Unforgettable memories from his childhood days resurfaced. The imperial family members constantly compared him to Carl and looked down on him, and even mere maids would mention their own bloodline when making jokes.

After coming of age, he learned that it was advantageous to hide and conceal negative emotions from showing outwardly, and he wouldn’t let it show, but whenever stories related to Carl came up, he couldn’t help but react like this.

“Who’s getting married, that young master? No way.”

“Yes. I don’t think everything this newspaper is saying is all true either.”

“Who’s the other party?”

‘The Count Louisette who has two grand dukes in his grasp’. Why did this headline have to catch his eye of all things? Schultz calmly placed the newspapers down on the bedside table.

“…It’s Count Louisette.”

When Marina encountered interference from Princess Pulcheria while trying to win over the nobles one by one to her side, the breakthrough she chose was to join hands with the Louisette family.

Realizing there were few people she could fully bring to her side through persuasion and threats with the emperor backing her, Marina opted for a capitalistic method.

It had been about 10 years since she had the Louisette family completely under her thumb like that. To anyone’s eyes, the Louisette family was outwardly on Franz’s side.

But the sole remaining heir of that Louisette family was marrying Grand Duke Albrecht? It was a ridiculous notion. Franz scoffed.

“I was wondering why he was suddenly spouting nonsense, but it seems he had something he believed in.”

“Are you referring to Count Louisette?”

Whew, the hazy smoke dispersed.

“Celeste, who used to set foot in this mansion at least once a month without fail, left the country under the pretext of studying abroad. That was probably… 1 year, no, almost 2 years ago. She vowed with her own mouth that she would live as a faithful servant again when she finished her studies, so I pretended to believe her.”

The ashtray was packed full, who knows how many cigarettes he had smoked since waking up. Schultz, who had neatly arranged the newspapers, took out a new ashtray from the trolley.

“Then 6 months ago, she briefly appeared in the capital, but disappeared again under the pretext of recuperation.”

After organizing the ashtray, he placed a teapot and cups on the table. It meant to hydrate as the smoke must have dried out his throat to the limit. Franz threw his last cigarette into the ashtray as if he had no choice and obediently took a seat in front of the teacup.

“But that was strange too. It doesn’t make sense for someone going to recuperate to look so perfectly fine, and even secretly purchase magic stones at the night market while in disguise, you know?”

Whew, the tea was too hot. Franz picked up the cup and put it back down.

“But how did you know that the Count would go to buy magic stones at that time?”

“Have you ever seen Celeste leaving the capital?”

“Hmm, no. I don’t think I have, as far as I remember.”

The high-ranking nobles residing in the capital rarely had any reason to leave the capital. Nobles who had their base in the provinces and came up to the capital would occasionally leave to check on their household goods and inspect the lands owned by their family, but the high-ranking nobles who had been rooted in the capital for a very long time had no such occasions or reasons to do so.

Celeste’s family was a typical example of this. There were occasional cases where the elderly would leave for a villa located in a province with nice scenery and good water for the purpose of recuperation.

But Celeste was only twenty-two, far too young to be leaving for recuperation.

A young and wealthy noble who had just inherited a title leaving the capital under the pretext of recuperation, Franz immediately realized there must be something fishy about it.

“It doesn’t make sense for a noble lady who has never left the capital since birth to leave for recuperation not long after inheriting her title. I thought there must be another reason she needed to run away from something. And in a crisis, people tend to bring something to protect themselves.”

“So you thought the Count would come to buy magic stones.”

Franz nodded.

“The Louisette family may have an abundance of magic stones under their management, but those are all items that must be thoroughly reported to the imperial family from the time of receipt to the time of release. She wouldn’t be able to take those to run away, so naturally she had no choice but to visit the night market.”

“As expected, Your Majesty is truly brilliant.”

Schultz took out a sugar cube and plopped it into the hot tea with a splash. There was also the intention of adding sugar to make it easier to swallow, but it was an action to lower the temperature of the tea for Franz, who wasn’t very good at drinking hot things.

“But no matter how much I think about it, there’s something strange.”

“What do you mean, Your Majesty?”

He stirred the tea with a spoon, clinking, so the sugar would dissolve well.

“No matter where she ran away to outside the capital, I had taken measures to ensure she couldn’t escape my surveillance network, but this time I couldn’t find her. Then I received a report from Samuel, one of my informants planted across the country in the south, and only then did I learn that she had been hiding in a village called Urentum in the south. That part is too… strange. On top of that, she brought a baby that looks just like me? When did she get pregnant and when did she give birth? Moreover, what’s this about marrying that fellow Carl? Then is that child supposed to be Carl, that young master’s child?”

Even as he spoke, Franz laughed as if he found his own thoughts amusing. It didn’t make sense. What kind of man was Carl? The most wooden of wooden men who wouldn’t bat an eye even if the most beautiful woman in the world stripped and threw herself at him.

As a virile young man, it was only natural to be moved in body and mind at the sight of a beautiful woman. Franz thought that being so stiff as to go against nature wasn’t because he had great self-control, but because there was something wrong with his body.

But a man like that had a child with a woman he had never even been married to or surrounded by rumors? It absolutely, absolutely did not make sense.

“Anyway, it’s clear that Carl and Celeste are in some kind of relationship. That’s why she made a fuss about not responding to my summons.”

He was wondering what had gotten into her to spout nonsense, but it seemed she had gained Carl as a backer. The laughter vanished and Franz’s expression instantly hardened coldly.

“But it’s not a relationship she can sever just because she wants to. Isn’t that right, Schultz?”

“Yes. Moreover, in a master-servant relationship, the servant can never abandon the master first.”

“Then what should be done if there is a foolish servant who has forgotten that obvious fact?”

“You should teach them again. Who holds the power to decide.”

The tea had cooled a bit while they were talking. Franz leaned back in his chair and picked up the teacup.

“That’s right. I should teach them.”

“Is there something troubling you?”

“I’m thinking about the most effective way to teach them, so they never forget their position as a servant again.”

“I will call Stilico.”

It seemed he had no intention of having breakfast today either. Schultz stepped back from his place.

The morning after returning from the imperial palace. As soon as I woke up, I was greeted by sparkling eyes filled with hope and anticipation.

“Congratulations, Count!”

“Oh my. Congratulations, milord!”

“Oh, thank God!”

The four invincible ones, each expressing their emotion in their own way, seemed to have been waiting for me to wake up, and they took turns congratulating me.

“This is… a bit too much, don’t you think?”

“Too much? You’re about to become the Grand Duchess!”

Liv approached with flushed cheeks and started tidying the bedding. There was unusually more vigor in her movements as she drew back the curtains and pulled off the blanket. Next to her, Hannah was twitching her nostrils with a strange smile, Cecil was wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, and Margaret…

What was I going to do with these invincible ones? They seemed to have spent the night in emotion over the news of my marriage.

“Did you sleep well? The bed wasn’t uncomfortable, was it?”

“It was fine… Why are you being like this all of a sudden?”

“You’re about to become Her Highness the Grand Duchess, so we have to pay special attention!”

It didn’t seem like I could reason with them. They were people who cared about me more than I did myself, so no matter what I said, they would end up doing as they pleased anyway. At times like this, the least tiring thing to do was to just quietly leave myself in their hands.