“What’s the content of it anyway?”

Reina asked with a sniffle.

“…Pardon?”

She was still embraced in his arms.

Arthur lowered his head to hide his laughter at her nasally voice.

Then he spoke softly above her head.

“…It said I’m picky about sardines.”

“…”

Reina’s ears turned red as she closed her mouth.

Arthur looked down at Reina with his hands clasped behind her waist.

And he pulled her closer as if urging her.

“Are you embarrassed when asked?”

“…”

Reina kept her head down, avoiding his gaze.

Then Arthur slipped an arm under Reina’s legs and lifted her up, sitting down on the bed.

“…”

Reina ended up sitting sideways on his lap.

Their eyes met.

Arthur looked at Reina with one corner of his mouth raised.

“It seems Tristan took it to the knights thinking it was some kind of code, but just got mocked and came back.”

“…”

Reina looked at Arthur awkwardly.

His grinning face was unbelievably handsome.

“Don’t take Tristan’s actions too seriously. It’s his job to examine the possibilities that things I deem fine may not be fine.”

“…”

Why did the marchioness warn me to be careful of leading questions?

In retrospect, it seems she should have worried about seduction instead.

Reina stared at him with a mood that was somehow gloomy yet unrealistically elated.

Arthur continued with a smile.

“Well, he’s just doing his job diligently. It’s unfortunate that it makes you uncomfortable.”

Reina unknowingly gave a weak smile and sniffled again.

Of course…

If anything, isn’t it strange that you act like it’s fine, that you comfort me while knowing?

Reina bit her lip and mumbled quietly.

“…If it were me…”

And she lowered her head with a red face, feeling ashamed.

“…I would have asked why you’re being so nice to such a woman… I would have said not to keep an ungrateful person close.”

Arthur laughed.

“…”

Reina kept her head down, then glanced up to meet his eyes.

Arthur said “Ah” as if remembering something, and took a note out of his pocket to hand to her.

Reina received it with a dumb feeling.

“…”

Arthur spoke.

“You were going to send this next week, right? Send it when you’re comfortable as planned. We’ll pretend we don’t know.”

“…”

Arthur continued.

“By the way, it seems you wrote that I’m picky about mushrooms in your last note. I thought you would have written about meeting Crown Prince Kyle…”

“…”

Reina stared at him blankly.

Arthur raised one eyebrow with a smile and continued.

“Shouldn’t you have told me that first? Ah, did you write both? …You must have. You had to report my ‘weakness’, right?”

“…”

Reina’s mind became hazy.

You knew… You knew this accurately?

Reina stared at him in shock, and Arthur let out a short laugh.

Arthur adjusted his position and pulled her closer to sit more comfortably.

“But is it okay to send such things to the marchioness? I don’t think they would have expected that kind of report. Didn’t they get angry, thinking you were joking?”

“…”

Reina’s lips trembled.

But in her bewilderment, no words came out.

Arthur touched his chin with an amused face and said.

“Ah. But I’m only picky about mushrooms. I don’t particularly like or dislike sardines. I had them removed at meals because you said you don’t like fish.”

“Ah…”

Reina felt like a complete fool.

Arthur continued casually.

“Well, it’s fine to send it as is. But, if you send this, will we be receiving sardine dishes for a while?”

“…”

Seeing Reina’s dazed face, Arthur smiled shamelessly and interlaced his fingers behind her waist again.

“If that happens, I’ll eat the sardines for you. Since you ate the mushrooms for me.”

“…”

Reina stared at him in shock.

“…How do you know all this?”

Arthur paused briefly at those words,
then smiled with an inexplicably strange expression.

And he looked at Reina quietly and said abruptly.

“…Is that what’s important right now?”

Reina’s eyes widened.

She had heard those words before.

You know even that?

Arthur was smiling as he looked at Reina.

“Well, anyway.”

Arthur naturally changed the subject.

“Keep reporting as you wish. There’s no need to let the marquis and marchioness know that we know everything. That would be troublesome for you too, right?”

“…”

Arthur brushed Reina’s hair back over her shoulder, tidying it.

“We’ll pretend we don’t know. Get everything you can from the marquis and marchioness.”

“…”

“Of course, from me as well.”

And Arthur placed both pouches of gold coins on her lap.

“They’re all yours.”

“…”

Arthur continued brightly.

“If you’re not sure what to report, ask me. I’ll choose something appropriate. You can do as you like, but reports like me being picky about sardines probably won’t please the marquis and marchioness.”

Reina stared at him blankly.

It felt pointless to hide anything from him anymore.

