As soon as Jade’s group left, maids appeared in a rush before Rosana, saying they’d been waiting. They greeted Rosana with respectful postures. 

They bowed at the waist and lowered their heads deeply, but Rosana knew. 

Those were unfriendly gazes.

‘A familiar look.’

It wasn’t even surprising. Since she’d always experienced it, Rosana calmly observed the maids. Among them, Jane, the head maid who’d received Jade’s orders to monitor Rosana, stepped forward. She faced Rosana with a stern expression.

What Rosana felt first upon seeing Jane was strictness and solemnity.

“It’s an honor to serve you. I am Jane, the head maid of this palace. Though you will become an august personage in time, since the procedures haven’t been completed, please forgive me for addressing you as Lady Rosana instead of the title Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Alright.”

Rosana nodded, saying it was fine. She wasn’t the type to attach meaning to titles, and hearing ‘Your Majesty the Empress’ before even holding the wedding ceremony would be burdensome.

Rosana looked carefully at Jane and the other maids. But there was someone pouting beside Rosana. Emma sneered, seemingly finding Jane’s appearance disagreeable.

“Are these the maids who will serve my lady?”

Whether planning to establish dominance as the senior, Emma stood confidently before the maids. She surveyed the maids with her chin raised. The complete opposite of her earlier appearance, cowed before Jade.

But neither Jane nor the other maids batted an eye at Emma’s sharp words. They simply observed calmly. Eyes full of wariness and assessing gazes. Rather, Jane ignored Emma and told Rosana to follow, saying she’d guide her inside the palace.

She lightly dismissed Emma’s low-quality provocation. Emma’s face flushed at being ignored, but Jane paid no attention. Emma, who let out an empty laugh saying it was outrageous, sought Rosana’s agreement.

“There’s no courtesy to be found. Don’t you think so? My lady?”

Her voice carried the belief that Rosana would naturally answer. Her expression was unguarded, wanting to emphasize their closeness. Following Emma’s words, a chilly wind blew.

‘Courtesy… For you to speak of courtesy.’

Rosana was dumbfounded.

“My lady, you should agree at times like this. Shouldn’t we show them what’s what?”

Emma whispered in a displeased tone so only Rosana could hear. However, Rosana only looked straight ahead, pretending not to hear. Emma kept moving her mouth and giving hints, but Rosana didn’t open her mouth. Emma, who thought she’d agree, was ridiculous.

Emma stared at Rosana with a flabbergasted face. Then, whether planning to vent the humiliation of being ignored on Jane, she turned her head sharply toward the maids. Jane let out a small sigh at Emma’s fierce reaction, like a cat with its fur standing on end.

“Are you a maid who followed from the ducal family?”

“I’m my lady’s personal maid!”

There was a considerable difference between a maid and a personal maid. Don’t compare her to mere maids—Emma shouted that she was Rosana’s close aide. 

Jane nodded at Emma’s words. Emma’s nose nearly rose at the attitude of acknowledgment, but immediately after, she was cut down in one stroke.

“I see. However, this is the imperial palace. It would be troublesome if you acted exactly as you did at the Arcadi ducal family. Moreover, even if you were Lady Rosana’s personal maid at the ducal family, there’s no guarantee you’ll be her personal maid here.”

“Wh-what?!”

The ducal family and the imperial family were of different ranks. It was an undeniable statement. The imperial palace’s maids were all nobility, different in origin from maids of ordinary families. 

Among them, to rise to the position of head maid, one often had to be from a family with a certain level of status.

Jane clicked her tongue at Emma, who revealed her ill feelings with a haughty face. 

The imperial family’s name wasn’t light. Therefore, she thought even servants should be careful in their behavior so as not to become a laughingstock.

She looked at Emma, who didn’t meet even the basic conditions, with a displeased expression. Jane spoke clearly to Emma.

“You mustn’t lose your temper so easily. Lady Rosana will become Her Majesty the Empress. We cannot place a mediocre maid beside Her Majesty the Empress.”

“Mediocre?!”

Emma, who’d naturally assumed she’d become the personal maid by being at Rosana’s side, shouted indignantly. Emma chewed her lips hard. She didn’t like the Emperor who disregarded the ducal family. She didn’t like the maids who disregarded her. She was annoyed by Jane looking at her with pitying eyes, and by Rosana who didn’t help. 

Rosana calmly looked down at Emma, who huffed, unable to contain her anger.

But it was Emma who flinched back at Jane’s sharp gaze.

“I am the head maid of this castle.”

Emma quietly closed her mouth, feeling like she’d be driven out like the other ducal family maids under the sharp gazes of Jane and the maids standing behind her.

Rosana was savoring a novel feeling. She felt light and was amazed.

‘For Emma to receive such treatment…’

At the estate, Emma’s words were the truth. Everyone couldn’t make a peep at Emma’s words. 

Strangely so. If she said her mood is bad, everyone thought the mood was bad, and if she said she’d get angry, they backed away in fear that violence might fly at any moment.

But now was different. Only Emma knew Rosana from the ducal family, and the other maids were those selected to serve Rosana at the imperial palace.

They watched how Rosana behaved under Jade’s orders. 

They objectively assessed what they themselves saw and heard, not others’ opinions. Excluding all existing reputations or individual prejudices.

Rosana’s words and actions were important, not Emma. Of course, the gazes the maids directed at Emma and at Rosana were the same. But even that was tremendous progress. 

When the surroundings became quiet, Jane led Rosana.

“I’ll guide you.”

