The Maid's Contract Marriage - Chapter 25

“……!”

After realizing the purpose of visiting Arthur was about the inadequate supply issue, the Marquis’s face hardened as he belatedly understood the hidden meaning in the knight’s words that he had not noticed earlier.

“The superior who is responsible for us, commands us, and ‘feeds us’ is Commander-in-Chief Arthur Julius. ‘Not you.'”

All these knights. They were the ones he had to ask Arthur to silence.

“……”

The Marquis’s eyes wavered.

He belatedly realized he had made a mistake.

But he couldn’t let himself be intimidated like this.

That would be an unbearable disgrace in front of the knights, some of whom were even commoners.

After all, isn’t Arthur the one in charge of these guys?

He decided to demonstrate the hierarchy between himself and Arthur in front of the knights, and boldly shook off the butler’s arm.

“Well, you’ve come at a good time.”

The Marquis raised his chin.

“You, let’s have a talk.”

Arthur coldly moved only his eyes to look down at him and replied.

“Yes. I was just thinking we should discuss my space. But it seems something improper has happened?”

The Marchioness hurriedly intervened.

“Ah! Oh, I’m sorry, Sir Arthur! That’s my responsibility. I had already made plans to allocate separate spaces for you in the mansion. There was a mistake because I hadn’t informed the Marquis yet.”

Arthur’s eyes turned to the Marchioness.

Feeling the pressure, the Marchioness hastily continued.

“The bedroom you’re using, your private reception room, office, library, auxiliary bedroom, separate breakfast room and dinner room are all Sir Arthur’s spaces. I informed you too late. Oh, look at me. If you want, we can even allocate a private garden and greenhouse…!”

“Later.”

Arthur cut off the Marchioness’s words.

“!”

And he looked down at the Marquis again.

“Did you assault my subordinate?”

“!”

The Marchioness hoped the Marquis wouldn’t make any more mistakes here.

Please apologize first and say you made a mistake!

But the Marquis, feeling triumphant, raised his chin and said.

“He made a mistake to me first. Aren’t you going to ask about that?”

Arthur smiled gently.

“What mistake did he make?”

Clicking his tongue, the Marquis’s voice grew louder with confidence.

“Those guys rudely blocked me, saying I was not allowed to see you. This is my mansion, and you are my son-in-law!”

Arthur calmly replied.

“That’s correct, I didn’t allow it. The Marchioness had already made the same mistake, so I ordered them to block such attempts. Didn’t you hear?”

What?

The Marchioness flinched and the Marquis’s eyes widened.

Arthur continued.

“You entered the bedroom where I was alone with my wife without permission. I asked to prevent such embarrassing incidents. You should have asked for permission first, don’t you think?”

The Marchioness’s body began to tremble.

As the commotion grew, onlookers were gathering on the lower floor.

Not just servants and maids who were embarrassed and trying to hide, but the family doctor Alvin Lorenson looking up with an astonished face, guests who had come for today’s appointments, and…

Lord Rembrandt.

“!!!!”

The Marchioness’s face turned pale.

“S-Sir! I’m sorry! I already apologized for that mistake…!”

Arthur cut off her words again.

“If you had asked for permission, I would have met you. Did you assault my subordinate without even thinking of asking for permission?”

Another knight answered instead.

“We told the Marquis that we would inform the Commander-in-Chief of his visit and ask. But immediately after hearing that, he assaulted Sir Lionel.”

Murmurs were gathering from the lower floor.

The butler Jim hurriedly tried to push the guests into rooms, but there was no way to contain the situation.

The flustered Marquis stamped his foot and shouted.

“I-I had urgent business and they were being rude by blocking me!”

“What business was it?”

Though the Marquis was struggling, Arthur’s gentle voice did not give way at all.

The Marquis raged.

“There are rumors going around outside, and it seems the veterans are speaking carelessly, so I wanted to ask you to correct them! But that guy rudely…!”

The Marchioness’s face turned blue.

She immediately understood that what the Marquis was trying to say was about the inadequate supply issue.

This crazy person!

And he commits the insane act of slapping a knight?

The Marchioness staggered, waving her hands, and barely grasped the stair railing.

Even if Arthur is the Commander-in-Chief leading them, he wouldn’t give such an order to the knights below after seeing this spectacle.

The knights all saw this, how could Arthur grant such a request while undermining his own authority!

Arthur raised one corner of his mouth in a sneer.

“You don’t seem to know how fearsome soldiers can be. Well, you were a brave person who didn’t even fear insulting the imperial family.”

“!”

The Marchioness finally grabbed the back of her neck and collapsed.

Reina, who had slightly opened the bedroom door and watched the entire situation, blankly opened her mouth.

Christina, beautifully adorned, stood in front of her room door watching the scene, then touched her forehead as if it was terrible and closed the door.

Rembrandt, who barely suppressed his twitching lips and returned to his separate quarters, held his stomach and laughed.

The third day at Julius.

All the remaining appointments with that day’s visitors and those scheduled were completely cancelled.

[This is the timeline separator]

Returning late to the mansion after inspecting the garrison outside the territory, Lukan was furious when he heard about the situation.

