Despite Anna’s attempts to stop her, Serena only changed her clothes and went straight to bed, falling asleep as if fainting. Although the unfamiliar bedding should have been uncomfortable, the journey by carriage had been so terrible that this felt like heaven.

“Young lady, please wake up!”

Anna shook her body vigorously, but Serena was still in a drunken state of sleep.

“Young lady!”

Why the fuss to wake up right after lying down? As Serena thought resentfully and buried her face deeper into the pillow, suddenly the blanket was yanked off and a cold air enveloped her entire body.

“What… is this…”

As Serena forcibly woke up and rubbed her eyes, she saw Anna stomping her feet beside her and the face of an unfamiliar old lady. Seeing the blanket in the old lady’s hand, the culprit was clear.

“What? I just fell asleep.”

At Serena’s irritated words, the old lady didn’t bat an eye and gestured towards the young maid. Then the curtains were flung open, and sunlight poured in, dazzling her eyes.

“I apologize, but it’s already morning.”

Did a whole night really pass just after lying down? Serena couldn’t believe it, but with the sun shining brightly, she couldn’t argue either.

“I am Nora, in charge of the maids in this mansion.”

Only then could she barely recognize the head maid that the Marchioness had introduced yesterday.

“Attending to me should be Anna’s job.”

Serena said as she sat up, fully awake now. Her beautiful face was already full of dissatisfaction. Not because her deep sleep was disturbed, but because the disrespectful manner was vexing.

“Yes. I told Lady Anna several times that she needed to wake you up, but as time was running late, I assisted.”

“Assisted? By snatching the blanket off a sleeping person?”

Nora, without showing any sign of fear, slightly bent her knees in courtesy and then handed the blanket to the young maid.

“I couldn’t dare lay hands on your noble body, so I helped you wake up.”

While the Marchioness’s attitude last night was very kind, seeing the head maid behave like this, it was not something to be taken lightly.

“The royal wedding is only two weeks away. There’s much to prepare, so you’ll need to get up early for the time being.”

Serena was someone who used to wake up earlier than anyone in Astel territory. Today, she was tired from the journey and her sleep had extended, but the attitude of not tolerating even one day was very irritating.

“The bride’s preparations for the royal wedding are entrusted to the Marchioness, so no mishaps should occur.”

In the end, it was for self-preservation. Roger must have thought that since the Marquis of Sherwood was his cousin, he would take care of her like family, but seeing the head maid’s attitude, it didn’t seem to be exactly the case.

“First, let me tell the head maid… I usually start my day by waking up at 7 AM.”

Serena stared at Nora and gulped down the water at her bedside.

“Also…”

But before Serena could continue, Nora bent her knees once more in courtesy and opened her mouth with a stern face.

“I apologize, but it is the Marchioness’s order to correct your mistakes as they occur.”

“…What?”

“First, you can address me as Lady Nora. From now on, I will assist you with everything in this mansion.”

Anna also openly showed a displeased expression, but it seemed she couldn’t step forward first because Serena was present.

“There’s no need to wake up at 7. Currently, due to the royal wedding preparations, you need to wake up at 9, but it is proper etiquette for a noble lady to wake up only when the maid comes to wake her after 10 o’clock.”

Serena became the person in this unfamiliar story just before the engagement ceremony. At that time, her only family, her father the Duke of Astel, was wandering, and Anna was only carefully tending to Serena who was suffering from a high fever.

“It sounds like the head maid… no, Lady Nora, is trying to teach me etiquette.”

“That’s correct. From today, you will be learning the etiquette of the imperial palace.”

At Nora’s words, Serena frowned even more severely.

She had never thought about imperial etiquette, and after the terrible engagement ceremony, she went to Astel territory and did everything she wanted freely, so this was her first time being constrained as a noble lady.

“What if I say I don’t need teaching?”

“The Marchioness is waiting, so let’s finish your grooming and inquire with her.”

At least she wouldn’t cross the line as a head maid. Nora left the room, telling Anna to hurry with the grooming.

“I’m sorry, young lady.”

“No, it’s not your fault, Anna.”

Thinking of Anna who must have been in an awkward position, she felt sorry for oversleeping. Of course, she was also displeased with Lady Nora.

“The Marchioness is too much. Knowing full well how tired you were from the long journey, to do this on the very first morning…”

Anna had said everything Serena wanted to say, so there was nothing to add.

“Yes, we’ll find out when we ask her directly.”

Serena’s sharp eyes glared into the empty space.