Rosana slowly moved her steps inside the palace. Emma followed with her spirit clearly crushed. Jane was at the front, then Rosana and Emma. Other maids trailed behind them. 

Rosana toured the interior while listening to Jane’s gently resonating voice.

Certainly, as Malek said, the exterior looked shabby, but the interior showed signs of care. Unlike the shabby appearance, the inside was clean. 

Above all, it was far better than the ducal family papered with eye-aching gold ornaments. Subtle patterns harmonized together.

‘I worried for nothing. I was secretly worried they’d treat me coldly… He wasn’t a heartless person.’

She recalled Jade treating her fiercely. Though his words and actions were rough, he wasn’t a person without affection. Rosana leisurely walked around the palace, taking in Jane’s voice explaining where each room was.

“Even in the imperial palace, to have such a difference in standards.”

She heard complaining sounds from behind until the end. But no one paid attention. The voice kept muttering disparaging words without stopping. 

Emma thought the gold ornaments, splendid curtains, sculptures, and famous paintings were all severely lacking. Rosana, who was at close distance, naturally heard Emma’s words.

‘The Astrot imperial palace had so many gold decorations my eyes hurt.’

Rosana looked at Jane guiding from the front. Though she surely knew her rumors and wouldn’t welcome her, she maintained courtesy. And like a seasoned person, she never showed any sign of discomfort.

‘She’s really different from Emma.’

She was someone who knew well that whether one liked or disliked the person they served wasn’t something they could decide themselves.

‘I see why she’s the head maid.’

While the other maids gradually showed signs of discomfort at Emma’s attitude of grumbling without stopping no matter how much she was ignored, only Jane introduced the interior with a solemn expression from start to finish. 

Conversely, it meant she’d thoroughly drawn a line. She didn’t show even a fragment of small emotions. Even being close, she felt distant—that was the same as Emma. An invisible line was drawn.

And last was Rosana’s room. Jane opened the door, revealing a neat and elegant room.

“I didn’t know your preferences, so I decorated it as simply as possible. How is it?”

“It’s fine.”

“…”

She felt Jane’s assessing gaze, but Rosana calmly looked around the room.

“If there’s anything you need prepared, please tell me.”

Rosana nodded. Jane and the maids left. But Emma stayed until the end.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“My lady! How could I leave your side?”

“You won’t go out?”

“No!”

Was this the natural result… The other maids including Jane had already left, and not wanting to continue bickering, she sat on the bed.

And as soon as the maids left, whether Emma’s mouth was itching, she began pouring out words she’d held back at a level incomparable to before. 

No different from becoming arrogant once the strong one disappeared.

Emma looked around the room, pointing with her finger. She made a fuss saying there was nothing she liked from start to finish. 

To Rosana, whose energy was depleted from being unknowingly tense the whole time, it was noise.

“What on earth is this pattern? Isn’t the standard too low, even for being low? And when she’s graciously becoming Empress, to show such an attitude? I didn’t like it from the start. Sending out the knights arbitrarily, even sending out the attendants and maids. Isn’t this blatantly saying they’ll monitor you?”

Emma stomped her feet saying she was angry and poured out impassioned words. She worried whether the resounding voice might be heard outside. Emma urged Rosana not to trust Jane, saying she definitely had schemes. She knew that much without Emma saying it.

She’d never intended to trust her in the first place. Rosana answered in a tired voice. She was full of wariness at the maids’ fierce gazes and Jane’s eyes thoroughly examining Rosana’s actions.

“I know. She’s His Majesty’s eyes.”

“If you know…!”

“If I know?”

“Pardon?”

Emma didn’t understand the meaning of Rosana’s answer.

“Does it change just because I know? I’m someone who has to be here, and I’ll end up marrying him anyway.”

At Rosana’s self-deprecating words, only then did Emma’s mouth stop.

“My lady…”

At the pitying tone, Rosana’s brow furrowed. Rosana, who let out a deep sigh, looked down out the window.

‘But…’

This place, without ornaments with jewels hanging in clusters, without the red color or strong fragrance of roses, suited Rosana’s heart perfectly.

Unlike the Arcadi ducal family where her head throbbed even sitting still. The maids’ attitudes were familiar, so they didn’t even itch. 

Rosana smiled faintly and said, “It’s not bad.”

“…Not bad? That can’t be. For a room like this?”

Emma’s voice changed completely. Rosana turned her head to look at her face.

‘She really resembles her.’

Her face was right before her eyes. 

An expression saying that can’t be, that shouldn’t be. Emma poured out words with an expression that changed in an instant. At the maddened voice, Rosana’s mouth closed.

“It’s an utterly plain room. Even the garden is utterly desolate. Isn’t it shabby treatment enough to make you want to die? My lady couldn’t be like that. Don’t ignore me!”

It wasn’t a question but certainty. There was no obligation to answer words that didn’t ask her opinion. It wasn’t the first or second time either. 

At Emma’s tone saying her words were truth, Rosana quietly turned her head. Words that wouldn’t be heard only made her mouth tired. It was a lesson gained through endless repetition.

When Emma’s rough breathing and a strange atmosphere circulated in the room, a knock sounded at the door. Several maids entered wearing kind masks.

Emma glared at them while blocking Rosana’s front, treating them like suspicious people. The maids’ faces wrinkled slightly at Emma’s gaze.

“What is it?”

One of the maids who’d glanced at Emma said.

“Lady Rosana, we formally greet you. I am Celine Mavis. I received orders from the head maid to serve Lady Rosana.”

“What?!”

Celine finished her words without giving Emma even a moment’s glance.