The place Gillian led them to was none other than the Queen’s Palace.

The Queen, who had been drinking tea with her maids on the terrace, stood up in surprise at Gillian’s sudden visit.

“My liege, what brings you here so unexpectedly?”

“This girl wishes to become one of your maids.”

Gillian turned his head and looked at Hersia as if urging her to speak her mind. She bowed smoothly without hesitation.

“Your Majesty, I apologize for startling you with this sudden audience.”

“Your sudden audience is less surprising than your sudden desire to become my maid. What is going on?”

Though Hersia found the situation embarrassing, she was even more flustered that everything was unfolding exactly as the Duke had instructed.

But she quickly composed herself and calmly recalled what Sikar had told her.

‘Say you wish for the honor of serving the Queen by her side, even briefly, while Kaillian is away.’

‘But will she believe me?’

‘Of course she will. Anyone would jump at the chance to serve the Queen.’

She had rehearsed Sikar’s words over and over at home, reciting them like an actor memorizing lines.

Now, Hersia remembered her lines and spoke.

“In truth, I have long wished for an opportunity to show my devotion to Your Majesty, but seeing no opening, I had resigned myself—until I heard of Lady Kaillian’s leave of absence. I could not help but apply.”

Had the Duke not prepared her in advance, she would have trembled and stumbled over her words from nervousness. But thanks to her rehearsal, she spoke clearly and steadily.

The King, who had been observing her closely, finally nodded as if convinced, and turned to look at the Queen.

“So it seems. Hersia desires so earnestly to serve you, Your Majesty. Please consider it carefully.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Even as the King departed, Hersia kept her back bowed. The Queen slowly approached and took her hand.

“I shall appoint you on a temporary basis—but only until Kaillian’s maternity leave ends.”

“I am deeply honored, Your Majesty. I shall serve you with utmost loyalty.”

As a newly appointed maid, Hersia followed the Duke’s instructions and went first to visit Kaillian, bringing along a congratulatory gift for the birth.

Kaillian was initially displeased with Hersia’s visit, but seeing that Hersia genuinely did not covet her position, she even offered words of encouragement, congratulating her on the temporary role.

From her first day working at the palace, Hersia never stepped forward assertively. Instead, she quietly assisted the other maids from behind, tending dutifully to the Queen.

Gradually, the maids who had initially been wary of Hersia began to lower their guard.

Ultimately, what truly dissolved their suspicion was an incident involving wine.

By accident, the maid Sharin, carrying wine, followed behind the Queen and ended up spilling it onto the Queen’s dress.

Before the Queen could turn around, Hersia swiftly snatched the wine glass from Sharin’s hand and held it herself.

“Your Majesty, I have ruined the hem of your dress through my carelessness. Please impose a severe punishment upon me.”

Had it been any other maid, the Queen might have reprimanded her. But since Hersia was the King’s cousin and soon to join the Hamel Count’s household, the Queen merely smiled and dismissed the matter.

Touched by Hersia’s loyalty, the maids opened their hearts to her.

“Lady Hersia, thank you for taking the blame for my mistake—and I am truly sorry.”

“Not at all. I am only here temporarily and will soon leave, but you and Lady Claire must continue working here. Making a mistake would not be good for you. So, if anyone had to be scolded among the three of us, I thought it best that it be me.”

Sharin, moved, looked at Hersia with tearful eyes and grasped her hand.

“I had heard you were a person of honor, but I never realized you would consider us so thoughtfully. Thank you sincerely.”

“I have heard how deeply devoted both of you are to Her Majesty. If you continue to stand faithfully by Her Majesty’s side, I could ask for nothing more.”

The maids, touched by Hersia’s sincerity, quickly grew close to her. Above all, since she was the King’s cousin, there was no room for suspicion—and soon, they invited Hersia to a formal dinner.

Naturally, along with Duke and Duchess Blake.

I knew Hersia would handle it well, but the formal dinner arrived much sooner than I had anticipated.

Sikar, who disliked being touched by maids, adjusted his collar himself and remarked,

“Seeing that the dinner was scheduled earlier than planned, Hersia must be more capable than I thought.”

Though he said she was more capable than expected, his expression suggested otherwise.

“Sikar, you shouldn’t say that with such a face in front of the maids.”

“What’s wrong with my face?”

So I reached over and pulled down his upturned eye corners as I said,

“If you lower your eyes like this and speak more gently, maybe you’ll actually get someone to shake your hand. Who would offer their hand with that fierce glare?”

In response, Sikar grabbed my eye corners and pulled them upward.

“Yours are too droopy. You should lift them a bit.”

