What if the Grand Duke gets clingy while he’s away? What about that butler? He was more than a little worried. Of course, his Noona would handle it well, but. It was just how his heart felt. To think there were so many men eyeing the woman he liked…

Meanwhile, Lysith was in the process of gauging whether this was good news or not. Is it good? It doesn’t seem so. If he comes for the Emperor’s birthday celebration, how will the Emperor’s conquest unfold?

Still, now that he said he’d be gone for a while…

“I guess. It’ll be a bit lonely without you.”

“……”

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I didn’t expect you to say something like that.”

Why? Was she unknowingly playing the concept of a cold city woman? When someone who’s been around disappears, it’s natural to feel a bit lonely, but to Ash*tes, her words seemed to have made a big impression.

He was a man she couldn’t quite figure out…

While Lysith looked at him with a dubious face, Ashites was feeling elated that his efforts so far were bearing fruit.

In truth, their relationship had started somewhat abnormally. At first, Lysith had clung to him, then Lysith tried to leave Ashites, but he clung and clung and clung again.

She accepted Ashites because of his power, but now that he had completely changed his attitude, she was holding onto him without him having to cling desperately.

Of course, he knew she didn’t love him. It hadn’t been long since she ended that wretched unrequited love, so he needed to give her time for that wound to heal.

…Thinking about it again, he still wanted to hit the Grand Duke at least once.

Lysith, who had been looking at Ashites’ happy face with those strange eyes, soon felt the drowsiness coming back with the cozy warmth and shook her head.

“Yaaawn, I’m not such a cold person…”

“That’s not what I meant. Go to sleep quickly if you’re sleepy.”

“Mmm…”

He wondered how she could still be sleepy after sleeping so much. The human body is a mysterious thing… Thinking vaguely like this, Lysith fell asleep again.

And Ashites stared at her intently, like he wanted to engrave her into his retina before he left.

He lost track of time as he watched her sleeping face, cared for and patted her tossing and turning body, and only when dawn was about to break did he press his lips to her forehead before slipping out through the terrace.

* * *

Lysith, who woke up after a good sleep, stretched refreshingly, feeling that her physical condition had improved a bit.

It might have been because her mental state had improved. If so, she needed to thank the two men who had taken turns watching over her, so she expressed a small gratitude in her heart.

After filling her empty stomach with a warm bowl of soup, Lysith put on a simple indoor dress as usual and was doing embroidery in the study.

First, she had to make something for Penchev.

For the embroidery pattern, she chose the most common flower. Among them, after contemplating which one to use, she drew a design of a flower that he often tended to in the garden.

The embroidery was going better than expected, and she was excitedly moving her hands when Eve, who had been by her side and disappeared for a moment, returned and relayed Penchev’s message.

“…Who did you say came?”

Lysith furrowed her brow at Eve’s words. She had heard of the name. But there hadn’t been any particular connection, so she couldn’t grasp why they had come without prior notice.

Soon thinking that they must have an important matter to come despite the impropriety, Lysith, with the help of Eve and the maids, freshened up and made her way to the reception room on the first floor.

The impression of the person Lysith encountered in the reception room was more striking than expected.

The other party, who stood up when Lysith arrived, sat back down after she took her seat. Hmm, Lysith exhaled lightly and greeted first.

“This is the first time we’re having a conversation like this, Lady Pirandello.”

“Indeed. Lady Gronevelt. As you may know, I am Diana Pirandello.”

After briefly exchanging greetings, Lysith carefully swallowed. As the maids efficiently prepared refreshments and left the reception room, an awkward atmosphere settled in the spacious room.

The visitor was someone whose name and face Lysith only vaguely knew, but had never conversed with. There was also no particular need to be wary of her.

Diana Pirandello, the only daughter of the Pirandello marquis family, had pink hair and pink eyes characteristic of the Pirandello family.

