“A piece of stone-like bread. And a glass of water.”

Norbert sighed heavily as he continued speaking.

“Medlin told me she only noticed this morning. She said they showed the head maid a normal menu while the servants below served whatever they pleased. When I inquired further, I learned they often gave her just a meager bowl of soup with barely any vegetables or meat.”

“……”

“The grand duchess has been treated this way consistently since the accident.”

“……”

“Though she reported this to me, Medlin says she wasn’t certain whether she should stop the servants, so she didn’t scold them severely. After all, if she’s the culprit, such treatment would seem justified. Moreover, if Your Highness hears about this and remains silent, everyone will believe it’s acceptable.”

“……”

“What should we do, Your Highness?”

Norbert himself hadn’t dismissed his suspicions about the grand duchess, which made him hesitate to report this matter.

However, he couldn’t ignore the possibility of a variable.

What if the grand duchess, whom everyone believed to be guilty, wasn’t actually the culprit?

“……”

Carlo stared at the central door of his office.

The door Lea had closed behind her.

She never stopped talking when she came to see him, chattering like a lark, yet she hadn’t mentioned a word about this mistreatment.

Why was that?

“Your Highness?”

“I wonder.”

But was there any reason to treat her more kindly?

In other words, to tell his servants to stop mistreating her.

After briefly contemplating, Carlo quickly reached a conclusion.

…Not likely.

“The fact that she didn’t reveal it herself.”

Carlo casually replied as he arrogantly gripped his pen.

“Perhaps she even enjoyed it.”

Just as Norbert had said, the servants had recently found increasing pleasure in tormenting Lea, whom they despised.

When maid Jeanne arrived in the kitchen after placing freshly made butter in the storage room, her colleague Celli was loading something onto a trolley alone.

“What’s this? Crème brûlée and quesitos… Do we have a guest? Or is it a snack for His Highness? Doesn’t he dislike sweet things?”

“It’s a snack for the lady.”

“…Who?”

“For the lady, I said.”

Jeanne snorted at Celli’s answer and picked up a macaron to eat.

“Why suddenly serve snacks to that woman? We should eat them ourselves.”

“Mrs. Medlin found out we’ve been serving her terrible food all this time and reported it to Butler Norbert. So Chef Charlson found out too. You wouldn’t believe how angry Chef Charlson was. He told us never to do such a thing again.”

“Really? Fine. If we have to serve her, let’s make it extra delicious!”

“Jeanne!”

Jeanne snatched the trolley from Celli’s hands and liberally sprinkled salt over the crème brûlée and quesitos.

Celli’s eyes widened in shock.

“This is terrible! What if we get caught!”

The frightened Celli tried to stop Jeanne, who was holding the salt.

Fortunately, the chef and kitchen servants weren’t around at the moment; otherwise, they would have been severely scolded.

Until now, everyone had tacitly approved of each other’s participation in tormenting the grand duchess, but now that the highest administrators—Butler Norbert, Housekeeper Medlin, and the chef—knew about it, they needed to be more cautious.

Jeanne laughed as if there was nothing to worry about and grabbed Celli’s shoulders.

“How would we get caught? That woman can’t tell His Highness anything. We’ve all seen how she pretends not to remember anything but actually can’t speak up because she knows she’s guilty. If she wanted to say something, she would have done it long ago. She always kept to herself gloomily, and now she dares to attack the Grand Duke and tries to escape by pretending to have amnesia? She deserves worse!”

“But… but the grand duchess shared a bedroom with His Highness a few days ago.”

“Whatever the reason, he probably wanted to interrogate her. The Grand Duke wouldn’t have let such a woman into his bedroom without a reason.”

“What if their relationship is better than we think?”

“Celli, if they were really on good terms, they would have continued sleeping together! But they didn’t, don’t you see? Maybe she’s not even good in bed!”

“Your voice is too loud, Jeanne!”

“What does it matter? She’ll be in prison soon anyway. She’s the culprit. The Imperial Police Investigation Bureau even came to arrest her! Besides, have you seen her dining with His Highness even once in the past couple of days?”

“N-no.”

“Then what does that mean? His Highness no longer cares what happens to her.”

Jeanne sprinkled even more salt on the crème brûlée. She even added a few drops of water to dissolve it, making the finished dessert look glossy and coated. Then she topped the quesitos with salt instead of sugar.

