“But we can’t just tell the Marchioness that we want to bring in our own maids on her side. She would find that unpleasant in its own way.”

“That’s true.”

Kay leaned back on the sofa and crossed his arms.

How could they bring maids untouched by the Marchioness’s hands into the mansion without friction?

Francis gave him a look.

“Quite troublesome?”

“Well… I suppose so…”

Kay answered halfheartedly, trailing off.

Though there were various other purposes for the visit,

He was half sincere in wanting to get Francis’s advice while he was at it.

After all, his elder brother was known for being skilled in these matters.

But it seemed Francis couldn’t offer much different advice than what Kay had expected.

Francis stared at him blankly before smiling.

“Want me to help?”

An unexpected offer came out.

Kay glanced at his elder brother with eyes devoid of much expectation.

“You, elder brother?”

How exactly do you plan to help.

“As it happens, since ‘Lord Rembrandt’ is here, there might be a method we can use.”

Francis casually remarked while picking up his teacup.

“The goodwill of the Imperial Family.”

“…?”

Suddenly, a bit of anticipation rose.

Though it was just a ‘Let’s hear it out’ level of anticipation.

“What do you mean?”

Francis spoke simply.

“‘Lord Rembrandt’s’ side gifted servants and maids for Arthur’s sake. The end.”

…Hmm?

Kay’s eyes changed.

Francis calmly drank his tea as if he hadn’t said anything unusual.

Kay mulled over Francis’s words with a curious look.

‘Lord Rembrandt is sending maids and servants?’

“If we package it as for the Julius mansion, which is short-handed due to new family members from Arthur’s return, it paints a pretty picture. Quite honorable in its own way.”

“…”

“And in reality, they are desperately short-handed and the maids are dying from overwork.”

It was a surprisingly plausible suggestion.

A pretext that didn’t reveal our own assertions, yet would be awkward for the Marchioness to refuse.

It was exactly what was needed right now.

Francis’s voice continued.

“The Marquis’s household seems to be avoiding hiring new maids in the midst of this, probably out of caution. There are quite a few people eager to find fault with Julius, who’s become the Grand Duke, so these days the chances of spies slipping in are high. So it looks like they’re trying to manage somehow with the existing maids they’re familiar with and can trust.”

The reason for being cautious about hiring new maids.

Kay easily guessed it was because they needed to hide the ‘fraudulent marriage’ and ‘Reina’,

but what Francis pointed out was also an appropriate reason externally.

Francis shrugged lightly.

“So if we say it’s the Imperial Family’s goodwill to take care of Arthur and consider the busy Julius household with its new family members, Julius would have no reason to refuse. Plus, the Marquis quite likes Lord Rembrandt.”

Despite his suspicions, a thoughtful look began to appear in Kay’s eyes.

The Marquis and his wife would likely want to hide Reina’s existence and find Lord Rembrandt’s maids uncomfortable, but it sounded good.

In any case, what mattered was that ‘there was no justification to refuse externally’.

Francis picked up his teacup again.

“If you give us a list of the maids you want, we should be able to slip them in unobtrusively. Consider it if you’re interested.”

Kay rested his chin on his hand and looked at his elder brother with cautious eyes.

It sounded much better than he had expected.

It was all good except for one thing that bothered him.

Namely, that it was a proposal from ‘Rembrandt’s’ side.

Arthur had said he was Empress Maria’s man and to keep him from approaching her, to be wary.

… So of course, he hadn’t even considered help from that side.

Francis glanced at him with a wry smile.

“You’re thinking whether Lord Rembrandt, as Empress Maria’s nephew, would be more beneficial to Arthur than Julius, right?”

“…”

He was accurate.

Francis spoke plainly as he set down his teacup.

“Lord Rembrandt is neutral. If I had to say, he’s in a position more similar to His Highness the Crown Prince than Empress Maria. You know His Highness’s stance better than I do.”

