Jane’s daily life was unprecedentedly peaceful. It was thanks to Mrs. Burnett becoming quiet after she told her to return to her estate.

However, Mrs. Burnett did not pack her bags immediately. So Jane was planning to talk to her once more under the pretense of having tea soon. To tell her to leave the duke’s residence quickly.

Joseph often played with the new maids, getting along well with them.

He participated in all the games they suggested, and frequently came to Jane asking her to read picture books to him.

As Mary began to establish discipline as the head maid, the slightly loosened atmosphere among the servants also returned to normal.

‘I should start making friends for him soon.’

While there are things to learn from mingling with adults, children learn much more from their peers.

‘It would be nice to have friends to share his heart with.’

Jane thought of Lirien, Mary’s daughter, and Elle, who used to be her maid.

Her childhood was more fun because of them.

Jane was pondering what kind of friend would suit Joseph when she called for Norbert.

“My lady, you called for me?”

“Norbert, please look into families connected to the Hastings that have children around Joseph’s age. If you can find information about the children too, I’d appreciate it.”

“Understood.”

While Norbert was preparing the materials, Jane went for a walk with Joseph.

Suddenly, she realized it had been over four days since she last met Cain.

There were many things to discuss with Cain, Joseph’s father, such as hiring a tutor.

‘Is he very busy? He said he went down for the railway station opening.’

Jane had only ridden a train twice. She was still vividly amazed at how much faster it was than carriages or horses, and how many people it could carry.

With trains, one could go anywhere in the kingdom in a day.

It hit her anew that Cain was doing great things, having brought in such impressive technology.

“Young master, it’s time for your snack!”

When they had leisurely circled the garden once, Letty came to fetch Joseph.

“Oh, mother, co-come with us, will you have some too?”

Joseph’s hand holding Jane’s was full of moisture. Why was he so nervous about inviting her to have a snack together?

“Are you inviting me?”

Joseph nodded his head vigorously.

“I’m honored.”

Jane straightened up and looked at Letty.

“Letty, please prepare my portion too.”

“Yes, my lady!”

Letty ran energetically into the mansion, and Jane and Joseph slowly made their way.

“Oh my, of course. I’ll prepare the best for you.”

On the way to the room, Jane heard a familiar voice. When Jane stopped walking, Joseph looked up at her.

“Mo-mother?”

“Joseph, just a moment.”

Jane scanned the hallway. Mrs. Burnett’s bedroom door was slightly open.

‘It seems she has a guest.’

Jane was curious about a guest being invited to the bedroom in broad daylight.

“Joseph, go to your room first.”

Nas took Joseph’s hand. Shortly after the two went up to Joseph’s room, a man came out of Mrs. Burnett’s room.

Jane immediately recognized him as he placed his hat on his belly and kept bowing.

‘It’s Luke Pearl!’

He was a jeweler who had long done business with the Hastings family.

“I’ll prepare the best for you. You’ll pay after receiving the items, right? Yes, then I’ll see you later.”

Luke closed the door with a broad smile. As he walked towards the corner where Jane was hiding, he muttered.

“I wonder if Mrs. Burnett can pay. Well, I’m bringing it because she said she’d buy it… I know Baron Jillian’s situation isn’t good. Ah, she wouldn’t have ordered a diamond set without money! Whatever, I just need to sell the goods.”

As Luke passed by, Jane quickly hid herself. Excited about making money, he headed downstairs without noticing Jane watching him.

A bad feeling crept up Jane’s spine.

* * *

“My lady, I’ve brought the materials you requested.”

Jane returned to her room after eating snacks with Joseph and reading him two picture books.

Not long after, Norbert presented the materials Jane had requested.

She had asked for them in the morning and he brought them in the afternoon, Jane could imagine how busy Norbert’s day must have been.

“Thank you for your hard work, Norbert.”

“It’s nothing. It wasn’t that difficult as I just compiled existing materials. Please let me know if you need anything, my lady.”

Jane and Norbert exchanged smiles as a greeting.

“Just a moment, Norbert.”

Norbert, who was about to leave, turned back. Jane kept Norbert there for a while without saying anything. Her face was full of concern. Finally, Norbert asked.

“Is something worrying you?”

“It’s not that.”

Jane carefully checked the tightly closed door over Norbert’s shoulder before speaking.

“It’s about Mrs. Burnett.”

“Yes.”

“She met Mr. Luke Pearl this afternoon. The jeweler.”

“Ah…”

Jane’s eyes shone sharply.

“Norbert, are you hiding anything from me?”

“Not at all.”

“Good. Then please answer my questions honestly. Can you do that?”

