Jeremiah’s appearance completely shook up the chaotic atmosphere.

“Hup!”

With a startled gasp, the endlessly stiff heads of the maids in front of me changed to polite bows.

The maids who had been acting arrogantly and arguing at every turn all shut their mouths like they’d eaten honey and transformed into gentle lambs.

The head maid was no exception.

Imperial Archduke and Lord of the North.

Though he had set the social world ablaze with his outstanding looks and intellectual aura, the most outstanding thing he possessed was not his appearance but his abilities.

He was the Empire’s strongest swordsman.

On the day the red full moon rose.

The tale of him single-handedly sweeping away the beasts of the North that came crashing in like waves is still passed down like legend among the people of the Empire.

Moreover, his status was perfect, as he was also an heir to the imperial throne, having inherited the blood of the imperial family.

Beauty and power. And lineage too.

A man perfect in every way.

That was Jeremiah Colsberg.

Jeremiah approached Karina.

Even in casual clothes of a well-fitted shirt and black pants, he was superior and noble.

As he looked down at Karina, a considerable sense of pressure was felt.

It was the first time meeting him since returning to the past.

But Karina was not surprised at all by his sudden appearance.

He was still handsome and charming, but her coldly frozen heart did not show even the slightest flutter.

“You came just in time.”

Rather, Karina greeted him with a natural smile.

At that sight, a glint flashed in Jeremiah’s eyes.

Karina’s demeanor was completely different from usual.

“What’s the matter?”

Jeremiah asked again in a pleasant baritone voice.

“Who are you firing?”

Karina gestured at the now-docile maids as if scanning them.

“All the maids here.”

“On what grounds?”

In response to Jeremiah’s dry question, Karina shrugged her shoulders.

“There’s no need to continue employing maids who don’t follow their master’s orders.”

“Master?”

“From the moment I married the Archduke, I became the Archduchess. Am I not qualified enough to be the master?”

“…I’ve never given you the right to decide on personnel matters for the Archduke’s household staff.”

“Then you should have educated them properly from the beginning.”

At her scathing words, Jeremiah’s voice sank low.

“Most of the maids in the Archduke’s household are descendants of people who have worked since previous generations. They are vassals who have served our Archduke’s family for generations.”

Jeremiah continued his explanation calmly, pressuring Karina with sharply honed eyes.

“Are you saying the education of such vassals is lacking?”

An attitude and tone as if admonishing.

In the past, she was very surprised and flustered by his forceful words and actions. But now it was different.

Karina slightly raised one corner of her mouth and thrust the problematic stew in front of Jeremiah.

“What are you doing?”

Jeremiah frowned.

The complexion of the watching head maid changed to a sickly pale.

“What does this look like to you?”

A pungent spice smell stung the nose.

“What is this? This garbage?”

“It’s the stew the maids brought as my breakfast.”

Inside the bowl, lumps of grease that had cooled and congealed were messily tangled, floating on top of the dark red broth.

“Are you saying the education of maids who brought this out as food is good?”

“……”

“They didn’t even know why this was a problem.”

After finishing her explanation, Karina glanced back at the maids. The maids who had been arguing what the problem was just before were now trembling with terror-stricken faces.

Jeremiah, who had been silent, opened his mouth again.

“I will personally sort out those who participated in this prank and give appropriate discipline and punishment.”

Small sobs and hiccuping gasps were heard from among the maids.

The head maid’s face also turned deathly pale.

“But I won’t fire them.”

Jeremiah firmly stated he would not fire them even after seeing the maids’ prank with his own eyes.

“I don’t know if punishment alone will make stupid maids smart… Alright. Do as you say.”

Karina mocked his decision with a calm and gentle expression.

Then she roughly thrust the messy stew at the head maid.

“Ugh!”

The stew sloshed, and the foul broth splattered everywhere. The head maid’s clothes were covered in grease and chunks.

“Throw it away.”

The head maid, barely suppressing her nausea, quickly changed her expression and replied.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Perhaps because Jeremiah was present, the head maid obediently took the bowl.

