Fritten scratched her blood-stained nails as she continued speaking.

“If you listen to me well, I’ll give you a great reward. The reward of me keeping my mouth shut.”

At those words, Remy turned pale and started begging with clasped hands.

“Please spare me, sob. If that gets found out, I’ll, I’ll…”

“Well, why did you steal your master’s belongings? Hmm? Was the jewel that pretty?”

Having discovered the weakness of the Grand Duchy’s maid, Fritten had secretly sent Amy to blackmail Remy last night while she was out. Lifting the maid’s chin with the toe of her shoe, Fritten ordered with a vicious smile.

“Don’t just tremble, answer me.”

“O-Of course. I understand.”

“Good. Now, from this point on, you’ll be the Grand Duchy’s maid who stole a guest’s valuables, blinded by a beautiful jeweled ring.”

What Fritten handed over was a small box containing a ring.

The maid’s face turned even paler as she grasped the intention. It meant using herself, the Duchess’s personal maid, to insult the Duchess. While also harping on the fact that managing subordinates is the responsibility of those above.

Her Highness would have to take responsibility and apologize for having a personal maid with sticky fingers. Envisioning that situation, she was giving this order.

When Remy hesitated for a moment, Fritten’s face, which had softened at the compliant response, turned venomous again.

“Shall I spread your secret all over town? That the Grand Duchy’s maid dared to steal her master’s things one by one?”

“N-No!”

Fritten roughly shoved it into the maid’s hand.

“You’ve stolen once, can’t you do it twice? The punishment will be lighter than for a maid who stole from the master she served.”

“B-But still…”

“I’m the only one who knows you dared to steal from the master you serve. If you follow my words, you’ll just receive the punishment for trying to steal a guest’s belongings at the Grand Duchy. I’ll even intervene on your behalf. I’ll say not to blame the maid as it’s partly my responsibility.”

Seeing the maid’s trembling hands, Fritten smirked and leaned in.

“If you behave, your misdeed won’t be spread around. Even if you end up getting kicked out of the Grand Duchy because of this, which won’t happen, I promise to take you in when you have nowhere else to go. How about it, isn’t that worth doing?”

When Fritten went that far, Remy slowly nodded as if she had no other choice. It meant she would do it, albeit reluctantly.

Satisfied with the response, Fritten dismissed the two. Left alone in the room, Fritten hummed a tune while reviewing the situation so far.

It’s going smoothly. A satisfied smile spread across Fritten’s lips. Now it’s time to start implementing the plan in earnest. Fritten vigorously scrubbed her face with a soaked towel.

* * *

“Sob, sniff.”

Delicate crying sounds echoed throughout the hallway. The out-of-place sound caught the attention of people returning to their rooms after finishing tea time.

Following the sound, they found a woman in a cherry blossom-colored dress sobbing in the middle of the corridor.

Fritten Lenoir, who had been wiping away tears alone, spotted Johan and Nocturne among the crowd and hurried over breathlessly. Her eyes were swollen red from crying.

Shocked at Fritten’s disheveled state, Johan asked.

“What’s wrong, Fritten?”

“Sniff, Johan.”

Fritten stopped in front of Johan, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and biting her lip. That pitiful gesture drew even more attention from those around.

“Why are you crying? Come on, tell me.”

At Johan’s urging, Fritten quickly scanned her surroundings through the fingers covering her face. She had drawn enough attention. Now it was time to plant a small bomb.

Fritten cried out as if unleashing pent-up resentment.

“It’s… my precious ring has disappeared.”

“Ring?”

“I was definitely wearing it this morning, but I took it off and left it on the desk in my room while washing up. And after washing, eating, and resting a bit, sniff, it vanished without a trace.”

Fritten, who had been rambling on, finally burst into tears, escalating the situation further.

“It was a birthday gift from my father. It’s a Lenoir family heirloom, and I’ve treasured it so much, sob, sniff.”

Like a cat cornering a mouse, she pushed the atmosphere to create the desired picture, reaching the climax of the situation by collapsing and shedding tears.

Her role in this play was over. The rest would be taken care of by the audience swept up in the atmosphere, the Duchess, and the maid with her weakness exposed.

Fritten buried her face in her hands, occasionally letting out sobs.

While a flustered Johan tried to comfort and soothe Fritten, Selene, who had been calmly assessing the situation, approached and asked a question.

“First, let’s calm down, young lady. As the mistress of the castle, I’ll do my best to help find the item. What does the ring look like?”

“It has an amethyst about this big set in the center of the ring.”

Lowering her hands to reveal her wet face, Fritten gestured to indicate the size while adding a plea to find it.

