He observed the situation before him with an expressionless face.

Caroline’s close maid sitting on the floor, cradling one cheek.

Anyone could see she had been slapped and fallen down.

And Karina’s reddened palm was visible, clearly the one who had struck the maid.

“What is this……”

Jeremiah frowned as he turned to Karina.

An unspoken pressure to explain enveloped Karina.

Just as she was about to open her mouth, Caroline spoke first.

“It’s all my fault.”

‘……What?’

Karina turned to Caroline at the unexpected words.

“I should have been more considerate and attentive to the Duchess, it’s because I was lacking.”

“What do you mean by that?”

When Jeremiah asked, Caroline lowered her eyes sadly and continued.

“I didn’t know the Duchess would get so angry at my saying she should try to become part of the Grand Duke’s family now that she’s married into it.”

“……”

“I just meant we should both make an effort to get along well.”

“……”

“Karina. I’m sorry. I’ll apologize, so please don’t be upset.”

Karina was at a loss for words at Caroline’s apology, her eyes glistening with tears.

“Duchess. Don’t you have anything to say?”

Jeremiah asked Karina in a cold voice as she stood frozen like stone.

‘Ha, really……’

Karina swallowed a hollow laugh with an incredulous expression.

“Well. I simply gave a fitting punishment to an impertinent maid who doesn’t know her place.”

“Is that all?”

“What more do you want me to say?”

‘Should I apologize and say I’m sorry too?’

Karina had absolutely no intention of doing that.

“Just believe whatever you want to believe. I don’t care.”

Glancing at Caroline, she could see her covering her mouth with her hand.

It was clear she was trying to hide her rising smile.

Even though it was so obvious, Jeremiah only pressured Karina.

Karina scowled and stepped closer to Caroline.

“Grand Duke’s daughter. You should properly educate your close maid. No matter how stupid, how dare she call me, the Duchess, ‘Karina’.”

She emphasized the name “Karina” distinctly.

“……!”

Jeremiah’s expression hardened at those words as he stood behind them.

“Brazenly, right in front of me. I’m not sure what she thinks she can rely on, but isn’t the servant’s fault the master’s responsibility?”

Karina’s words carried the implicit meaning that the maid was being impudent because she relied on Caroline, her mistress.

Caroline’s eyes narrowed mockingly.

“Duchess. That……”

But Caroline couldn’t properly refute Karina’s words.

She had just acted like the victim and even apologized in front of Jeremiah.

“What do you mean……”

“I’m saying you should mind your own business before trying to give me advice.”

Having said her piece and feeling satisfied, Karina turned to leave for the mansion with Mikhail.

Jeremiah looked at Caroline with an expression that said ‘what is this all about?’

Caroline maintained her composure and smiled.

“Oh my, I’m not sure what she means? It seems the Duchess misunderstood something in her agitation.”

“How could a mere maid calling the Duchess by name be a misunderstanding?”

To Jeremiah’s question, Caroline feigned ignorance and played dumb.

“My maid calling the Duchess by name? That’s impossible. Karina must have heard wrong.”

Jeremiah’s expression remained stony even at Caroline’s words.

By then, Karina had walked quite far away.

As Jeremiah tried to follow after Karina, Caroline held him back.

“Karina seems to still be sensitive about what happened at the last banquet. What good would it do to follow her now and just fight?”

“But……”

“I think Karina needs some time. Let’s wait a bit longer for her to calm down. Okay?”

“……”

Jeremiah’s gaze lingered on Karina’s retreating back.

His eyes did not leave her figure until she completely disappeared from view.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Duchess.”

Once they were some distance from Caroline, Mikhail called out to Karina.

“What?”

“Is the Grand Duke always like that?”

“Like what?”

“He seemed so cold towards you, Duchess.”

Mikhail asked outright.

“……”

Karina didn’t want to give a long answer to that question.

“He’s always like this, so don’t worry about it.”

“He’s always like that?”

Mikhail scratched the back of his head, eyeing her cautiously at her response that it was normal.

“Hmm…… He’s quite a heartless person then.”

Seeing her not hide her displeasure, Mikhail quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, where are all your maids, Duchess?”

“Maids?”

“The Grand Duke’s daughter goes around with maids, but you don’t seem to have any.”

“Good observation. I don’t have any.”

“You don’t have maids?”

“No.”

“……Not even one?”

“None. Not a single one.”

Karina shook her head firmly.

Mikhail furrowed his brows and frowned.

“But you’re the mistress of the Grand Duke’s household, how can you not have even one close maid? This is……”

‘……neglect, isn’t it?’

Mikhail swallowed the last words.

But Karina could easily guess what he had left unsaid.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s actually more comfortable not having any.”

It would be more bothersome and uncomfortable to have someone constantly by her side reporting to Caroline.

But Mikhail still looked unconvinced.

“Really, there are so many things different from what I expected.”

Certainly, from a normal perspective, it would seem strange as Mikhail thought.