Thus, we ended up staring at each other—one pulling the other’s eyes up, the other pulling them down.

As we stubbornly stretched each other’s eyes as far as possible, a knock sounded at the door, and we simultaneously let go.

The person who entered after the knock was Andrea.

“My Lord, the carriage is prepared.”

“Understood.”

Lately, I had been trying to follow Grandmother’s advice and gently reform Sikar, while he resisted like a wild beast refusing to be tamed.

Had the carriage not been waiting, we might have remained locked in that standoff all day.

After all, even as we rode in the carriage, we were still arguing about each other’s eye corners when we arrived at Sharin’s house.

“Think about it—if you ask for a handshake with such a fierce look, who would accept it willingly?”

“They’d be too afraid to pull their hand away.”

“They’d pull it away even faster out of fear. So just do as I say.”

“Fine. But if you’re wrong, I’ll never again look at people with such a foolish expression.”

Lowering his eye corners slightly didn’t make Sikar look foolish at all. In fact, he didn’t look particularly gentle either. What good was lowering just the corners? His crimson eyes remained piercingly sharp.

As Sikar stepped out of the carriage, he extended his arm toward me. I took it and entered Sharin’s mansion.

Hersia and Claire, one of the Queen’s maids, had already arrived at Sharin’s home.

“Thank you for inviting us.”

“We are grateful you accepted our invitation, Duchess Blake. Duke Blake.”

Sharin’s gaze toward Sikar was cautious at first, but seeing my gently smiling face seemed to reassure her, and her expression soon relaxed.

The moment my handshake with Sharin ended, Sikar eagerly extended his own hand as if he had been waiting.

Sharin hesitated briefly, as if unsure whether to take it, but after glancing once at Sikar’s smiling face, she clasped his hand.

“I have prepared little, but I hope you enjoy a pleasant dinner.”

“Thank you.”

Sharin seemed ready to let go of his hand, but Sikar continued shaking it as he spoke.

“By the way, I heard Countess Sharin particularly enjoys Cardo wine.”

Sharin’s face briefly brightened at the mention of Cardo wine, but then she frowned and replied in a weary tone.

“Yes. But currently, due to pests, it’s difficult to obtain Cardo wine.”

“I happen to have some I acquired earlier. If you don’t mind, I’d like to gift it to you.”

“If you would do that, I’d be immensely grateful, Duke!”

“Then when would be a good time to send it to you?”

“Any time is perfectly fine!”

Meanwhile, Sikar kept holding and shaking her hand, and Sharin, caught off guard, continued shaking hands with him.

By the way—did we even have Cardo wine at the ducal estate? I had searched the wine cellar myself because Cardo wine is so famous, but I recall Andrea saying we didn’t have any.

So, it seemed Sikar was definitely lying.

Later, after he had shaken hands with Sharin for quite a while, I quietly asked him,

“Sikar, do we really have Cardo wine at the estate?”

Sikar smirked as if I had asked something obvious.

“Of course not.”

“Then why did you say that?”

“Well, I can obtain it. If I sift through the Cardo estate owner’s memories, finding something like that is no trouble at all.”

Ah—I see, he meant he’d find it by reading memories. Though Sikar lied without batting an eye, Sharin seemed completely convinced. But as he said, he could simply procure it later.

From afar, Hersia caught my eye while chatting with Claire, as if asking how it went. When I smiled and nodded, she beamed back in relief. So I gave her a thumbs-up.

Sikar soon greeted Claire as well, but he didn’t engage in any lengthy conversation with her.

Whether he had already found what he sought in Sharin’s memories, or whether Claire’s memories held nothing of interest—I couldn’t tell. We exchanged brief greetings and proceeded to enjoy the dinner.

While drinking tea after the meal, Sharin cautiously began,

“Honestly, when Hersia first suggested inviting Duke and Duchess Blake, I hesitated slightly since I didn’t know you well. But now that I’ve had the pleasure of hosting you, I feel we should meet often. Especially since I had no idea Duke Blake was such a wonderful person.”

“We feel the same—learning that Lady Sharin is such a delightful person made this dinner truly meaningful. Please invite us again next time. The meal today was absolutely delicious.”

We maintained a warm, cheerful atmosphere with light conversation all the way until we returned to the ducal estate.

In the carriage on our way back, I finally asked Sikar what I had been truly curious about.

“What did you see in Sharin’s memories? What could you have seen that made you shake hands with her for so long?”

Sikar slowly lifted his head, his gaze suggesting something very ominous.

“It seems something very unpleasant has indeed occurred.”