Without responding, Dréhan looked at Renève.

“Welcome. Countess Henrike. You’re a bit late.”

Only then did Countess Henrike turn her head towards Renève.

“Ah…”

Looking at Renève’s face, Countess Henrike’s mouth slightly opened in surprise.

Today, Countess Henrike, with the sole purpose of obtaining clues about her sister’s whereabouts, followed here without knowing where it was.

So, she could only misunderstand that Dréhan, seated in the honored position, was the owner of this mansion.

“I’ll introduce myself formally. I’m Renève of Siren.”

Countess Henrike, looking slightly embarrassed, bowed slightly.

“…I would like to greet Hanna, the second daughter of Countess Henrike, for the first time. She was the one who spoke to me at the last masked ball.”

“That’s right.”

Nodding, Renève continued as Countess Henrike quickly added.

“At that time, I didn’t know that you were Miss Engelin, let alone the fiancée of Emperor Basker. If there was any rudeness, I apologize.”

Saying so, Countess Henrike, feeling awkward, slightly averted her gaze. Renève comforted her, saying it wasn’t a big deal.

“It was a masked ball. It’s natural not to recognize each other. I only asked her to come to the designated place if she wanted to know about her sister without revealing my identity.”

In a situation where they didn’t know each other, there was plenty of room for suspicion. However, Renève was confident that she would show up at the agreed place.

In her previous life, Countess Henrike’s second daughter had approached the truth quite closely.

She was brave and boldly tried to clear her sister’s unjust blame. However, she, too, ended up with an elusive fate.

“This person is Siren Marquis, Dréhan. He will safely take you to a secure place instead of me.”

“Oh, yes. I appreciate it. Siren Marquis.”

“And this is Countess Henrike.”
Renève made a sly wink towards Dréhan and said, “Is this person the witness you should protect?” She was worried that Dréhan might say something unnecessarily honest, but fortunately, Dréhan nodded politely to Countess Henrike without any further comments.

“Well, considering the long distance, I’ll be on my way.”

After confirming that Countess Henrike had boarded the carriage, Renève spoke a few words to Dréhan.

“Until we meet again, please take good care of Countess Henrike. Siren Marquis.”

“You’ve spent three years here, so you must know, but the Basker Palace is not a place where people just die left and right.”

Dréhan, spitting out the words a bit roughly, then mounted the horse, gave a nod of acknowledgment to Renève, and pulled the reins.

Renève looked at Dréhan’s retreating broad back and thought, ‘You can even say that you will protect Countess Henrike safely in that way.’

In the green wide fields, flower buds of various colors were in full bloom, as if about to burst.

Smiling happily while watching the cute sight of the son chasing after the flock of sheep like a calf behind the ewes, Countess Milé, the wife of Marquis, soon let out a sigh.

“Phew…”

“Madam, it seems you’ve been sighing a lot lately. Is the palace work very difficult?”

Difficult? It’s incredibly difficult.

She didn’t know what living was like after visiting the underground prison.

Since that day, Countess Milé spent almost every night sleeplessly.

All because of the dreams of the Andani Viscount’s family rushing towards her, covered in blood.

At that time, she didn’t know. She didn’t anticipate that she would be tormented by guilt like this.

She just thought it was something she did for her son, husband, and subordinates.

But even after knowing that her family would die, she couldn’t confess the fact that she had poisoned the soup with her own hands.

Especially if the empress had placed someone to watch her.

“Simply, serving the upper class isn’t easy. ‘Have you boiled the scum? Can’t you move a bit faster?’ Hearing these words every day…”

The nanny, organizing her son’s clothes from the baggage and putting them neatly into the drawers, asked in a worried voice.

“Do you agree with me for a moment, Nanny?”

“Yes? Why are you saying that, Madam?”

“Why are you making a face that agrees with what I say?”

When Countess Milé looked up and down, the nanny quickly clapped her hands.

“No, no. Madam, like the nobility who treats you so well, where else in Paradis Land can you find such nobility? I deeply appreciate your profound grace.”

Countess Milé stared at the nanny with eyes that gauged the truth.

Seeing the nanny’s pupils twitching, she refrained from making a biting comment.

‘If I grovel before the empress, begging like a beggar, will I receive slightly better treatment?’

With such thoughts in mind, she took a brief vacation due to the immense stress from the duties of the Andani Viscount family and the newly appointed role of the chief steward.

Thinking that it might improve if she lived a little away from the palace.

“Mother! Mother! Look at this!”

Her son, who had been playing in the fields a moment ago, bounced into the room, teasing his short legs.

In his hands was a purplish-blue flower.

Countess Milé’s gaze naturally fell on the flower her son was holding.

If her memory served her right, that flower symbolized ‘retaliation.’