Francis gestured nonchalantly.

“Well, there’s no point in me trying to prove it since you probably won’t believe me anyway, so figure out for yourself whether what I’m saying is true or not. Though I’m sure you’ll do that without me telling you.”

If his stance was the same as His Highness the Crown Prince,

It meant Lord Rembrandt was favorable towards Arthur and was even trying to protect him from the Empress.

If true, it was tempting.

Kay sat with his legs crossed, looking at his elder brother without moving.

Of course, he had no intention of accepting it until he grasped Lord Rembrandt’s true intentions.

For now, Kay probed once more how feasible this proposal was.

“… Can you just say that without asking your superior’s intentions? How do you know whether Lord Rembrandt is willing to do such a thing?”

Francis waved his hand with a bored expression.

“Would I say it if it wasn’t possible?”

And Francis dismissed his younger brother.

“Go. It’s not like you’re going to ask me to do it right now anyway.”

“…”

“Go investigate. You need to verify whether what I said is true or not. And you’ll need to carefully select the servants and maids you want to insert, right?”

Francis smirked.

“Come back when it’s all done.”

His tone was confident that his younger brother would surely come looking for him again.

Kay had an intuition that investigation would likely prove Francis’s words to be true.

Kay stood up with a slightly changed look in his eyes towards his elder brother.

“…”

Elder brother is being helpful.

And after looking down at Francis for a moment, he asked.

“… Why are you looking into ‘Reina’?”

“…?”

Francis looked at his younger brother with slightly widened eyes in surprise.

“How do you know about that woman…”

Francis trailed off before smiling widely.

“Are you interested in her too? That’s unusual for you?”

“…”

Recalling the shame of having to make excuses for his elder brother’s womanizing in front of his lord recently, one of Kay’s eyebrows furrowed.

Oblivious, Francis continued cheerfully.

“Kid, you’ve got good taste. But we overlap? Well… She is a rare beauty, isn’t she? That young lady.”

The surprising and grateful feelings towards his elder brother disappeared in an instant.

Kay looked at Francis with narrowed eyes as if he found him pathetic.

“If she’s beautiful, do you lose all sense?”

Francis rose from his seat, smiling nonchalantly as he put his hands in his pockets.

“Hmm. Still a novice? How can you date while being so cautious in front of a beauty? Beautiful women always have many men courting them. An assertive man seizes the opportunity.”

“…”

Kay snorted without realizing it.

At his cynical expression, Francis frowned at his younger brother with a slightly offended look.

“What? What’s with that face?”

Kay glanced sideways at Francis.

“You’d better not mess with that woman.”

He left one last word as he patted his elder brother’s shoulder on his way out.

“I’m saying this so you don’t get killed, so take it to heart.”

[This is the timeline separator]

“Hmm…”

After Kay left.

Francis, who had been resting his chin on his hand, adjusted his posture to lean his head back on the sofa.

And while crossing his arms, he tapped his fingers.

“…”

No one has seen ‘Reina’ since ‘Arthur’s’ return…

How does Kay, who ‘returned with Arthur’, know about ‘Reina’?

Francis uncrossed his arms and lowered his hands onto his legs.

And he glanced at the door Kay had left through.

He reacted to ‘She’s a beauty, isn’t she?’

This means he ‘has seen’ her, doesn’t it?

[This is the timeline separator]

Knock knock.

“Lord Rembrandt. Are you here?”

“Yes, Francis. Come in.”

Rembrandt greeted his attendant Francis, who had come looking for him, with his usual smile.

Francis entered carrying a file of documents and approached him with a smile.

“Kay visited today. He came to relay a message from Arthur’s side.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Rembrandt showed gentle interest.

“You said he was your younger brother. Did you have a good talk?”

Rembrandt had been wanting to arrange an opportunity to speak with ‘Arthur’ at least once since returning after sending off the Crown Prince.

But separately, not through the Marquis.

