“‘Hmm?’”

My father’s expression didn’t change at all.

As if he already knew.

The servants standing by the wall were trying their best to suppress their smiles. But they couldn’t hide their trembling lips.

Rachel gripped the hem of her skirt tightly. Then, forcing a smile, she said,

“Now that I think about it, there was a request from the barracks. Excuse me.”

Rachel hurriedly left.

I looked at my father.

“Reche Abammi joahae? (Does Rachel like you, Father?)”

When I asked again, implying if he already knew, my father calmly looked at the documents.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“...?”

“Most people do.”

That was an incredibly shameless remark.

If someone else said it, they’d be scolded, but it made sense.

Because it was the exact kind of thing emphasized to the point of annoyance in Bing.Heuk.Son.

Daimond Astra was handsome.

Very popular with women.

Sometimes, even men courted him... Anyway, that’s how it was.

‘His misanthropy started partly because of that popularity.’

There was even a time when someone tried to feed him cookies made with hair and nails, claiming it was a love potion.

He once jumped right in front of someone, saying it was so they would remember him forever...

‘No wonder he developed a hatred.’

I nodded silently and popped a meatball into my mouth.

My father glanced at me and reached out his hand.

With his thumb, he lightly brushed the corner of my mouth.

“Certainly, noodles with this kind of sauce must be hard for a child to eat.”

“...”

“Your manners aren’t bad, so you don’t even need a teacher.”

Hmm, no wonder he was so popular.

After finishing the meal, I left the dining hall.

‘I should go to the garden.’

The soldiers kept saying it on the way here.

They said the night sky seen from Daimond’s jurisdictional castle garden was so beautiful. No night sky compared to the one from the castle garden.

They praised it so much I was really looking forward to it.

‘So, the garden is...’

I asked the maids passing by the corridor.

“Jeongeon. (Garden.)”

“The garden... Ah, are you looking for the garden? If you go through the east gate—”

The maids pointed where the east gate was and then looked at me with a hesitant “Hmm.”

“It’s dark, so it might be scary.”

“Shall we accompany you?”

“Yes!”

When I shouted, the maids stood beside me.

I took each of their hands.

“...!”

“...!”

They seemed surprised, so I looked at them one by one.

‘Oh, right.’

At the main estate, I always walked holding hands with Hilda and Greta, so I forgot. It must feel awkward here.

The main estate wasn’t a suitable place for a child to walk alone.

There were steep stairs and many expensive decorations, so it was dangerous for a kid.

Just as I tried to let go of their hands quietly, the maids quickly held on again.

“Shall we hold your hands then?”

“Wow, baby hands are so warm.”

With slack faces, the maids walked with me.

“If you go this way is the kitchen, over there is the conference room, and this way is...”

I memorized well what the maids told me.

‘That’s Father’s office.’

While thinking that, Lady Rachel and other maids were walking from the opposite direction.

“What are you doing?”

Her voice was harsh.

The maids flinched.

“Ah, we were just showing the young lady the garden...”

“Did you forget my order to support the barracks? With ten thousand new soldiers causing a commotion, what are you doing loitering around!”

“...”

“You’re young ladies too. At a time when the jurisdictional castle is chaotic, you’re luring away those who have work to do.”

Lady Rachel crossed her arms and sighed.

“Really, there’s so much to teach.”

Then, one nervous maid cautiously spoke up.

“Um, we were on our way back because they said no more support was needed at the barracks, and it wasn’t that the young lady asked us to come along, but that we...”

Slap—!

The maid’s cheek was slapped.

I was shocked and stared at Lady Rachel.

“How dare you talk back.”

“...”

The maid hit by Lady Rachel bowed her head, clutching her cheek.

The maids behind Lady Rachel snickered.

This must have happened often because they didn’t look surprised at all.

‘This woman...’

I snickered inside.

That wasn’t a reprimand.

Violence can’t be a reprimand, and above all, the reason for the slap was something else.

‘She was taking out her anger.’

She must have thought she was humiliated by my father in the dining hall.

She couldn’t hit me, so she hit a maid instead. To scare me.

I let go of the maids’ hands.

Seeing that, Lady Rachel’s lips curled upward slightly. She probably thought she had succeeded in frightening me.

“Here.”

