She couldn’t imagine Constantine having been small and weak enough to need a nanny’s care. To her, he had always seemed like someone who was strong and capable of solving anything while standing firm.

“Our young master…, young master…”

The nanny alternated between crying and laughing for a while, then suddenly slumped in her chair.

“…Nanny?!”

Though Saena jumped up in alarm, Nadia didn’t seem particularly surprised.

“She’s just exhausted, don’t worry.”

“Hasn’t she fainted?”

“Yes. She’s quite frail.”

So it really was for recuperation. Saena examined the nanny’s pale complexion, unsure what to do.

“Excuse me for a moment. I should lay my sister in bed.”

“Let me help.”

“No, I can–”

“Please let me help.”

Saena helped support the nanny. Though her thin body was light enough for Nadia to manage alone, she looked so weak that they carefully distributed her weight while helping her to bed.

After laying down the fragile body, Nadia took out a small medicine bottle from the bedside table drawer. She slightly raised the nanny’s upper body and carefully administered the medicine. She seemed very familiar with the process, as if it happened often.

After seeing the nanny fall into a deep sleep, the two went outside the red brick house. They walked together toward the main castle.

Even Yolly had somehow become quiet and followed behind them, padding along.

“Is it alright to leave her alone like that?”

“Yes, it’s fine.”

“Without assigning any maids?”

She couldn’t understand why someone who had been the nanny of the head of household, a noble surely of significant standing, would be left to live alone without even a maid.

“I wish we could, but my sister firmly refuses, so there’s nothing we can do.”

Nadia sighed softly, seeming worried as well.

“I check on her when I can, but…”

Saena nodded, knowing full well how busy the position of head butler was.

“Why does the nanny refuse maids?”

“I think…”

Nadia paused briefly before continuing.

“She wants to show that she’s fine, that she’s healthy.”

“What? Show it… to whom?”

“…To His Grace.”

What could this mean? Anyone could see she was clearly ill, yet she wanted to appear healthy? Could Constantine have driven the nanny away because she wasn’t healthy?

‘He doesn’t seem like that kind of person at all…’

Moreover, she couldn’t understand why the lord’s nanny couldn’t live in the inner castle and had to live so isolated like this.

There seemed to be some circumstances, but she couldn’t guess what they might be.

However, asking more would seem like prying, so it felt awkward to inquire further.

‘I’m not even sure if these are things I should ask about.’

Doesn’t Constantine have no remaining direct family? She had heard he had no siblings, and his parents had passed away early, so shouldn’t his nanny be a very precious person to him?

‘If only they weren’t on bad terms.’

Though she didn’t know the exact circumstances, this was the person who had raised him in his early years.

Now that she knew about it, she thought she should also check on the red brick house whenever she could.

* * *

Knock knock.

“Yes. Come in.”

That afternoon, someone came to visit.

“Madam.”

“Nadia?”

It was Nadia again.

“Excuse my intrusion. Come in.”

After greeting Saena, Nadia signaled outside. Soon after, four young ladies entered in a line.

‘……?’

What was this situation?

“Since the position of the castle’s mistress has been vacant for so long, some system reorganization was needed. That’s why the placement was delayed. You must have been inconvenienced?”

Not understanding what inconvenience she meant, Saena silently waited for additional explanation.

“These girls are carefully selected young ladies from long-standing vassal families loyal to House Kramer, candidates to serve as your ladies-in-waiting.”

Ah, ladies-in-waiting…

Being a duchess for the first time, she was about to have ladies-in-waiting, not just maids, at her disposal.

Four pairs of sparkling, expectant eyes were casting passionate gazes toward Saena.

“…I don’t think I need four of them.”

Though her position meant she couldn’t refuse ladies-in-waiting, Saena’s basic nature didn’t enjoy excessive attendance.

Moreover, since Saena wasn’t one to enjoy social activities or parties, she didn’t spend much time on grooming and thus didn’t need many attendants.

“You can employ all four or choose among them.”

Even if told to choose, it wouldn’t mean much since she knew nothing about these ladies’ personalities or their vassal families’ tendencies. After pondering what to do, Saena opened her mouth.

“What’s your favorite Guardian Spirit?”

At this unexpected question, the four lady-in-waiting candidates looked bewildered before starting to answer from the left.

“It’s Morev.”

“Mine too.”

“The Black Lion Morev.”

As expected of House Kramer’s vassal families, their answers were uniform.

Except for one.

“Mine is Canis of the Southeast!”

The booming answer came from the rightmost lady. She was a tall, vibrant-looking lady with intense auburn hair.

“…Canis?”

Canis was the Guardian Spirit of House Rosedale in the Southeast.

While the other three looked at that lady with disapproving expressions, the auburn-haired lady continued unconcernedly.

“Yes. The way it combines ferocious strength that looks ready to pounce with the elegance of its silver fur? While Morev is impressive too, it just doesn’t match my personal taste.”

While the other three ladies watched Saena’s reaction with worried faces as if expecting a scolding, the auburn-haired lady just grinned.

“…Hmm.”