Norbert nodded. Jane adjusted her posture.

“As far as I know, Baron Jillian’s circumstances are not good. But the dresses Mrs. Burnett wears and the jewelry she has on are all expensive items. And today she ordered a quite valuable diamond set from Mr. Pearl. Where did the money come from?”

Deep wrinkles formed between Norbert’s eyebrows.

“I’m not sure about this time, but she has previously dipped into the Duchess’s dignity maintenance funds. At that time, the person in charge of the budget was severely interrogated and then expelled. I thought she hadn’t touched it since then, but it seems that’s not the case. It’s my oversight, my lady.”

Although Norbert was the butler of the Hastings family, overseeing the entire budget was not his responsibility.

He was only entrusted with the budget for operating, maintaining, and repairing the Somnium mansion.

This was because the scale of the Hastings family’s budget was very large.

“I’d like to meet the budget manager.”

“You personally, my lady? I’ll inform the master, and if there’s a problem, I’ll have it corrected.”

“No. There’s no need for that. Please ask the budget manager to come. Also, when did Mrs. Burnett start frequenting the Hastings residence?”

“It was after the late Duke passed away.”

“Then, please have him bring the expenditure records from that time as well.”

Norbert’s mouth opened slightly.

“Are you going to review all of that?”

“Yes, please.”

Jane suspected that Mrs. Burnett had embezzled money from the Hastings family.

Even if the money was spent with Cain’s tacit approval, it was necessary to check how much and where the money was spent.

Norbert felt uneasy about bringing another task to Jane, who already had a lot of work. However, Jane was the Duchess.

“Understood.”

Norbert said he would bring the materials as soon as they were ready and left the room.

While waiting for Norbert to return, Jane looked over the materials she had requested to make friends for Joseph.

She resolved the evening meal with just a sandwich as she carefully examined the unexpectedly extensive materials.

Jane prioritized families that were friendly to the Hastings and had children of similar age to Joseph.

Then she meticulously scrutinized the parents’ occupations and wealth. This was to preemptively block families that might try to take advantage of Joseph.

After narrowing it down like this, there were only a few families left.

The Alex family, who had been judges for generations, the Stoy family, who had long produced members of parliament, and the Cayden family, whose parents’ character Jane could vouch for, remained.

The children’s ages were also just right, ranging from 6 to 10 years old.

‘I should arrange a meeting soon.’

Jane, having made her decision, stood up stretching long. She was about to consult with Mary about the date to invite them.

Jane was surprised when she raised her head to check the clock. She knew it was evening, but it was much later than she had expected.

‘So that’s why Haley came looking for me several times.’

“My lady, shall I bring you some tea?”

“I’ll turn on the lights for you.”

“Won’t you rest?”

Thanks to Haley, she worked comfortably.

Since she had worked late anyway, she intended to finish everything today. Jane reached for the bell pull to call Mary, but stopped just before pulling it.

‘Should I just go down myself?’

It seemed good to walk a bit since she had been sitting for too long.

‘It’s 10 o’clock, so Mary should be on the first floor.’

By now, Mary would be on the first floor receiving work reports from the maid she was relieving.

Unlike other households where servants worked in two shifts, the Hastings household servants worked in three shifts.

It was a work system that reflected the Hastings family’s tradition of valuing focused work over long hours of work.

Shifts changed once at 6 AM, once at 2 PM, and once at 10 PM.

Jane headed for the first floor.

It wouldn’t take long to go from the third floor to the first floor, so if she went down now, she should be able to meet Mary.

After moving her room to the third floor, it became much easier to go down to the first or second floor compared to when she lived on the fourth floor.

There were other advantages to the Duchess’s room. It had much better lighting and was twice as spacious as her previous room.

Needless to say, the furniture inside was much better than before.

But Jane missed her previous room. The room where she could see the white bench well.

Not that she could ask to move back.

Thinking this, as she was going down, she heard murmuring voices from the second floor corridor.

Jane stopped briefly on the stairs and looked down at the second floor corridor.

“Scarlet?”

“Jane?”

It was Scarlet and Mrs. Burnett.

Scarlet, dressed in a red dress, smiled brightly.

“May the goddess’s luck be with you. It’s the first time since the wedding, Jane. Have you been well? I couldn’t greet you properly on the wedding day because you looked so busy.”

“May the goddess’s grace follow you. Thank you for coming to the wedding. But what brings you here so late at night, Scarlet?”

“She’s my guest.”

Mrs. Burnett stood next to Scarlet. Under her sharp gaze, Jane felt as if she herself had become the uninvited guest.