Selene immediately sent servants to search. Meanwhile, she sent Fritten to the reception room and dismissed the onlookers to their respective rooms, taking care of the remaining cleanup.

Shortly after, a report came that despite searching the reception room, dining room, library, bathroom, garden, and other areas, the ring was not found. Hearing the result, Selene calmly spoke.

“We’ve searched thoroughly, but the item you’re looking for hasn’t been found. Are you sure you didn’t leave it somewhere else?”

“No! I definitely left it in my room. It can’t be gone.”

“But Fritten, if it hasn’t turned up after searching this much, it might be hard to find right away. I’ll buy you a similar one, so let’s leave it at that.”

Despite Johan’s persuasion, Fritten stubbornly repeated that she couldn’t do that, like a parrot, with a hardened expression.

Feeling dizzy, Selene rubbed her forehead and ordered a nearby maid to open a window.

“You said you only went around the guest house, right? Nevertheless, just in case, I’ve ordered a search of the greenhouse, garden, and backyard as well. We’ll do our best to find the item, so why don’t you go back and rest for today?”

It had become bothersome, but she had shown her best effort and done her duty to some extent. Unable to further disrupt her schedule, Selene stood up.

“I’ll let you know immediately if it’s found.”

Gesturing to her maids, Selene took steps towards the exit.

It was then.

Creak, amidst the sound of the window opening, a muttering voice stopped her steps.

“There’s just one place we haven’t checked.”

Selene turned her head to see Fritten’s eyes staring directly at her. As their eyes met, Fritten enunciated each word emphatically, as if making a declaration.

“I know it’s an unreasonable request, but that ring is too precious to me. Please have the generosity to allow a search of Her Highness’s bedroom as well.”

Hup, the sound of servants who had been quietly listening to the situation swallowing their breath erupted from various places. Hearing the overstepping demand, Selene gradually furrowed her brow.

From a social perspective, a bedroom is a private and personal space. She must know that even for an honored guest, carelessly mentioning the host’s bedroom is considered rude behavior. Selene straightened her body to face forward.

Naturally, she couldn’t allow it.

“You know it’s unreasonable. I don’t need to answer separately, do I?”

“If Your Highness doesn’t help, I’ll never find that ring.”

“It seems there’s nothing more I can do to help here.”

Selene firmly expressed her refusal and left the room. Then, the young lady who followed her into the hallway made an unexpected move.

Thud.

“!”

Murmurs of commotion erupted from the surroundings, and even Selene couldn’t hide her perplexed expression as she called out to Fritten.

“Lady Lenoir.”

“I… want to explore all possibilities.”

Fritten had suddenly knelt down in front of the Duchess. Kneeling with an audible thud, Fritten began to plead in a tear-soaked voice.

“We’ve searched everywhere, but the ring hasn’t turned up, and the only place left is your bedroom.”

“No…”

“That ring is a family heirloom. The Lenoir family may be humble, but that heirloom is the most precious thing in the world to me. Please, please show me this grace.”

Selene looked down at Fritten with bewildered eyes.

If it was that precious, you should have taken better care of it. The desire to reprimand rose to the tip of her tongue.

Meanwhile, the gazes watching the scene were starting to lean towards sympathizing with Fritten. It would have been easier to respond if she had gotten angry instead. By pleading tearfully, the situation became quite awkward.

Let’s just end this quickly. Making a swift decision, Selene called a few maids and gave orders.

“Search quickly.”

The maids who received the order headed towards the bedroom in an orderly fashion. Seeing this, Fritten’s eyes narrowed secretively.

‘Everything’s going according to plan so far.’

When the maids go to the Duchess’s bedroom, they’ll see the maid fiddling with the ring there. Caught stealing, the maid will confess that she stole it because it was too pretty.

Then people will treat the Duchess as an incompetent master who can’t even manage one subordinate properly, while simultaneously thinking:

The maid was in the Duchess’s bedroom? Could it be that the Duchess deliberately had her steal? Otherwise, why would she be in the bedroom of all places? As if the Duchess had hidden the maid.

Oh, maybe the Duchess ordered the maid to steal and then framed her. It’s quite possible, isn’t it?

That ‘crazy Duchess’.

Given the Duchess’s past actions, they would think it’s a reasonable suspicion.

If public opinion flows in that direction, all she would need to do is casually add, “Come to think of it, I think I saw the Duchess eyeing my ring covetously.” That statement would add fuel to the speculation like oil poured on a fire.

Spotting a maid running from the end of the corridor, Fritten secretly raised the corners of her mouth. But a strange feeling came over her when the maid was close enough to recognize her face.

“I found it, the ring!”

The one who came running with the ring was Remy, the maid with her hair in two braids.