Early the next morning, Esika woke up and frowned.

Instead of the moderately lavish meal that Chef Hemos used to secretly prepare, a banquet-level breakfast was served.

Thick meat with seasoning, soft soup decorated with gold powder, and fresh salad.

Cella stood with a bewildered expression, and the maids of the Duchess who brought the meal bowed deeply to Esika.

“I’ve brought your meal, my lady.”

“…What kind of ploy is this?”

“A ploy, my lady? It’s just a meal.”

The maid answered in a calm and polite manner.

“The Duchess firmly instructed all maids and servants to treat the lady of Klaus without any lack. We will also be loyal to you from now on…”

“Hah.”

Esika burst into laughter, making them flinch.

Crossing her legs as she sat, Esika continued.

“Why should I eat food sent by the Duchess who even instigated impure forces to try and kill me?”

“That… that is…”

“Who knows if poison has been put in such a lavishly prepared meal. Right?”

“How could the Duchess do such a thing? The Duchess, in the meaning of creating family harmony from now on…”

“Oh, is that so?”

These were the maids who had sided with Yuri last time to bully Cella.

Esika raised the corner of her mouth in a smirk and pointed to one of the maids, saying.

“You, sit here.”

It was across the table full of food.

“And try a bite of each of these. If you eat and nothing happens, then I’ll eat.”

At Esika’s words, the expression of the maid who was pointed at hardened and her eyes shook.

Although the food looked splendid, the maids serving the malicious Duchess knew better than anyone that it was unknown when the Duchess might have sent a note to Hemos ordering him to put in poison…

The Duchess never shows mercy to her enemies, and even if she treats them kindly for a moment, she invariably brings out the blade.

“…My lady…”

She called out as if pleading earnestly, but Esika only snorted.

“If even the Duchess’s maid is too suspicious to taste it, I can’t eat it. Take it back.”

The maid’s face turned pale.

When the Duchess hears that Esika refused the meal, she will ask for the reason.

And if this incident becomes known, with the Duchess’s mood being quite displeased these days… the consequences would be terrible.

“…I… I’ll do it.”

Finally, the pointed maid, with a voice that seemed to be on the verge of tears, picked up the spare tableware.

Esika had immediately recognized just by the appearance and smell of the food that there was no poison or anything of the sort, but she watched with amused eyes as the maids tasted it.

She put the sumptuous meal in her mouth little by little, as if it were food she couldn’t eat.

“Is it delicious?”

“Yes… yes, sob.”

Only after she had tasted all the food did Esika pick up her spoon with a smirk.

“Seeing as you’re not dead, I guess it’s safe to eat.”

As Esika’s meal began, she covered her mouth and immediately ran out.

It must be to vomit, just in case.

Esika said to the other maids standing frozen stiff.

“You tomorrow, and you the day after. Understood?”

The faces of the maids who had been relieved that they weren’t pointed at turned deathly pale.

Esika ate her meal cheerfully, whether they were afraid or not.

There’s only one reason why the Duchess would say such things to her employees and tell them to take care of her like this.

‘She must be feeling quite regretful.’

Apart from hating her enough to want to kill her, it’s a situation where she can’t get divorced.

“By the way.”

Esika, who had finished her meal neatly, looked towards the console and said.

“Did the Duchess say anything else?”

One of the maids who made eye contact with each other opened her mouth.

“She instructed us to handle anything the lady finds uncomfortable with top priority. She also said to get whatever the lady needs, no matter what it is.”

As if she would be satisfied with just that.

Anyway, isn’t the Duchess just leaving it to the servants and maids verbally while she herself stays comfortable?

Looking at the curtains fluttering through the open window, Esika muttered.

“Come to think of it, the room is quite dark. I don’t want to live in such a gloomy place. The Brigitte mansion where I used to live was beautiful with warm breezes and bright sunlight.”

“…Pardon?”

Seeing Esika reminiscing about her life in Brigitte, saying she didn’t want to live here anymore, they couldn’t help but feel tense.

“If you wish, we… could move you to a larger room with better sunlight…”

“No, I need flowers for decoration.”

