From what I saw today, Claire seemed to be very protective of her maid. She seemed to be a little obsessed with her beyond what I felt was necessary.

Was Claire such a kind and generous person? Or did she have a different intention?

Of course Claire wasn’t a good person, but she might be the type of person who was good at what she did.

Because even bad people have a certain amount of compassion and righteousness in them.

But I decided to prepare for the unexpected situation.

“If the knight brings Lady Dana’s maid tomorrow, you can question her. She might know other important things.”

I had faith in the competence of the knights of the family. But in fact, it didn’t matter if they didn’t get any information from the maid.

Claire was clever, but the power she possessed was not enough to threaten me. The only thing she could do was either rely on the favor of the Crown Prince or provoke me into embarrassing myself. Now, however, both cases were impossible.

The Duke of Lillian was the current emperor’s trusted god, and many people were praising him for his great achievement this time.

There was no way that the Crown Prince would threaten me, the Duke’s daughter, because the Duke of Lillian was more powerful than ever before.

No matter how much the Crown Prince favored Claire, there was no way he would take care of her by creating something that would jeopardize his position.

The only reason why he had been able to ignore and neglect Roxanna until now was because she endured and tolerated him alone instead of telling the Duke about all the insults.

Of course, if Roxanna was hiding it, there was no way the Duke wouldn’t know about it, but he hadn’t said anything yet. I was actually in a bit of a confused state.

‘What does the Duke think of Roxanna?’

Roxanna was the Duke’s only daughter.

The three got along quite well until the Duchess died.

It was true that the Duke’s attitude was a bit ambiguous, for what parent in the world would hate their own child? Even if the Duke cared about his daughter and loved her, there was no way he would honestly forgive her for breaking off the engagement.

After Roxanna had forced Duke Lillian to side with the Crown Prince, the family had mobilized a huge amount of money to pay for his services. So If I were to break the engagement, everything would be in vain.

Moreover, the struggle for the throne was not that simple.

Originally, when a new emperor ascended to the throne, a new era would be opened.

The old would be replaced and those who stood on the other side would be oppressed. Thus, there were countless families that disappeared in the course of history.

I tried to establish a friendship with the second Prince, just in case.

It wasn’t easy, since we stood on different sides, but unlike when we first met, the way the second Prince treated me now was more favorable. Of course, there was nothing I could say with any confidence yet.

The current situation was changing rapidly, and many people were showing unexpected behavior.

Of all of them, the most unpredictable was still……….

Grand Duke Croix.

I thought of Elvin’s face as I was tying my hair.

The last time I was in a jewelry store, I bought a brooch. I didn’t know when I’d give it to him, so it was still left on the dresser.

The battle for the throne was still in progress, and now was the most intense. The composition of the war for the throne could change at any time until a complete winner was decided.

Looking at the current situation alone, the Crown Prince’s side seemed to have the upper hand.

However, there was a possibility that a completely unforeseen variable might appear.

For example, someone like Elvin.

I decided to wait and see a little more and formulate countermeasures.

***

“Lady Dana.”

Claire was happily greeted by the nanny who was waiting for her in her room when she returned.

“Lady, have you met the Crown Prince? What did he say?”

The nanny may have asked innocently, but her words provoked Claire’s barely maintained reason. Claire approached the window and threw the vase onto the floor.

Crash!

The vase, which was made of white porcelain with small yellow flowers in it, hit the floor with a rumbling sound and shattered. The maid, who was cleaning the room, was surprised by the sound and opened her eyes wide and looked this way.

It was then that the nanny realized that Claire was in a bad mood. The nanny frowned at the maid and motioned for her to leave.

If her master was in a bad mood and she was in plain sight, she could end up in a somewhat terrible situation. Knowing that her master was not as gentle as she appeared to be, the maid bowed and quietly slipped out of the room.

Even after the maid had left, Claire didn’t seem to be relieved. With her shoeless feet, Claire stepped on the flowers that had fallen on the. Then she sat down on the bed and asked with a tearful face.

“Nanny, how could His Highness do this to me?”

At Claire’s question, the nanny looked at her with a frustrated expression.

“What happened at the Imperial Palace?”

The nanny asked, but Claire didn’t reply, just stared at the ground. Her large eyes were filled with tears before she knew it. The Crown Prince would no longer visit her unless she went to him first. And he and the Princess got along quite well now.

When she heard it, she thought it was fortunate that she did not attend the banquet under the pretext of being sick. The Crown Prince loved her (Claire), but he couldn’t help but be wary of the Princess.

So she tried to understand. But even so, it was awful that he didn’t show up for weeks when she was in pain. She put up with it and moved on. The Crown Prince had always been busy, but after the second Prince returned home, he was tormented by even more work.

She was disappointed, but she understood.

She had to bear with it because she had a high ranking and good lover. However, she could not forgive the fact that the Crown Prince had left her to visit the Princess.

