As a result, her mood was unprecedentedly uncomfortable.

This was because Countess Tarel, hurt by the criticism of Baron Fllarino’s son, wiped away tears and revealed her inner circumstances.

Countess Tarel grew up as the illegitimate child of a nobleman.

The mother who gave birth to and raised her was a maid working in her biological father’s mansion.

She said that after her mother died of illness, her biological father came to find her.

And that biological father was a nobleman.

She had lived thinking she was a commoner, but one day a noble father appeared.

She said dreamlike days unfolded, wearing soft dresses and satin shoes that fit perfectly, eating new food at every meal.

Her biological father even registered her in the family registry and took her to the imperial palace.

At first, she was happy just to have come to the imperial palace in person, but a nightmare unfolded in the early dawn.

The Emperor quite liked Countess Tarel, and her biological father gladly pushed her into the Emperor’s bedroom.

Before she could even escape the sense of loss from losing her virginity, the Empress who came to find her said:

‘Live quietly as if you don’t exist.’

And shortly after, she had become the worst seductress who seduced and corrupted the decent Emperor.

Of course, Jieselgrante decided not to believe only Countess Tarel’s words. At least not until she knew the facts clearly.

A bitter smile appeared on Jieselgrante’s lips as she thought that far.

This was because she felt some disgust at her own human distrust.

But that didn’t mean she intended to withdraw her suspicion.

If she hadn’t been suspicious, there was a very high chance she would have died at the hands of the Empress before even becoming an adult.

‘Maybe I’ll have to drastically revise the plans I’ve made before.’

The original plan was to introduce Countess Tarel and her son Filippo to instill a sense of crisis in the Empress.

And that was their entire role.

She had no intention of defending the mistress who seduced a man with a proper wife and child.

And they also hoped to receive a corresponding reward.

But if Countess Tarel’s confession was the truth without lies, she too was a victim of the Emperor and Empress.

Jieselgrante’s gaze, which had been fixed straight ahead, turned to the distance.

She wondered if it was meaningful to use a victim to punish the perpetrator.

And in another sense, she felt grateful to Countess Tarel.

She reminded her again that her father the Emperor was such a terrible person, and revealed the Empress’s new evil deed of transforming Countess Tarel, who until yesterday was just an innocent country girl, into a seductress for her own face.

It was like giving justification once again to everything she did.

‘Of course, before that, the Emperor might not even be my real father…’

Jieselgrante’s gaze turned to her own feet as she recalled the portrait she had seen at the Duke of Cardia’s mansion.

“Welcome.”

The low voice that was heard then turned her gaze back to the front.

Cabelased was standing not far from where she was standing.

When their eyes met, Cabelased immediately walked towards her.

But his expression seemed somewhat unpleasant.

‘Did something happen?’

When she thought of Cabelased, an emotionless expression always came to mind first.

But now he looked somewhat angry.

She swallowed dry at his slightly chillingly cold expression.

‘Is the cause perhaps… me?’

For some reason, she felt like backing away and running away like this.

But she endured and stood firm on both legs.

And his next words were far from her expectations.

“Why are you making an expression like you’re about to cry?”

For a moment, she felt deflated.

“Did I look like that?”

Jieselgrante smiled brightly on purpose.

Then a crack appeared between Cabelased’s brows.

“Hiding your emotions isn’t always the best thing to do.”

“…Is that about yourself, Your Grace?”

As if it wasn’t wrong, he smiled slightly and stretched his hand towards the inside of the dining room.

“It seems you were on your way back from somewhere.”

Cabelased, seated across from her, asked as he briefly scanned her attire.

Jieselgrante nodded slightly.

“I was at the Tarel Count’s residence.”

“It seems there was someone who bothered the young lady there.”

Feeling inwardly stung, Jieselgrante narrowed her eyes.

“Were you… monitoring me by any chance?”

“I just threw it out there, but it seems it was true.”

“Actually, before coming here…”

She could pride herself on not usually being talkative.

She thought it was a waste of time unless it was about learning something new or related to work.

Even if something unpleasant happened, she forgot it quickly.

If not, she couldn’t concentrate on other things.

But why?

It felt unfamiliar to be explaining today’s events at the Tarel Count’s residence in front of Cabelased.

As the explanation continued, Cabelased’s grip on the sofa armrest tightened, but she didn’t notice this and continued speaking.