Saena couldn’t help but smile slightly. Though she felt sorry for Constantine, her personal preference wasn’t Morev either.

“What’s your name?”

Saena asked the lady who had answered Canis.

“Darielle Siegmund. Please call me Darielle, Madam.”

“Hmm. Alright.”

Saena turned to Nadia and said.

“I don’t think I need many ladies-in-waiting right now, so one should be enough. I’ll keep just that child who gave a different answer.”

“Yay! Thank you!”

Saena felt strange watching her beam with such joy.

Is serving as a duchess’s lady-in-waiting such a great honor? She couldn’t understand what was so delightful about serving others to warrant such happiness.

“…Perhaps you should choose one more? Won’t one be insufficient to serve you, Madam?”

Meanwhile, Nadia looked somewhat uneasy. She glanced at Dariel with what seemed like a troubled expression before making her suggestion to Saena.

‘Is it because she answered Canis instead of Morev despite being from a Kramer vassal family?’

Really, there’s no law saying vassal families must like Morev, is there?

Feeling an odd sense of kinship, Saena replied.

“If it seems necessary, we can select more later.”

“…Yes. If you find her unsatisfactory, please don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“……”

At Nadia’s strangely nuanced words, Saena turned to look at Darielle, but she maintained her bright smile, seemingly unbothered.

‘What’s this about?’

If she lacked qualifications or had deficiencies, shouldn’t they have left her out of the candidates in the first place? Why include her only to show such unease?

“Don’t worry! I’ll serve the Madam with all my heart, so that won’t happen!”

Darielle clenched her fist, emphasizing her determination to both Nadia and Saena.

Though Nadia’s attitude remained dubious, Saena decided not to reverse her decision as she had a good impression of Darielle so far.

“So she says.”

“Yes. I understand. Please let me know if you need anything. Darielle, make sure you serve Madam without any negligence.”

“Yes! Don’t worry!”

Nadia bowed to Saena and withdrew with the other three ladies.

Still casting that inexplicably distrustful look at Darielle.

“Let me formally introduce myself! I’m Darielle Siegmund, your new personal lady-in-waiting starting today!”

“Ah, yes. Hello?”

Her greeting was energetic, and so was her expression. Saena felt the atmosphere around her suddenly changing.

Speaking of ladies-in-waiting… what should she have them do? She couldn’t just have her standing around doing nothing.

She suddenly felt at a loss.

“First, I’ll check with the butler about any duties I need to take over, Madam.”

“Oh? Okay.”

Even Saena herself hadn’t started her duties as duchess yet, so there wasn’t much to do. Since she wouldn’t be active in the northeastern social circles right away…

She became slightly worried about what kind of duties there could be to hand over.

“And I need to check the work environment, so I’ll need to look around this area for a while. Please understand.”

“Okay.”

“But if you need me during that time, please call me anytime!”

“…Oh? Alright.”

She seemed to be the type who could find work to do without being told. That was fortunate.

* * *

Time at Castle Cream passed smoothly.

Though it was an unfamiliar place and her husband was absent (still showing no signs of returning), she didn’t feel particularly lonely.

Despite surely having a considerable workload as head butler, Nadia frequently visited to check on Saena, and Darielle proved more capable than expected, resolving even the slight remaining discomforts.

In her past life, even after years of living in the Hollander household, she couldn’t shake the feeling of living in someone else’s house, but perhaps people really do need to feel at ease.

To think she was doing so well in a duke’s castle without the duke himself!

“Kyang!”

…Ah, of course, having Yolly played a part too.

While Constantine was away, Saena brought Yolly to sleep with her on her bed.

“Why are you crying, Yolly? Shall we go to sleep?”

Another day ended without news from Constantine.

Though she wasn’t lonely, she worried a bit and felt somewhat sorry for him, as being away for so long seemed like unnecessary hardship for someone of his position.

“I wonder how the Duke is doing.”

“Kyang!”

Yolly, who had been wagging his tail irritably, suddenly became gloomy again.

“Kyu…”

…She really couldn’t understand why. There were times when she thought she could understand everything he said, but lately, she found it hard to comprehend these mood swings.

“Hmm. It would be nice if you could talk.”

“Kyaang!”

And there he goes getting angry again.

While she might not know the cause of his mood swings, she could tell he was irritated now, couldn’t she?

“Why again, why? What did I do wrong?”

Yolly suddenly spun around while making kyaang sounds, then abruptly stopped and let out a deep sigh.

“Kyuu……”

He trudged toward the bed and looked up at her. A silent request to be lifted onto the bed.

“Alright, alright. Let’s sleep. Quickly.”

Though she didn’t understand why, wouldn’t his mood improve after some sleep?

Going to bed early wasn’t a bad choice either.

Saena lifted Yolly onto the bed, took off her robe, and climbed onto the bed.

“Good night, you.”

She gently tapped his nose while greeting him as he curled up into a comfortable position. In response, he briefly tapped Saena’s nose twice with his short bear paw before curling up again.

“Heh. Cute.”

Saena fell asleep holding him in her arms, just tight enough not to crush him.

* * *