‘Could it be a trap?’

Tikan’s thoughts were not much different from Casius’.

However, he could not bring himself to ask his lord directly.

It was easy to imagine how much worry and concern his lord must have gone through to give such an order.

The time that had passed since leaving Vivian’s palace proved it.

Tikan tried to dissuade his lord with a voice full of concern.

“Your Highness, it is an honor that you would go this far for my family. However…”

Tikan trailed off after that.

Casius, understanding his intention, raised his hand to stop him.

“This is for my sake.”

It was a blatant lie.

To say that enduring all the losses was for his own sake when it was clearly for the sake of the Rosemary family.

Tikan had no way to further dissuade his lord.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t such a dangerous matter.

Even if there was a trap, it was also the duty of a knight protecting his lord to handle it well.

Like a faithful knight, Tikan showed proper respect and soon disappeared to carry out the order.

Left alone, Casius once again sank into deep thought.

Vivian was truly a strange woman.

Previously she had handed over the Benedict trade route, and now she was going to ruin an important business of her own family with her own hands.

‘Is she really a woman without any thoughts?’

No, Vivian after becoming the Crown Princess was not the stupid and pathetic woman he had originally known.

When viewed without prejudice, she was surprisingly good at reading the situation.

It was almost doubtful whether what she had shown before was all due to being oppressed by Duke Diarob – as Vivian claimed.

‘Since the matter is not yet concluded, the result will come out one way or another if we wait.’

Either she had deceived him again this time, or she had really passed on information that cut into her own flesh.

He secretly hoped that even if things got complicated, it would be revealed that she had deceived him this time.

It felt like that was the only way he could cut off this complicated hook in his heart.

*

Time flowed relentlessly.

Since the coronation was such an important event, one conference schedule was canceled before it, leaving only one major conference remaining.

The period was only a week away, so this issue had to be concluded before then.

If not, Diarob would somehow secure funding, and who knew what scheme Bashubir would devise before that.

If Birlof was not caught quickly, Rosemary territory would lose even its qualification as a candidate.

Originally, explanations lose their value if not made quickly. At least in the public opinion battle among the nobles.

Though I thought Casius would surely handle it, his angry steps when I last saw him made me uneasy.

At that moment, there was a sound from outside.

“Your Highness, it’s Marianne.”

“Come in.”

My body, which had tensed thinking it might be Casius, changed to complex emotions when I confirmed it was Marianne.

To relaxation and disappointment.

“What is it?”

“The Duke told me to brew this for you first.”

What was placed before me was a tea with warm steam rising from it.

It was clearly the tea that bastard Duke had mentioned before leaving.

As I took a sip, a bitter taste slid down my throat.

‘Hah, to think of giving me tea good for pregnancy in this situation.’

A wry laugh escaped.

At the same time, the nonsense Diarob had spouted filled my mind.

‘Casius will come to my room at the coronation?’

I had brushed it off then, being in a hurry to send him away, but the more I recalled Diarob’s words, the stranger it seemed.

‘Surely he knows that I’ve grown distant from Casius…’

Telling me to seduce Casius was rather a possible idea from Diarob’s unscrupulous mind.

But this time, it was strange that he was so certain Casius would come to me on the night of the coronation.

‘What kind of trick is he trying to pull now? Is he planning to pressure the priests to make it so Casius has no choice but to come?’

There was no other sensible possibility besides that.

Anyway, if I could use Diarob’s coercion as an excuse to spend the night with Casius, it would be a good opportunity for me.

As I was concluding that it would be good to take advantage of it, a loud crackling sound came from nearby.

When I turned my head, shards of broken glass were rolling on the floor.

“I’m sorry. I’ll clean it up quickly.”

It seemed Marianne had made a mistake.

It was the first mistake I’d seen from the capable head maid who had worked at Duke Diarob’s household for a long time, but anyone can make mistakes.

But her hands were trembling.

‘Am I that scary? I don’t think so…’

“It’s alright. Take your time.”

I instinctively bent down to clean up a piece of glass that had rolled towards me.

In that moment, something shiny inside Marianne’s clothing caught my eye.

It was a jewel with a snowflake pattern, reflecting blue with the specular properly inserted.

It was the tiara I particularly disliked and had instructed to be pushed to the very bottom.

At the time, Marianne had lamented that it was the most expensive jewel.

That jewel was now inside her clothing.

Just looking at her anxious appearance, it was clear she was trying to steal the jewel.

‘What should I do.’

The crime of laying hands on the master’s property was severe, and according to imperial law, Marianne would be harshly whipped and expelled.

That meant social burial.

