After meeting with Lord Rembrandt, the Marquis was elated.

And when he boastfully told the Marchioness about the extraordinary offer he had received from Lord Rembrandt, he was met with a scream-like scolding.

“Are you crazy?! You said you were grateful for that, for that?!”

The Marquis, as if struck by lightning, covered his aching ears and frowned sharply.

“What’s wrong with you, woman? Why are you yelling?”

While our Julius Marquisate’s status is rising rapidly, why does this woman’s refinement remain at rock bottom!

Is it really impossible for her to have any composure or dignity?

The Marchioness trembled and stuttered incoherently.

“Lord Rembrandt said he would send maids, maids? And you just accepted without consulting me?”

The Marquis snapped in irritation.

“Weren’t you the one who complained to me several times about the maids dying? Wasn’t that your intention?”

Lord Rembrandt had already understood all our difficult circumstances!

The considerate and gentlemanly offer Rembrandt had made naturally came to mind.

“My stay and that of my attendants has been longer than expected, and with Arthur and the knights also staying at the mansion”

“You must have a lot on your mind these days.”

“I’m always grateful for your consideration in making sure we’re comfortable.”

“But I feel that having this many people stay for so long might be an inconvenience.”

“I can well imagine how much you and the Marchioness must be straining with limited staff to take care of us, so I’m not at ease.”

“However, I’m also quite concerned that the Julius Marquisate, being a key figure in the empire, is not in a position to suddenly recruit maids due to a shortage of hands.”

“With gratitude, I’ve been preparing a small gift to lighten the Marchioness’s burden.”

“As gifts shouldn’t be announced in advance, I was preparing without mentioning it,”

“But thinking it might be rude if it were an unwanted gesture”

“I wanted to speak with the Marquis first to ask your opinion, so I requested to see you briefly despite your busy schedule.”

And Lord Rembrandt said he had personally selected about thirty skilled maids who could temporarily assist the Julius mansion while they were staying, and asked if it would be alright to send them.

He said he had prepared capable maids with very reliable backgrounds, without any concerning connections to other noble houses.

As they were undoubtedly skilled individuals,

He thought the Marquis and Marchioness could significantly reduce their workload just by having less burden in taking care of the imperial party.

Of course, he added that while they could be used freely in the main building of the mansion, he thought it might be uncomfortable for the Marchioness, so it would be fine to use them just for taking care of the imperial guests.

Above all, the reason the Marquis was overwhelmed with emotion upon receiving this offer was that

The maids Rembrandt ‘wanted to allow to work here if permitted’ were none other than ‘maids who had worked in the imperial palace and were currently on sabbatical.’

To think that maids who had served the imperial palace would now serve the Julius mansion!

To the Marquis, this felt as if the Julius mansion had become no different from the imperial palace.

The Marquis was excited.

Wasn’t this a clear expression of trust, alliance, and goodwill from the imperial family?

He wanted to quickly boast about receiving such an offer to the visitors at the Julius mansion!

It was enough to dispel the regret of missing the opportunity to be introduced to and build a relationship with the Crown Prince who had visited the mansion recently.

Recalling the mistake of missing the Crown Prince, the Marquis resolved not to let this offer slip away no matter what.

And he immediately leaned forward, expressing fervent gratitude for Lord Rembrandt’s kindness and thoughtfulness.

“Lord Rembrandt…! How can you be so considerate!”

“Rather, I’m not sure if it’s not rude of me to accept such a grand gift so readily.”

He was even inwardly nervous.

He hoped Lord Rembrandt wouldn’t change his mind and say that imperial servants would be difficult after all!

“As it happens, my wife has been very worried about the shortage of maids!”

“Ah, it’s not that we’ve been struggling because of Lord Rembrandt.”

“It’s because of my wife’s perfectionism, not wanting to bring in unreliable maids, as we’ve had an unprecedented number of important guests visiting the mansion lately!”

“…”

Recalling that far, the Marquis suddenly felt irritated and glared at his wife.

I even went so far as to praise you to avoid embarrassing you.

Not even a word of thanks to me.

But far from being pleased, the Marchioness hissed inelegantly and rolled her eyes at him.

“You… you!”

In the Marchioness’s mind, images flashed by in order: Reina locked in the bridal chamber still in her dress,

Christina standing in the upstairs corridor every day waiting for Arthur’s forgiveness,

And Arthur and the knights freely roaming the mansion without even meeting them.

She felt dizzy.

Bring in Lord Rembrandt’s maids here?

“Don’t you know there are things in this house that shouldn’t be seen?!”

The Marchioness shouted.

The Marquis snapped back irritably.

“The maids won’t invade your domain and will only assist Lord Rembrandt! Surely the dignified and wise Lord Rembrandt won’t let them be disrespectful to you!”

The Marchioness frantically messed up her own hair.

“How do you know that! What do you know about maids, what do you know about the affairs of the mansion to do this on your own! No, why!”

The Marchioness finally grabbed the Marquis and pleaded, almost crying.

“Was it so hard to say you’d ask your wife and get back to him? Why did you give permission on your own? Why didn’t you consult me? The maids are under my authority!”

