“I’m not finished speaking to you yet, Young Lady…”

“Camilla. I have nothing more to hear from you or say to you. I came here today at the request of the Viscount Philaren and his wife, not to waste meaningless time with you all.”

“Wh-what did you say?”

“And I am not Young Lady Evelle, but the Grand Duchess of Rochester.”

Camilla couldn’t hide her momentary bewilderment at my attitude that greatly deviated from their expectations.

Well, I was known as “Ah, that pushover” in social circles.

“But unfortunately, while I was willing to tolerate uninvited guests not on the list, I absolutely cannot turn a blind eye to your conversation any longer…”

“Ha! Can’t turn a blind eye? What can you do? Ah- Are you planning to scurry off to tattle to His Grace the Grand Duke, who you think you’re so great for marrying?”

“……”

“I didn’t think you were such a coward. Relaying our conversations between ladies… Your Grace? Since you’ve risen to such a high position, shouldn’t you have a more gracious disposition and discernment befitting your status?”

When I didn’t answer, Sasha also joined in pressing me.

“Isn’t that asking for too much? It would be too difficult for Your Grace, who couldn’t even keep watch over a single man.”

As they cackled as usual, I also smiled as I normally would.

“Camilla. Looking at this, one might think I’m the one whose weakness was exposed, not Elia.”

Perhaps not expecting me to say this so blatantly, Camilla’s gaze greatly wavered for a moment. Verodica also set down her teacup and stared at me intently in the rapidly chilling atmosphere.

“Wh-what nonsense are you spouting? Just because you became the Grand Duchess, are you going to act out of line now or something?”

“If you doubt my judgment, it might not be a bad idea to seek the opinions of others regarding today’s events.”

“……”

Even with the threat mixed into my words, Camilla seemed utterly at a loss for words, not intimidated in the slightest and instead appearing flustered by my composure.

Seeing her unable to respond to mere words, it seemed they truly didn’t expect a pushover like me to go this far.

“Rather than threats, you should have tried persuasion instead. Then, considering our long acquaintance, I might have let it slide.”

“Wh-why do you keep saying strange things…!”

Camilla tried to continue speaking in agitation, but I cut her off decisively.

“I will absolutely not let today’s incident pass. For my sake, and for the sake of House Rochester.”

Feeling it would only be to my detriment to get further entangled, I left the spot as is.

As I was about to completely exit the glass greenhouse, Elia chased right after me and grabbed me urgently.

“Your Grace…! I… that is, I truly didn’t know! If I had known they were such people, I never would have invited them. They said they wanted to talk… that if I just helped them a little… so… so, I only invited them…”

“Is that really the full reason?”

As expected, Elia couldn’t give a straightforward answer.

“…It seems our time together ends here for today.”

“Y-Your Grace…! Your Grace, please wait a moment! Could you please keep today’s events a secret?”

“That would be difficult, Lady Philaren.”

I finally realized it wasn’t just Verodica’s group who looked down on me.

“Wh-why….”

Perhaps Elia, who expected me to go along with flimsy excuses and overlook her mistakes if she pleaded, held me in the greatest contempt of all.

But as I said earlier, I had not the slightest intention of covering up this incident.

“Th-then…! At least keep it from reaching my parents’ ears, okay? Please! I’m truly sorry, Your Grace…!”

Elia grabbed me pleadingly once more.

But regrettably, I also had no reason to simply let this matter pass.

“Lady Philaren. The moment you involved your parents and summoned me, you should have been prepared for a moment like this to come.”

“Your Grace…! I’m begging you like this, so please just this once….”

“No matter what you say, I have no intention of letting it slide. I… can’t bring myself to say I’m sorry.”

Leaving behind the terrified Elia, I took my remaining steps.

My heart pounded as if I had done something terrible.

* * *

Although I firmly stated I would not let this incident pass, it has been two days since then and I still haven’t told Reus about what happened at the viscount’s residence.

Partly because Reus was only arriving at the grand duchy today in the evening, and partly because I couldn’t decide where to start the story or what to say.

‘What if his reaction isn’t what I expect? What do I do then?’

I thought that while serving as the grand duchess, even if only a fake one, I shouldn’t let people who acted rudely towards me go unpunished as it would tarnish House Rochester’s reputation.

But what if Reus’ thoughts are completely different from mine?

‘I heard House Rochester has maintained ties with House Philaren for quite a long time…’

Did I overreact? Suddenly, I began to worry that I had made a big deal out of nothing.

After agonizing over it, a good idea came to mind.

