“Then I will take my leave. Please enjoy your cozy time together.”

The young lady of Count Greykin smiled sweetly and bowed to Cabelased.

As Jieselgrante watched the young lady of Count Greykin hastily leave, her lips trembled.

Cabelased approached with large strides and sat down next to her, saying:

“If I had known you would be waiting for me, I would have returned to the mansion earlier. Even if I had to delegate my work to someone else.”

Cabelased’s gaze on her profile was hotter than ever before.

Trying to change the atmosphere that was becoming strange, Jieselgrante hurriedly opened her mouth.

“I was just worried that the Duke might have been exposed to a dangerous situation…”

As she said this, Jieselgrante glanced here and there at Cabelased’s body.

Cabelased was pleased by her attentive gaze, carefully checking if he had any injuries.

“So you mean you were restless with worry that I might get hurt? Is that why you couldn’t properly enjoy your tea time with the young lady of Count Greykin?”

“…Pardon?”

Cabelased looked back and forth between the two teacups on the table as he spoke.

“This teacup is empty, but this other one is full of tea.”

“…”

“I suppose we could interpret this as one person enjoying their tea without worry, while the other could not?”

The dessert plates next to the teacups were the same.

The dessert in front of Jieselgrante looked untouched, as if it had just been served.

“Ah…”

While it was a rather thorough analysis, Jieselgrante’s dilemma deepened.

Should she tell Cabelased the truth about his misunderstanding, or leave it as is?

Both she and the young lady of Count Greykin were on their second cup.

The reason she hadn’t touched the dessert was simply because it wasn’t to her taste.

Meanwhile, the butler approached and cleared away the slightly cooled teacup and the empty one.

And he set down new teacups on the table. He poured steaming hot water generously into the cups.

Jieselgrante quietly watched as the tea leaves swirled and danced, turning the water a deep red color.

In the meantime, the butler brought out fresh desserts to accompany the tea.

“Go ahead. I’ve returned safely, so you can relax now.”

Cabelased’s expression looked quite satisfied as he said this, so Jieselgrante decided not to add anything and opened her mouth.

“So, how did things go at the Imperial Palace today?”

Cabelased set his teacup down on the table and answered.

“It seems you were concerned. Judging by the fact that you not only deployed additional personnel to the location written on the parchment, but also came out yourself.”

Ola, who had infiltrated the Imperial Palace that day as a maid following Cabelased, had reported similar circumstances.

She pretended to pick up the dropped parchment and tried to speak to Marchioness Ratse, but the Marchioness ignored Ola and left immediately.

After that, a knight with a fierce expression appeared and questioned Ola about what had happened.

As if he had been monitoring Marchioness Ratse.

Then Ola was dragged away by the knight, and soon found herself face to face with the Empress.

Although it was a situation she had sufficiently anticipated, Ola seemed to have handled it calmly despite being startled by the ensuing sharp interrogation.

She added that she had been a little worried about disappearing from the Imperial Palace without a trace.

But fortunately, both the Empress and the knight seemed to have let her go quickly.

Perhaps they were so angered by Marchioness Ratse’s betrayal that they didn’t feel the need to investigate the identity of the maid who had witnessed it.

Having finished his answer, Cabelased whispered softly.

“If your curiosity is satisfied, why don’t you try worrying about me some more?”

She gently placed her hand on top of Cabelased’s hand resting on the table.

Cabelased’s dark eyes widened slightly, as if her friendly gesture was unexpected.

And soon his eyes curved into an elegant arc.

“…Please also tell me what happened after you encountered Duke Ratse.”

She hurriedly spoke to shake off her embarrassment.

“It was nothing special. I just stalled for time so that Viscount Antares could witness Ratse and me together…”

Cabelased continued speaking while fiddling with her fingers, turning his palm up.

“It was a bit awkward, though.”

“In what way?”

“I tend to be wary of wasting time with unnecessary conversation.”