“If she thinks the Grand Duke will take her side, she’ll fly into a rage after eating this. Then I’ll grovel and apologize. I can just say I mistook salt for sugar, right? But if she doesn’t get angry?”

Gripping the trolley handle, she gave Celli a meaningful smile.

“Let’s torment her more. We’re getting revenge for what we’ve suffered before.”

“A snack?”

I stood up in surprise at the unexpected visitors in the chilly grand duchess’s bedroom as the sun was setting.

On the trolley pushed by two maids were a tea set on a gold tray and unfamiliar snacks.

“Yes, we prepared them for you, my lady.”

A fragrant, sweet aroma wafted from the desserts on the delicately crafted gold tableware with blue borders and gentle flower patterns inside.

A snack…

What had gotten into these people who had only given me hard bread and watery soup until this morning?

“You made this for me?”

“Of course. Please feel free to speak comfortably with us, my lady.”

“Haha, it’s still difficult for me… I’ll gradually do so when I get used to it.”

After looking back and forth between the two maids’ faces, I looked down at the dessert with a seemingly hard surface in the pretty dish.

I thought everyone here hated me.

“Ah…!”

Suddenly I remembered how Norbert had spoken to me in the office earlier. Perhaps Norbert had instructed them to bring me a snack.

Otherwise, how could I receive such beautifully presented snacks when I’d never been given any before?

“Please try them.”

The maid spoke in a kind tone and began setting the dessert plates beautifully on the table.

“They said they worked hard to make these for you, my lady.”

“What? But…”

Not only did I not know how to eat them, but it was time for me to go to the Grand Duke’s bedroom.

Soon the servants would bring his bathing and changing clothes…

If I didn’t enter the Grand Duke’s bedroom with them at that moment, he would prevent me from even opening the door.

Hadn’t the servants blocked me yesterday, saying I couldn’t enter because he had ordered it?

I needed to slip in when the servants opened the door.

“……”

While my stated reason for visiting the Grand Duke was for his treatment, the truth was that I had found a proper excuse this time.

He won’t be able to refuse this time.

“My lady?”

Lost in thought, I didn’t respond until the maid called me again.

What should I do? I need to go now.

But if I said I had to leave immediately, it would seem like I was rudely rejecting their warm gesture.

I needed to become a good grand duchess, build solidarity with them, and gain a positive reputation—would leaving now undermine that?

“I know!”

After hesitating about what to do, a good idea suddenly occurred to me.

“Why don’t you two eat here instead of me!”

“What?”

The maids, who had been smiling brightly, looked utterly shocked, as if they’d heard something unbelievable.

“W-we wouldn’t d-dare, h-how could we…!”

One maid stammered with a stunned expression, as if doubting her ears, and shook her head adamantly.

What’s this? Is offering dessert such a shocking thing to them?

I see! No one has ever provided snacks for the maids!

I thought maids living in a place like this would eat and live well, but apparently not.

Good thing I had a tough previous life and quick instincts.

Otherwise, I would have eaten all the desserts myself while the maids just watched my mouth.

“You’ve worked hard all day, right? Come here. Sit down for a moment, have some tea, and enjoy these delicious snacks.”

“B-but, m-my lady? It’s really not appropriate for us to touch your snacks…”

“No! I’m not the kind of narrow-minded person who thinks only I should eat such things. Come here, I insist!”

I pointed to the table and spoke to them.

“Don’t be shy, come on.”

“W-we can’t do that, my lady!”

“Why not? We’re all human beings! Come quickly!”

When I spoke firmly and patted the chair emphatically, they seemed so moved that tears began to well up in their eyes.

“Hey, don’t cry. Is eating this such a big deal? I won’t tell anyone. No one will know you ate instead of me.”

“…N-no, we can’t eat this food.”

“Just enjoy it. This won’t do. I won’t look until you take a bite! Sit here.”

The maids looked at me with astonished faces, then glanced at each other before reluctantly sitting down.

They were so nervous that their hands trembled as they held the tableware.

Thinking I should at least see them take one bite before leaving, I sat down in a chair for a moment.

“Well then, enjoy your—”

As I smiled and handed them forks, a commotion erupted outside the door.

Simultaneously, the bedroom door flew open.