“Then I’ll be going now. Enjoy your meal, Your Grace.”

Karina bowed gracefully and left the dining room, passing by Jeremiah.

[This is the timeline separator]

Returning to his office, Jeremiah called for the butler, Janssen.

“Investigate what happened in the dining room, determine the detailed circumstances, and report back.”

Though he had maintained a calm appearance in front of Karina, now as he ordered the investigation, he was so cold that a chill could be felt.

“Sort out everyone who participated in this incident, even in the slightest.”

“Understood, Your Grace.”

After Janssen bowed and left, Jeremiah leaned back in his office chair.

Jeremiah rubbed his face with one hand and frowned.

The stew Karina had handed him in the dining room came to mind again.

Seeing food that was no different from garbage had completely killed his appetite.

“Haa.”

Jeremiah heaved a deep sigh.

Karina, whom he met in the dining room.

Her demeanor of looking him straight in the eye and speaking boldly was very unfamiliar.

Usually, she always watched his moods carefully and acted cautiously, but the woman he met just now was rough and cold.

‘Was she originally that kind of woman?’

Jeremiah’s eyes sank deeply.

After being lost in thought for a while, he soon shook off his idle musings and focused on the documents he needed to handle.

[This is the timeline separator]

‘Ah, I’m tired.’

After having a battle of wills in the dining room, fatigue set in.

Karina sat on the bed and closed her eyes for a moment.

‘For now, there wasn’t anything particularly different from the past.’

The maids’ disrespect and bullying, Jeremiah’s cold attitude, even the arrogant head maid.

‘…It seems I really did return, right?’

It appeared clear that she had indeed returned to the past as expected.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Knock knock.

The door flung open before permission was given.

“Lady Archduchess.”

It was the head maid.

“Lady Caroline is calling for you.”

Karina’s expression darkened.

It seemed obvious that she had run straight to Caroline to tattle about what happened in the dining room.

‘If not for that, Caroline would have no reason to call for me now.’

But before that.

‘I didn’t give permission to enter…’

It was the same when she came to inform that the meal was ready.

Karina was very irritated by the maids’ rude behavior of entering without permission.

‘If it were in the past, I would have just endured it and let it go, but not now.’

In the past, Karina was desperate to become part of the Archduke’s family.

Though it was difficult for her to even approach and speak first due to her timid personality, she still tried her best.

But despite such efforts, what she received in return were wary glances and thorough rejection.

‘They even ignored and bullied me.’

Her efforts became meaningless nonsense, and she was often ridiculed behind her back.

Even amid such humiliation, Karina thought positively.

‘It’s probably because I’m still unfamiliar to them.’

‘Someday I’ll be accepted as a proper member of the family.’

‘If I just try a little harder, it will work out.’

Unfortunately, her wishes did not come true.

Far from recognizing her sincerity, the degree of bullying worsened day by day, becoming more blatant.

Now, having returned to 3 years ago.

Karina had no intention of enduring it like in the past.

‘I need to nip it in the bud from the start.’

Karina, having made up her mind, turned her head.

“Head maid.”

Despite Karina’s call, the head maid inwardly snorted.

She knew well how Karina was treated within the Archduke’s household.

Thus, even at Karina’s stern call, she tried to show composure with a sneer.

“……!”

But when she met Karina’s eyes full of malice, she unconsciously took a step back.

The chilling gaze she had encountered in the dining room was not an illusion.

“Who am I?”

“……?”

At Karina’s cold question, the hesitating head maid gathered her wits and answered.

“The, the Lady Archduchess.”

“Yes. That’s right. I am the Archduchess who married the Archduke of Colsberg. The official mistress of the Archduke’s household. Then……”

Karina slowly looked the head maid up and down.

“Who are you?”

“Pardon?”

“Who are you to enter the room of the mistress of the Archduke’s household without permission?”

“……”

At her question pointing out her attitude, the head maid was greatly flustered.

