Near dawn, sleet began to fall.

The air felt subtly chilly and cold. Even wrapped in blankets and tossing and turning, it was difficult to adjust to the unfamiliar temperature.

Waking from light sleep, Melissa naturally pulled the bell cord above the bed.

When the maid brought washing water, she washed her face, put on a neat indoor dress, and braided her hair up.

Since her hair was long and thick, it needed to be secured with a large pin, but the maid attending to her in the morning was struggling with a small pin.

Her touch was clumsy. She didn’t seem to be the maid usually assigned to such tasks.

Melissa quietly said, “I haven’t seen your face before.”

Startled, the maid dropped the pin. The long hair that had been carefully rolled up unraveled completely. The maid picked up the pin with a distressed look.

“I heard Nora and Laila hurt the madam yesterday. It was chaos. They were both fired immediately, and Mrs. Hover, who was in charge…”

The maid, who hadn’t given up and started braiding the hair again, caught her breath and continued.

“She must be packing her things in her room by now.”

“Mrs. Hover being…?”

“The person who guided you when you first arrived. She had been here since Countess Miellin’s time, making her the longest-serving after the butler in our castle.”

The maid paused briefly, concentrating on braiding the hair. This time, when she used the large pin Melissa handed her, it fit perfectly.

The maid who had been sweating profusely wiped her forehead with her sleeve after finishing her work.

“You should be ready to move now.”

It was a voice devoid of any emotion.

Though she would answer when asked, there was a subtle hostility. Her tone, expression, touch – while nothing was explicitly wrong, having the maid nearby felt uncomfortable.

As if an invisible massive wall had been erected.

If one were to assign blame for what happened there, both her struggling and the maids’ failure to move her properly would share responsibility.

But an even greater wrong was committed by Physician Horrux.

He had broken in at will, used insulting language, and tried to force her onto the bed.

Yet the physician who was actually at fault merely ended up with a week’s confinement in the west tower, while Mrs. Hover who had worked her whole life and the two young maids who followed orders were fired.

As Melissa was leaving the room for meals, she asked.

“Would it be possible for me to meet the three of them in person?”

The maid who was carefully holding both doorknobs and backing out flinched. A look of feigned terror flashed across Melissa’s face.

With lips turned blue, the maid asked while backing against the door.

“If I may ask… why?”

Melissa answered with a gentle smile to ease the tension.

“Because I want to apologize to them.”

***

Originally, nobles never apologized to commoners. So Melissa’s words “I want to apologize” sounded like this to the maid:

“I want them to apologize to me.”

No matter how low Melissa’s standing had fallen in the capital, the further from the capital, the slower news traveled and the less sensitive people were to trends.

To them, Melissa Grey was still a far superior noble and someone to be feared. Thus, the maid who came down to deliver the message said:

“She says she’ll kill us if we don’t apologize.”

“What?”

“She said it while smiling. That we must come to apologize. It’s clear we’ll face retaliation if we don’t.”

Nora, who was packing her belongings in an old cloth bag, was startled. The brown-haired woman with freckles furrowed her brow anxiously.

“So scary… It won’t end with just being fired, we have to apologize too before it’s over.”

Laila, who had been listening, shook her head with a pale expression.

The red-haired maid with green eyes, Laila, suddenly burst into tears.

“Could it be that the madam knows our origins? Is she angry that lowly hands from Gerion dared to touch her? Are we all going to die now?”

“Stop crying, Laila. We just need to apologize.”

Nora retorted irritably. But as if she couldn’t hear Nora’s words, Laila sobbed even louder.

“We shouldn’t have listened to the physician then! I was scared the madam would die. I, I had never seen someone who could barely breathe right in front of me before!”

Laila collapsed on the floor with a thud and sobbed.

“Please, Beth. Can’t you speak to the madam and ask her to forgive us?”

She grabbed the hem of her friend’s skirt who had come down to the quarters to deliver the message, looking at her like a savior.

As Beth was about to answer that she would try her best after seeing the pleading look, Nora threw the bag she was holding onto the floor. A thud echoed.

“Stop whining, Laila! She’s the famous ‘Grey’ among nobles! Do you think she’ll listen to anything we say?”

“Hic.”

“Leaving here right now means our livelihood is at stake. Where else but Castle Miellin would take us as maids? We might end up being sold to Loge’s brothel or somewhere like that if we’re not careful.”

“I don’t want that.”

Laila shook her head while crying.

“Then get your head straight. Just think about surviving from now on!”

Nora pulled Laila up who had collapsed in front of Beth. Laila, who rose up staggering, reluctantly nodded while wiping her tears with her sleeve.

That’s when Mrs. Hover came, having heard the commotion. The woman wearing thick reading glasses wore her usual stern expression.

“Stop the useless chatter and come out quickly.”

When the strict voice of the woman in her 60s rang out, the three maids straightened their backs and stood at attention.

Yet still, tears wouldn’t stop flowing from Laila’s eyes.

Even on the way to see the madam in the large bedroom on the second floor, with Mrs. Hover in the lead, Laila continued sniffling without pause.

She wouldn’t stop even when Nora jabbed her with an elbow from the side.

Normally Mrs. Hover would have scolded her harshly, but today the atmosphere was a bit different. Before opening the door, Mrs. Hover spoke in a lowered voice.

“Don’t worry. We have His Highness Reizen on our side.”

Prince Reizen was the only royal and noble in the Sys Empire who could be reasoned with.

Though he was an impossibly high person who mainly stayed in the capital, so there were few chances to see him in the territory.

But they had always been grateful just for the fact that he hired people from colonial backgrounds, paid them their wages, and guaranteed them a place to stay.

And now he was someone who would protect them even from a woman from the First Noble family who was overwhelmingly frightening. Wasn’t he truly a hero of this age for the commoners?

Already Reizen’s good deeds had become famous through word of mouth among commoners. They had heard it was Prince Reizen’s influence that led to the first commoner physician in the imperial court.

Everyone said in unison.

That there would never be another person like him.

For the past 80 years, Sys had oppressed Gerion, and for 30 years before that, they hadn’t treated not just Gerion but all commoners as human beings. And it was the Grey family that had created such a world…

The woman from that very family would be sitting across from them when they opened the door.

Nora and Laila swallowed nervously.

Mrs. Hover also hesitated for a moment before turning the doorknob. After exhaling with a “hoo-“, Mrs. Hover opened the door.

Light poured in brilliantly from what was originally the prince’s bedroom. In front of the terrace where sunlight gently streamed in, there was a tea table.

The woman who had been looking at the steaming teacup turned to look at the source of the sound.

It was an exceptionally pale face that could be described as transparent, devoid of blood.

Her clear expression with innocent-looking red eyes saw Mrs. Hover and the maids and curved awkwardly.

“Welcome.”

The woman was different from how the maids last remembered her. Instead of struggling desperately, she was cleanly washed and wore a bright smile, looking like a delicate flower that might snap if someone approached to pick it.

A precious white flower so rare it couldn’t be seen on the streets, the kind that blooms in winter ice.

“Would you come closer?”

It was a fresh and gentle voice.

Apart from her voice being slightly hoarse from yesterday’s ordeal, anyone could see she was the mistress of this place and a lady from a distinguished family.

She gestured gently. At her words to come closer, the three people’s feet became unglued. Even then, the frightened Laila didn’t stop crying.

“She’s going to kill us, she’s going to kill us all…”

She kept muttering next to Nora. Her trembling hands were pitiful to see.