"Madam, Sionele Baroness has arrived."
It was one of the duke's residence maids who served Blair.
Blair tilted her head. The duke's maids, who admired their master Herdin as much as they disliked her, always left delivering messages to Rina.
Having hastily concluded tea time with Agnes, Blair left the greenhouse and returned to the residence.
Sionele Baroness, waiting in her bedroom, greeted Blair in her characteristic high-octave voice.
"Oh my! You've become even more beautiful since marrying, Your Highness. No, I suppose I should call you Duchess now."
"I wanted to thank you for the wedding dress, but I've been too busy to contact you since."
"With the empire's greatest beauty wearing it, I should be the one grateful. And it's an honor to make your first post-marriage dress."
Blair glanced around the room as she listened to Sionele Baroness's flattery. Rina was nowhere to be seen.
"As His Excellency mentioned before, I've carefully selected lightweight fabrics excellent for keeping warm. He must have been worried you'd catch a cold."
Sionele Baroness's chatter passed through Blair's mind without lingering.
What mattered to her was that Rina was absent from this room right now.
Rina didn't appear even while Blair viewed the dresses Sionele Baroness had brought and decided on designs for new ones.
After Sionele Baroness left, Blair asked a nearby maid what had been bothering her.
"Where's Rina?"
The maid hesitated, avoiding Blair's gaze before answering.
"W-Well, I'm not sure. Shall I go look for her?"
"No. Leave it."
Blair rose and put on the fur robe she had taken off.
"Are you going for a walk?"
"Yes."
The maid prepared to follow, but Blair stopped her.
"I'll go alone."
"Ah, yes."
Blair left the room without the maid. The maids waiting outside bowed their heads.
Blair passed them, went down to the first floor, then quietly returned upstairs. Through the slightly open door of a room, she heard the maids whispering.
"Where'd Rina go? She didn't actually go off crying after getting doused in filth, did she?"
"Crying? She didn't even blink—just went off to wash. How boring."
"She's got some nerve anyway. Just like her mistress. Still, she'll suffer to get the smell out."
"But she won't tattle to Madam over this, right?"
"If she were going to, there'd have been hell to pay already. We all know—even if her mistress is a noble princess, in this duke's residence, she's just a white elephant."
Hearing their conversation, Blair clutched her dress skirt. Her crimson lips trembled.
Her hunch had been right.
No matter how much they disliked her, she was the Emperor's only sister. Unable to touch Blair directly, the maids had bullied her maid Rina instead.
But one question lingered.
Considering Rina's usual temperament, she wouldn't have tolerated it. Why had she endured?
Only then did Blair realize.
Rina had held back to avoid worsening Blair's already poor reputation in the duke's residence.
'It must have been the same in my previous life. I was too wrapped up in my own situation to notice....'
Realizing this, Blair bit her lower lip hard.
"Madam?"
Startled by the voice behind her, she turned to see Rina. She wore a clean new maid uniform, but her still-damp hair proved she had just washed.
Not yet grasping the situation, Blair took Rina's hand and entered the room.
The maids gossiping together paled in fright at Blair's quicker-than-expected return and bowed their heads.
Blair approached them and said,
"Apologize."
A chill settled in Blair's eyes. The maids flinched at her intensity upon meeting her gaze.
To them, Blair was someone cautious to deal with, but not truly frightening. She never raised her voice, always maintaining a calm, doll-like, picture-perfect composure.
But facing her eyes filled with cold fury left them speechless in panic.
Blair spoke softly once more to those frozen in the unexpected situation.
"I said apologize to Rina."
"W-What do you mean all of a sudden, Madam? We haven't done anything wrong..."
Slap!
Without time for anyone to intervene, Blair slapped the maid's cheek. Not just the struck maid, but the onlookers and Rina gasped in shock.
Blair looked down at the maid who had fallen after the slap. Her palm stung as if she herself had been struck.
It felt like she had become Katrina. An unpleasant, frightening sensation. Her heart pounded, her stomach churning as if she might vomit.
