Lord Arthur must have been an excellent negotiator.

It hadn’t even been a few hours since she had convinced herself to give up such a reckless gamble, but her resolve was already starting to waver.

“……”

Reina, blankly submerged in the bathtub,

began to rehearse in her mind what she would say to Arthur.

Lord Arthur.

Even if I can’t work by your side for long… perhaps the money you mentioned… how much can you guarantee?

Of course, I know 30 gold per week is already far too generous, but…

This job isn’t something I can do for a long time, after all.

So…

I’m a bit worried about it.

It’s my livelihood, after all…

If I can’t work for long, it would be difficult for me…

I need a guaranteed salary.

And actually, I need a doctor for a while…

And I need a lifelong job too…

“Sigh……”

Reina let out a deep sigh.

…Why do I need so many things?

Reina lowered her body, sliding down and submerging in the bathwater.

‘Lord Arthur…’

‘I can’t stay by your side forever anyway.’

‘Is there any chance you’d be willing to introduce me to work somewhere else…?’

‘I’m not asking for much…’

‘Just 30 gold per week until my grandmother is alive…’

‘After that, even 10 silver for life would be fine.’

‘…Is that too long compared to the employment period you had in mind?’

“……”

‘You couldn’t… employ me for life, could you…?’

‘I suppose Lady Christina would be uncomfortable seeing me…’

“……”

Although she hadn’t made up her mind yet,

even if she did decide something, it would probably be after meeting Taylor next week.

Reina was refining her words in various ways to organize her thoughts.

Is it possible, or not?

Does it sound a little shameless, or very shameless?

Reina refined and refined her words in her head over and over again.

Correcting it this way and that way…

But no matter how she corrected it, it still sounded outrageous and shameless.

Reina emerged from the water and exhaled the breath she had been holding.

“Whew……”

Water dripped down in front of her eyes.

“……”

…Once I accept Lord Arthur’s offer, I’ll never be able to work at the Julius mansion again.

Even if I’m introduced to another job, I won’t be able to receive a salary as good as Julius’s anywhere.

In the end, I’ll become dependent on the money Lord Arthur gives me.

“……”

I knew Lord Arthur was extremely wealthy,

and I knew he could easily afford to pay such a salary, but…

I just couldn’t help thinking that I wouldn’t be able to do work valuable enough to justify asking for 30 gold per week from Lord Arthur.

Even if betraying Julius and siding with him might be of some help to him right now,

would that value still be worth the money after a few years?

It didn’t seem likely.

In the end, I felt like there would come a day when he’d think, ‘Why am I still paying money for years to a maid who scammed me?’

I didn’t want that.

“……”

Sigh…

Reina wiped the moisture falling from her face with her hand, exhaling what must have been her umpteenth sigh.

As someone who had deceived him by pretending to be a bride, she didn’t want to become someone anxiously waiting only for his money.

Reina sat in the bathtub and looked at the mirror.

“……”

…When Lord Arthur was wet, he looked decadently charming yet refreshing, but I just look like a drowned rat.

I look pitiful.

Reina stared blankly at the mirror for a while, then heavily lifted her body from the cooled bathtub.

Then she startled, covered her body, and sat back down in the bathtub.

“B-B-B-Brody?”

Brody, who had just entered carrying folded towels and a bath basket, smiled gently and said,

“Young lady. Are you coming out already? I heard you were taking a bath, so I brought bath salts to add…”

Beside her was Marina, whom Reina hadn’t seen in days.

Marina lowered herself and dipped her hand slightly into the bathtub, then said,

“Oh my. The water has cooled. We should add some warm water.”

“…??”

Reina stared at the two of them, dumbfounded.

Brody added the bath salts, and Marina poured warm water into the tub.

Then they even added fragrant rose petals with gold flakes.

“??”

Reina blankly watched the two maids move about.

·

·

·

After becoming involved in the matters of ‘Christina’ and ‘Reina’, Marina and Brody had been assigned to a two-person room under the pretext of being direct attendants and were staying there.

