“Though it’s only been a week, my stamina definitely seems better.”

Lumiere got up with Cindy’s help and smiled refreshingly.

On the first day, she only thought she would die from exhaustion, but after a week, she could somehow manage it despite feeling like throwing up.

“Consistency is the key to exercise. The body never betrays effort!”

“That’s why they say exercise is for life.”

The twins spoke like one person.

Watching this, Cindy exclaimed in horror.

“You guys, are you planning to make our lady exercise for the rest of her life? You wicked things!”  

The twins quickly moved, surrounding the panting Cindy on both sides and said,  

“Don’t be like that, Cindy. Join us. Starting tomorrow, we’ll teach you self-defense. You should learn it too.”

“Yes, instead of just watching with those worried eyes, learn with us, Cindy. We’ll teach you kindly.”

When the tall twins surrounded tiny Cindy, she glared at them with frightened eyes.

She sensed something unsettling.

“W-why should I? I absolutely hate it.”

Cindy stepped back in disgust.

Sweating was one of the things she hated most in the world.

Household chores were hard enough, so why exercise?

“Nooo, it’s not exercise, it’s self-defense! The world is so dangerous. You should know at least one small skill to protect yourself.”

“Especially for a small and cute woman like you, Cindy, society is even more dangerous. Right?”

These guys are trying to persuade me.

But I absolutely wouldn’t fall for it.

I hate exercise. Completely hate it!

“Ugh, forget it! You guys can just protect me. Won’t you protect me if something happens?”

The twins simultaneously hesitated at Cindy’s words.

It made sense, but they couldn’t completely accept it.

“But we can’t stay with you forever?”

“Right, you might be alone sometimes.”

Cindy pushed the twins away with an annoyed look and spoke carelessly.

“No, just stay with me forever. That works, right?”

At that moment, the twins’ eyes lit up.

Arwin and Darwin looked at each other, curling their lips into mischievous smiles and said.

“Oh, Cindy, did you just propose to us? Right?”

“Wow…… A sneaky proposal. This.Is.Big.News.”

“Whaaaat? How did it turn into that? I meant you should work at this mansion forever!”

“Really? That’s not what it meant? Right? It wasn’t?”

“Right. That’s totally not what it meant. It totally meant living together forever. Amazing. We just got proposed to by Cindy. Now our marriage is settled. Cindy said she won’t let us go!”

“Eeeek! We’re now bound to Cindy!”

“Ah, stop it already!”

Cindy turned all sorts of colors and moved away from the two. The twins seemed to have lost their minds.

“Whyy! We’re happy about it! Right?”

“Yeah, so happy. Cindy, you have to live with us forever. We can’t live without you now. Cindy, you get two husbands at once, how great is that.”

“Oh my, they must be crazy. Shut up! That won’t happen.”

“Cindy! Why are you running away? Cindy, come with us!”

“Cindy! Actually, Arwin and I already agreed. We’re fine with you having both of us at once.”

“Aaaahh! Stop saying weird things! Fine, I’ll learn self-defense. I’ll learn, okay!”

“That’s one thing, and this is another!”

“Right. Learning that is obvious, but this is a different matter!”

“Shut up, don’t follow me, you perverts!”

The twins chased after the fleeing Cindy while laughing heartily.

Lumiere, who sat on the bench watching the scene while cooling down, burst into laughter.

* * *

“Phew, refreshing.”

Lumiere sat in her studio after washing up with lukewarm water.

Though her arms still trembled, she wanted to hurry with the remaining work.

The unfinished script Karl had given her caught her eye while organizing her brushes and paints.

“……”

Lumiere stared at it intently, her hands frozen.

Her heart beat strangely just reading the title on the cover.

……What could the content be?

Though curious, a strange fear overwhelmed her, making her hesitate to read it.

She needed to read it and give feedback soon, but she couldn’t overcome this inexplicable fear.

She stroked the script with trembling fingers.

After hesitating while holding the first page, she stepped back after much deliberation.

Thump, thump, thump!

Her heart pounded loudly even from just slightly peeking at it.

“……Let’s look at it after finishing the painting.”

The painting was almost complete, needing only final touches.

Lumiere gripped her brush tightly and steeled herself.