‘They say even a tree will fall if you hit it ten times… That saying was really true.’

Thinking this, Lady Greykin smiled slightly.

Her gaze was fixed on Lady Amaterasu’s face.

The occasional smile seemed to make her beautiful looks shine even more.

“Aren’t you going in?”

The butler asked curiously to Lady Greykin, who was standing at the door peeking into the dining room.

“Shh…”

She quickly brought her index finger to her lips. Then, glancing into the dining room, she led the butler into the hallway.

“…?”

Naturally, a look of puzzlement appeared on the butler’s face.

“The atmosphere between the two of them looks so good, I don’t want to disturb them.”

“Ah…!”

Only then did the butler exclaim in understanding and nod his head.

“If it’s alright with you, would you mind waiting a little longer? I’ll inform the young lady when the two of them finish their meal.”

The butler said with an apologetic expression.

“Of course. If the two people who saved my life can have an enjoyable time.”

Lady Greykin smiled brightly and turned around.

The butler bowed deeply towards Lady Greykin, who was already far away.

What she had just said was sincere.

‘If Lady Amaterasu hadn’t hurriedly come to the count’s residence after the trial and asked me to go with her…’

She would probably be a cold corpse by now.

While Baroness Zimmer could have easily disguised it as an accidental death since she was staying at a secluded villa, Lady Greykin, who was at the Greykin residence, was more likely to have been made to commit suicide.

“…”

After lowering her gaze and staring at the floor for a while, Lady Greykin was soon able to put away her gloomy emotions.

This was because she recalled the image of Lady Amaterasu who had come to find her, disguised as a person from the Radcliffe trading company.

Soon, a small smile appeared on Lady Greykin’s lips.

That day’s events remained quite an impressive memory for her.

Although it wasn’t a handsome man with flowing blonde hair who came to save her, it was satisfying enough.

‘As long as you’ve decided to be with me, I’ll make sure you take responsibility to the end, as long as you don’t betray me.’

At that moment, the image of Princess Trinity reaching out her hand to her in life came to mind. Quite strangely.

Lady Greykin, who had left the mansion, walked along the nearby walking path, admiring the intricately carved garden trees that looked like sculptures.

‘But why did I say and do such absurd things back then…’

Because she remembered the atrocities Lady Amaterasu had committed in the past, Lady Greykin found it difficult to understand the current change.

From contacting her through the Radcliffe trading company to escaping from the Greykin residence and arriving at the Duke of Cardia’s mansion without anyone knowing.

Lady Amaterasu’s plan that day was perfect in every way.

It would have been impossible without a bit of luck, along with thorough and meticulous background research and decisive action.

Rather, it seemed like something only Amaterasu, who was rumored to have had an extraordinary mind for generations, could do.

Unable to find the reason for this, Lady Greykin defined Lady Amaterasu as a very strange and fascinating person.

‘By the way, my family must be worried about me a lot…’

Thinking of her family, a sigh escaped involuntarily.

The people of the Greykin family would now think that she had gone missing.

Since she had disappeared without a trace.

Of course, after things had calmed down to some extent, it was decided to inform them that she had left the mansion voluntarily.

Before leaving the mansion with Lady Amaterasu, she had only hinted to a trustworthy maid.

To pretend not to know anything and go about her duties as usual, and only much later inform the people of the count’s family that she had disappeared.

This was all done under Lady Amaterasu’s instructions, and fortunately, the maid seemed to have handled the task well.

The people of the Greykin family seemed to be searching everywhere for her whereabouts.

She didn’t know she would be trapped motionless in a wooden box for hours.

While trapped inside, Lady Greykin inwardly suspected Lady Amaterasu.

Whether she was one of the Empress’s people, whether she had come to test her, whether she was going to harm her like this…

But soon she became certain that wasn’t the case.

Although the time she spent talking face to face with her wasn’t very long, she could feel it.

That she was a person who could sincerely empathize with others’ pain.

And now she was doing very well under the protection of the Duke of Cardia, to the point where she felt sorry for her past suspicions.

Lady Amaterasu didn’t offer any special words of comfort, but she waited until she could collect her emotions.

Strangely enough, that alone made her feel comforted.

And she also had a slightly strange illusion.

She overlapped the unrelated Lady Amaterasu with Princess Trinity.