“Yes?”

“This way.”

“What did you say?”

Lady Rachel bent at the waist toward me, saying, “Speak louder.”

At that moment.

Smack!

I slapped Lady Rachel’s cheek.

I may be young, but I hit with all my strength, so it must have hurt.

“Th-this, th-this...!”

Lady Rachel’s face stiffened.

The maid who was going to take me to the garden, and the maids behind Lady Rachel were all shocked.

“What do you think you’re doing!”

“You hit a maid too, lady.”

I hated violence, but I wasn’t a pacifist.

If someone attacked me, I would attack back equally.

And I hated the cheap tactic of trying to pressure me by hurting those around me the most.

“You—”

I lightly grabbed the end of Lady Rachel’s hair and whispered.

“Be careful. I won’t hold back.”

“...!”

What came out of a child’s mouth wasn’t something normal, and Lady Rachel’s eyes widened as if she saw a ghost.

Pale white and trembling, I smiled sweetly at her.

‘Did you think you could just push me around because I’m young?’

I had experienced the end of social life.

If I lost here, I’d forever be treated like an easy target.

I grabbed the hands of the maids who had been walking with me to the garden again.

“Let’s go now!”

“Eh? Ah, yes...”

“Yes, yes!”

Leaving behind the frozen Lady Rachel and the confused maids, I walked away.

Bang!

Rachel stormed into the steward’s office, breathing heavily.

“Be careful. I won’t hold back.”

‘What the hell!’

That was absolutely not something a child should say.

She slapped my cheek, and the look in her eyes was almost murderous.

‘That brat is Daimond’s daughter...!’

Rachel could enter the jurisdictional castle thanks to her deceased husband.

Her husband, a knight, died {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} on the battlefield, and Daimond, his superior, took her in as a steward after she was left alone.

At first, she felt resentful.

A steward? She was just a baroness by title but was actually a servant.

But since she squandered all her husband’s inheritance on luxuries, she had no choice but to work.

‘Becoming a steward was the right choice.’

Since Daimond was unmarried, she, as the chief steward, managed the castle affairs.

Even proud nobles bowed before her.

Of course, servants dared not raise their heads.

Rachel was like the queen of this beautiful castle.

Her goal was to marry Daimond and become the true mistress.

Daimond had many noble ladies from other duke families, foreign royalty, even princesses clinging to him, but he never gave in.

But she was the closest to him.

Daimond drank tea she made, wore clothes she picked out, and lived where her hands touched.

‘I know.’

Though he doesn’t show it, he likes me.

He just doesn’t know what love is.

So he doesn’t realize his feelings are toward me.

‘Otherwise, why would he return so quickly?’

He must have missed her.

So this time, she was determined to become his wife.

‘But that brat...!’

At first, she didn’t care about that brat.

When she heard Daimond’s daughter was coming to the jurisdictional castle, she scoffed.

Bringing a brat with commoner blood as his daughter.

She thought Daimond was cold on the outside but soft inside.

A mere three-year-old girl.

As long as she didn’t interfere between Daimond and her, there was no need to care.

It annoyed her that the child was born from another woman.

But once she became the true mistress of this castle, she’d just get rid of her.

‘She’ll pay dearly for humiliating me.’

Rachel gripped the edge of the desk tightly.

I stared at the night sky in awe.

‘It’s really beautiful...’

A sky full of stars.

I’d only heard of it in words, but seeing it myself was truly dreamlike.

‘Because of the barrier, the night sky at the palace and the 12th Tower looks hazy.’

I was so absorbed in the sky that I suddenly felt eyes on me.

‘Hmm?’

I turned my head to see the maids staring at me with sparkling eyes.

When I tilted my head, they hurriedly waved their hands.

“W-we didn’t mean to disturb your appreciation!”

“Yes! We were just curious...”

Curious?

About what?

“It’s the first time I’ve seen Lady Rachel so flustered.”

“Reche Buing museowo? (Is Lady Rachel scary?)”

When I asked, the maids nodded vigorously.

“She whips servants she doesn’t like. She frames them to get them kicked out... She’s a terrible person.”

“So many servants have fallen to Lady Rachel.”

“They were too scared to report her.”

The chatting maids glanced at each other.