But the Marquis snorted derisively.

“My goodness, what kind of great authority is that.”

The Marchioness was dumbfounded and could only let out an exasperated breath.

The Marquis ranted on.

“The atmosphere is already quite off with you constantly preventing Arthur and Christina from meeting, and now you want me to say something like ‘Ah, I should ask my wife and get back to you’ in such an arrogant manner? Don’t you know anything about social etiquette?”

Such unnecessary obsession with her own authority!

What if Lord Rembrandt changes his mind because of this!

However, the Marchioness ignored him and shook the Marquis, fretting anxiously.

“Fine, then go to Lord Rembrandt and say we can’t do it. Say you misunderstood, that I said we don’t need the maids. Go right now, or if you’re embarrassed, should I do it? Yes, I’ll just…”

The Marquis scoffed.

“I already told him you were in tears because of the maid shortage, remember?”

“What?”

The Marquis raised his chin as if to drive the point home.

“No. It’s not like we’re the Grand Duke Klein’s family, and they’re offering maids from the imperial palace. How can we refuse? The Empress must have already given permission. Don’t you understand how honorable this offer is, even as the mistress of a prestigious noble family?”

The Marchioness, finally exploding, shouted at the Marquis.

“Aaargh!”

There was no way to win when he wouldn’t listen to reason.

Kay wanted to talk with you.

Yes, that’s fine.

If you’re uncomfortable, you can talk to me. It’s not that important.

No, I’ll speak with the knight. …I have something to say as well.

“My lady.”

“Sir Kay.”

As the door opened, Reina rose from her seat and greeted him with a smile.

She looked a bit nervous but more composed and calm than usual.

Kay opened the conversation first with relaxed words.

“This is the first time we’re meeting separately like this.”

“Yes, it is.”

Seeing Reina somewhat subdued, Kay smiled at her.

“Don’t be too nervous. I just wanted to ask a few things. First of all, you’ve been through a lot.”

“No, not at all.”

Noticing Reina still seemed quite stiff, Kay briefly considered whether he should first invite her to sit comfortably.

Should I now be the one to offer her a seat?

However, Reina’s subsequent action slightly bewildered Kay.

Reina, still pressing her hand to her chest, bowed her head deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

Kay, who had expected her to only respond passively, momentarily froze, unable to react.

Reina continued speaking with her head bowed.

“I heard that everyone saw the note I sent. I’m sorry for making you feel betrayed… Even though I didn’t come here under good circumstances, you all treated me with undeserved kindness…”

Reina’s lengthy apology continued, filled with tension.

“Relying on Arthur’s kindness in giving me time to think because I was anxious, I have been deceiving Arthur and all of you—”

Kay, belatedly coming to his senses, interrupted her.

“My lady.”

…Did she perhaps meet with Sir Tristan before me and hear something?

Kay, momentarily flustered, quickly organized his thoughts and stopped her.

“You don’t need to go that far. We know you acted for our sake in your own way. The other knights think so too. Not all of them, but more of us think that way.”

“…”

Reina stopped speaking but couldn’t lift her bowed head.

Kay tried to persuade her to raise her head again.

“Please don’t bow your head. This is not an apology I should receive. If Arthur said it’s alright, it’s not for us to comment on.”

Realizing that her bowed head was making Kay uncomfortable, Reina straightened up and faced him with a stiff expression.

Still, she carefully finished what she had been saying.

“…I apologized to Arthur as well, but I wanted to say sorry separately to you and the knights. Because you protected me on Arthur’s orders…”

Kay frowned slightly, feeling a bit uncomfortable as he spoke.

“It was also surveillance.”

Though it was somewhat awkward coming from a position of trying to persuade and recruit, Reina smiled slightly.

“It was protection too. I felt it more as protection than surveillance. Thank you.”

While he had conducted countless interrogations of spies and prisoners, this was unfamiliar territory.

Kay stared at her blankly.

Looking at such an incredibly naive prisoner made him newly realize that the war had indeed ended.

“I just followed His Lordship’s orders. It wasn’t a difficult task. But I can well imagine that it must have been more difficult for you to find the courage not to cooperate, even though you received the same orders. I think you should be thanked instead.”

Reina’s fresh and awkward face reddened slightly at these clichéd words praising a converted opponent.

“…”

This is really unfamiliar.

I miss the hardened prisoners and bitter spies.

“…I didn’t do nothing.”

“…”

Is she now saying she did something with the report about being picky with sardines?

He had already been informed by Arthur that the previous report was about being picky with mushrooms.

Kay silently looked at Reina.

Then Reina, interpreting Kay’s gaze in some way, tensed up again and began to pour out a long explanation.

“The information I passed on was about meeting the Crown Prince and being invited to the debutante ball. And that Arthur doesn’t eat mushrooms… I only passed a note once. I tried not to cause harm, but I know it’s just an excuse since I did deceive you all. But I…”

Kay calmly interrupted Reina.

“Yes, my lady. You can stop apologizing for leaking information about Arthur’s eating preferences.”