To attend the polo game, they needed to briefly leave Rishelt Island and take a boat to the field.

While Rishelt Island was quite large, it wasn’t spacious enough for eight players to gallop around on horseback.

Violet sat beside me and explained quietly.

“The departure itself is part of the competition. See over there? Small boats are waiting at the dock. Rowing quickly to arrive first is the beginning of the game.”

As Violet mentioned, each boat had exactly four people seated in it.

While watching the boat Carlo was in, I suddenly turned to Violet.

“…Do you think Carlo enjoys these games?”

I felt worried, wondering if I had pushed him to go unnecessarily.

“The Grand Duke? Well, I can’t be certain since I’ve rarely seen him visit Brüpelier since I arrived… But I’ve heard he quite enjoys sports.”

“Really?”

“There’s a widespread rumor among the young ladies that he excels at every sport. On game days, they would all come to watch under the pretense of having a picnic. Polo, rowing, fencing, swimming, and so on… Meeting that way could potentially lead to romance or marriage. The Grand Duke rarely attends social gatherings, so opportunities to meet him are scarce. Ah! But this is all old news. Please pretend you didn’t hear what I just said…”

“It’s fine. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t popular.”

I quickly waved my hand and looked at Carlo.

He was calmly preparing for the game despite being the focus of many women’s gazes.

With the shimmering water as his backdrop, his radiant golden hair, handsome features, broad shoulders, and elegant jacket made him look like a painting come to life.

Bang!

As soon as the starting signal was fired into the air, the boats began to move.

Carlo’s boat immediately took the lead, cutting through the water.

The crew members rowed in perfect rhythm, gliding across the vast river toward the field.

“…Do you think they’ll win?”

“Of course!”

Violet nodded vigorously as we both followed the departing boats with our eyes.

It was quite disappointing that we couldn’t watch the actual game.

After watching until they became tiny dots and eventually disappeared from sight, the women who had been standing began to sit back down in their chairs one by one.

As I was about to sit down, I felt a piercing gaze from a distance and instinctively turned my head.

“……”

At that moment, I met Genevieve’s purple eyes, which seemed to have been watching me continuously. The reddish-purple suddenly felt eerie.

However, when our eyes met, she smiled without showing any sign of embarrassment.

That furtive look in her eyes had vanished in an instant.

“Violet, be a good companion to the Grand Duchess.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

She nodded lightly as if telling us to enjoy ourselves.

Violet and I bowed in gratitude before sitting down again.

As we both sighed in relief the moment we sat down, a quiet laugh escaped us.

“Um… what kind of person is Empress Genevieve?”

When I asked, Violet looked up at the sky, lost in thought for a while before hesitantly speaking.

“To be honest, I find her difficult to understand completely. She’s definitely cheerful and has tremendous drive. However… I mentioned I was selected as the Empress’s dedicated maid, right? There are several other young ladies serving as dedicated maids besides me. Half of us are from noble families close to the Empress, and the other half…”

Violet lowered her voice so others couldn’t hear, yet maintained a smile as if we were discussing everyday matters.

“In a way, they’re nobles serving the Hedegen grand ducal family. For a long time, the Empress wouldn’t appoint anyone connected to the Hedegen household as her dedicated maids.”

“Ah…”

“But suddenly she selected more dedicated maids. And the timing coincided exactly with…”

“What happened during that time?”

“It aligned with when the Empress ordered the Grand Duke and you to marry.”

I was admiring Violet’s professionalism as she continued speaking with a bright smile, when suddenly I became alert.

The timing was similar?

“…Then perhaps Carlo…”

“There are rumors circulating. They say the Grand Duke wouldn’t have simply complied with the Empress’s marriage order without resistance, so he must have demanded the condition of placing his own people among the Empress’s close circle by having more dedicated maids appointed.”

“……”

“But who would dare ask the Grand Duke to confirm this? And the Empress certainly couldn’t tell others about such negotiations with the Grand Duke.”

“…That’s true.”

“But when she became Empress, she selected her dedicated maids, and only occasionally replaced one position when she had someone in mind. There was no reason for her to suddenly recruit more young ladies, claiming she wanted companions.”

This could only be interpreted as the Empress issuing an unreasonable order for the Grand Duke of Hedegen to marry Count Azanie’s daughter under the pretext of equal opportunity and harmony, while Carlo obeyed but in exchange placed more of his own people around the Empress.

Violet sipped her tea, scanned the surroundings, and pretended to adjust her lace gloves as if enjoying a meaningless chatter with me.

“…Isn’t it difficult for you?”

I carefully asked, worried she might face resentment for being with me, or face suspicion for being from a family friendly with the Hedegen household.

Violet glanced briefly at the Empress in the distance and sighed.

“It would be a lie to say it isn’t difficult, but my mother told me I should take pride in this position since not just anyone can be selected for it.”

Mariette, as expected…

She truly was a person of noble character.

“And if I can help my parents, that’s really fortunate, isn’t it?”

“Mr. and Mrs. Swinton must be very proud of their daughter.”

“Do you think so? Actually, the Empress is quite difficult to serve. Of course, that’s only natural since she’s the Empress.”

“……”

“Though she doesn’t show it openly, she often tells me and the young ladies from families friendly with the Hedegen household to go play elsewhere, like now. So we have no choice but to leave our posts and go somewhere else.”

“Ah… like being by my side now?”

“Today I’m happy to have somewhere to be. Please don’t leave, really. Sob.”

When Violet pretended to cry jokingly, I couldn’t help but laugh softly.

“Besides, her moods are unpredictable. Especially in situations like earlier…”

“Earlier?”

“When you greeted the Empress. At that exact moment, news came that Count Greatroyson had gone missing again.”

I immediately recalled Genevieve’s snake-like red eyes staring at me.

I almost raised my voice but quickly lowered my head, pretending to look at the table decorations.

“Was that… the urgent news the chief chamberlain delivered to the Empress?”

“Yes.”

Violet nodded emphatically.

“And by ‘again,’ you mean this count has gone missing before?”

“Yes, Count Greatroyson has gone missing once before. After losing his wife and daughter, he completely withdrew from political affairs and refused to leave his territory. It happened more than ten years ago, but he seems to still struggle with that trauma. The Empress has been his friend since childhood, so she often looks after him.”

“So that’s why she was in a bad mood?”

“You noticed it too?”

“A little… yes.”

Ah, so she became momentarily downcast because her close friend disappeared. I’d be worried too if my friend went missing.

I’d been so consumed by my own paranoia. She wasn’t glaring at me after all.

Feeling bitter, I berated myself and took a sip of tea.

I had assumed the Empress was glaring at me threateningly because everyone else seemed to dislike me. How embarrassing…

“Lea.”

At that moment, someone called my name affectionately and grabbed my shoulder.

“Have you been well?”

A long shadow had fallen across the table.

Violet looked up with a startled expression.

As I was about to turn around, the shadow on the table leaned its upper body toward me.

“I’ve come to rescue you.”