The Pirandello marquis family was famously known for the exceptionally good relationship between the Marquis and his wife. The two were a rare case of a love marriage in noble society.

It was widely rumored that Diana Pirandello, the only daughter of this couple, would not be forced into an arranged marriage. This was quite the opposite of the Gronevelt ducal family.

Anyway, the first reason Lysith didn’t need to be particularly tense with her was that the Pirandello family belonged to the same Imperial faction.

Currently, the ducal families were evenly split between the Imperial faction and the Noble faction, while among the four marquis families, two were in the Noble faction, one was neutral, and the remaining one, the Pirandello family, maintained allegiance to the Imperial faction.

At first glance, the Imperial faction might seem disadvantaged, but that was only in terms of numbers. When considering the influence of each noble family, the two sides were similar, with the Imperial faction slightly more dominant.

In fact, no one thought the Noble faction would gain the upper hand. Lysith thought the same.

The current Emperor was surprisingly good at his role. It was hard to believe he had ascended to the throne at such a young age.

The second reason for her not being wary was that Diana had no personal reason to be hostile towards her.

Diana didn’t like the Grand Duke, nor was she interested in other male leads. She was a woman who had never once shown interest in men from other families, truly a steel wall personified.

While she’s not sure about the Emperor, based on the rumors in Lysith’s memory, Diana didn’t seem particularly interested in him either.

However, despite having two major reasons not to be tense, there was a reason why Lysith quietly gulped when she saw her face.

Taking a careful sip of tea, she slightly rolled her eyes upward to look at the other party. Pink hair and pink eyes. Everyone had expected her to look like cotton candy, but it wasn’t like that at all.

‘She looks a bit scary…’

No, she had an impressive ability to look intimidating despite having such soft, cotton candy-like colors. The sharply upturned eyes and tightly closed lips that showed no sign of smiling contributed to Diana’s chilling impression.

As Lysith was just examining her face, Diana spoke first.

“First of all, I’m sorry for coming suddenly without notice.”

“Umm, yes.”

“…Aren’t you being too lenient?”

“Pardon?”

Certainly, coming to someone’s mansion without prior appointment was a major breach of etiquette in noble society unless the parties were exceptionally close.

But somehow, Lysith didn’t feel that the current situation was a big breach of etiquette. She had apologized, after all.

Separately, upon quiet reflection, it seemed that due to the vastness of the mansion, even if someone suddenly came wanting to meet, it didn’t feel like ‘barging into my home.’

So, it was more like if she lived in apartment 505, and a friend suddenly came saying, “I’m here to see you, I’ll wait in 203 until you’re ready to come out!”

Well, in that case, wouldn’t it be okay to take your time getting ready?

“Your personality hasn’t changed much, I see.”

“…Pardon?”

Even though what’s inside had changed, her blank response seemed to be the same as before.

Lysith ended up saying “Pardon?” three times in a row, adding credibility to that statement. She could see the other party looking at her with concern.

‘That’s not it…’

However, since she couldn’t explain the details to Diana, she cleared her throat and asked about the reason for the visit.

“Ahem. Anyway, may I ask why you suddenly came?”

“I originally wanted to speak to you at an event like a soirée, but I heard you rarely attend unless accompanied by the Tower Master.”

“…Rumors like that are… going around?”

“Well, that’s how people in high society are.”

Diana shook her head, saying all sorts of stories were circulating these days. Then she quickly returned to the main topic.

“Do you perhaps know about what happened at the recent noble council meeting?”

“No, naturally, I have no way of knowing.”

“……”

Nodding slightly as if she had expected Lysith’s answer, Diana pursed her lips a few times, choosing her words, then sighed and delivered shocking news.

“There was talk related to the position of Empress…”

“……”

“And you, lady, were mentioned.”

“What did you say?”

How could that be? Lysith Gronevelt was the former Grand Duchess. Well, of course, nothing’s impossible, but… Isn’t the Empress a position decided after considering many factors?