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☾ four ☾

Late at night, when the moon was high in the sky, the maids were having a secret chat in the white rose garden.

"Ah, today was a really hard day."

"That aside, where's Marilyn?"

"I hope she didn't get into big trouble with Lady Juvellian."

As the maids were wondering about Marilyn's whereabouts, the woman in question appeared.

"Marilyn!"

The maids approached her with a worried look.

"Marilyn, how was it? Are you okay?"

At Sella's question, Marilyn recalled what had occurred in her master's room earlier and let out a sigh.

'She seemed like she was okay...'

Despite the straight face Juvellian had tried to put on, her eyes had been filled with tears.

She had also tried to laugh it off with a smile...but that smile seemed a bit awkward and forced.

Although Juvellian was a wicked master, Marilyn couldn't help but feel sorry for her after witnessing her in that state of weakness.

"No, there were tears."

At Marilyn's words, the maids widened their eyes in shock and shouted, "Our miss is seriously too much!"

"That's right, if you're going to be mad at Sir Mikhail there's no reason to drag Marilyn into that anger too!"

Marilyn had an urge to rub her temples.

It seemed the other maids had misunderstood her words.

"No, not me. Lady Juvellian was the one who cried."

The maids, who were about to ask Marilyn if Juvellian had thrown anything, suddenly all looked like startled rabbits.

"Huh?"

"I had finished preparing the bath when I entered her room and saw that she had been secretly crying."

The other maids all frowned.

Based on their experiences with Juvellian, they couldn't believe those words.

"Was the miss really crying?"

"It seems she was really shocked over the break-up, especially seeing as how she looked like she had no strength at all today."

Everyone became quiet and solemn, but that silence was quickly broken by a new voice.

"That child was crying?"

The maids, including Marilyn, were startled by the sudden male voice.

"Y-Your Grace!"

The mansion's owner, the Duke of Floyen, was staring at the maids with an unreadable expression.

The maids trembled in fear, realizing they had been caught talking behind the lady's back.

They had no excuse to avoid being severely punished.

"You there."

The duke's blue eyes fell on Marilyn.

Waiting for her master to speak, Marilyn held her breath as a cold voice spoke over her.

"Report what you've witnessed in detail."

_

When I opened my eyes, my body felt pleasantly light.

'It seems like today is going to be a good day.'