“He said he’d come back quickly this time……”

……I should hurry too.

Lumiere’s hand moved like a dance.

* * *

Clatter, clatter.

Karl skimmed through the press release Chris had given him while sitting in the carriage.

The content was simple:

House Tartien, who proclaimed the class system divine and advocated for strengthening royal and noble rights.

It was about their origins.

“Interesting. Excellent. A story all media outlets will love, right?”

The twins who went to Shantes brought back an unexpected harvest.

‘The pattern of hiding things was similar to our troupe leader’s!’

‘They might have thought it was perfect, but they couldn’t escape the eyes of Arwin and Darwin.’

While working at the circus, the twins had experience pickpocketing audience members.

Though not by choice but under the leader’s pressure, the twins who excelled at manual tasks had quite a harvest, they said.

Perhaps because of that experience, the twins had an uncanny ability to find valuables.

It seemed almost like they were detection dogs at this point.

Anyway, the materials the twins brought contained quite interesting secrets.

‘More valuable than any ordinary treasure.’

Karl smirked and read through an article created based on the materials the twins brought.

House Tartien established themselves as central nobles about 50 years ago.

The story begins with the previous duke of Tartien, or rather count at the time, Karem Tartien.

* * *

House Tartien had traditionally ruled the northeastern rural region of Levania.

The land was vast and fertile, making them quite wealthy nobles, and because of this, Ariel Tartien, the only daughter of House Tartien at the time, lived luxuriously no less than central nobles.

But she remained a naive country girl.

To her especially, everything seemed kind and beautiful, and the world appeared full of good and pitiful people.

That’s why she saved a young foreign man dying from a bandit attack while out rabbit hunting.

He introduced himself as a noble from a very small and insignificant country on the outskirts of Levania.

The naive Ariel believed his words completely.

His exotic and beautiful appearance, unlike anything seen in the countryside, and his noble attitude toward her reinforced her belief.

The two fell in love magically fast.

Despite her father, Count Tartien’s opposition, Ariel insisted she would die without this man, and eventually, they married.

But that became the tragedy.

Three months after the marriage, Count Tartien died.

A sudden heart attack while inspecting the territory.

Shocked by this, the Countess Tartien also fell ill and went blind.

Karem, Ariel’s husband, managed the chaotic territory.

He comforted the constantly sobbing Ariel and quickly stabilized the territory, letting the people know that Tartien still ruled this place.

While announcing that he had taken that ruler’s position.

Another six months passed.

Finally, the Countess passed away.

The head maid and butler who cared for Ariel left or disappeared from the mansion for some reason.

Ariel gradually deteriorated.

Naturally, she grew thinner and went mad.

Villagers heard rumors that beautiful Ariel wandered the castle at night, muttering that her husband killed her family.

They also said that he had another wife and child, and that Karem wasn’t even a noble but a lowly butcher.

Though it seemed worthy of anger, Karem nursed his wife with sympathy and did his best.

He always made time to take her to nice places and show her beautiful things.

To people, it looked like Karem tried his best to give her even a little joy.

But that view completely reversed exactly half a year later.

Because finally, Ariel Tartien died too.

The extinction of the Tartien family.

Karem became the only person carrying the Tartien name.

He immediately organized the territory.

Ignoring people’s gazes, he quickly arranged the property and land, preparing to head to the capital.

Around that time, a foreigner entered Castle Tartien.

The foreigner brought in a boy who looked about eight years old and stayed by Karem’s side until leaving the castle.

Karem packed the belongings in the castle and left the territory quickly, like he was running away.

Most territory residents forgot about this, but exactly one person recorded everything while grinding their teeth.

It was the middle-aged maid who had been the previous Countess’s servant and Ariel’s nanny.

She recorded all these events in writing she learned from the Countess.

Her diary contained detailed records of the House’s history, the Tartien family’s appearances, and even their heirlooms.

Her diary became valuable enough to serve as historical material.

The most interesting part was about the foreign woman Karem brought and her child.

Karem hugged the child and sat beside the woman, telling the child:

‘You are now Schultz Tartien. Welcome to nobility, Schultz.’

The child brought in from outside by the new Count Tartien 50 years ago.

Schultz.

Schultz Tartien.