When Serena finished her grooming and arrived at the reception room on the first floor, the Marchioness, who had been sitting and drinking tea, stood up with a smile and gave a light courtesy.

“You must have been tired from the journey, I hope you rested well. Actually, I wanted to let you rest for one more day, but the schedule is so tight… Please understand, young lady.”

As Miranda took the initiative, Serena had nothing more to say. After all, the Marchioness was in charge of the bride’s preparations for the royal wedding, so it was natural to hurry within the schedule with only two weeks left.

“I understand the urgency, but the head maid’s attitude was a bit disrespectful.”

Serena spoke directly, but Miranda still maintained her smile.

“Which part was disrespectful? I will teach her a lesson.”

“Isn’t it disrespectful that she entered my bedroom and took away my blanket when there’s already a maid in charge of taking care of me?”

“Oh my.”

Miranda’s face, as she fiddled with the fan in her hand, showed not a trace of embarrassment.

“When my daughter was young and threw tantrums in her sleep, I used to wake her up like that too. I’ve even splashed water on her face many times, but I guess they couldn’t dare do that to you, a noble young lady.”

They say you can’t curse at a smiling face, but this artificial smile was already displeasing. Moreover, wasn’t she now saying that Serena was worse than her daughter when she was young?

“There’s only two weeks left until the royal wedding, so time is short.”

“I know the date too.”

Miranda shook her head slowly without removing her smile.

“Lady Serena. At this rate, forget about the royal wedding, you won’t even be able to greet society.”

Her navy blue eyes looked straight at Serena.

“If that happens, it will tarnish the long-standing Astel ducal family.”

It was an insult to say that she didn’t know etiquette as a duke’s daughter, but Serena had no intention of denying it. In fact, it was she who chose such a life, and thanks to abandoning formalities for the past 6 years, Astel had become more prosperous.

“I suppose it depends on what the standard of honor is.”

Serena’s past life was too harsh to be pushed around by such a supporting character. This wasn’t the first person to speak thorns while smiling at her.

“His Highness the Crown Prince personally came to Astel territory to see me and stayed at the duke’s residence for several days.”

Her blue eyes shone brightly.

“His Highness was pleased with all my words and actions, does the Marchioness think that the Prince’s taste or discernment is lacking?”

She was a more formidable opponent than Miranda had expected. She gripped her fan tightly while maintaining her smile.

“How could that be. However… there are separate rules for noble ladies that men don’t know about, and I’d like to say that as the future Crown Princess, you must surely become accustomed to them.”

“If I don’t know the rules, can I not become the Crown Princess?”

If so, it was the best for Serena. She was full of desire to do more ignorant things and be driven out. But Lucas would not give up the engagement no matter how strange things Serena did.

“It would be difficult to become an excellent Crown Princess.”

It was a cautious and cold answer. Indeed, it was befitting of a noble who had sneered at Serena’s large build during the engagement ceremony.

“Ah yes, your luggage carriage arrived earlier… When I looked through it first, there were many things unsuitable to bring into the imperial palace.”

“Why my belongings?”

“Because they don’t suit the dignity of the imperial palace.”

She had carefully chosen only items filled with memories of Astel, as she could only bring a few things. Of course, one couldn’t expect dignity from worn and memory-filled objects.

“Don’t worry, young lady. We will prepare all the necessary items anew from our Sherwood marquis family.”

“I don’t need that. I like the items I brought.”

“Oh my, what shall we do…”

Seeing the Marchioness’s raised corners of her mouth, she had an ominous feeling.

“To be honest, thinking they were the employees’ belongings, we threw away those items.”

“You threw away my things? Without my permission?”

“Our butler made a mistake. But if they were items that even a mere marquis’s butler would throw away, they couldn’t enter the imperial palace anyway… Please forgive us, okay?”

Miranda’s expression showed no sign of seeking forgiveness, but since the items had already been thrown away, what more could be done by arguing?

Anyway, Miranda would have disposed of them regardless of whose belongings they were. For the sake of her own face as the one in charge of the bride’s preparations.

“More importantly, we need to groom you. Soon, a lady from the imperial palace will come to teach etiquette.”

She had already been groomed with Anna’s help before coming out, so she couldn’t understand what this meant.

“Oh dear… It seems our head maid woke you up in such a hurry that she didn’t give you time to change out of your nightwear. I’ll scold her severely.”

Seeing Miranda smiling brightly, Serena keenly felt that the times when she was tormented by Hyde and Lucas were better than this.