The expressions of the maids, who had been worried that she might say she wanted to leave Klaus or make an impossible order, brightened.

After all, there are countless flowers blooming in the garden, so picking them wouldn’t be a big deal.

Decorating the room with fresh flowers was a thoroughly noble lady-like idea, so they felt relieved.

But at Esika’s next words, their expressions hardened.

“I like blue flowers. Fill vases full of Paminas, here, there, there, and over there.”

Esika began pointing to every corner of the room with her long index finger.

Cella showed a surprised look before turning her gaze away to hide her expression.

Paminas were precious varieties grown in the Duchess’s small greenhouse garden, blue flowers she had been pouring her heart into for over a decade.

It was said that she felt nostalgia looking at these flowers from the fallen kingdom of Smichen, but if so many Paminas were cut, there wouldn’t be a single one left.

“…My lady… um, there are many other beautiful flowers besides Paminas… I could find something even more beautiful… Ah!”

But the maid’s words didn’t continue to the end.

Because Esika threw the water from her glass directly in her face.

The maid named ‘Annie’ recalled words she had once heard from Esika.

“Emilia, Annie, Lusa. I’ll remember well what you three did today. Your attitude in serving your master is truly excellent, so I’ll be sure to reward you someday.”

It was the day they had poured ice water on Esika along with Yuri, who was the head maid at the time.

Among them, Emilia was beaten and driven out after being falsely accused by Yuri of mixing laxatives into the Duchess’s food, and Lusa had just run out covering her mouth.

Esika’s chilling voice is heard.

“Don’t make me say it twice and tell the Duchess.”

“…My lady…”

Annie trembled, regretting her past actions that had made her disliked by Esika.

If she relayed the message asking for Paminas… she would be beaten to death by the Duchess.

She felt like crying, but Esika added with a bright smile.

“Tell her I won’t accept anything but Paminas.”

It seemed Esika was surely employing a tactic to make the Duchess bedridden with anger.

**

After finishing the splendid meal and sending away the maids, Esika stretched leisurely.

Cella, with a dazed expression from the day’s events, watched Esika’s mood and asked.

“Will it… really be alright?”

For decades, the Klaus Duchy had been in the palm of Riona Klaus’s hand.

No one could disobey her words, and there was no one who could demand anything from her.

Esika Klaus was no different from the maids trampled under her… no, perhaps in an even more miserable state.

Everyone felt that the power dynamics had changed since the incident where Yuri, who tried to frame Esika, nearly died by the Crown Prince’s sword, but Cella worried that the malicious Duchess might harbor a grudge and do something bad again because of Esika’s actions.

“She’ll feel an even more desperate desire to tear me apart and kill me.”

“That’s… that’s why, I’m worried the Duchess might again…”

“But she’s not stupid enough to actually come and tear me apart.”

“Of course… Huh?”

The previous Duke Klaus had quite a history with women. It’s said that Riona Klaus wasn’t his only mistress.

But among his many mistresses, she had the qualities to drive out the legal wife and rise to the position of Duchess, so what more needs to be said?

She was patient. She knew how to use others, and must have been born with such talents.

So she would take out her anger on the maids, but still order them to cut the flowers.

‘After calming her rising temper, she’ll feel a bit relieved.’

About the fact that Esika Klaus’s tantrums only go this far, that is.

If she’s just a daughter-in-law who wants to cut all of her mother-in-law’s beloved flowers to upset her, she may be annoying but can’t be called dangerous.

So until Tzuchen’s business succeeds, she’ll endure Esika’s petty revenge and somehow make her stay with Callian, then kill her or drive her out after the business succeeds.

Is she even imagining?

About the ‘real downfall’ that Esika is planning right now.

“Don’t worry. Since you swore loyalty to me, have you ever seen me sit idly by and take it from anyone?”

At Esika’s words, Cella shook her head.

There was still concern for her mistress in her eyes, but Cella believed in Esika.

“No.”

As dusk fell, Callian’s servant proposed that she dine with the Duke.

However, Esika flatly refused and prepared to go out.