‘Because this current situation isn’t normal.’

Karina, who had nothing more to say on this topic, changed the subject.

“What about you? How was your lodging as the Duchess’s guard?”

“……I slept well in a soft bed for once. The food was good too.”

“How were the maids and servants’ attitudes?”

“You don’t need to worry about me. I can handle things on my own.”

Karina felt concerned at his confident attitude.

“Still, be careful.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten how I proved my skills in the training ground?”

Mikhail said jokingly with a relaxed air.

“You might have won yesterday’s match by luck, but who knows what could happen next time. It doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

“There’s no need to worry. No matter what happens, I can protect myself and you, Duchess.”

Mikhail added with a wink.

“It really was a difference in skill.”

Karina couldn’t help but smile at his confident demeanor.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Haa.”

Jeremiah let out a deep sigh as he returned to his office.

He sat down in his chair to handle work as usual.

The prisoners’ escape incident was still unresolved.

His desk, which was always neatly organized, was uncharacteristically piled high with messy stacks of documents.

They were reports on the prisoners’ escape incident. Despite putting all efforts into searching for those behind it, the escape incident remained unsolved.

No, was it even a simple escape incident to begin with?

Considering that mercenaries like drifters had hired expensive magicians, it wasn’t something to be viewed ordinarily.

‘These aren’t ordinary mercenaries. There must be someone behind this.’

There was no shortage of factions within the empire at odds with the Grand Duke’s family.

The Colsberg Grand Duchy was an iron fortress guarding the north, but politically it was situated in the remote frontier far from the center.

Such a frontier high noble possessing the empire’s strongest military power.

There was no way there wouldn’t be factions wary and slandering them.

It was urgent to track down those behind the remnants who caused the escape incident and those who caused the explosion.

But Jeremiah struggled to focus on the contents of the related documents before him.

The image of Karina looking at him with cold eyes kept coming to mind.

‘How troublesome.’

Jeremiah’s brow furrowed.

Karina’s behavior, which had been docile after their marriage, had noticeably changed recently.

He wondered if perhaps her initially submissive demeanor had been an act all along.

‘She may be starting to show her true colors now.’

Karina and Jeremiah’s marriage was a political marriage forced by the imperial family.

In fact, most noble marriages were alliances between families and often made for power dynamics.

It wasn’t uncommon to have loveless political marriages that were like transactions.

But for Jeremiah, Karina was different.

The reason was her background.

The Millainer Marquis family.

‘I must not forget that she is the daughter of the cunning Marquis Millainer.’

Jeremiah reminded himself.

Karina’s family was the Millainer Marquis house.

The Millainer Marquis family were absolute imperial loyalists, devoted solely to the Emperor.

In fact, the Emperor openly showed special treatment and lavished favor on the Millainer Marquis family.

The imperial family and the Marquis wanted their power and authority to remain mighty forever.

As such, they reacted sensitively to other forces that could threaten the imperial power.

And one of the families they were on high alert for was none other than the Colsberg Grand Duchy.

That was the start of the problem.

The Emperor, who clung to imperial authority like his life depended on it, was wary of Jeremiah, the head of the Colsberg Grand Duchy.

That’s why he forcibly married Jeremiah to Karina, the daughter of Marquis Millainer.

It was a marriage enforced to prevent Jeremiah from expanding his influence by marrying into foreign royalty or joining hands with other families, given his status as a Grand Duke.

The Emperor would have chosen a woman who faithfully obeyed his orders to send.

Someone suitable to suppress the expansion of the Colsberg Grand Duchy’s power while also spying on and interfering with Jeremiah’s actions.

The one who met all those conditions and was chosen was none other than ‘Karina Millainer’.

Karina was an open but undeniable spy sent by the Emperor.

‘She can never become my person.’

Jeremiah took out a letter from the top drawer of his office desk.

The severely crumpled letter was intelligence that had flown in from the capital.

It was intelligence detailing the secret contacts between forces hostile to the Grand Duchy and those sympathizing with them.

At the end of the report filled with greed and sinister plots was a concern and warning about ‘Karina’.

‘I must not trust her easily.’

Even as he thought this, her cold attitude bothered him.

Moreover, that guard hanging around her was not to his liking either.

Jeremiah’s brow furrowed in displeasure as he recalled Mikhail.

‘Really, are they truly not acquainted from before?’

It was only natural for a knight belonging to the Grand Duchy to guard the Duchess.

But Karina forcefully placed an outsider, a magician whose status wasn’t even clear, in that important position.

“Just what is she plotting?”

The more he looked at Karina’s actions, the more suspicious they seemed.

Perhaps, as the intelligence warned, she had another purpose.

It could be greed to monopolize power by dismantling the Grand Duchy.

But……

‘Just believe whatever you want to believe. I don’t care.’

Karina’s image as she spoke with a calm face seemed to tell a different story.

“……”

Deep anguish etched into Jeremiah’s eyes as he stared at the intelligence report with a coldly hardened expression.