“Speak.”

Demian put down the documents he was holding, showing the attitude of a commendable superior ready to listen to his subordinate.

However, Rosalyn misunderstood even this as a sign that he had some interest in her.

“Keep in mind that Demian Vandermir is the type who doesn’t even glance at those he’s not interested in.”

Having received such advice from the Duke’s family before, she couldn’t help but misunderstand even more.

Rosalyn swallowed dryly and stood in front of the desk with her hands clasped together.

“I’ve admired you from the moment I first saw you, Master. Even when the Madam coldly rejected me, you accepted me.”

“……”

“I tried to hold back these feelings somehow, but my heart is so full of love for you that I can’t bear it any longer.”

Her voice, deliberately given a slight tremor, was so pitiful that it was heartbreaking just to hear it. With tears in her eyes, Rosalyn looked at Demian.

Even in this situation, he maintained an expressionless face that made it impossible to guess what he was thinking. His golden eyes shone brightly under the darkness cast by the window.

“I don’t dare hope for you to accept my feelings. But……”

Rosalyn, who had drawn out her words coquettishly, circled around the desk and approached Demian directly. His thick eyebrows twitched.

Rosalyn was about to throw herself into his arms like a small bird and whisper, “You can do whatever you want with me,” to put the final touch on her seduction.

It was the moment when she threw herself towards Demian’s embrace.

‘A man could never reject this…!’

Screech, thud!

Demian rolled his feet and moved back with his chair. As a result, instead of being embraced in his broad arms, Rosalyn fell face-first onto the floor.

Rosalyn, who had hit her face on the cold bare floor, raised her head with a dumbfounded expression. Demian was looking down at her with contemptuous eyes.

‘This is… different from what I expected…’

Leaving the bewildered Rosalyn, Demian rang a bell to call the butler. At the loud bell sound, the butler came running in a hurry.

“What’s the matter, Master!”

“Albert, call the head maid immediately and have her take that one out.”

“Y-yes?”

Albert was taken aback when he saw Rosalyn sitting blankly next to the desk.

Why was a maid there…?

For now, he followed his master’s orders and brought the head maid to take Rosalyn away.

“It seems we need to re-educate the maids.”

Demian warned the head maid in a chilling voice. His golden eyes, as if melted from the sun, turned towards Rosalyn.

“And you, don’t act above your station.”

Rosalyn gasped, inhaling sharply at the pressure she felt even from a distance. Her legs trembled.

“I understand. I’m truly sorry, Master.”

The head maid dragged her out while bowing her head deeply.

After taking Rosalyn to a secluded place, the head maid burst out in anger.

“What on earth did you do! How could you make the Master so angry!”

“…I just confessed my love and tried to seduce him. I didn’t even touch a hair on his body!”

Rosalyn, belatedly overwhelmed by shame and embarrassment, retorted with her face flushed red up to her neck.

It was her first time being rejected so thoroughly by a man, so her pride was hurt and she felt like crying.

“Tsk, you foolish thing.”

The head maid clicked her tongue and shook her head. She had been against this plan from the beginning.

The Vandermir Duke’s family might not have known because they weren’t interested in Demian, but he had always been popular among the maids and had received various seduction attempts. However, he had coldly rejected them all like a block of wood.

Even if Rosalyn was one of the prettiest maids they had seen so far, it wouldn’t have made any difference.

“Look at how distant he is with the Madam even though she’s so beautiful. Did you think you’d catch his eye? You should have just kept trying to narrow the Madam’s foothold as you were doing before.”

While she had thought the plan to seduce Demian would definitely fail, she had been secretly impressed by Rosalyn’s skills in isolating Audrey and lowering Arasila’s reputation.

But to mess it up like this, it seemed all the opportunities they had carefully created were about to fly away.

“Hmph, my feminine charms are a step above the Madam’s, you know? And to completely narrow her foothold, I had to seduce the Master anyway!”

“So what! You failed!”

Rosalyn’s words were cut short, and she could only move her lips silently. The head maid sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“The Master will never keep a maid like you in the mansion.”

“…Am I going to be kicked out like this?”

“That’s what you get for acting rashly. I’ll try to buy you some time by pleading, so you think about what you’re going to do in the meantime.”

After giving a stern warning, the head maid left, and Rosalyn bit her lip in frustration.

‘What should I do now?’

Since the seduction failed, she had to try another method. She had to bring Arasila down even more than she herself had fallen.

Even if the position of Demian’s mistress was out of reach, she couldn’t back down now, considering the reward promised by the Vandermir Duke’s family.

The head maid had bought her three days of grace period.

Within that time, Rosalyn had to return with some plausible results. Only then would the Vandermir Duke’s family give her even half of the promised reward.

“If you failed to seduce Demian Vandermir, bring back at least Arasila Hugo’s weakness.”

A letter that had just arrived from the Duke’s family gave similar instructions. Rosalyn bit her lip hard.

‘This might be better. Now that I’ve returned as the Madam’s maid, this is more advantageous.’

For the three days before leaving the mansion, Rosalyn was to work under Arasila as before. It was natural that she would be expelled as a maid who had tried to seduce her master.

Fortunately, thanks to the head maid’s protection, this fact had not been revealed to others.

Everyone thought she had moved to serve the master due to her awkward relationship with Audrey and had returned because of a shortage of hands.

Upon her return, Rosalyn first took over her colleagues’ work as before. Of course, it was an action with a purpose.

“I’ll clean the Madam’s dressing room alone. You guys take a break.”