Probably to make it easier to keep them quiet.

Marina and Brody had just finished having a long conversation there.

They had their own concerns about this ambiguous and awkward situation they found themselves in.

Brody first boldly presented her deduction.

Even though it was a room for just the two of them, she lowered her voice considerably.

“…Reina was actually the Marquis’s hidden daughter.”

“……”

Marina stared blankly at Brody.

Brody added meaningfully.

“Come to think of it, that Reina, she looks quite similar to Lady Christina.”

Marina shook her head, denying her far-fetched imagination.

“…That’s because I did her makeup to look similar to the young lady. Without makeup, their faces aren’t that similar.”

This time, Marina lowered her voice.

“I think… this is completely an accident.”

She presented her deduction.

“Five years ago, when the young lady’s marriage to Lord Arthur was decided, and there was all that fuss about not wanting to get married, right? Since the young lady refused the marriage so strongly, they switched Reina in to pretend to be the young lady and sent her instead.”

Marina continued.

“But now Lord Arthur has returned and found out about it, and he’s having a battle of nerves with the Marquis’s family. How dare you deceive me?! Like that.”

This time, Brody denied it with a face that said ‘I don’t think so.’

“Nah. If that were the case, would the Marquis’s family have willingly sent Reina to the homecoming ceremony? They would have hidden her somewhere before it came to that point.”

Brody insisted again.

“I’m telling you, she’s an illegitimate child! During the marriage contract, the Marquis was like, ‘The imperial family has an illegitimate child, so I’ll send out an illegitimate child too.’ Just like that!”

Marina countered.

“If that were the case, the Marquis’s side would have resolved it before the rumors of a political marriage with ‘Lady Christina’ spread far and wide. They would have said it wasn’t Christina but actually another daughter they were marrying.”

Brody immediately replied.

“They missed the timing to speak up! So after much deliberation, the Marquis decided to switch the illegitimate child with the legitimate daughter!”

Brody’s voice lowered to a whisper.

“When Lord Arthur became too big of a figure, it became difficult to say that the one they had married off wasn’t the legitimate daughter but an illegitimate child, right? Everyone knows her as Lady Christina, and the Marquis has even become the Grand Duke. Having an illegitimate child isn’t something to be proud of either.”

Marina became confused.

The Marquis’s daughter? Reina?

“No way… If she were the Marquis’s daughter, how could she have lived all this time, working just like the other maids?”

Brody opened her eyes wide, as if it were obvious, and said,

“That’s only if you assume the Marquis cherishes or loves his daughter. Honestly, the Marquis doesn’t even dote on Lady Christina, his legitimate daughter, that much, right? Look at what happened five years ago, pushing such a marriage on a daughter who didn’t want it! The Marquis only cares about the family. Unlike the Madam. To him, children are just means!”

Well… somehow it’s starting to sound convincing.

As truths began to mix in, Marina’s expression wavered.

Brody continued.

“But now that things have turned out this way, the Marquis seems to think it’s better to abandon the Madam and Lady Christina and choose Reina. Just like how the imperial family invested in the illegitimate child they had abandoned for Lord Arthur, he’s decided to invest in his own abandoned illegitimate child.”

Marina bit her nails as she pondered.

“…So, there was a switch, but…”

“It wasn’t just a maid, but an illegitimate child who was switched! That’s it. So things might not be able to go back to how they were!”

Marina’s expression grew increasingly serious as she held her fist to her mouth.

At first, she thought it was nonsense.

But the more she listened, the more plausible it sounded, which was unsettling.

And in Marina’s mind, another possibility she had never considered before was raising its head.

If that was true, and if by any chance Reina really became Lord Arthur’s bride…

What about Taylor?

Brody continued.

“At this rate, Reina might take Lady Christina’s place and live as Christina forever, you know? The Marquis might push for the obedient Reina instead of the Madam and Lady Christina, with whom he’s not on good terms, since she’s his daughter anyway!”

