The warm colors of autumn settled calmly and the leaves of the garden trees began to fall one by one.

The scattered golden leaves slowly turned into dry brown, signaling the end of autumn.

The gardener Rico was busy moving around, sweeping up fallen leaves. As Litania had instructed, he was lighting fires in piles of dry leaves to roast chestnuts.

Some of the servants who came out smelling the savory aroma prematurely stirred the leaf piles, only to be attacked by flying chestnuts and run away screaming.

“Rico. I told you to score the chestnuts before roasting them!”

“Bah, too much talk. If you’re not satisfied, do it yourself!”

The clamorous voices filled the dry autumn garden.

Litania, sitting by the window, looked down with a smile on her face.

It was a peacefulness she was enjoying after a long time.

“Lady Litania. I’ve collected some autumn leaves for you.”

“Thank you, Snow.”

The basket Snow brought contained quite vivid scarlet and purple leaves. Judging by how neatly arranged and clean they were, it seemed Rico had taken care in selecting them.

“They’re beautiful. Snow, you have such a good eye.”

“Hehe.”

While dry fallen leaves were swept up and used for roasting chestnuts, those too pretty to burn were collected separately in baskets.

In fact, Rico had done the selection and Snow had only done the final check, but the boy didn’t bother mentioning that.

“Lady Litania. What are you going to do with these?”

“I’m going to make air fresheners.”

Litania’s new hobby lately was melting wax to make air fresheners.

On her bedside table sat a white wax tablet made with dried flower petals and small twigs. It was an air freshener made by the skilled perfumer Pope.

“With lots of fallen leaves, we can make various kinds.”

It all started when she happened to see Pope making air fresheners.

At first, she just asked how to make them out of curiosity, but the excited Pope started listing detailed production processes without even being asked.

Feeling bad about interrupting, she kept listening, and before she knew it, the practical lesson had begun.

Since it was her first attempt, the shape was uneven and the decorations were clustered in the corner, so she had originally planned to throw it away.

She gave it to Snow as a gift when he complimented it as pretty, but the boy went around bragging about it so much that afterwards, the servants would make meaningful comments whenever they met Litania.

“My lady really seems to care for Snow.”

“Huh?”

“Actually, cats are more sensitive to scents than rabbits, you know.”

“Umm?”

“My lady. Toads also have a keen sense of smell. I like the scent of flowers and tree fruits.”

“Uh, huh?”

“When it comes to smell, you can’t leave out dogs! I’m the best at searching for good scents!”

For some reason, whenever they met her, they passionately appealed about scents and smells, which seemed to be because of the air freshener.

‘Are they all feeling left out because I only gave one to Snow?’

Though she hadn’t intended to show favoritism, somehow she felt like she had become a discriminatory mistress who only gave special treatment to Snow, so Litania formally learned how to make air fresheners from Pope.

“Snow. Could you hand me that oil bottle over there?”

“Yes, Lady Litania.”

After melting small pieces of wax and adding oil on top, the scent became stronger.

Litania poured the wax into the tablet mold container and placed fallen leaves on top. Hoping that even at the end of the season, the dragon castle’s autumn would remain in the air freshener.

“Pepper likes red, so I’ll put a red maple leaf in the center for potpourri, and Simons likes purple, so maybe purple leaves would be good?”

“Lady Litania. You don’t need to be so mindful of each one. They’ll be thrilled to receive anything from you, even if you just throw them together.”

“No, it’s a gift, so I can’t make it carelessly.”

“You don’t need to give gifts to those guys in the first place, Lady Litania.”

“Snow, do you not need the gifts I give?”

“…That’s not what I meant.”

The boy visibly flustered and shuddered. His fluffy white hair stood up, looking just like ears popping up on his head, making Litania burst into laughter.

“Lady Litania, you have too much affection.”

“Oh, it’s not that difficult. It’s fun to make them too.”

“You remember everything about us.”

“Hm?”

Snow pointed to a wax tablet placed at the very edge of the table.

“This is for Hazel, right?”

“Ah, that’s right. How did you know?”

“You layered brown leaves to make it look like roasted chestnuts.”

“That’s right. Because Hazel likes chestnuts…”

“The master doesn’t know what we like.”