“Are you sure that’s okay, Rosalyn?”

“Yes, it’s fine. Since I’m back, I can do it alone to stretch my body a bit.”

After deliberately pushing out the hesitant maids, Rosalyn was left alone in the dressing room. She looked around the room with sharp eyes.

This was completely Arasila’s personal space. If she was trying to hide something, it was obvious she would have hidden it in the dressing room rather than the bedroom.

‘I must find something that can be used as a weakness!’

Rosalyn frantically searched the dressing room. Dressing table, sofa, wardrobe, side table, jewelry box… She thoroughly rummaged through the dresses and even lifted all the carpets.

After hours of searching the room like a madwoman, exhausted Rosalyn slumped down on the floor when nothing turned up.

‘Ah, I can’t go back empty-handed like this.’

She closed her eyes and lay down, turning her head to the side. And when she opened her eyes again—

‘Huh? What’s that?’

Rosalyn discovered something attached under the luxurious white dressing table decorated with gold.

She hurriedly got up and crawled over, peeling off what was stuck under the dressing table. It was a sealed document.

‘Judging by how it’s hidden like this, it must contain something important that shouldn’t be discovered… Suspicious indeed.’

Rosalyn, instinctively sensing that she had discovered Arasila’s weakness, was about to open the document with a triumphant smile when—

“Rosalyn, are you in here?”

A voice calling for her was heard as the door opened. Startled, Rosalyn quickly put the document back in its place and stood up.

The person she faced when she turned around was none other than Audrey. Audrey frowned as she glanced around the messy dressing room.

“Wh-what? Why are you looking for me…?”

“I heard you said you’d clean the dressing room alone. I thought it would be too much for you, so I came to check, and instead of cleaning, you’ve made a mess.”

“Ah…”

The dressing room was in complete disarray from her search for Arasila’s weakness. She had planned to tidy up neatly before leaving, but Audrey had arrived before that.

“What on earth are you doing? Did you dare touch the Madam’s belongings?”

“Ah, no! I was just curious and looking at things, and then…”

Rosalyn frantically waved her hands. Cold sweat ran down her back.

…Had Audrey seen her handling the document earlier?

Even if not, it would be a big problem if it became known that she had ransacked the dressing room.

“I’m sorry, Audrey. Please don’t tell the Madam. I must have gone crazy for a moment. I won’t do it again, okay? Actually, I had a difficult childhood…”

“Enough. I don’t want to hear your pathetic excuses.”

Audrey retorted coldly. Then, with a upset face, she began picking up the items scattered on the floor. Rosalyn also started tidying up, watching Audrey’s reactions.

“Um, Audrey…”

“Rosalyn, I’ve been meaning to tell you this. Your makeup is too excessive when working. And instead of unnecessarily doing others’ work to gain favor, just do your own job properly.”

The cold voice and stern gaze of criticism painfully struck Rosalyn. Her chin trembled as she gritted her teeth.

This moment of being scolded by Audrey hurt her pride so much that she couldn’t bear it.

But she couldn’t say anything back for fear of offending Audrey, as she had something to hide. She had no choice.

Audrey raised her hand and pointed to the doorway with a merciless face.

“If you understood what I said, get out right now. I can’t entrust room cleaning to someone who touches the Madam’s things as they please.”

“About today…”

“Yes, I’ll let it slide. But I’ll only turn a blind eye once.”

Audrey was particularly firm and harsh when it came to matters concerning Arasila.

However, considering her mistress’s desire to avoid conflicts with the maids, she thought to overlook today’s incident just this once.

Although she got the answer she wanted, Rosalyn left the dressing room feeling anxious and uncomfortable.

‘How annoying, Audrey. Who knows if she’ll keep her promise after saying that?’

Rosalyn’s eyes glinted with resentment towards Audrey and anxiety about whether she might tell Arasila as she stomped down the corridor.

‘Even if I have to leave, I need to take care of her first.’

The commotion started just after noon.

“Someone stole my necklace!”

Someone cried out like a scream. It was lunchtime, so most of the maids were gathered in the dining hall.

Audrey turned her head to identify the maid in question. It was Amy, a maid who shared a room with Rosalyn and was very close to her.

And thus, particularly hostile to Audrey.

Led by Rosalyn, the maids formed a large group, comforting Amy and causing a ruckus.

Audrey, who was eating alone, also glanced in that direction.

“Everyone, please pay attention! Amy says her mother’s heirloom necklace is missing. Would it be okay if we search each room? If you’re innocent, you’ll naturally agree, right?”

One of the maids crowded around Amy stepped forward and spoke assertively. It was a request bordering on coercion.

Audrey didn’t like the idea of someone searching her room, but she had no choice but to let it happen. It was obvious how they would react if she refused.

‘It’s not like it has anything to do with me anyway.’

Audrey didn’t know what Amy’s mother’s heirloom necklace looked like, nor had she ever seen it. So she couldn’t have stolen it even if she wanted to.

Instead, she recalled Arasila’s words from this morning, saying she might finish work early this evening.

‘She said she’s coming home early for the first time in a while. Should I go to the magic tower to greet her?’

She could vividly imagine how pleased Arasila would be if she stood in front of the magic tower with the carriage at the end of her workday.

A smile naturally spread across Audrey’s face. Life at the Vandermir mansion wasn’t easy, but she could endure it as long as her mistress was there.

At that moment, several shadows loomed over Audrey’s head.

“Audrey, look at us for a moment.”

“Why?”

“Amy’s necklace was found in your room. Explain how this happened.”