"By now, they should be leaving the royal capital.
By boat to the capital of the March of Ishurias, then two days by land.
That would put them here around noon four days from now..."
Crossing the gorge by the drawbridge from the hilltop where Reberk's castle stood, passing through the heavy doors of the Harem Gate, and walking the silent corridor that led to the Harem Palace, Margaret, the head maid, murmured to herself.
The area with the castle, where the affairs of the barony were conducted, was known as the Front, while the area with the Harem Palace and detached palaces, where the lord and his consorts lived, was called the Inner Palace.
A river flowing from the lake had carved a gorge through the high ground, and that terrain had been put to use: the Front stood on the hill that could be reached from the town by walking up the slope, while the Inner Palace lay beyond the gorge, accessible only by a drawbridge lowered when the lord came and went.
The Inner Palace was further divided into six sections by canals drawn from the lake.
the Harem District: the section containing the palace that served as the lord's residence and the keep that doubled as a watchtower
the Detached Palace District: the section with six large detached palaces for the consorts, together with their gardens
the Village District: the section containing a mock village where crops and livestock were raised
the Park District: the section used for ornamental gardens, contests such as mounted jousting, and large festivals
the Hunting District: the section set aside for the lord's hunting
the Orchard District: the section where fruit trees, as well as timber and firewood trees, were grown
It was so vast that to reach the Orchard District or the Hunting District, one had to travel by boat.
In the Harem District, immediately visible on the right after passing through the Harem Gate, the Harem Palace was a single-story wooden structure of the sort common in the southern imperial state.
When Margaret had first come here three months earlier, the roof tiles had been broken, moss and vines had clung to the walls, and stains from leaks had spread across the ceiling.
The floorboards had rotted and creaked. It had been utterly unfit to live in.
Before Celine's arrival, the roof had been retiled from end to end, and every rotten floorboard had been replaced.
It had not yet regained its former beauty, but at the very least, it had been repaired enough for ordinary living.
"We somehow made it in time..."
Given the limited funds they had, Margaret felt a small measure of relief that they would at least be able to receive Celine and the others properly.
In the worst case, they might have had to lodge in the keep, the white, green-tiled structure rising behind the palace as if it could pierce the sky.
Why, Margaret did not know, but the keep alone had preserved its beauty as though time itself had stopped around it.
Immediately to the left after passing through the Harem Gate lay the Detached Palace District, where beautiful gardens ought to have spread out.
Instead, weeds grew wild in every direction, tangled together with dead plants, and almost nothing remained of the place's former elegance.
The ornaments on the rusted arbor had weathered away, and vines wound around its pillars and roof.
"Well... in the end, there simply isn't enough of anything. Not time, not hands, and not money."
Margaret muttered the words under her breath.
The little brook had dried up completely as well, leaving behind nothing but a stony trench.
How much time would it take to restore gardens this desolate?
Worst of all were the detached palaces ahead, where the consorts were to live.
The six palaces said to have been built by the first Emperor of the Empire—Fuga Palace, Gekka Palace, Kaen Palace, Suirei Palace, Seiyou Palace, and Youmei Palace—had apparently once possessed all the grace their names promised.
"I had wanted to repair at least Fuga Palace, where Lady Lieselotte will be staying..."
That wish had gone unfulfilled.
The tile roofs were faded, and moss spread across the broken and displaced sections, making it obvious at a glance that no repairs had been done.
Cracks ran through the pillars of the corridors connecting each palace to the Harem Palace, and they looked ready to collapse at any moment.
The paint on the outer walls had peeled away, leaving them stained with dust and rain marks.
No one here still remembered how elegant they had once been.
"What we need to prioritize... at my lord husband's request, the fields and orchards come first..."
Recalling Celine's instructions, Margaret murmured to herself.
As the former Virtuous Consort's head maid, her pride would not allow the whole of the harem to remain in such disrepair.
But with no money to begin with, all she could do was sigh.
Massaging the crease between her brows with her fingers, Margaret quietly stepped into the Harem Palace.
"Out of the way, out of the way, out of the way~!"