However, as Arthur’s official position was that he was refusing all private meetings outside of his official duties as the victorious general,

Rembrandt was looking for the right timing to approach in a way that wouldn’t be disrespectful to the other party.

He was being even more cautious because he couldn’t say he had left a particularly good impression on Arthur from their last meeting.

He could meet if he wanted to, but Rembrandt thought he should approach in a way that wouldn’t upset Arthur’s mood as much as possible, since he wanted to see them for a long time.

After hearing that Francis’s younger brother Kay was Arthur’s closest aide, he had been considering indirectly expressing his intentions through that channel.

In the meantime, Kay had come looking for him first, so Francis, who knew Rembrandt’s intentions, didn’t miss the opportunity.

Francis relayed the conversation he had with Kay.

Rembrandt, who had been listening silently to his story, smiled.

“… I see. The maids…”

“Yes. It will become clearer once we see what kind of people they want us to bring in, but it seems they want lady’s maids or personal attendants to closely care for ‘Lady Christina’.”

Rembrandt quietly touched his mouth.

I see.

Since the Marchioness’s maid would be attached to ‘Reina’, are they first trying to cut off the Marchioness’s hand from her?

A strangely similar yet different interpretation came from Francis’s mouth as well.

“Though there is friction with the Marquis and his wife, it seems ‘Lady Christina’ may be likely to take Arthur’s side.”

In normal cases, ‘Lady Christina’ would have inherited the servants of the Marchioness, that is, Christina’s mother and the mistress of this mansion.

But the fact that they specifically want to bring in maids who only take orders from Arthur…

It could be read as an intention to create an appropriate distance between ‘Christina’ and the Marchioness, and to draw her to Arthur’s side to act independently.

“…”

Would this align with what ‘Reina’ wants?

It wasn’t clear whether the person troubling her now was Julius, Arthur, or both.

Reina hadn’t answered Rembrandt’s question.

In any case, there was a need to meet her again to confirm.

Francis continued, saying that Arthur’s side seemed to be assuming that their situation would be relayed to the Imperial Family through Lord Rembrandt.

Rembrandt smiled an awkward and embarrassed smile.

“… So they still see me as the Empress’s watchdog.”

Francis said.

“Yes. So for now, I just hinted that we might be able to help with the servant situation. I told them that if Arthur wants to bring certain servants into the mansion, Lord Rembrandt could insert them under the banner of ‘Imperial goodwill’, so they should look into it if they’re interested.”

Rembrandt laughed.

“That worked out well. Was the message that we are friendly also conveyed?”

Francis shrugged and laughed along.

“Yes. I said that you are neutral, and that your position is more similar to His Highness the Crown Prince than Empress Maria, so they should look into it. That kid won’t believe me even if I say it. He’s probably started investigating through his own means by now.”

Rembrandt expressed his gratitude honestly.

“It’s really convenient having you around.”

“You flatter me.”

And Francis handed over the file of documents he had been carrying under his arm to Rembrandt.

“By the way, what you entrusted to me is also all done. Though we’ll have to wait for a response from Arthur’s side anyway.”

There were several tasks he had entrusted to Francis, but from the words that accompanied the handover saying everything was done, he could tell what kind of work this was the result of.

Rembrandt took it and smiled as he opened it.

“I should treat you today.”

“I won’t refuse.”

What Francis had prepared were resumes and letters of recommendation for the servants and maids that Rembrandt was preparing to send into the Marquis’s mansion.

In fact, they had been preparing to insert servants into the Julius Marquis’s mansion even before Kay’s visit.

This was because Rembrandt had felt the need for servants to act as his arms and legs and to monitor Julius, and was in the process of gathering people to bring into the mansion.

It was the reason Francis had been able to offer Kay Rembrandt’s proposal under the banner of ‘Imperial goodwill’.

Rembrandt began to move to fulfill his promise to find Reina.