And those indifferent blue eyes passing her by, the stiff and emotionless escort, and finally, when she carefully asked in the carriage how she looked after all that effort…

‘He said it was a pointless effort and that, in the end, I was just an object… something like that.’

Lysith didn’t remember exactly, maybe because she was so shocked that day.

Calling a person an object. There are things you say and things you don’t. Remembering it again, she felt it was good she clearly told him she didn’t love him anymore and left in a fit of anger.

Thinking about it, she suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought of having s*x with such a man.

Oh, the worst……

“By the way, the founding anniversary is coming up soon.”

“Oh, it’s already that time.”

This world had a basic structure similar to Earth. It had 12 months, and there were spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The only difference was that summers were a bit cooler and winters a bit less cold.

Now it was May, the middle of spring and summer.

“I heard the Master of the Magic Tower will attend this time.”

At Eve’s following words, Lysith’s eyes sparkled.

Bringing such information… The Master of the Magic Tower was one of the two people she had to meet. He was almost certainly 99% likely to be a male protagonist.

She had to meet the Master of the Magic Tower and the Emperor at the founding anniversary banquet. She had to unlock the male protagonist list and see if they could help with the sub quests.

“I heard he has blond hair and heterochromatic eyes… and he’s very handsome.”

“I see.”

Lysith nodded and quietly sipped her tea. Seeing no other reaction, Eve, who was standing beside her, looked visibly disappointed.

“……Why?”

“Aren’t you interested?”

“Should I be?”

“They say the best way to forget a man is with a new man!”

“…….”

Where did she pick up such words… As Lysith pondered, Eve, noticing her unusual expression, lowered her voice and asked cautiously.

“If you still like him, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not that. I wouldn’t take him even if he was given to me.”

She lightly shook her head as she spoke, but even after saying that, she felt a pang of guilt. She had to take the body but not the emotions…

Listening to Eve subtly badmouth Dietrich again with a brightened face, Lysith sipped her tea. Then she suddenly thought.

‘……I forgot to check the affection level.’

In such games, there was always an affection level, and one of the quest conditions was to reach 100 affection. She should have checked the affection level properly. Judging by Dietrich’s reaction, it was probably in the negatives.

And if the system notified her when the affection level increased or decreased, there had been no notifications today, so it was a pointless effort.

As she was lost in thought, Eve suddenly remembered something and spoke.

“By the way, Miss, aren’t you hiring a butler?”

“Oh.”

When she possessed Lysith’s body, Lysith was already living in this private mansion. The mansion, neither too large nor too small, was in a moderate location, not too central nor too peripheral in the capital, and thus attracted less attention.

The reason she stayed in this mansion instead of returning to the Gronevelt’s ducal residence was unknown. The last memory she received from Lysith was of her entering this mansion right after the divorce, which was about two months ago.

Another mystery was why, despite having maids and a head maid, there was no butler. It wasn’t that butlers had to be men, although they usually were, but there was no butler at all.

“Hmm, it would be more convenient to have one, right?”

“Of course! Currently, the head maid is handling most of the household duties. If we had a butler, it would significantly reduce her burden. It would also be more convenient for you, Miss.”

“Can’t I ask my brother…?”

“…….”

Noticing Eve’s ambiguous expression, Lysith quickly changed her words, and Eve looked somber.

It seemed something unpleasant had happened between her and her brother, Duke Gronevelt, in the gap in her memory. She suspected it might be related to her divorce, but without the memories, there was nothing she could do about it.

To hide her lack of knowledge, Lysith lowered her head and pretended to be depressed, causing Eve to panic and try to change the atmosphere.

“Well, nowadays, the guilds help with hiring and such! I’ll talk to the head maid and proceed with it.”

“……Alright, let’s do that. You can go and rest now.”

After Eve cleared the teacups and left, Lysith scanned the room once and then sprawled out on the bed.

In the memories she had, her family consisted of her parents and her brother, totaling three people. The atmosphere didn’t seem bad, but it didn’t look like a harmonious family either.

They seemed like a typical noble family.

The son would become the Duke, and the daughter would be married off in a political marriage. After that, the parents would step down and retire to the Gronevelt estate.

Lysith’s brother, the current Duke Gronevelt, Sylvian Gronevelt, was a man with the same white hair and blue eyes as her.

From her memories… he didn’t seem like the type of brother who was kind to his sister. Typical noble siblings, nothing special.

She had a few memories of him from when she was very young.

She guessed something must have happened related to her divorce from the Grand Duke in the two months of memories she didn’t have. But there was no way to know now.

She couldn’t just go to Sylvian and say she lost her memory…

“System. Is there a part missing in Lysith’s memory?”

In the end, the system was her only hope.

[This is a question that cannot be answered.]

“This is frustrating.”

The system didn’t display any windows, as if it had already done its job. How was she supposed to deal with Sylvian if she met him?

“What can you tell me about Sylvian Gronevelt?”

[This is a question that cannot be answered.]

Frowning at the same response, Lysith remembered that the system was more of a helper for her to clear quests.

…Though it wasn’t certain yet.

The system could have given her no memories at all, but it suggested viewing her memories as soon as she showed interest, as if to help her clear quests.

The system didn’t give her the missing parts because they weren’t essential for the quests or the male targets… This was a reasonable guess.

Besides, it seemed unlikely that the system would provide information about Sylvian even if she pressured it.

So, she had no choice but to face him directly when they met.

If she acted like the previous timid Lysith, she might manage. The original Lysith couldn’t even answer her brother properly, so she could just listen and gather information.

Having decided this, she wriggled out of the blanket and lay on the soft bed, quickly falling asleep.

Dealing with four male protagonists was already a headache, and now she had to worry about a male family member too?

As she fell asleep, she thought,

‘It’s been such a hard day…’

* * *

The sunlight poking her eyes made her frown and open her eyes. Hearing Eve’s call to wake her, she reluctantly got up.

‘It feels like I just fell asleep…’

“Miss, you’re so weak in the morning.”

“Right…”

She didn’t know if the previous Lysith was weak in the morning, but this body certainly was.

Half-asleep, she washed up with Eve’s help and sat on the sofa, where the head maid, Serena, approached and greeted her.

“Good morning, Miss.”

“Mm, good morning, Serena.”

“I heard from Eve that you want to hire a butler.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Do you have any specific requirements?”

“Well, as long as they’re good at their job, I don’t particularly care about anything else.”

That’s the hardest thing, Miss… Serena swallowed her words and nodded, forcing a smile.

Meanwhile, Lysith, who was serious but not thinking deeply, tilted her head and then clapped her hands.

“By the way, is it possible not to reveal who the employer is in advance? If the applicant shows interest, we can offer an interview, and if they agree, we can provide the mansion’s address.”

The reason for this suggestion was that she was quite a hot topic in the empire’s capital.

She needed someone to work, not someone who wanted to see her or plant a spy. Of course, hiring in such a strange way might mean almost no one would apply.

Serena, puzzled by Lysith’s question but then seriously considering it, nodded vaguely.

“It seems… possible. Then, I will handle it, and how would you like to conduct the interviews?”

“Oh, I’ll do the interviews myself.”

“Understood. Please rest well, Miss.”