With her bright blond hair bouncing, a pretty girl in a maid uniform adorned with blue ribbons came tearing down the corridor, scrubbing the floor with a rag in hand as she went.
Carried by her own momentum—the next instant, a spectacular crash rang out.
A bucket full of water flew into the air, and glittering droplets sprayed all across the corridor.
"They do say a woman dripping wet is at her most beautiful~ ...or something!"
Her large blue eyes shone, and she seemed not to mind in the least that she was now soaked from head to toe.
"Fiona, you really do have a talent for creating more work. What do you plan to break next? Surely you aren't going to smash through a wall."
A beautiful girl in a maid uniform trimmed with purple ribbons stared at Fiona with cool violet eyes.
Her lustrous deep-crimson hair swayed softly, making her composed air stand out all the more.
"Ahaha, Chloe, sorry~"
Fiona's bright laugh rang through the corridor.
Watching her, Chloe lifted the corner of her mouth ever so slightly.
"Well, if you must cause a disaster next time, do try to be a little more strategic about it."
With an elegant toss of her crimson hair, Chloe gave Fiona a small shrug.
"Um... Fiona, Chloe..."
A lovely girl in a maid uniform adorned with pink ribbons spoke up timidly.
Her soft pink hair trembled faintly, and there was something unmistakably skittish in her clear blue eyes.
"Lily? What's wrong?"
When Fiona turned toward her with all her usual energy, Lily answered in a small, trembling voice.
"Head Maid Margaret is... at the entrance..."
At Lily's hesitant gesture, Chloe and Fiona slowly turned their heads in the same direction.
"Why, good day, Head Maid."
Chloe greeted her with an elegant smile, calm as ever, as though she could somehow smooth the whole thing over with manners.
"Ahaha, Margaret, long time no see~"
Fiona, on the other hand, waved cheerfully with all the brightness in the world.
With that innocent smile and those ribbons bouncing merrily, she looked as though she had already forgotten she was the cause of the commotion.
After staring at the three of them for a while, Margaret let out a quiet sigh.
"Was it a mistake to assign the three of you exclusively to my lord husband...?"
At those words, Chloe answered with open dissatisfaction.
"Isn't that rather hasty? This backwater is the only place where I can truly shine."
"Exactly! You haven't even seen what my lord husband is like yet! That's terrible~!"
Fiona protested energetically, though her smile suggested she had not given it all that much thought.
"I-I like this quiet place too, so... I'd rather not be sent away..."
Lily spoke in a small voice, then looked up at Margaret as though slipping in between the other two.
"Honestly..."
Margaret, who knew that all three of them had their own reasons for coming here from the royal capital, sighed yet again and rubbed the furrow between her brows.
"If you keep sighing like that, happiness is going to run away from you~"
Fiona quipped innocently.
"You are the reason I'm sighing in the first place."
Margaret answered in a cool tone, giving Fiona a sidelong glance.
"Now then. Has the preparation of my lord husband's bedchamber and private room been completed?"
Sighing once more, she dragged the conversation back to the next task.
"Yes, everything's done! Except we still couldn't get new sheets for the bed in my lord husband's... 'bring-them-in room.'"
Fiona raised her hand brightly and answered with easy cheer.
Margaret's brow twitched for an instant, but Fiona did not notice in the slightest.
"Fiona, you are, at least in name, a baronet's daughter. Do try to learn the more refined expression 'retiring room,' if nothing else."
Chloe watched Fiona with cool eyes and frowned just a little.
And in her voice, mixed with the sarcasm, was the faintest trace of concern for Fiona herself.
"It has a perfectly proper name—the Chamber of Dream Blossoms. It's an important room, meant to receive the consorts!"
Lily hurriedly stepped in to help, clasping her hands meekly before her chest.
"And why, precisely, were the sheets not replaced?"
Margaret calmly steered the conversation back again.
"Because nobody makes a round bed that huge~!"
Fiona threw her arms wide, as though using her whole body to show just how enormous the bed was.