“…They liked it, they said.”

Reina mumbled in a small voice, lowering her head.

“…I don’t know what’s what anymore.”

Arthur asked in confusion.

“…What?”

Reina quietly closed and opened her eyes with a timid sigh.

And she looked at him again furtively.

“…They seem satisfied with that much. Fortunately…”

It felt like a big wall inside her had suddenly disappeared.

Arthur stared at her, at a loss for words.

Then he turned his head and burst out laughing.

“…”

Reina dazedly observed the result of her violation of the taboo for the first time.

It was a strange feeling to see him laugh
after honestly revealing everything she had feared so much.

As Kei was leaving the main building of the mansion, he looked up at the newlyweds’ room where Arthur was staying.

“…”

At first, he hadn’t paid much attention, thinking it would be a short affair.

But now he felt it had been careless to let the marchioness’s lady-in-waiting attend to that woman.

The same went for the doctor…

Since that woman’s presence was actually helping in negotiations with Marquis Julius, and the duration was longer than initially expected.

It seemed necessary to manage this.

【 ― Lord Arthur is also picky about sardines. 】

“…”

Kei ran his hand through his hair.

It seemed the possibility of winning that woman over to their side had increased…

It looked like they would need to find a separate lady-in-waiting or maid to attend to her.

But even if they found a maid, the issue was under what pretext to bring her into the mansion.

The knights could be glossed over on the excuse that they were Lord Arthur’s direct subordinate soldiers who hadn’t been dismissed yet, so they weren’t under the marchioness’s jurisdiction.

But in any mansion, overseeing the ‘maids’ was the exclusive right of the lady of the house and the head maid.

So Arthur lacked a proper justification to bring in their own maids separately within the mansion without giving the impression of overstepping his authority without their permission.

It could potentially give the impression of confronting the main family of the house.

That could become a political burden for Arthur.

They had to avoid giving an impression of acting arrogantly.

A ‘son-in-law’s’ overstepping of authority towards the head of household and lady of the house
could easily be seen as overlapping with an ‘illegitimate child’s’ overstepping towards the crown prince and empress.

That would undoubtedly give Empress Maria grounds for keeping him in check.

Arthur was in a situation where he needed to show that he was simply being faithful to his duties.

“…”

Should they look for someone suitable among female knights or army nurses who could be passed off as part of the ‘military’?

But since there had never been women among Lord Arthur’s direct subordinates, the justification wasn’t very good.

If a son-in-law returning from war suddenly created female aides that didn’t exist on the battlefield, it was likely to seem strange instead.

“…”

Kei sighed and turned, his footsteps heading towards Lord Rembrandt’s quarters in the guest annex of the Julius mansion.

It was where his brother, Francis Ford, was staying.

“Hmm. You want to bring in separate maids who only take orders from Lord Arthur within the mansion?”

Kei said.

“His Excellency didn’t say so, it’s just something I thought of on my own.”

Francis stroked his chin at Kei’s words.

After removing information that could be related to sensitive secrets like the fake marriage,
Kei intentionally leaked information that Arthur was going through the process of adjusting successor rights with the marquis’s family in some tension.

By not emphasizing unrealistic harmony and naturally implying a realistic level of friction and tension,
he signaled that Arthur was normally going through the process of power distribution as a co-ruler of the Julius marquisate,
and indirectly showed a gesture of trust that he thought the imperial family was on their side.

It was also to give the impression that they were faithfully fulfilling their duties in the marriage arranged by the imperial family.

Francis would also guess Kei’s intention to deliberately leak information, so this information would likely be shared with Lord Rembrandt’s side as well.

Towards the idea that Arthur’s object of check was Julius, not the crown prince or empress.

“…”

Although the empress’s check was a delicate situation, they were still in the category of allies when dealing with Julius.

Francis crossed his legs and rested his chin on his hand.

“It’s not a bad idea, but… To bring maids into the mansion, ‘Lady Christina’s’ consent alone won’t be enough. You’ll definitely need the marchioness’s permission.”

“…”

Kei remained silent.

‘Lady Christina’s’ consent.

Does he think we can obviously obtain that?

Well, he probably thinks Lord Arthur is on good terms with Lady Christina.

Rumors were spreading in the mansion that Lord Arthur was so infatuated with ‘Lady Christina’ that he wouldn’t let her out of the bedroom…

Francis continued.

“If you don’t get the marchioness’s official consent, they’ll be displeased. That would give them unnecessary cause.”

Kei leaned back against the sofa and let out a light sigh.

“Yes. We anticipated that as well.”