Icarus’s gaze on Renève became even deeper. It seemed like he wanted to fulfill the price for not meeting her for a few days.

She tensed and swallowed nervously.

A few days later, the entire country was shocked by remarkable news in the newspapers.

The Count Andre’s family was suspected of trying to assassinate the first prince in exchange for their lives, claiming Hwangbi’s innocence.

Public opinions were divided into two.

Those who were related to Hwangbi argued that she was unrelated to this, considering that they sacrificed their lives to prove their master’s innocence.

However, another opinion was that they were silenced by death.

Whatever happened, at least the Count Andre’s family could not escape the charge of regicide.

The wealth and territory they had built up in the Count Andre’s family were all confiscated by the imperial palace, and the empress, who had no place to escape her guilt, raised the bodies of the Count Andre’s family on the gallows.

Even the corpses faced an ignoble death.

“Miss, are we just burying this incident like this?”

Amber asked as she watched Renève silently playing chess.

“It won’t be that simple. It’s just that, for now, the witness disappeared, so we managed to avoid trouble.”

“…”

Renève, who played chess alone without an opponent, looked at Amber, who was watching her quietly, and replied.

“Is there something you’ve been feeling lately, Miss? I mean, I can’t figure out what you’re thinking.”

Only then did Renève raise her eyes and look at Amber.

“Why?”

“Well, I don’t know. Since some time ago, you seem to have changed a lot. It’s hard to describe, but it’s either indifferent or transparent…”

“Is it a change for the better or for the worse?”

If I have to choose, it’s more on the positive side. I always thought you were more mature than your age. But recently… What should I say…”

Watching Amber carefully choose her words with clenched jaws, Renève smiled faintly.

She felt like she knew what Amber wanted to say.

“…Should I say you’ve lived multiple lives?”

After speaking her thoughts aloud, she felt that her words were amusing and smiled at Amber.

“As you know, I have a vivid imagination.”

Renève just smirked and lowered her gaze to the checkerboard again.

Then, she knocked down one of the opponent’s chess pieces that was protecting the queen.
Countess Andre was one of the most loyal among Hwangbi’s maids.

She had been in charge of handling all kinds of dirty work for Hwangbi, practically serving as her confidante.

Hwangbi lost her most powerful ally in this incident, and it was also my doing to dismiss that ally.

One might think that the case of the First Prince had been resolved immediately, but if you neglect a small hole in a ship, it will eventually sink.

And Hwangbi was undoubtedly unaware that there was a small hole in her ship due to this incident.

Renève, looking down at another chess piece protecting the queen, spoke.

“Amber, find out what’s going on with Countess Milé.”

“When you say Countess Milé… Isn’t she one of Lady Hwangbi’s maids?”

Renève nodded at Amber’s question.

“Right. Now that Countess Andre is missing, the position of a maid has become vacant.”

“…!”

Amber, who blinked for a moment, gasped as if realizing something.

“So, is Countess Milé going to be the next maid?”

“Probably? I think so, although I’m not sure.”

Although she spoke as if she didn’t know, Renève was confident. She believed that Countess Milé would succeed Countess Andre in her position, just as it happened before.

Compared to Countess Andre, Countess Milé seemed somewhat less capable.

If Countess Andre moved with a clear goal of strong loyalty and social ascent toward Hwangbi, Countess Milé tended to be more inclined to settle for reality.

So, she made a different choice from the other maids who compromised their conscience and catered to Hwangbi’s whims.

Being a cautious person, it became increasingly difficult for her to handle Hwangbi’s audacious misdeeds.

As a result, she had to resign from her maid position in a short period, and after leaving the palace, she avoided social circles.

Whether she was eliminated by Hwangbi or not is unknown, but there was no better candidate as an internal whistleblower.

While Renève was moving a chess piece, contemplating her plans from various angles, a knock on the door brought her back to reality. Amber went to check the situation in the palace, leaving Renève alone in the reception room.

“…”

When she turned her head toward the door, Dréhan was standing in front of the wide-open reception room door.

“You seem to have a facial expression that looks like dressing up as a wicked character, Yeong-ae.”

“Dréhan Kyeong. It’s been a while.”

Seeing the welcome face, Renève erased her indifferent expression, and a slight smile appeared.

“If I had known you were leisurely playing chess alone, I would have brought some documents with me.”

Dréhan, who walked into the reception room, pointed to the checkerboard with a mocking expression.

As always, Renève had been handling the empress’s duties alone while she was away from Baskerville, and it seemed she had a hard time.

“Um… Someone said something like that before. Since it’s something you have to do for a lifetime, there’s no need to suffer from the beginning.”

Renève immediately responded.

Then Dréhan avoided Renève’s gaze and bit her lips as if pondering something.