The bed in the Chamber of Dream Blossoms was an unusually gigantic circle, and that made it difficult to reuse sheets from anywhere else.
"Honestly. Just how many people does he plan to sleep with at once? Do you suppose my lord husband is bottomless...?"
Though Chloe spoke in a cool tone, there was something faintly amused in her smile.
The instant Lily heard her, her face turned bright red.
"S-such improper things... my lord husband is bottomless..."
Timidly, she murmured the words under her breath, apparently taking Chloe's teasing at face value.
"B-but... if my lord husband can love so many ladies at once, then that only means he treasures them all that much."
A warm smile rose naturally to Lily's face as she went on.
"I'm sure my lord husband is a very kind man!"
At her guileless remark, the other two were left speechless for a moment.
Fiona opened and closed her mouth like a fish, while Chloe sighed and yet still smiled just a little.
"...You three really are noisy."
Margaret furrowed her brow once more, though there was something of both resignation and kindness in her face now.
Lady Celine really did assign these three exclusively to my lord husband...
With that thought, she sighed again and continued.
"I understand the matter with the bed. Whatever the reason, it is our duty to have everything prepared before my lord husband arrives. Tell the craftsmen to hurry.
"And Fiona, your innocence is charming, but you must learn to plan a little better.
"And Chloe, do keep the jokes to a reasonable level—and confine them to breaks in your work.
"And Lily, your sweet innocence is endearing, but I do need you to be a bit more reliable."
As she called each of them by name, Margaret fixed them with her gaze and offered a light reprimand in turn.
"Ehh, planning?"
Fiona scratched her head with a slightly troubled look.
"Chloe's better at detailed stuff... but if you say so, Margaret, I'll do my best!"
She answered brightly, all in the same innocent tone.
"Jokes? On the contrary, that would be the only joke here. I am always perfectly serious."
Chloe wore a mischievous smile and gave another delicate shrug.
For one brief moment, Margaret considered bringing the wrath of heaven down on her. But Chloe was the most capable of the three where office work was concerned, and if she lashed out now, her own workload would only increase. Margaret swallowed the impulse with effort.
By contrast, Lily simply blinked in surprise at Margaret's criticism and murmured,
"Eh...? Am I really that absent-minded?"
After looking worried and thinking it over for a moment, she straightened her back and said firmly,
"I'll have to try harder... then."
"Now then, that is enough idle talk. The preparations to receive my lord husband must be flawless. Do you understand? Fiona, first, go take a bath."
Though Margaret smiled, there was no mistaking the firm command in her voice as she pushed them all back to their duties.
"Wait, really? Does that mean I can use the Flowerdrop Bath?"
Fiona's eyes sparkled.
"Are you truly that foolish? You are, aren't you? Yes, you must be."
Chloe let out a sigh and gave a slight shrug.
"Chloe, you're saying 'fool' way too many times. Fiona, the only bath we're allowed to use is the Clearstream Bath."
Lily smiled gently, speaking up for Fiona while lightly scolding Chloe as well.
"Cheh, that's no fun."
Fiona's shoulders drooped, and a dissatisfied look crossed her face.
"Oh, don't worry. If he truly is bottomless, we'll be summoned soon enough, and then we may even be allowed to use the Flowerdrop Bath as well."
Chloe declared that with perfect confidence, lifting one brow in a smile.
"...W-we too? B-but to let a man see us naked..."
Lily's face turned scarlet as she murmured the words in a tiny voice.
The thought alone seemed to leave her dazed, and she lowered her head.
"Lily, are you okay? Your face is all red~"
Fiona grinned as she leaned in to peer at Lily's face.
Watching the two of them, Chloe let out a small sigh, though a faint smile still touched her lips.
"I believe I said that was enough idle talk!"
Margaret snapped sharply, once again urging the trio back to work.
The three of them hurried deeper into the Harem Palace in a rush.
Watching their retreating backs, Margaret let out yet another sigh in her heart.
"Will the day ever really come when I understand why Lady Celine assigned these three to my lord husband...?"
And yet, even so, a faint smile rested on her lips.