When Sophia returned alone, Erdene, who had been lying in bed, threw off the sheets and jumped up.

She had been pretending in case Arkan might barge in recklessly.

“What did he say?”

Maura, who had been hiding in the small inner room, crept out with an expression of childlike innocence that belied her age.

Sophia looked back and forth between her and Erdene, then answered calmly as usual.

“His Majesty said to send word as soon as you wake up. And he also said to have dinner together tonight.”

Hearing Sophia’s reply, Erdene flopped back down and burst out laughing.

“Hmph, that much is to be expected. Was there nothing else?”

Sophia pondered for a moment before speaking.

“His Majesty asked what was ailing you, and said how could lying in bed without calling the court physician solve anything.”

Erdene snorted loudly once again. Sophia continued.

“And he also said he would come by just to see your face for a moment.”

At that, Maura, who had moved close to the bedside, made an expression of uncontainable amusement.

“You see, Your Highness. His Majesty is already getting anxious. It’s working, isn’t it?”

“That level of reaction is only natural. How can I tell if he asked out of anxiety or if he was glad I was bedridden?”

Though her retort suggested she was far from satisfied, there was a hint of contentment in Erdene’s voice.

At any rate, the mere fact that Arkan had come looking for her first had somewhat soothed her feelings.

Erdene said:

“So what else should I do? Lady Viscountess.”

Maura replied excitedly, her cheeks flushed:

“For now, skip dinner tonight.”

Erdene raised an eyebrow.

“You mean I should actually starve?”

“No! Didn’t His Majesty say he wanted to have dinner together? Tell him you have no appetite because you’re not feeling well and decline his invitation.”

“Alright, and then?”

“Say you’re going to bed early tonight, and then tomorrow at breakfast…”

“And?”

“Shed a small tear.”

Erdene, who had been listening intently like an innocent student, suddenly frowned deeply.

“Tears? How am I supposed to suddenly shed tears? I haven’t cried since I was four years old.”

Maura’s pupils shook violently in panic.

“Y-You don’t actually have to cry, Your Highness. Just pretend. You don’t need to sob loudly. Just very slightly, while sighing softly…”

“What does sighing softly mean?”

“Like this.”

Maura cleared her throat, then suddenly adopted an expression as if she had taken on all the world’s worries, drooping her eyebrows and the corners of her mouth.

Perhaps due to her middle age, the fine wrinkles at her brow and around her eyes gathered, making her look even more depressed.

While Erdene watched in surprise as tears quickly welled up in her trembling eyes, she let out a sigh mixed with a groan in a quavering voice.

“Like this, how is it?”

Erdene, who had been blinking, said:

“You look like a goat with indigestion.”

“Indi… A-Anyway, this is how you should do it.”

“Sigh like a goat with indigestion?”

“It’s a delicate sigh… A-Anyway, trust me and try it like this, Your Highness.”

“You say you always won over your husband with this method?”

“Of course. Now I don’t even need to get to the sighing stage.”

Erdene slapped the sheet with her palm.

“Fine, I’ll try it your way.”

“You’ll definitely succeed.”

Given permission to leave, Maura hurried out with flushed cheeks, just as she had when she first came to the Queen’s Palace.

She felt proud… even more proud than yesterday! It was because she felt she had helped both Erdene and Arkan.

Considering Erdene’s plan to ‘dry up his blood completely’ when she got angry at Arkan, it was enough to make the back of her neck chill.

‘I persuaded her well, I persuaded her well. If Her Highness said she would “dry up his blood completely,” she really meant it. But even with that level of spite, His Majesty would…’

“Lady Weekes.”

“Oh my!”

Maura, who had been leaving the Queen’s Palace with a lighter step, stumbled in shock.

Fortunately, a nearby attendant quickly supported her, otherwise she might have cracked her skull.

Or would it have been better if her skull had cracked? Maura’s face drained of color as her eyes darted around.

“Y-Y-Your Majesty. What are you…? Ah, no. I greet Your Majesty.”

She belatedly tried to curtsy as if nothing had happened, but stumbled again as her feet tangled in the hem of her dress.

Arkan looked down at Maura intently with his arms crossed, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Were you just in the Queen’s Palace?”