As this was something she already knew well, Jieselgrante nodded.

“Of course, I’m familiar enough with methods to keep a conversation going without breaking, so it wasn’t difficult.”

“So what did you talk about with Duke Ratse?”

“I vaguely remembered hearing that Duke Ratse liked Lira. So all I did was ask questions about Lira to let Duke Ratse ramble on as much as he wanted.”

“Ah…”

Jieselgrante’s mouth opened slightly. This was something she knew as well. That bringing up that topic would make Duke Antares uncharacteristically talkative.

Cabelased, who had been fiddling with Jieselgrante’s small hand, intertwined his fingers with hers and stared at her intently.

“Now I’d like to hear your story.”

“My story?”

Jieselgrante’s head tilted in confusion at his sudden words. Then Cabelased continued.

“How your day was, little things like that.”

She found it a bit strange that he was curious about such things.

‘Didn’t he say he was wary of wasting time with unnecessary conversation?’

Nevertheless, Jieselgrante thought back on how her day had been. And she slowly opened her mouth.

“There wasn’t anything particularly special…”

“It seems you haven’t had a proper rest in a while, so I was thinking of giving you a vacation this time.”

The Empress said after calling Marchioness Ratse aside.

“…A vacation?”

Marchioness Ratse’s eyes widened in surprise.

She had apparently expected to be given a secret task away from the other ladies-in-waiting.

“I thought you might need to rest and recharge occasionally. It seems you’ve been struggling to fill Countess Minster’s vacant position alone…”

“…”

Marchioness Ratse’s eyes reddened slightly, as if touched by the Empress recognizing her hard work.

However, as if she had soon made a rational judgment, she raised a question.

“But given the current situation, for me to take a break…”

Marchioness Ratse trailed off, watching the Empress’s reaction.

“Yes. It’s true that the current situation is worse than ever.”

The voice that flowed from the Empress’s lips was quite calm. But her inner thoughts were more turbulent than ever.

A few days ago, thanks to Viscount Antares, she had caught sight of Duke Cardia and Duke Ratse together.

It was thanks to the piece of parchment that Marchioness Ratse had dropped.

“However, that’s precisely why we need to take a step back. The more anxious we become, the deeper we may sink into the quagmire.”

Marchioness Ratse, who had been wearing a puzzled expression for a while, nodded slightly.

“I heard you’ve been saying you wanted to travel to the hot springs in the north for some time…”

The Empress trailed off, observing Marchioness Ratse’s expression.

“You remembered! I had been thinking I’d like to visit sometime if I got the chance…”

Marchioness Ratse spoke somewhat dramatically.

“I hear the villa we prepared on the nearby land was recently completed, so take this opportunity to go on a cozy family trip.”

“…”

“It would be a bit of a detour, but I would appreciate it if you could stop by the west on your way.”

“The west…”

As the Empress finished speaking, Marchioness Ratse’s eyes widened slightly.

Soon, as if she had realized something, her eyes sparkled and she nodded.

In the western part of the empire lived the barbarian tribes.

The Empress had received help from the barbarian chief before.

“I understand. It will be a bit of a roundabout journey, but I’ll be able to enjoy the west’s scenery after a long time. Thank you, Your Majesty.”

The Empress noticed that Marchioness Ratse was greatly mistaken, but decided to leave it be.

Dealing with the western barbarians was very delicate for the Empress as well.

It was one of the things the Empress of the empire should never do, and if she made a mistake, she could be accused of colluding with an enemy country.

As such, she decided to let Marchioness Ratse believe that she still had the Empress’s trust and was leaving on a distant journey to carry out a secret task.

“It would be better to hurry your departure. Go and prepare to leave now.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

After sending off Marchioness Ratse with a bright face, the Empress made her way to her office.

And she encountered an attendant who was hurriedly walking towards the office.

“Y-Your Majesty! It’s t-terrible!”