The master of the dragon castle had no interest in his subordinates. Even calling them by name was rare. That was considered normal.

All the servants of the dragon castle were living far beyond their original lifespans due to the magic of the supreme dragon, and their lives also depended entirely on the dragon’s will.

No one thought it strange that they received no attention at all.

But things changed when Litania came to the dragon castle.

“Lady Litania remembers all of our names and speaks to us with a smiling face.”

“That’s only natural…”

“You remember what we like and who we get along with, don’t you? That doesn’t happen even in the imperial palace, let alone the dragon castle.”

Working like shadows, standing still like still life, existing like background but leaving no trace when gone. That was the natural life of servants.

The only one who made it unnatural was Litania.

“When I’m with you, Lady Litania, I really feel alive.”

“Snow…”

“Everyone probably feels the same way. That’s why we were able to muster the courage to go against the master.”

If it was thanks to the divine dragon that they continued their lives, it was thanks to Litania that they found meaning in those lives.

How grateful is an existence that makes one realize the value of being alive.

“I’m really glad that I was the first one who could serve you, Lady Litania.”

The kind attendant who had been by her side for the longest time said with a smile.

Feeling her nose tingle, Litania wiped her face with the cloth she had set aside to wipe off the oil.

The refreshing scent of oil vibrated.

“Snow. I’ll make yours again too.”

“No need. Rather…”

“Rather?”

Snow quickly counted the number of tablets hardening in the mold with his eyes, then turned his gaze.

“Isn’t one missing?”

“Hm? That’s why I said I’d make yours again.”

“Umm. Well…”

Snow’s red eyes rolled left and right, then narrowed slightly.

“Well, I guess it’s fine.”

“What is?”

“Thank you, Lady Litania. I’ll look forward to it.”

Snow smiled so brightly that Litania found herself smiling along without knowing why.

After removing the wax tablets from the molds, Litania wrapped them in paper, tied them with ribbons, and wrote each servant’s name on the end of the ribbons.

Snow said he would distribute them himself and left the room with an armful of gift packages, while Litania tidied up the remaining materials and leaned back on the sofa with a refreshed feeling, breathing out comfortably.

‘Now it’s really peaceful.’

Litania closed her eyes as she received the sunset light seeping in through the window.

And so, the peace came to an end.

“You gave handmade gifts to the servants.”

Orbis, with a visibly angry face, came to visit.

Unlike Snow, who boasted to other servants but kept his mouth shut in front of the master, some servants who received gifts apparently got caught by Orbis.

It was awkward to say they were caught since no one had told them to keep it secret, but still.

“You’re not giving one to me?”

“What? No, I…”

Though his tone was polite, it was clear from the atmosphere that Orbis was in a considerably bad mood.

To the point where Litania wished he would refrain from using the divine dragon’s pressure for such matters.

Litania tried to wave it off with a forced smile.

“Orbis, don’t you dislike air fresheners? This is an artificial scent.”

“Are you saying there’s no share for me among the gifts you made with your own hands?”

“It’s not that grand, you know. I was just grateful for everyone working for me, so I just gave out small gifts.”

She meant to downplay the situation by saying it wasn’t a big deal, but Orbis’s expression grew even more severe.

“No one works for you as much as I do.”

It wasn’t Ferus, but Litania had never seen Orbis wear such an angry expression before.

‘Did I commit some great sin?’

For a moment, she thought she should apologize and ask for forgiveness, but then she felt wronged, thinking why she should when she hadn’t done anything particularly wrong.

“Orbis, I hear you haven’t even been going on domain patrols lately. What work are you doing?”

Although he was working just by existing, he wasn’t laboring as hard as the busy servants running around.

She meant it in that sense, but Orbis retorted in a blunt tone without so much as blinking.

“Haven’t I been doing night work?”

“…Oh my.”

“Is it not enough? Then how much more should I do to be recognized for the greatest effort?”

“Goodness, Orbis.”

“Three days? Ten days? Or a month? Should I make you live in bed until the new year dawns?”

“Stop saying such outrageous things… Eek!”

Orbis picked up the flustered Litania and headed straight for the bed.