“There was ‘that time’ last time, right?”

“Right. A servant reported her, but Lady Rachel’s minions covered for her...”

“Yeah, only the accuser was chased away.”

The maids shivered as if afraid just thinking about it.

‘No wonder the castle was a mess without Father.’

It wasn’t just one or two years; he’d been gone for over five.

It was enough time for Lady Rachel’s world to take over.

I stared at the maids.

‘They look young.’

They seemed just barely adults.

I rummaged through the bag on my side. I found something and held it up with a flash.

“What’s that, young lady?”

It was ointment I used on the wound from the monster on Hardix Mountain.

It was effective enough that Daimond’s main branch used it.

“It’s medicine.”

“Medicine?”

“Yeah!”

I answered and gently rubbed the ointment on a maid’s cheek.

The maids’ eyes welled with tears.

“Young lady...”

“I’m happy. I thought nobles were all scum— no, not very good people...!”

“Yeah, I thought they were terrifying people who might kill someone someday.”

“But you’re different.”

“Yes, you are. You hit Lady Rachel right in the face for us...”

Their shoulders trembled.

‘I only hit Lady Rachel for their sake.’

I felt embarrassed and changed the subject.

“What’s your name?”

“My, my name is...”

“Name...!”

I asked to change the mood, but the maids’ eyes welled with tears.

“You’re the first to ask my name in this castle, ugh! I’m Betty.”

“Sniff, I’m Heidi...!”

...Why are they crying?

Then suddenly they started sobbing, and I was a little confused.

“I’m happy to serve such a kind young lady!”

“I will devote my loyalty...!”

All for just that?

‘They must have had a hard time.’

The maids surrounded me, crying loudly, and I had to endure it, groaning.

And the maids kept their word.

From the next day, their over-the-top loyalty continued.

A few days later.

I had breakfast in my room.

Maids Heidi and Betty glanced around quickly, then dipped their spoons into my soup and pulled them out.

“No poison. You can eat.”

“...”

“Bread is safe too.”

“...”

I looked at the maids with a reluctant expression.

They had been checking my meals for days.

It seemed they thought Lady Rachel might try to poison me.

‘How crazy must Lady Rachel look?’

Would she really try to poison the mistress’s daughter just because she was humiliated once?

Lady Rachel was the chief steward, so she was responsible for everything happening in this jurisdictional castle.

Even if someone else tried to poison me, she would be held accountable.

‘Lady Rachel’s no fool.’

I ate the soup with a dull expression.

As I munched, my chubby cheeks shook, and the maids sighed in awe, “Haaang.”

...They seemed a bit abnormal.

Still, there was a benefit.

“Jodi in the parlor is completely Lady Rachel’s person. There are some lackeys in the kitchen too.”

“That’s right. But the head chef is okay, right?”

“Yeah. Skilled enough that the master can’t get rid of him.”

“Col, the head gardener, would probably lick Lady Rachel’s shoes.”

They knew a lot about the castle’s people.

I carefully memorized what the maids told me.

After finishing my meal, I went out to the courtyard.

Father was inspecting the jurisdictional territory today, so I was there to see him off.

The courtyard was crowded. Soldiers and managers were leaving together for inspection.

“Oh, young lady!”

Soldier Mosco greeted me.

The huge three-meter-tall man who gave me a piggyback ride on Hardix Mountain was Mosco.

Other soldiers approached me too.

“How do you like it here?”

“It’s good.”

The soldiers nodded.

“Ha ha, right! It’s much better than the manufacturing district. There, there are too many rules.”

“Man, that’s discipline. You better follow it. If you’re just energetic, you’ll be called a big dumb oaf.”

“Being energetic is good, isn’t it, young lady?”

I answered, “Yes!”

Mosco and the soldiers laughed heartily.

“By the way, you’re pretty energetic too. Slapping the steward’s cheek as soon as you arrived.”

How did the soldiers know that?

While I was thinking that, I heard Lady Rachel’s voice behind me.

“Don’t be too harsh. It seems I’ve somehow displeased the young lady.”

Lady Rachel approached me with a sly smile.

“I’ll try to please you.”

“...”

“But please don’t punish me without reason next time. There are eyes watching.”

I stared at Rachel.

‘She’s trying to spin public opinion.’