touched it.

She brought a notebook and fountain pen necessary for work and placed them in the center of the desk. She took out the glasses she had put in the second drawer and wiped the lenses well with a cloth.

Good, she seemed satisfied with the transparent world visible through the lenses as she put on her glasses.

Meanwhile, Jenkins, who had arrived quickly, made his appearance. After three knocks, he entered and bowed politely in greeting.

“I heard you called for me, my lady.”

“Yes, Jenkins. I’d like to know the ducal house’s schedule. Are there any major events planned for the duchy in about a month?”

“No, there are none.”

“Is that so? Then we should be able to easily carry out the plan.”

Natasha smiled slightly and continued speaking.

“I’m thinking of holding a harvest festival.”

“A harvest festival?”

“Yes, all the influential families in the empire have either hosted festivals or contributed to hosting them. The Asthart duchy is the only one that has neglected and ignored the empire’s achievements.”

She was more than a little worried that only the duchy had not celebrated Victory Commemoration Day, considered the biggest festival in the empire during Kyle Letius’s reign.

Moreover, this time the imperial family had grandly celebrated the festival at the imperial palace as if displaying their achievements, and the duchy couldn’t fall behind.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“This is a matter of preserving our pride.”

She could no longer bear to see the newspapers covered with articles about the imperial family.

She didn’t want to know how much love the event hosted by the imperial family had received from the people, or how much respect and congratulations it had received from other countries and principalities.

However, she couldn’t burn all the newspapers either. Nor could she threaten them with money not to write articles…

She decided to cover the empire’s attention with the duchy’s achievements.

If last year was an outdoor banquet, this year would be a harvest festival.

Moreover, unlike other regions and families that shared pies on the festival day, the Asthart duchy, which was a step behind, would instead monopolize people’s attention and love.

Jenkins, upon discovering the duchess’s sparkling eyes, gave up on persuasion. At this point, he had to make it an official duty within the mansion.

Receiving the duchess’s passion, Jenkins showed firm resolve to obtain the duke’s permission. He quickly left and later came running back, waving a paper with Sieghart Asthart’s confirmation signature.

“Do you perhaps have any plans for the harvest festival? If you could explain even roughly, we’ll provide more opinions related to it.”

“The reason the Victory Commemoration Festival has become a major culture is probably because of the active participation of the people. The fact that the harvest festival has been steadily loved for hundreds of years is also all thanks to the people’s interest.”

“Yes, it seems that getting the attention of the imperial citizens should be the priority. Um, then how about expecting the Pope’s blessing again this time?”

“People worship the Pope like a god because His Holiness exists only in the temple. It wouldn’t be good for him to keep appearing in public for a short period.”

Jenkins nodded with a face that seemed to take note, as if realizing his thought had been short-sighted.

The duchess was right. Moreover, last year there was at least a good pretext of selecting honorary knights, but this year there was no other pretext. He could easily be used as a political tool if not careful.

“Is there a separate annex that can be used in the center, not in the suburbs?”

“Yes, there is one. It’s a bit smaller than the annex you used for the last party.”

“I don’t think it needs to be that big. Still, I think we’ll need detailed information like the area, number of rooms, capacity, and so on.”

“Yes, I’ll find out right away.”

Jenkins moved swiftly. There was no need to be this urgent, but his steps became busy as his heart inexplicably raced.

It had been a long time since he had such busy days, but strangely, he felt excited rather than burdened. He had the terrifying thought that he could die happily from overwork.

While the Asthart duchy would take charge of the hosting itself, other northern families also agreed to cooperate.

There was no need for aid, but since it was a harvest festival for the entire north, not just the duchy’s power, it wouldn’t be right to act alone.

While the Asthart duchy would be responsible for providing the venue and planning the event, other nobles agreed to bear the costs and supplies.

The venue was set as the Asthart duchy’s annex in the city center.

Thanks to the building being larger than expected, they could proceed with two activities as originally planned. Instead, the areas for each activity would be thoroughly divided and conducted separately.

The largest room was decorated as a prayer room where farmers could thank for this year’s harvest and pray for next year’s abundance. A small donation box—for appearances—was also to be placed inside the prayer room.

And at a bit of a distance, a dining room was arranged where people could eat. It was decided to serve a buffet so they could eat a variety of foods to their heart’s content.

While searching for ways to procure supplies from cooperating nobles, Natasha planned to hold an auction for the nobles attending the harvest festival.

Half of the auction proceeds would be used for hosting costs, while the other half would be used to buy grain to donate to imperial citizens who would spend a bleak winter.

She handed over the plan based on this to Jenkins. After reading the document seriously, he clapped with a beaming face.

Saying how amazing Natasha was for perfectly planning in such a short time, he informed her that he would make a few modifications before submitting the final plan to the duke.