She wondered if the Karina before her eyes was really the same Karina she knew.

“Has your hearing gone bad now too?”

At the repeated question, the hesitating head maid soon recalled ‘that person’ who had her back and barely opened her mouth.

“I apologize, but it was to deliver Lady Caroline’s message. She said to come right away……”

She thought Karina would not be able to move an inch if it was Caroline’s words. Naturally, she expected it to be the same this time.

“You’re saying you rudely entered the Archduchess’s room just to deliver a mere Archduke’s daughter’s message?”

“……!”

A mere!

The head maid was aghast at her referring to Caroline as ‘mere’.

“Someone of your position as head maid shouldn’t be stupid enough not to know who your superiors are, right?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Sensing the atmosphere was not good, the head maid changed her attitude to a submissive one.

“I’ll let it go with a warning this time, but in the future, I’ll beat any dog that acts arrogantly without recognizing its master.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be careful.”

Having understood Karina’s firm intention, the head maid couldn’t even raise her head out of fear.

‘She’s not completely lacking in awareness.’

Karina, who had been coldly staring at the head maid’s appearance, opened her mouth again and added words.

“And tell Caroline. If she has something to say to me, tell her to come herself instead of sending someone.”

“……!”

The head maid was surprised once again.

To think she would push back so strongly against Caroline, whom she had feared so much.

Did she have the confidence to deal with the aftermath? Or was it just a momentary impulse?

She was so flustered by Karina’s behavior that was different from the past, she was on the verge of breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Yes. I understand.”

The head maid, trying hard to compose her expression, retreated with quick steps.

‘Caroline, huh……’

After the head maid withdrew, Karina thought about Caroline.

‘Right. She was there.’

Caroline Colsberg.

She was the Archduke’s daughter of the Colsberg family, and the older sister of Jeremiah, the Archduke.

Caroline managed the internal affairs of the Archduke’s household in place of their parents who had passed away in an unfortunate accident.

After Karina became the Archduchess, she should have naturally handed over the rights, but she still remained in the Archduke’s household under the pretext of helping Karina adapt.

Before the regression, Caroline had constantly trampled on her confidence and self-esteem with subtle words and actions.

‘If you’ve become the Archduchess, you should consider frugality and humility as virtues. Don’t be greedy.’

Under the pretext of setting an example for the people of the territory, Karina couldn’t even bring in proper furniture, and had no decent clothes or accessories.

When she tried to confide her worries about Jeremiah’s cold attitude, instead of warm words of comfort, Caroline would criticize her attitude and mock her.

‘Even if it’s hard, endure and be patient. Didn’t you say you love Jeremiah? You say you love him, but you’re making such weak noises over something like this?’

If Karina made even a small mistake, Caroline would openly criticize and insult her in front of the servants.

‘See, what did I tell you? If you can’t do it properly, how can you mess up the work like this?’

She interfered and criticized at every turn, finding fault and laughing at the flustered Karina.

When Karina tried to say even a word out of indignation, Caroline would cut her off as if lecturing her.

‘It’s all for your sake. We’re helping you become a person worthy of the Archduchess position. You know that, right?’

‘How can you misunderstand my good intentions like this? I’m really disappointed in the Archduchess.’

Her past self foolishly couldn’t say anything in response to those words.

Her words had shackled Karina like fetters.

Even remembering it now was irritating.

She was angry at herself for why she had just endured it back then.

‘I won’t take it anymore.’

Thinking about what she had suffered from Caroline made her grind her teeth.

‘Actually, this is good, isn’t it?’

There was one good thing about coming back to the past.

‘Let’s undo the mistakes of the past. No, I should pay back exactly what I suffered in the past.’

Suddenly, she became curious about what expression Caroline would make.

Someone who couldn’t even raise her head properly in front of her had barked that if she had something to say, she should come herself.

‘Surely, it must have been an expression worth seeing. It’s a shame I couldn’t see it directly.’

Karina raised the corners of her mouth and sneered.