The place Gillian led me to was none other than the Queen’s Palace.

Queen, who was drinking tea with her maids on the terrace, was surprised by Gillian’s sudden visit and stood up.

“Your Majesty, what’s the matter all of a sudden?”

“This girl says she wants to be a maid for the Queen.”

Gillian turned his head, looking at Hersia as if urging her to express her intentions, and she calmly lowered her head.

“Your Majesty, I apologize for surprising you with a sudden audience.”

“Isn’t it more surprising that you want to become my maid all of a sudden than the unexpected audience? What happened?”

While Hersia found the situation perplexing, it was more bewildering that everything was proceeding as the Duke had informed.

However, she soon regained composure and recalled the words that Sicar had told her.

‘When Kaelian is absent, express the desire to serve the Queen for a moment, as it is an honor to be by her side.’

‘But will they believe that?’

‘They won’t believe it. Anyone would want to serve the Queen if given the chance.’

Hersia, like an actor rehearsing lines, had repeatedly practiced the lines she memorized at home.

With the lines firmly in her memory, she spoke.

“I’ve been looking for an opportunity to show my respect to Your Majesty, but when I had given up because I couldn’t find a chance, I heard about Lady Kaelian’s leave, and I couldn’t help but apply.”

If the Duke hadn’t informed her beforehand, she might have been too nervous to speak properly and would have trembled. However, Hersia was able to speak fluently without hesitation because of the prior practice.

The King, who was carefully examining her, nodded as if believing her words and looked at the Queen.

“So that’s how it is. Please consider it, Hersia, wanting to show such respect to the Queen. Please think it over.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

While the King left, Hersia, maintaining her posture, did not straighten her back. The Queen approached her slowly and took her hand.

“Consider it a temporary appointment. However, it’s only until Kaelian’s maternity leave is over.”

“I understand. Your Majesty. I will serve you with utmost loyalty.”

As a maid, Hersia, following the Duke’s instructions, was the first to visit Kaelian with a congratulatory gift for her childbirth.

Kaelian initially viewed Hersia’s visit unfavorably, but after seeing that she sincerely did not covet her position, Kaelian not only congratulated her on her temporary appointment but also encouraged her.

From the day she started working in the royal palace, Hersia quietly assisted the maids from behind, listening to the Queen’s casual remarks.

Eventually, the maids, who were initially cautious of Hersia, began to relax.

The turning point was wine.

Due to a mistake, the maid Sharon spilled wine on the Queen’s dress while following behind her.
At that moment, before the Queen turned around, Hersia swiftly took the wine glass from Sharin’s hand, held it up, and said, “Your Majesty, I apologize. Due to my mistake, I have ruined the hem of your dress, so please give me severe punishment.”

If it were another maid, she might have said something, but as Hersia was the King’s cousin and soon to be the wife of Duke Hamel, the Queen said it was okay, smiled, and passed it off.

Thanks to this, the maids were touched by Hersia’s righteous behavior and opened up to her.

“Hersia-nim, thank you for taking the blame for my mistake, and I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m on temporary duty, so I’ll quit soon, but both Sharin and Claire need to keep working. There’s nothing good about making a mistake, so I thought it would be better for me to take the blame if one of us had to.”

Sharin, with moved eyes, grabbed Hersia’s hand.

“I heard that Hersia-nim is a person of integrity, but I didn’t know she would think so carefully for us. Thank you very much.”

“If you two continue to serve the Queen with deep respect, I will have nothing more to wish for.”

The maids were deeply moved by Hersia’s sincerity and quickly became close to her. Moreover, as she was the King’s cousin, there was no reason to doubt her, and they soon invited Hersia to their informal gatherings.

Of course, along with Duke Blake and his wife.

Hersia was expected to do well, but the informal gathering came much earlier than expected.

Sicar, who disliked the touch of maids, touched his collar and said, “Hersia seems more useful than I thought, seeing that she scheduled the informal gathering earlier than planned.”

Although he was saying she was more useful than expected, his expression did not look that way at all.

“Sicar, you won’t talk with that expression in front of the maids, will you?”

“What’s wrong with my expression?”

So I lowered Sicar’s raised eye corners and said, “You should speak more gently with your eye corners lowered if you want to catch the finger you want. If you greet with a fierce look, who will extend their hand.”

Then Sicar, holding up my eye corners, said, “Your eye corners are too low. You should lift them a bit.”