Kay looked surprised, and Tristan silently frowned.

The bewildered Reina, not knowing what to do, led them to Arthur’s reception room.

As Reina was outwardly in the state of ‘Christina’, she fidgeted uncomfortably watching the knights who seemed displeased by her father’s outrageous behavior.

Then remembering the medicine Dr. Lorenson had given her to apply frequently to her forehead, Reina quickly went to the bedroom to retrieve it and returned.

After asking for permission, she tried to apply the medicine to Lionel’s face, but Reina was instantly robbed of that role by Kay and had to give up her place.

“You must have endured because of me.”

“……”

Arthur apologized to his subordinate with a bitter face.

“Thank you for showing mercy and considering my honor.”

“It’s nothing.”

“……”

Reina stood in front of them, unable to do this or that, watching their reactions.

Does this knight know that I’m a fake Christina, or not?

She couldn’t tell, but in any case, she couldn’t help feeling embarrassed about the Marquis’s misconduct.

“It’s done.”

As Kay finished applying the medicine and stepped back, Reina bowed her head in apology instead.

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

The knight named Lionel awkwardly bowed his head vaguely and stood up from his seat.

“Not at all. I feel embarrassed to receive such a greeting. I’m Lionel, my lady.”

While still apologetic, Reina offered him her hand.

His lips lightly touched and left her hand.

“I’m Lukan, my lady. Pleased to meet you.”

Lukan, seeing Reina for the first time, also took Reina’s hand and kissed the back of it while introducing himself.

Do these people all know, or not?

But the Marchioness’s order to thoroughly be Christina in front of them and not give any clues was absolute.

Reina grasped her skirt, bent her knees, and greeted in a small voice.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m… Christina.”

Lukan quietly looked at Reina stammering her greeting, then turned his head with a smirk.

Tristan gave a look of warning.

“……”

So they all know.

But rather than hostile mockery, it seemed more like pity, which made Reina feel strange.

Kay shook his head with a short sigh and said.

“Sir Lionel, you’ve been through a lot. But thanks to that, Sir Arthur’s space in the mansion has become clear. Not a bad outcome.”

Reina’s eyes widened in surprise.

Sir Lionel raised the corner of his mouth in a smirk, then winced as if in pain.

He too seemed to have anticipated this result.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Bedroom, private reception room, office, library, auxiliary bedroom, breakfast room, dinner room. And private garden and greenhouse, right? We’ll need to increase the range for the knights to guard.”

Lukan asked.

“Why is there no lunch room?”

Kay answered.

“There’s only one lunch room in the center of the mansion. It probably means for the family to gather and eat at least one meal together. Usually mansions don’t have two each of dinner rooms and breakfast rooms. You can eat lunch in the dinner room or breakfast room anyway.”

“Ah.”

Another knight raised his head and asked.

“Then where should we guard from now on?”

“Is the room between the reception room and library not included?”

“Couldn’t we ask for more? It would be good to have space for the knights to stay too. Even the maids have separate rooms.”

The knights added one by one.

After a while, Sir Kay who had been listening cracked his neck left and right with a pop as he stood up.

“Okay. Then I’ve got the gist of it. I’ll go get it.”

And Sir Kay, who went to meet the Marchioness, came back with the entire southwest side of the second floor and above, three separate annexes, the private garden in between, two greenhouses, space for the knights to stay, and an open space in the garden to use as a training ground, all for Arthur.

It was a third of the vast Marquis’s mansion.

The knights who heard Kay’s report of the spoils to Arthur raised their fists and cheered together.

“Yeaah!”

Arthur grinned.

“Has everyone had dinner? My wife and I came out in the middle of eating, so we haven’t finished yet.”

The knights grinned.

“We haven’t either.”

They went down to the most luxurious dining room in the empire.

Arthur seated Reina and Lionel on his left and right, paying special attention to Lionel.

At first, Reina felt awkward wondering why she was there, but soon she blended in and laughed together.

[This is the timeline separator]

The appointments with the representatives of the merchant guilds who were lining up to compete were still not cancelled.

But the appointments with the most noble and influential aristocrats for whom ‘honor’ was important began to be cancelled one after another.

The merchant guilds seemed willing on the surface, but seeing the nobles backing out and observing the situation, their attitudes began to cool.

When trying to advance the conversation to the main point, they all took a step back saying, “It’s a good day and we came to congratulate, so let’s just have pleasant and comfortable conversations, and talk about such complicated matters slowly,” creating an escape route.

The radical conditions they had been competing to propose and the ultra-luxurious gifts with gentle cards attached hoping for nothing in return were cut off abruptly.

There were even gifts that were taken back, saying they had been delivered by mistake.

“……”

Julius’s sharp instinct sent a warning.

It was only a matter of time before the talks with the merchant guilds that had already been arranged would change as well.

This couldn’t go on.

Marquis Julius called the butler with reddened eyes.

“Jim.”

“Yes, master.”

“Go to Arthur and…”

The Marquis pondered his words for a long time before saying.

“…Tell him I’ve come to make an appointment. …Tell him I’ll visit at any time he wants.”