The incident began when Claire tried to catch the maid Lize as she was about to slip on the stairs, causing them both to tumble down together.

“Madam! Madam! Are you alright?”

Avina rushed towards Claire and asked urgently.

However, Claire showed no signs of getting up.

On the other hand, Lize, who had managed to get up without major injury thanks to Claire, was shocked to realize that the person who had helped her was Claire Berzel, the mistress of the mansion.

“Ah, aah, because of me, how, what should I do?”

Lize asked with a pale face, looking at Claire who wasn’t moving at all.

“First, bring a doctor and a priest. Hurry!”

“Yes, yes!”

Lize and a few other maids got up and rushed off busily.

“What’s going on?”

Meanwhile, Sir Zyle approached with a puzzled expression, having noticed the commotion on the central staircase.

“…Madam?”

Then he discovered Claire lying on the floor and was startled.

“This is terrible, Sir. The madam fell down the stairs. She still hasn’t regained consciousness, what should we do?”

“W-well, we should move her to her room first. I’ll help.”

Sir Zyle carefully lifted Evelyn in his arms.

Taking care to minimize any shaking, he immediately began moving towards her bedroom.

***

“Ugh.”

I involuntarily frowned at the sharp pain in my head.

Even as I frowned, a tingling pain kept ringing through my skull.

Why on earth does my head hurt so much?

Puzzled, I opened my eyes with difficulty.

And after seeing the beautiful and elaborate ceiling painting in front of my eyes, I closed them again.

It seems I’m still dreaming.

They say you don’t feel pain in dreams, but that seems to be a complete lie.

It must be a dream, yet I can feel this pain!

Yes, it’s a dream.

There’s no way I would wake up in such a luxurious mansion.

I should wake up soon.

…No, is there really a need for that?

Since I’ve woken up in a place like this, wouldn’t it be fine to look around and play to my heart’s content before waking up?

With this belated thought, I opened my eyes wide.

At that moment, I felt a tingling pain in the back of my head again.

“Ow, it hurts.”

But if this is a dream, why does my head hurt so much?

It was at that moment of bewilderment…

When I was about to raise both hands to hold my head, I felt a strange weight on my left hand.

Startled, I turned my head.

I thought perhaps a ghost was attached to it, but fortunately, the one holding my left hand was a man with looks so beautiful it was dazzling.

“Wow, he’s really handsome.”

I expressed my honest appreciation.

And I inwardly applauded my imagination for bringing such a handsome man into my dream.

“I guess my imagination is useful after all.”

My voice must have been quite loud, as the face of the man who was sleeping while holding my hand tightly twitched.

Then he lifted his tightly closed eyelids.

Blue eyes that had been hidden by the eyelids were revealed.

They were attractive blue eyes that seemed to pull you in.

“Beautiful.”

As I let out a small exclamation, the man raised his head to look at me.

Soon his eyes widened.

He looked at me as if surprised, then quickly got up and hugged me tightly with both arms.

A strong scent of roses emanated from the man’s embrace.

“You’re awake, Claire. I’m so relieved. Really…”

The man’s voice began to get choked up.

I blinked my eyes, feeling dumbfounded.

I wasn’t sure how the situation was unfolding, but if such a handsome man was going to hug me, I didn’t particularly want to refuse.

Besides, it’s a dream after all!

***

“What did you say? So you’re saying that you are Duke Alexander Berzel, and I am the Duchess of Berzel?”

About three hours after waking up,

I finally realized that this place where I am now is not a dream world.

No wonder my head hurt even though it was supposed to be a dream.

No, that’s not the important thing.

Really, really unbelievable things have happened.

They say that I am the mistress of the Berzel Duchy.

The Berzel Duchy was a ducal family with a terrifying reputation that even birds wouldn’t dare to fly over.

I heard that they even went as far as murdering an entire family and setting fire to destroy evidence in order to obtain what they wanted.

And what am I?

They’re saying I became the wife of someone with such a notorious reputation?

According to the doctor who just left, it seems I’m suffering from ‘short-term memory loss’ right now.

He said it was caused by me throwing myself to save another maid on the stairs.

After saving the maid and crashing miserably to the floor, I had been bedridden for exactly three days, he said.

And this man who insists he’s my husband, Duke Berzel, had been nursing me day and night.

While all these stories seemed plausible when I heard them, there was a part that didn’t make sense no matter how much memory loss I had suffered.

“Wait a moment! This doesn’t make sense. Me, a duchess? Me? I’m just an ordinary maid, aren’t I? Moreover, I’m of common birth. How could someone like me become a duchess?”

It was fundamentally impossible.

How could I, a maid of common birth, become the mistress of a noble family, and not just any noble family, but one of only three ducal families in the empire?

Commoners marry commoners, and nobles marry nobles.

There were no cases of nobles marrying commoners.

Even if a noble and a commoner truly fell in love, the commoner would inevitably remain as a mistress.

That was the law of the empire, so it couldn’t be helped.

So it still didn’t make sense.

If this were a dream, I could understand suddenly becoming the Duchess of Berzel, and the notorious Duke of Berzel becoming my husband.

However, Duke Berzel, unable to bear my attempt to dismiss this as a mere dream, shook his head and spoke to me.

“Claire, I understand this must be a sudden situation for you. You probably don’t remember anything. That’s why I’ve called someone who can explain this matter in more detail, so could you wait a little bit?”

“Who is that?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, Duke Berzel said.

“The Duchess of Anstis.”

“The Duchess of Anstis?”

Who on earth is that?

I tilted my head, completely unable to guess who it might be.

“Well, I’ll wait anyway.”

Thinking that no questions would be answered until this so-called duchess arrived, I decided to wait.

After finishing speaking, I quietly picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea.

A sweet aroma instantly filled my mouth.

Wow, this is really delicious.

Miss Veronica would like this taste too, it’s a shame that all of this is just a dream.

It was then.

Knock knock.

The sound of someone knocking on the door was heard, and soon after, a maid’s voice came from beyond the door.

“Master, Duke and Duchess Anstis have arrived.”

“Tell them to come in quickly.”

As Duke Berzel gave permission, the door opened and a dazzlingly handsome man with blonde hair and blue eyes entered.

It seems my imagination really explodes in dreams.

Considering that I came up with two such handsome men, I must have quite a rich imagination.

If the Duke is this handsome, the person called the Duchess must surely be breathtakingly beautiful.

I happily looked to see who would enter next.

And I couldn’t help but freeze on the spot.

As expected, the Duchess was even more beautiful than I had imagined.

Milky white skin, lush pink hair like a fully bloomed flower, and eyes as beautiful as if topaz gems had been embedded in them.

But strangely, her appearance was familiar.

“…Miss?”

Undeniably, the person who entered following the Duke of Anstis was someone I knew well.

It was Miss Veronica, whom I serve.

“Claire!”

As I stood up in surprise, Miss Veronica quickly ran towards me.

Then she hugged me tightly.

Miss Veronica smelled of sweet lilies as always.

The scent was so realistic that it was bewildering.

Miss Veronica, who released me from her embrace as I stood there in confusion, carefully examined my eyes.

“Are you alright, Claire?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine except for a slight headache. But how on earth did this happen…”

Even if it was a dream, an explanation was needed.