“Pardon? The Queen’s Palace, no, yes. Ah, no.”

Arkan’s eyes narrowed further.

“Were you there or not? Which is it?”

“Th-That, I, well. I c-came to see Her Highness the Queen… That’s right, but Her Highness said she was unwell…”

“Hmm, is that so? That’s strange. I just visited the Queen’s Palace a moment ago and heard the same thing, and was turned away without even seeing the Queen’s face. Not even ten minutes have passed, and I’ve been standing here the whole time, so when and how exactly did you try to enter the Queen’s Palace? Is there perhaps a secret passage I don’t know about?”

This is impossible! Maura squeezed her eyes shut. She was not good at lying by nature.

She was neither brazen nor that bold. It was also clear that further excuses would be useless.

“Y-Your Majesty… That, well…”

Arkan smiled faintly.

“Come with me, Lady Weekes. Let’s go have some tea.”

“Pardon? T-Tea.”

“Yes, you have time for a cup of tea, don’t you? Then you can return with Viscount Weekes. I have more than one or two things to ask you, but it won’t take too long.”

Unaware that Arkan, who had been waiting at the exit of the Queen’s Palace, had caught Maura, Erdene decided to have dinner earlier than usual.

Since she planned to lock the door using illness as an excuse from early evening, she judged it better to fill her stomach early and firmly close off the Queen’s Palace.

“It’s my first time doing a siege.”

Erdene said in quite a cheerful tone as she ate a sandwich filled with honey-glazed sliced meat, accompanied by sweet and sour ginger.

Sophia stood beside her, doling out small portions of sauce and refilling her glass whenever it emptied.

“Sophia.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“What do you think of the Viscountess’s scheme?”

Sophia’s eyes moved slowly.

“Well, I’ve never experienced such… so-called tug-of-war between lovers, so it’s difficult for me to say. But I think this is better than what Your Highness first had in mind.”

The strategies Erdene had come up with to ‘dry up’ Arkan were all brutal.

Among them were some that seemed less humane than actually ‘drying up’ Arkan, so Sophia had no choice but to agree with Maura’s obvious plan, even if she was uncertain.

Otherwise, Arkan might end up in a worse state than being dried up into jerky rubbed with herbs and salt.

‘Your Majesty, you owe me one.’

While Sophia was thinking this with an impassive face, Erdene said with a dissatisfied expression:

“The problem is tomorrow morning. How on earth am I supposed to squeeze out tears? I might be able to make a sound like a goat with twisted intestines, but…”

“As for tears, I don’t think you need to actually shed them. Even Your Highness sighing like that would be unusual enough to get through to His Majesty.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

Nodding, Erdene popped half a plum, neatly pitted, into her mouth.

If there was one good thing about the Kingdom of Betor, it was the plums.

She loved summer fruits like plums, apricots, and peaches, but it was difficult to find such sweet and juicy ones in the Empire.

Even though the yield was poor and good ones could only be tasted in the imperial household, one out of three would be unripe or sour.

But Betor’s plums were juicy and fine-textured no matter which one you picked, and when bitten into, they filled your mouth with a sweetness that made your head spin.

“The plums are sweet and delicious.”

“It’s almost the end of the season, but this year’s plums have been quite fresh. The remaining ones will probably be made into liquor or honey preserves in the kitchen.”

“Plum liquor! That sounds delicious too. Can we get some now?”

“Savnake?”

At Sophia’s call, Savnake, who had been cleaning a vase in the living room, immediately came running.

“Did you call?”

“Her Highness is asking, so go to the kitchen and see if there’s any plum liquor left. From two years ago, or the year before that.”

“Yes, I’ll go right away.”

Savnake tucked the dry cloth into her apron pocket and dashed out again.

Just as Erdene smiled contentedly at the thought of tasting a new liquor.

“Eek!”

It was Savnake’s scream.

As Erdene put down her spoon and stood up abruptly, and Sophia also startled to look outside.

Erdene’s eyes widened as Arkan pushed open the slightly ajar door and entered.

“What on earth…”

Erdene trailed off without realizing it.

Arkan looked back and forth between her, Sophia, and the nearly finished dinner table, then frowned and placed both hands on his waist.

“I heard you were ill and bedridden, but it seems you’ve recovered already?”