Reyna carefully covered her grandmother with a blanket and stood up.

Taylor and Reyna closed the door to ensure that the grandmother would not be awakened by the sound of their conversation and sat facing each other at the table.

Taylor conveyed the words that Lionel and Lucan had intended to tell Reyna but had not yet delivered due to Lady’s surprise and wariness towards them.

Lady was too surprised, and she guarded us, so we couldn’t explain properly. She asked you, who she trusts, to explain the situation on her behalf.

“…….”
Having heard the story of the request from the Resolver Guild, Reyna looked at Taylor with a face that lacked any sense of reality.

“A blonde maid working at the Julius Mansion… Kidnapping? Hired by a resolver?”

…Is it my story?

Even though she had recently felt the actual threat of kidnapping, why doesn’t it seem like her story?

Reyna thought about a few blonde maids she knew in her mind.

Reyna hesitated and asked, “Taylor, what do you think? Was the target of that request me?”

Taylor carefully chose his words.

“I don’t want to make you anxious, but… I feel there’s a possibility. The knights seem to think so too. So, it’s probably better not to keep you at the mansion anymore.”

“… ”

A moment of silence passed.

Seeing Reyna, who had an incredulous expression, Taylor, who had been watching her, asked in turn, “Why don’t you suspect the Marchioness? Isn’t it a suspicious situation?”

“…”

Reyna touched her forehead and said, “My grandmother…”

“Hmm?”

“She has been taking care of my grandmother for nine years.”

Reyna sighed as she lowered her hands.

Reyna wore a bitter expression, looking tired.

“From their perspective… If they wanted to harbor ill intentions, they could have done so long ago. Considering the salary of a caregiver, I would have cost more than twice as much as any other maid… ”

Reyna spoke quietly.

“For nine years, there was no reason for them to keep their promise to spend money on me and take care of my grandmother. If they were going to handle it without any aftermath, they could have done so earlier. But they kept their promise.”

“…”

“So, a bit…”

…Did I believe them?

Reyna let out a complex sigh.

It wasn’t as if she had staked a deep trust in them, as she had decided to hide in the shadow of Sir Arthur. However, until she made the decision to turn to Sir Arthur, the source of her prolonged hesitation,

She didn’t believe that the Marchioness or Miss Christina could have done such things to that extent.

Am I too naive?

Reyna thought for a moment, contemplating Lady and the Marchioness.

The expression on Taylor’s face, which caught her eye for a moment, looked complicated.

“…”

Reyna felt a bit foolish, wondering if she looked like a fool, and made excuses.

“I know, me too. What am I saying? I probably thought about it the most, right? As promised, will she keep taking care of my grandmother… or will I suddenly be removed one day… I naturally thought about it. Wasn’t I supposed to be scared?”

Reyna chuckled softly.

“But I’m still alive. And so is my grandmother.”

“…”

Taylor clenched his fist and fiddled with it on the table.

A while passed in silence.

“…Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Huh?”

Taylor looked at Reyna, unable to continue speaking, and bowed his head.

His eyes were burning.

“…I lived with those thoughts, but how did I not say a word.”

“…”
His fingertips on the table were digging into the palm clenched into a fist.

“… That you lived with such thoughts, and I didn’t know.”

“…”

“I didn’t know that all the symptoms you pretended to ask me about were actually stories about your grandmother in pain.”

Taylor lifted his head and looked at Reyna.

“…I’m angry that I couldn’t rely on you.”

“…”

Reyna quietly looked at Taylor and then averted her gaze.

“You know… how we, the servants of Julius, are educated about silence. All the good treatment we receive is all because of heavy restraint…”

Taylor interrupted her words.

“If you were in such a situation, did you know I could take you and your family out of Julius? You didn’t know that?”

“…”

Reyna closed her mouth.

A strange tension flowed between them.

Reyna, conscious of her own breathing, uncomfortably swallowed a dry mouth.

Reyna looked at Taylor with a face that couldn’t be sure if the current tension was what she was thinking, if it was an excessive self-consciousness.

Silence lingered.

Taylor calmly spoke.

“…I’m a doctor, I like you, and you know I have a titled position with a territory attached.”

Reyna momentarily held her breath.

Memories from the past came rushing back, and her face flushed.

Reyna stammered in surprise.

“I-it’s not like that now.”

Taylor looked at Reyna, chuckled, and smiled.

“Which one of the three?”

The, the second one.

…Not now?

Reyna didn’t ask.

Somehow, Taylor seemed to know what he wanted to say.

And Reyna wasn’t prepared to respond to that statement.

She seemed perplexed by the unexpected situation.

“Um…”

A presence was felt in the room.

It seemed like her grandmother had woken up from a nap.

“…”

Taylor, who looked towards the door behind Reyna, spoke casually as he stood up from his seat.

“Nothing for now.”