It was also difficult to find other work for someone expelled without a letter of recommendation.

‘But is there any reason I need to cover for her?’

Marianne was Diarob’s person and would continue to report my every move to Snowpell.

I had no reason whatsoever to protect such an appendage of Snowpell.

However, even if Marianne disappeared, nothing would change.

A new dog of Snowpell would come in.

That would be another variable in my future work.

Having reached a conclusion in an instant, I picked up the glass shard and raised my body.

As I put on a harmless smile, Marianne flinched.

‘Ah, my cat-like eyes.’

When I further elongated the corners of my eyes with an even deeper smile, quite an innocent smile was reflected in the mirror opposite.

In that state, I fanned myself and handed her the glass shard.

“Be careful. Don’t get hurt.”

Even at my demure words, Marianne received the shard trembling like an aspen.

“Y-Yes, I’m s-sorry.”

Unlike her usual self, she gave a half-hearted bow and then disappeared outside like an arrow.

Looking at Marianne’s empty space, I fell into thought for a moment.

In fact, I had been observing Marianne quite closely all this time.

If I could actually use her as my subordinate, it was clear that many things would progress easily.

But whether to make Marianne my person or not was something to wait and see now that things had come to this.

A maid who steals her master’s belongings – such a person easily betrays their lord.

However, there was one thing that bothered me about jumping to that conclusion.

It didn’t make sense that she, who had risen to head maid, would take such a risk for one jewel.

‘If she had bad intentions, she would have laid hands on something bigger.’

The timing was also strange.

‘Not taking advantage of when I’m away from the Crown Princess’s palace, but handling it so hastily like this?’

Considering how Marianne usually aligned even the trays meticulously, it was behavior unlike her.

My fingers tapping on the table created a crackling sound, and my thoughts swirled and aligned into one track.

‘Perhaps she suddenly needs money somewhere?’

Looking back, Marianne’s behavior had been strange lately.

She wasn’t as bright as before, had lost her smile, and seemed to spend more time lost in thought.

Recently, she had also been making mistakes occasionally, as if anxious.

‘What was she trying to do by stealing the jewel?’

As various speculations continued, Rosie, the lower maid in charge of serving refreshments, entered with a tray, right on time for tea.

This was originally a task Marianne took care of herself.

“Where is the head maid?”

Rosie, thinking I was displeased that she had come instead, blushed and lowered her head.

It was easy to guess what my reputation must be like among them.

In fact, if I hadn’t been someone who paid attention to personnel matters, I would never have known the name of a lower maid, given how closely Marianne had been marking me all this time.

When I relaxed my expression a bit, Rosie finally opened her mouth.

“The head maid stepped out for a moment.”

“Stepped out?”

Rosie, unable to even meet my eyes for fear I might find some fault, hurriedly continued.

“She’ll be back soon.”

‘When I looked at the personnel ledger, Marianne had never done something like this before…’

Something was clearly wrong.

Putting on the kindest smile I could, I asked Rosie in a voice as soft as melted ice cream.

“Do you know what it’s about?”

Rosie’s face, which had been sunk in fear, momentarily changed to a blank expression at my smile.

The young girl, pickled in the strict rules and brusque manners of the imperial household, soon began to tell me what she knew in response to my smile and kindness.

“She said she was going to her family home for a bit.”

“Her family home?”

“Yes.”

“Has anything been going on with the head maid lately?”

Moved by the fact that, unlike other nobles, I showed interest in even the detailed circumstances of the servants, Rosie spilled everything she knew.

Among that, the useful information was that Marianne had borrowed money from several servants.

The amounts varied from a few hundred derks to silver coins, but it was clear she urgently needed money.

However, Rosie crucially did not know the reason.

As I was hesitating whether to call another servant, Rosie’s eyes lit up as if she had recalled something.

“Ah, the other day Countess Firenne asked the head maid if she was alright after being bitten by a Laonzir beast.”

“If she was alright?”

Although Laonzir beasts were mid-level, if post-treatment wasn’t done quickly, one would have to live with an incurable disease.

I remembered well the uproar when the child of a great noble was bitten by such a terrible thing while camping not long ago.

“Yes. So the head maid said with a dark expression that it would be difficult… But seeing her walking around fine like that, I guess she must have been cured.”

If Marianne had been bitten by that beast, she should have had a red spot on the back of her neck even if cured.

But she had no such thing.

Marianne suddenly heading to her family home, needing a large sum of money, Laonzir beast…

I had a guess.

I immediately opened the personnel ledger and checked her family members.

The problem was neatly summarized.

‘The person bitten by the Laonzir is Marianne’s younger sibling.’