“It’s a minor sprain. Fortunately, there’s nothing wrong with the bones, so it’s essential that you rest for a while. Don’t forget to take the medicine twice a day.”

The doctor said. Mayana sighed in relief, but Sedilloi and Joslyn showed no reaction. As the doctor gathered his leather bag for his departure, Ariante pulled the sheet with an anxious expression.

Finally, Sedilloi spoke with a short sigh.

“Joslyn, escort the teacher to the reception room and serve tea.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

After the old doctor and Joslyn left the room, Sedilloi turned sharply to Mayana. His expression was more brusque than usual, whether he was angry or not.

“Explain what happened.”

Mayana’s eyes moved from side to side for a moment.

“Well….”

“I fell while playing a prank.”

Sedilloi and Mayana looked at Ariante simultaneously. Ariante briefly met Sedilloi’s gaze, then turned her head away, her face flushed, clutching the sheet tightly.

“Is that true?” Sedilloi asked.

Mayana interjected.

“No, Your Grace. The princess….”

“It’s true. I… was hiding, trying to scare Mayana… and that’s how it happened.”

Both Sedilloi and Mayana stared at Ariante with confused expressions. But Ariante kept her lips tightly sealed with a very stubborn look.

After a moment of silence, Sedilloi said,

“Fine. It’s good that you spoke honestly, but this prank went too far. Stay in this room for a week without moving, and read ten books as punishment.”
Ariante’s pale blue eyes trembled faintly. Her lips stretched as if to drop tears soon, and Ariante, with a deflated look, nodded her head.

Sedilroy looked at Ariante with an enigmatic expression and then turned to leave the room. But before he could even get out of the living room, Mayana, who had followed him in an instant, blocked his way.

“What is it?”

Mayana glared at him with a stunned look.

“How could you do this?”

Looking tired, Sedilroy paused to touch his forehead and sighed deeply.

“What’s the problem now?”

“What do you mean, what’s the problem?”

Unknowingly raising her voice, Mayana took a quick glance at Ariante’s tightly closed bedroom door and lowered her voice. But her threatening and ferocious tone remained unchanged.

“Don’t you even worry about the princess? What kind of father does this?”

“What the heck are you talking about…”

“She’s hurt. It’s only a slight sprain, but how much it must hurt? Even though she’s like that, are you really not bothered at all, Duke?”

Sedilroy looked down at Mayana with a momentarily confused face and then frowned.

“Indeed, such a malicious prank should have been refrained from in the first place. It’s good to let Ariante be a little free, as you say, but I never said I would tolerate severe pranks.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Sedilroy interrupted Mayana’s words.

“But how could I not worry? Isn’t it because I worry that I told her not to move at all for a week? If she moves, she won’t heal properly.”

What’s wrong with this man? Mayana thought. If he were naive and stupid, she would have given up, but who is the Duke Valterminster? A competent person that no one in El Bleuen would not know by name.

A person called the right arm of King Elmerrat is Sedilroy.

How can he act so foolishly! Unless he was trying to turn her inside out and make her leave on her own, this couldn’t have happened.

“I understand. You say that’s how you worry, Duke.”

Sedilroy sighed again.

“I don’t know why you’re arguing with me like this, but please take good care of Ariante. You are partly responsible for her injury, after all.”

Sedilroy, having finished speaking, passed Mayana with a chilly attitude. The moment the door was opened, Mayana sharply turned her head and glared at Sedilroy’s back.

“Do you love your daughter, Duke?”

Sedilroy, who had stopped walking, looked back at Mayana coldly. For a moment, Mayana discovered a deep shadow of worry on his face and was taken aback.

What does that expression mean at the reception? What is that man hiding?

Sedilroy spoke after a long silence.

“She is everything to me.”

With those words, Sedilroy quickly moved away down the corridor.

Left alone, Mayana gave a hollow laugh. Then she bulged her eyes and tightly closed her lips. Sedilroy had not answered her question. He just said what he wanted to say, or what he thought he should say.

The image of Ariante falling into a hole kept popping into her head. And every time it did, it felt like her blood was boiling.

‘I won’t let whoever did this off.’

Mayana thought.

(This is a time separator.)

Whether it was due to the medicine or the shock, Ariante had been whining and fussing about sleep since early evening and soon fell into a deep slumber.

Mayana, who had been sitting beside her sewing all the time in case Ariante woke up and looked for her, carefully got up after confirming that the hand of the grandfather clock was pointing to halfpast ten. Then she lit a small oil lamp and carefully went downstairs, making sure not to attract the attention of others.
The employees’ work is usually finished by around ten o’clock. After that, they gather to play cards or go to their rooms to rest, so apart from a few in charge of the night shift, the hall was empty.

Mayana walked along the intricate hallway, muffling her footsteps. Then she arrived at the storeroom where she had found Ariante.

The storeroom door was still wide open. It seemed like the servant in charge was being negligent with their duties.

‘It works well for me.’

Mayana, holding the lamp a little higher, cautiously entered. Then she stood on the floor door where Ariante had been trapped, and peered down at it intently.