Then Brody added in a small voice.

“Besides, doesn’t Lord Arthur seem to like Reina a bit?”

“……”

Marina started to be convinced.

Brody’s words seemed plausible.

Brody spoke again.

“We need to choose our side well. Honestly, as a lady to serve, Reina is a hundred times better than Lady Christina, right? You have to admit that?”

She defended herself in front of Lord Arthur and the other knight, they say.

Brody, thinking of Reina, seemed to feel warm inside as she smiled slightly, shrugging her shoulders.

“……”

On the other hand, Marina made a terrible expression as she thought about serving Lady Christina, with ashtrays flying around.

Brody rested her chin on her hand and smiled.

“Even if it doesn’t turn out that way, there’s no reason to make Reina dislike us now. We should just be nice to both sides, reading the situation.”

Marina rolled her eyes.

It made sense.

As soon as they heard that Reina was taking a bath after Lord Arthur finished washing, the two stood up simultaneously, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

·

·

·

Reina looked at the two maid girls in bewilderment as they suddenly offered to help her.

Brody had always been kind, but.

Marina, though a bit awkward, started to treat Reina carefully and kindly.

Since her refusals didn’t work, Reina ended up forcibly receiving help with her bath and even getting the full course of a young lady’s massage.

For Reina, who had never entrusted her naked body to a complete stranger, it was a bewildering experience,

but the massage that wealthy noble young ladies receive, with fragrant oils being applied and the whole body being kneaded, was a whole new world.

It relaxed Reina’s tension while she was feeling troubled, but also completely drained her energy.

With her whole body relaxed and languid, Reina returned to the bedroom in a daze, exuding fragrance.

Brody returned with Marina, tidying up the bathroom and packing away the oils and bath salts with a satisfied smile.

The jasmine oil that Brody had ambitiously applied was a luxury item famous for relaxing the body in a particularly languid way.

[This is the timeline separator]

Arthur opened his eyes with a start.

“……”

The sleeping Reina had rolled into his arms.

“……”

What is this…

This woman… she never crossed the line like this before.

Of course, he didn’t dislike it, but it was bewildering to suddenly experience something that had never happened before.

…What’s going on?

She always slept on the edge of the bed as if she was afraid of even touching me.

Is she making mistakes now that she’s become comfortable with the bed and her tension has eased?

“……”

…This is troublesome.

Arthur uncomfortably wriggled his body.

He tried to slowly, as carefully as possible, pull his arm out so as not to wake her from her sleep.

However, as the shoulder she was comfortably using as a pillow started to slip away, Reina whimpered and nuzzled her head, burrowing even more deeply into his body.

“……”

Arthur held his breath.

The good smell was extremely dangerous.

Arthur tried his best to calmly analyze anything and think of anything.

Why is my wife doing this?

If it’s just sleep talking, why has she suddenly developed sleep talking that she didn’t have before?

The width of this bed and the probability of my wife climbing on top of me in her sleep is.

“……”

It wasn’t very helpful.

Her breathing sounds, resting her head on his shoulder, were reaching his neck.

Arthur held his breath and turned his head in the opposite direction from her.

Fortunately, since it wasn’t the first time this had happened, Arthur was able to remain a bit more calm without pushing her away.

“……”

Arthur deliberately steadied his breathing.

Cold sweat broke out.

So… what should he do about this?

Arthur desperately stared at the corner of the bed.

If he just waited for her to relax a little, then moved to the side…

Arthur held his breath again.

“…!”

Reina placed her hand on his chest.

Then she grabbed and pulled at his clothes.

Then, with her forehead pressed against his shoulder, she made a whimpering sound like a sick puppy and mumbled.

“Thirty gold…”

“……”

Arthur blinked blankly.

His mind was truly empty, unable to think of anything.

Arthur lay there stiffly for a long time.

Until the pale blue sky began to brighten.

“……”

Arthur spent the night wide awake, held captive by Reina.

Money…?

Was it money…?

Had it been about money…?