Chapter 1.1 – First Time Hearing This

The kitchen of Troskan Castle was busier than usual with the hands of the maids preparing breakfast. This was because there were quite a few guests visiting the castle, and they had to prepare meals for them as well.  

However, it wasn’t just their hands that were busy.  

“Did you see the lace decoration she had on her neck? You could tell it was meticulously prepared!”  

“She said she wasn’t interested in parties at all!”  

Their mouths were constantly chattering about the party that had taken place the previous night.  

“I bet she stayed up for ten nights while everyone else was sleeping to finish it!”  

“Did you hear about this? The eldest son of the family that delivers vegetables to the castle—guess what? That eldest son and…!”  

“Ahem.”  

The head maid let out an uncomfortable cough, and the maids gathered in the kitchen flinched in surprise. They quickly shut their mouths and returned to their tasks as if they had never been gossiping. They stirred the soup pot with ladles and peeled potatoes with swift movements.  

But it didn’t last long.  

As soon as the head maid left the kitchen and disappeared from sight, they resumed whispering among themselves.  

“So, about the eldest son of the family that delivers vegetables!”  

“What? What are you talking about? What about the eldest son?”  

Outside the kitchen, the head maid, who was handing the receipt for the vegetable delivery to the eldest son in question, raised an eyebrow. The eldest son, embarrassed, clutched his hat tightly in his hands and smiled awkwardly.  

“No matter how many warnings I give, it only lasts for a moment.”  

The head maid muttered in complaint. Everyone was still excited, unable to shake off the lingering excitement from the party the night before.  

It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand. After all, the party had been a rare opportunity to enjoy themselves without worry.  

It had been two years since the Empire declared an invasion war. Many small and large nations had fallen and come under the Empire’s rule. The Rowen Kingdom had almost become one of them.  

The situation had been so dire that the King had to flee the capital and take refuge in Troskan Castle, located in the far northernmost part of the Rowen Kingdom. One could only imagine how desperate the situation had been. Troskan Castle itself had been on the verge of falling into the hands of the Empire.  

Just when everyone’s hope was about to be extinguished, a man named Heizen stepped onto the battlefield. He succeeded in reclaiming a castle that had fallen to the Empire, and from there, he began to recover the lost territories one by one. Finally, when he decapitated the commander of the Imperial Army and achieved a great victory, the Empire proposed a ceasefire.  

If not for Heizen’s achievements, none of them would have been able to enjoy the peace they had today.  

One would think that they should be grateful for this peace and work more diligently, but it seemed the younger ones thought differently. They began to say things like, “We can’t just work ourselves to death like this.”  

‘With such youthful recklessness, it’s only a matter of time before something big happens.’  

There were already three people who had quit, saying they were leaving to get married. It was better if they at least gave notice. When they disappeared without a word, it became a real headache for those in charge of managing them.  

Such things tended to happen in chains. If there was a second and third incident, how could it be prevented? The head maid pondered this while eavesdropping on the chatter of the young maids inside.  

After all, who knew? Maybe someone was already planning to elope with one of these eldest sons.  

It was while she was secretly listening to the rumors of last night’s love affairs that a particularly intriguing name came up.  

“Did you know that Miss Rizle was proposed to last night?”  

Miss Rizle. Rizle Thruella. She was the youngest daughter of the Thruella couple, who had been raised with the utmost love and care. The Marquis Thruella, often called the Guardian of Rowen, especially doted on her.  

It was said that one would have to risk their life in a duel with the Marquis himself to gain permission to marry her. Such stories were widely known.  

So, who on earth had the courage to propose to her?  

Even the head maid found herself intrigued. She pressed her ear closer to the door.  

“If you hear who it is, you’ll all be shocked.”  

“Who did you hear that from?”  

Mary asked the maid who had brought up the topic. Mary’s expression was somewhat prickly, her eyes filled with suspicion.  

As Rizle’s personal maid, Mary was already aware that Rizle had been proposed to. Rizle had shown her the ring and boasted about it before going to bed.  

However, Mary didn’t know who the suitor was.  

‘When you find out who it is, you’ll be really surprised!’  

Last night, Rizle had been drunk, her eyes hazy, and she had giggled endlessly. She had looked so beautiful that Mary found herself disliking the man who had proposed to her.  

‘If he’s not the best man in the Rowen Kingdom, I won’t forgive him.’  