Now that she thought about it, the word “busy” was just an excuse, and the real reason why he hadn’t come to see her before was for the sake of the Princess. It was unbearable to remember the Prince who was angry with her and the arrogant Princess with her smart words.

“I want to be alone, please leave.”

“But ………….”

“Just leave me alone, please.”

Claire’s voice was sharper than usual. The nanny was worried, but after hearing her determined order, she had no choice but to leave. Claire, left alone in the room, wrapped her arms around her and trembled.

Earlier, she was barely able to maintain her composure in front of the Princess. But now that there was no one here, she had no reason to hold back her anger. Just then, someone knocked on the door.

“I told you not to let anyone in!”

Claire, offended, screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Lady.”

It was the voice of the nanny from earlier.

“Viscountess Willis has come to see you.”

The nanny said in a slightly troubled voice.

“Tell her to go home, I’m not in the mood to see anyone.”

“Yes, I will tell her that.”

Claire refused coldly, but changed her mind just before the nanny was about to leave.

“No, wait. Tell her I’ll be right there and meet me in the parlor.”

“Yes, Miss.”

As the nanny’s footsteps moved away, Claire checked her appearance in front of the mirror. The corners of her eyes were a little red, but not significantly so.

‘It doesn’t matter…’

Claire wiped her tears with her handkerchief and went to the parlor. Her maid was being transferred to Duke Lillian’s residence today.

The maid might be able to trick the Princess, but she might reveal the matter to the Duke. The thought that Roxana might find out that she had her nanny (Roxana’s nanny =Viscountess Willis) with her made Claire angry again.

Viscountess Willis was closest to the Princess for a long time, watching over her. There was probably no one in the world who knew the Princess better than she did.

It was for this reason that Claire had offered her hand to Viscountess Willis first. Her own family was not wealthy. Her father, the Baron, was a stingy man, so he was reluctant to spend money on his daughter.

But to get one person on her side, she needed a lot of money. So Claire had to get rid of some of the dresses and jewels she had received from the Crown Prince to make money.

But if the maid confessed and Roxana found out Claire had her abandoned nanny. She didn’t have much. Even so, she had to spend a lot of money on Roxana’s nanny.

Baron Dana’s mansion was not large. Compared to other aristocratic mansions in the capital, it was of a shabby standard. Because of this, Claire arrived at the parlor quickly, even though she walked quite slowly.

She opened the closed door and stepped inside. Inside the parlor, there was nothing special that could be called furniture, except for a table and a sofa in the middle of the room. There were not many ornaments decorating the room, and even those were old and shabby.

Because of this, the guest room at Baron Dana’s was not a nobleman’s mansion, but rather the room of an affluent commoner. And in it sat a middle-aged woman with the shabbiest of clothes and an exhausted complexion.

“Lady Dana.”

Viscountess Willis greeted Claire with a gentle smile. However, Viscountess Willis was not as graceful as she usually was, and she seemed to be in a hurry.

Her gaze revealed a hint of nervousness.

Claire walked neither fast nor slow and took a seat opposite her.

“I said I wanted to find the whereabouts of your daughter, who ran away. Fortunately, someone has seen her. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can help you anymore.” (Claire)

Viscountess Willis’s face twisted into a strange expression for a moment. However, she smiled awkwardly and looked at Claire.

“But Lady, you said you could help….”

“At the time I was sorry to hear about your situation and made every effort to help you. But now the situation has changed.” (Claire)

Clare didn’t even order the maids to bring the tea to entertain the guest. Today Claire was cold towards Viscountess Willis. She was the opposite of the kind and gentle person she usually was. Viscountess Willis could not understand. She had never done anything of the sort.

But why would Lady Dana suddenly change her attitude and embarrass her like this?

“Yesterday, at Count Evens’ residence, someone tried to harm me.” (Claire)

Claire looked up and faced Viscountess Willis. The only thing that showed on Viscountess Willis’ face was her wonderment.

She looked as if she couldn’t understand why Claire was saying that. There was no sign of concern on the Viscountess’ face even though the person who had helped her almost suffered a big deal.

A person who knew shame and ingratitude would throw out a few words of concern. The woman in front of Claire was selfish and only knew her own children.

That was probably why Princess Lilian abandoned her nanny. Claire stared at Viscountess Willis with suppressed disgust.

The Princess was there, too. While I was lying there after my accident, the Princess pointed to my maid as the culprit and took her away without any evidence.”

Only then did Viscountess Willis understand the situation and look pale.

“The maid was the only one who made any effort to protect me on the spot. The maid who the Princess dragged away was like my sister who had been with me for a long time.”

“…!”

Claire spoke in a very sad voice, and slumped down to hide her tears.

‘’I’m so sorry that happened to you. Please don’t be too heartbroken.”

Viscountess Willis awkwardly handed Claire a handkerchief.

Claire took it with a depressed look on her face.

Viscountess Willis’s gaze at Claire, who suppressed her grief, was full of anxiety.