/
“Oh, nothing.”
“You’re staring at me.”
“I’m sorry. I was just thinking you’re more meticulous than I thought
 a lot more.”
Since he’d been brusque with me the whole time, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed when he complimented me.
‘I’ve got to be meticulous. I’m getting tens of millions of won a month in Korean money, so I’m going to waste it.’
I acted calmly on the outside as if it wasn’t a big deal, even though I was delighted on the inside.
“I’ve looked through it all, so you can leave now. Let’s stop here for today.”
Leaning on the backrest, I sent Baron Placen away.
 : * ✧ * : 
Seville Placen left the office after saying his greetings to Rowaine, recalling a conversation he had had with Hyle while drinking at a tavern not long ago. It was shortly after Dimitri ordered him to assist Rowaine in the future. At that time, he was utterly discouraged by that order that came like thunder.
To be the closest confidante to her duchess, who only had all kinds of bad rumors about her, and help her

When Hyle saw Seville sighing heavily, he called and took him to the tavern.
“Do you hate it that much?”
“Tell me honestly, Viscount. Did I make a big mistake to His Excellency? Is that why he demoted me?”
“What do you mean, demotion? His Excellency is well aware of how well the Baron commands the administrators.”
“Then, why
”
As he had been watching Seville silently, who was speechless as if he was dying of frustration, Hyle suddenly brought up a different story.
“Isn’t Blois strangely peaceful these days?”
Seville, sullen at the thought of working with Rowaine, listened and nodded.
“I heard it, and it seems that way.”
“Isn’t Blois always on thin ice? It was suffocating.”
“That’s right. Isn’t it because there’s nothing unusual going on these days?”
“Nothing much happened?”
Hyle jumped up.
“What are you talking about? Think carefully. Only recently, the corruption of the employees of the mansion was revealed, and there was a massive change of employees, and His Excellency added new family members. Because of that, he had to also deal with the slave trader. Didn’t he even take the emperor’s hound hostage? Besides, Madam Elbas is at the mansion right now as well.”
Seville came to his senses at the heated voice and thought it over before agreeing.
“Come to think of it, there was a lot of trouble. I don’t know why I thought it was all right.”
“Isn’t His Excellency still quiet?”
Smiling meaningfully, Hyle lowered his voice.
“If it were like before, there would have been a storm of blood. Every day must have been on thin ice.”
With the atmosphere surrounding Blois, which was frozen like the middle of winter all year round, Seville always shrugged his shoulders, so he felt that Hyle’s analogy was very appropriate. Come to think of it, from a certain moment, the air in Blois was not harsh anymore.
Even from Hyle, he could see that he was more relaxed than before, too.
“It’s spring. Spring
 No matter what happens, Blois won’t freeze like before.”
“Yes
?”
“Don’t you know that all of this is thanks to Madam Rowaine?”
Saying so, Hyle patted Seville on the shoulder.
“You will find out soon that you weren’t demoted.”
At that time, Seville thought that Hyle didn’t want to rub salt in his wound, and he gulped down his drink without saying anything. But now, after leaving the office, he glanced back at the door he came out of and thought


Perhaps, what Hyle said might have been sincere.
 : * ✧ * : 
After Baron Placen left, I took a moment to relax by tidying up my desk.
‘Shall we go to Coco and Sasha?’
As I thought so to myself, Madam Elbas suddenly opened the door to the office and appeared.
“Uh
 Madam Elbas?”
I was gaping at my mouth for a while with a bewildered face.
‘
To come in without a word or knock like this.’
It was time for Dimitri to go to the training ground. Even though I knew he wasn’t there, I reflexively glanced at his empty seat.
‘My ally
’
I looked at Madam Elbas with a tearful face inside. Wasn’t she really bold? Did she know when Dimitri would come and see me for a moment without him?
“Rowaine, I came to talk to you.”
‘Ha
 I’m already tired.’
Contrary to my thoughts, I smiled and moved away from the desk to the sofa.
“Yes, have a seat.”
As I sat on the sofa, I gently covered the scratches on the armrests of the luxurious leather sofa with my hand. It was a scratch the other day that Coco and Sasha couldn’t stand the boredom and ran around and scratched it with their claws.
In fact, since I entered this office, all the furniture here has had such minor scratches. They were made by Coco and Sasha, who had been following me.
‘Every time I see it, my heart hurts.’
Furniture made of leather and cats were opposites. This is why, if possible, leather products shouldn’t be used in houses with cats