But Rizle had fallen asleep before revealing who the man was, leaving Mary anxiously waiting for her to wake up and spill the secret.  

And yet, now another maid knew who Rizle’s suitor was before she did!  

Mary, who took pride in being Rizle’s personal maid, felt a strange pang of jealousy.  

“Barselin saw it.”  

To make matters worse, the source of the information was Barselin, who always seemed to rub her the wrong way. Mary’s mood worsened further.  

Barselin, who had been stirring soup with a ladle, turned around and smiled smugly. Noticing that Barselin’s gaze was directly on her, Mary bit her lip in frustration.  

“I was on my way to bring more drinks, and there was a man kneeling in front of Miss Rizle. At first, I wondered what he was doing and thought I might need to step in if there was any danger. But then, guess what? He handed her a ring!”  

Barselin shivered as she recalled the moment, and the other maids screamed in unison. Each of them began imagining their own version of a romantic proposal scene.  

“I was watching in secret and thought to myself, ‘I knew this would happen since Kabakia.’”  

“Kabakia? Is it someone she met there?”  

Curious, the maids pressed Barselin for more details. But Barselin only responded with a meaningful smile instead of giving a clear answer.  

Mary found Barselin’s smug attitude unbearable. 

It wasn’t even her proposal, so why was she acting so proud?  

Ridiculous. I shouldn’t care about this. Just look at how she’s intentionally provoking me. 

The best response to someone so annoying is to ignore them.  

Mary snorted and turned her head away, but she couldn’t help feeling bothered. She began to carefully recall the men Rizle had met in Kabakia.  

Kabakia was a place famous as a retreat. Parties, tea gatherings, and meetings between nobles were so frequent there that it was hard to narrow it down to one person.  

“Mary, when did the two of them become close?”  

Barselin asked Mary. When Mary flinched, Barselin smirked, as if she had deliberately asked to highlight Mary’s ignorance. That infuriating woman would do something like that.  

Mary bit the inside of her cheek and glared at her.  

“The magic of a retreat is truly amazing. Even someone who used to treat women like stones fell completely for Miss Rizle.”  

Still refusing to reveal who the man was, Barselin sighed in admiration.  

“There will probably be another party soon. Since it’s for a wedding, it’ll be even bigger, right?”  

“Oh no, we’re going to be so busy.”  

Although the maids complained, smiles crept onto their faces. Of course, they would be busy and exhausted, but after their masters’ affairs were taken care of, they would have time to enjoy themselves.  

“You never know. Just because someone proposes doesn’t mean they’ll get married. The Marquis has to approve first.”  

Mary pointed out. No matter how much Rizle liked him, marriage couldn’t happen without the family’s consent.  

If the man turned out to be some useless scoundrel, he’d be kicked out not just once but four times—once by the Marquis, once by the eldest son Albert, once by the second son Gilbert, and once by Mary herself.  

Mary snorted.  

“Right now, there’s no family in Rowen who would refuse him.”

Barselin was certain that the two would absolutely get married. The more confident Barselin was, the more Mary felt a sense of resistance.  

“What kind of amazing person is he supposed to be? Is he the best groom in all of Rowen or something?”  

Barselin’s lips closed tightly, as if she wasn’t confident enough to claim he was the best. Mary snorted, as if to say, ‘See? I knew it.’ 

The other maids pressed Barselin further.  

“So, who exactly is the person?”  

“Don’t keep it to yourself. Just tell us already!”  

Barselin simply put on a smug expression, saying they’d find out soon enough, but she still didn’t reveal the name.  

“This won’t do. Mary, you tell us.”  

When Barselin stubbornly kept her mouth shut, the others, growing frustrated, turned their attention to Mary. As the focus shifted to her, Mary quickly moved a basket of potatoes aside, pretending to be busy.  

“Mary. Mary, are you here?”  

Conveniently, at that moment, a servant came looking for Mary. As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, he hesitated, overwhelmed by the stifling heat. Though the kitchen was always warm due to the fire in the hearth, today the heat seemed even more intense.  

“The master is asking for Miss Rizle.”  

Mary seized the opportunity and left the kitchen immediately. Walking down the hallway for a bit, she arrived at the northern staircase used by the servants. She climbed to the second floor, passed by the weapons collection Marquis Thruella had displayed as a hobby, and stopped in front of the third door. This was Rizle’s bedroom.