Yet to protect Rina, she couldn't back down now.
Blair clenched her trembling hands tightly.
"You know exactly what I mean."
"Y-Your Highness. I'm really fine. Truly."
Regaining her senses belatedly, Rina grabbed Blair. Escalating things when the duke's residence already viewed Blair unfavorably would do no good.
Moreover, if Herdin saw....
"...I'm not fine."
Blair added, her face on the verge of tears yet her eyes filled with anger,
"I'm not okay with you suffering like this because of me. Not at all."
"What is this?"
Herdin appeared through the open door. Dressed for an outing with leather gloves in hand, he must have heard the commotion on his way out.
"Y-Your Excellency."
At his sudden appearance, the maids and Rina paled and bowed deeply.
Herdin slipped on his gloves while quickly assessing the room.
The maid clutching her reddened cheek and Blair with her faintly trembling hand.
It didn't take long to grasp the situation.
In the silence, only the slapped maid rose and approached Herdin.
"She ordered me to do something I couldn't properly, and I was insolent, so I punished her a bit, but Madam misunderstood—"
"I didn't ask you."
It was a plain but clear rebuke. The maid shut her mouth and bowed her head.
Herdin's gaze turned to Blair. He awaited her words. The maids looked at Blair too.
They intended to pin it on Rina and end it there.
No matter how little Herdin favored Blair, they wanted to avoid directly opposing the duchess and princess.
And Blair wouldn't want to escalate either, so they'd align with their story.
But Blair defied expectations precisely.
"These maids were bullying and punishing the girl I brought with me."
The maids were surprised by Blair's response but unconcerned. Herdin wouldn't side with Blair, the enemy's daughter.
Blair hadn't expected Herdin to believe her either. Yet even so, she didn't want to let Rina take the blame.
However....
"It's my failing in properly educating the subordinates. I'll dismiss them soon."
He accepted Blair's words without further question.
The maids' faces drained of color upon hearing this. Blair looked at him in surprise too.
Watching the scene, Rina urgently spoke up.
"Y-Your Excellency. I'm fine. They just played a prank, but it's part of getting close, right?"
Of course, she didn't view her tormentors fondly. But in a similar position, she knew better than anyone the hardship they'd face after dismissal.
Understanding Rina's sentiment, Blair agreed.
"Herdin. That seems... too harsh a punishment. A sincere apology and docking half this month's pay would suffice."
The restless maids knelt too.
"We're sorry, Your Excellency! We were foolish and committed this blunder. Please forgive us just once."
"Apologize to the Madam and this maid, not me."
Herdin replied coldly, then ordered Mason, who had arrived late upon hearing the news.
"Mason, deduct two months' pay from them."
"Herdin."
"I believe this is appropriate punishment."
As Blair called to object to the penalty, Herdin cut her off as if knowing her next words without hearing them.
"Your Excellency."
Russ, checking his wristwatch, called to Herdin. It was time.
"I'll be off."
Herdin lightly pulled Blair's shoulder closer and kissed her forehead.
Blair, startled by his uncharacteristic action, realized his intent upon seeing the maids beside them.
A warning. That she was his wife. To prevent repeats.
Blair blankly watched his retreating back as he left the bedroom.
He had believed her words.
But why did futility outweigh gratitude?
The issue that had tormented Rina for three years before her regression resolved with just his few words.
* * *
That night, Rina headed to Blair's bedroom with a silver tray of cold water and towels.
'Our princess will surely bruise those delicate hands if left like this.'
Hitting someone required a certain firmness.
Those soft, delicate hands, never having struck anyone or done rough work, couldn't withstand today's shock.
'I'm sorry, Rina. I'm truly sorry for realizing so late....'
Her tender-hearted princess, feeling sorry even after saving her. Thinking of the hard cheek that struck those delicate hands filled her with indignation.
"Madam, it's me. Coming in for a moment."
Rina opened the door with her elbow instead of her tray-holding hand and entered Blair's room. At the same time, she dropped the precious silver tray.
"Y-Your Highness?!"