‘I could say I have a favor to ask…’

Right! There was a favor, wasn’t there?

Just then, the bedroom doorknob turned and the door gently opened. Reus, whose eyes met mine, lightly glanced at the clock and spoke.

“You weren’t sleeping?”

“I couldn’t fall asleep today…”

“It’s late.”

After responding like that, Reus immediately went to get his robe and headed to the bathroom. Only after hearing the thud of the door closing did my startled heart calm down a little.

‘Right. I can just say I have a favor to ask, so don’t get too nervous.’

I took a deep breath and sorted out the order in which to speak.

Should I talk about what kind of relationship he had with Verodica, or should I start from when I arrived at the viscount’s residence and explain step by step? I pondered carefully for a long time.

‘Still, it’d be best to first talk about what happened, right?’

I wonder how much time passed like that.

Suddenly, the bed where I was sitting sank deeply, and my body tilted over backwards. Just as I was about to fall over, my back was abruptly stopped by something, preventing me from toppling backwards.

Tilting my head slightly to look, the first thing I saw was a damp towel.

Soon, Reus pulled down the towel he had casually draped over his head. Then, his calm silver hair, drenched and covering his forehead, and his graceful face were revealed in turn.

“What has you so troubled again?”

I wondered how he immediately realized I had something to say.

I wanted to say, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow” and fall asleep, but it was obvious that the longer I put it off, the harder it would be to talk about it, so I closed my eyes tight and spoke.

“There’s a favor I’d like to ask of you…”

“A favor?”

Seeing no particular signs of dislike, I quickly nodded.

“How trivial must it be for you to ask a favor again.”

“It’s not trivial.”

When I answered with some determination, Reus slightly raised his eyebrows as if surprised.

“Actually… there was a small problem at Viscount Philaren’s residence.”

But as soon as he heard my words, his eyebrows furrowed deeply.

After seeing his mostly relaxed face these days, seeing his slightly distorted expression with a hint of displeasure made me think of the old Reus for a moment, and I ended up turning my head away.

“It wasn’t that big of a problem, and in a way, it was trivial…”

As I spoke with my gaze averted like that, Reus turned my face back towards him.

“Why are you looking away? It’s obvious you did nothing wrong.”

“Well… you might think I overreacted…! Of course, it wasn’t an issue I caused, but it’s a problem where opinions could be divided depending on the person and perspective. You might think it’s a problem that could be overlooked. But…”

“Roel.”

“Yes…?”

“I thought you only rambled when being brazen, but it seems you do it when flustered too.”

“Wh-what…! That’s not it…!”

My face turned bright red at the unexpected remark. The very person who made it that way then nonchalantly nodded his head.

“I understand. I’ll take it as not being the case, so go on.”

It’s not easy for words and expressions to be so misaligned, but Reus does it very well.

It was a bit irritating, but there was something more important, so I continued for now.

“Ahem… What I was trying to say is, when I arrived at Viscount Philaren’s residence, the viscount and his wife were not at the estate. I was told it was because of a territory patrol…”

“Are you saying they went on a territory patrol after inviting someone over?”

It was a fair point, but this situation wasn’t entirely the fault of the viscount and his wife. There was a separate matter that needed to be the focus, so I quickly shifted attention to Elia’s story.

“I’m still just speculating, but it seemed like Elia had planned something. In the middle of tea time, without any prior notice, she brought other people…”

“Other people?”

The atmosphere drastically changed in an instant, to the point where all my nerves were on edge. Looking into Reus’ eyes that glinted ominously, I couldn’t open my mouth.

“…I’m not angry at you, so please continue.”

Reus softened his expression a bit, perhaps conscious of whether his words were untrue. Thanks to that, I was able to resume speaking.

“Elia called Verodica, Sasha, and Camilla. But the problem is, I originally didn’t have a good relationship with those young ladies… Of course, Elia was unaware of that fact.”

“Even at a time like this, you’re quick to defend others.”

Perhaps my words greatly soured Reus’ mood again, as he openly frowned a little.

“The way I see it, it seemed like Elia had some weakness leveraged against her…! That’s not to say she didn’t do anything wrong, but she’s still a child who just came of age. So first, with the viscount and his wife…”

“That also means Lady Philaren is a proper adult and of an age to take responsibility for her decisions.”

“…I agree. I agree, but I’m saying I don’t want to be too hard on her.”

“So… this is all you wanted to ask of me?”

“What…?”

“Are you asking me to let it slide because the person who looked down on you is young?”