‘But, I didn’t decorate this place.’
Following me as she sat down on the sofa, Madam Elbas glanced over at my outfit with her very disapproving face and nagged.
“No matter what kind of house it is, your outfit should always be perfect. That way, the lower ones wouldn’t look down at you. Dignity comes from some extent of splendor.”
I didn’t want to see myself in a shirt and pants. Wearing a dress on a daily basis was too difficult for modern people who normally wore pants every day.
‘It’s heavy and cumbersome.’
She continued her nagging.
“When I was living, I always wore a corset made of elephant ivory like underwear. These days, it’s been simplified a lot, but even that’s uncomfortable, though you’re dressed like a man like that. Tsk, tsk.”
At the words ‘dressing like a man,’ Seo Eun-soo’s bloated ego burst out without me even being able to stop it.
“Because in the days of Madam Elbas’, women’s beauty was treated as a trophy for men in power.”
Oh, my. Saying this means fighting. I couldn’t control myself, and the words came out before I even realized it.
“These days, women have the same power and title as men, so pants are no longer a privilege only for men.”
Besides, using elephant ivory like that was serious animal abuse.
Madam Elbas glared at me.
“I’ve felt this before, but don’t talk back at the adults’ words. You’re really uneducated.”
It seemed like she wanted to curse my parents, but I also had many complaints about ‘Rowaine’s’ parents, so there was no significant impact towards me. Far from being hurt, I couldn’t stop the smile on my face, so I kept on smiling like an innocent child and just said whatever came to mind.
“Would you like to try it on, too, Madam? Here, I designed it so that it can be worn very comfortably by putting a rubber band in the waist part.”
As I stretched out the banded waist and showed it, I then let go of the banded waist, and it hit my waist as I went on.
“It reduces the pressure on the stomach, and it’s more active than a skirt, so it’s said to be good for pregnant women.”
Madam Elbas didn’t listen to me and looked at me as if he was getting tired of me smiling. However, without raising her voice, she coldly laughed at me once and then spat out shocking words in a low voice.
“Is that why you chase after something that’s so comfortable? If you find something you covet, you feel free to steal it?”
“
Stealing?”
“It’s vulgar, tsk. My face was burning after hearing the story.”
The next moment, she took out several bills from her handbag and scattered them in front of me.
“No matter how powerless and poor a person is from a family, how can a person be so bad?”
Stunned, I couldn’t even refute her remarks.
“From now on, do your best to avoid receiving such embarrassing news. Do you know how shocked grandmother was to hear that Dimitri had been greatly humiliated in front of the elders because of his wife’s theft?”
I stared blankly at the bill that had fallen and rolled at my feet.
“
Dimitri was humiliated in front of the elders because of me?”
Madam Elbas clicked her tongue and got up without answering my question.
“And now, that dirty thing met a vulgar woman like you.”
As she left, a muttering voice that seemed to be talking to herself pierced my chest sharply.
 : * ✧ * : 
Immediately after Madam Elbas’ visit, the air in the office seemed to be freezing cold. I eventually came to my senses and picked up the bills one by one before putting them in the drawer of my desk and opening all the windows.
As the warm sunlight of early summer shone on the office, the frozen air quickly melted warmly. However, Madam Elbas’s ice awl, which she had driven into my heart, didn’t melt and blew out more and more cold air.
In the end, I couldn’t stand it and immediately ran to Dimitri.
As if he had been swinging his sword to his heart’s content, Dimitri had undone three buttons on his shirt as he was resting in a chair on one side of the training ground.
“
Rowaine?”
I came to my senses when Dimitri suddenly got up from his seat.
“Excuse me.”
He turned around, hurriedly looked at his dressing, and then spun around again.
“Did something happen?”
“If you’re not busy, would you like to walk with me?”
Glancing at the knight commander, who was standing far away, he nodded his head at me.
“Sure thing.”
Then, I walked with Dimitri to a secluded place where no one was around
 No, I dragged him and asked.
“Dimitri, did you hear bad things about me at the council of elders?”
He paused.