Neris thought it unexpected when Joyce extended her right hand to her too, but she gratefully accepted the courtesy. The proper escort that made every movement comfortable as she alighted from the carriage was admirable.

“Miss!”

A plump woman in a large apron ran up from the side of the main building, tears in her eyes. Her face was full of emotion, like a reunion with a soldier who had survived a war. Diane waved to the woman.

“Fiony!”

“Look at our Miss! She’s gotten so thin!”

Fiony, probably the chief cook of the main building, spun Diane around in a hug. Then a man in butler’s clothes hugged Diane, and after that, an older maid…

“Let’s go inside now. Dee, are you tired? You two should go in, take a bath, and rest.”

As Diane was busy hugging each of her close servants, Joyce stepped forward. The servants led Diane and Neris inside, laughing.

Everywhere was filled with red decorations because of the holiday.

Especially in the large hall that faced visitors as soon as they entered, there hung a tapestry high enough to combine the heights of about three or four people. The embroidered picture was of the resurrection of the god Timaeus, and the Holy Tree that was beside it at the time of resurrection.

The vivid red flowers blooming on the Holy Tree were embroidered using silk threads, gold threads, and sevencolored twisted threads, making it incredibly vivid and beautiful. In front of it, even the sufficiently luxurious silk flowers decorating the walls and stairs seemed pale.

The tapestry was hung on the wall that connects the first and second floors by opening part of the ceiling, from the railing of the second floor down to the first.

Several people were coming down the stairs next to it.

“Oh my, Diane!”

“Diane’s here.”

The people coming down the stairs appeared to be in their early twenties or thereabouts, male and female.

Neris guessed their identities by noticing that two of them had the same reddishbrown hair as Diane’s siblings, and one had the same green eyes as Joyce.

“It’s been a long time.”

Diane greeted her cousin sisters and brothers energetically.

They burst into laughter. Neris kept her eyes down, acting demure, but watched their attitudes closely.

Although the McKinnon house was not ruled by strict traditions, Diane was, after all, a young countess, and their fathers were the second sons or below, making her their superior. If they were not addressing each other with respect, it would have been correct for them to use honorifics to Diane, and for her to speak informally to them.

But acting so confidently like that, they seemed to have a habit of treating Diane as a child.

Or did this family value informality among family members more than legal status?

“She’s cute, our Diane.”

“Was school okay? Nobody bothered you? I was so worried about you.”

“School’s fun. I’m learning a lot.”

Diane responded with a proud face. The youngestlooking of Diane’s cousins, a girl with bright brown hair, glanced at Neris.

“Who’s that? Your new maid?”
The fact that Diane had already brought a friend was well known to the household, yet the feigned ignorance in asking was rather spiteful. Neris stepped forward with a grin.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Neris Trued. Diane’s friend.”

Diane was about to get angry at her cousin’s rude attitude but was caught off guard by the word Neris used, her face brightening. Neris was the first to call her a friend!

“Ah, I think I’ve heard of you.”

Diane’s cousin arrogantly raised her eyebrows and slowly looked Neris over, her eyes pausing briefly on Neris’s face before lingering on her clothing for quite some time.

“So you’ve attended the academy. It seems that even those renowned classes are nothing special. Haven’t you learned not to intrude on the conversations of nobles?”

Joyce frowned, hidden from the others, and Diane was about to flare up again. But Neris retorted as soon as the cousin finished speaking.

“What nobility?”

“What?”

Diane’s cousin looked puzzled.

Betty laughed to herself. It was satisfying to see someone else fall for what she had fallen for. Besides, Muriel McKinnon had always been jealous of Diane since childhood and tripped up time and time again, so it was only her just deserts.

“What nobility? Do you mean nobility in the broad sense or the narrow sense? The ‘Noble Roster and Assembly Composition Law of Bista’ limits the narrow definition of nobility to ‘a baron or higher who has ruled a fief for at least three generations, or his direct family.’ The only ones here who fit that definition are Diane and Duke Joyce.”

And if the broad definition of nobility – ‘the children of a duke or higher’ – was applied, Neris would naturally be included.

The room fell silent. Muriel began to tremble, and Diane chuckled.

Neris looked at Muriel with calm eyes. Just as Muriel was about to say something, she felt a chill run down her spine, and her pride was wounded.

A man with green eyes standing next to Muriel summarized the situation with a smile.

“Our friend is right, Mue. She attends the academy and must be very smart. You’re being foolish and losing out for nothing.”

The people who had laughed at Diane’s greeting earlier now laughed again, just as before.

Neris seemed to understand the mood. She glanced up at Joyce and breathed a sigh of relief inwardly when she saw he was at ease.

Although Muriel McKinnon had been spiteful, she didn’t seem to harbor any ill will or plot. But the man with the green eyes did not feel right to Neris.

His face was relatively obscure, but it bothered her all the more.

“I’m Nualan McKinnon. Diane’s friend, you’ll be staying here all vacation?”

“Yes.”

Nualan. A name meaning ‘noble,’ too grand for the son of a ‘duke.’ Neris looked at Nualan as she replied, and he smiled awkwardly and waved his hand.

“Your eyes and the way you talk suggest a bloodline far superior to ours. Enjoy your short stay, and let’s get along well.”

‘Enjoy your stay’? It was not something a relative should say in the presence of the house’s master.

Nevertheless, Neris did not argue and simply smiled back. Nualan, upon seeing her cold yet transparent eyes, felt uncomfortable, as though he was not dealing with a child.

Just then, a procession of people appeared beside the tapestry. Judging by their clothes, they were probably on the wrong path and should be somewhere else.

Neris’s eyes were drawn to the lively woman at the head of the group.

“Miss Morie! This is not the way. This is the hall.”

Sure enough, a man in a servant’s outfit rushed up and yelled at the woman. Neris felt both gratified that her eyes had not deceived her and perplexed. How had so many past acquaintances gathered here?

The lively woman’s name was Joan Morie. She had been the head of a powerful trade house that Neris had caused to collapse by pulling Angelo into the Elandria family in the past.