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Chapter 24
Knock knock.
“…?”
Knock knock knock.
When there was no reply from inside the room, the person standing outside anxiously shifted their feet. Litricia hadn’t heard the knocking from inside the bathroom.
It was the maid whom Litricia had earlier sent away from her room.
Contrary to her fierce-looking expression, she was holding a tray with a cup of well-steeped warm tea.
Still getting no response, she raised her hand to knock again.
Just then—creak-tap, creak-tap—distinct footsteps echoed as the head butler appeared in the hallway.
“Mia? What are you doing? Where is my lady, and why are you outside her door?”
“Ugh…!”
Mia, upon spotting the elderly but dignified butler with streaks of gray in his hair, opened and closed her mouth.
She tried to speak, but the words came out slurred and incoherent.
Mia scrunched her face with all her might. She clearly had a lot to say.
“That tea—is it something you prepared for the lady?”
“Mm-hmm!”
Mia nodded vigorously in response to the butler’s question.
“You’re going to spill it all before you even get into the room. Just hand it to me.”
The butler took the tray and approached the room where Litricia was staying.
creak-tap, creak-tap—his uneven footsteps echoed again.
His well-tailored clothes made it hard to notice at first glance, but when he moved, the fabric shifted to briefly reveal a metallic prosthetic limb in place of his ankle.
His distinct gait came from the sound of the metal leg dragging against the floor.
“Now then, tell me—did you make a mistake or something?”
The butler’s gentle expression caused Mia’s fierce face to crumble into one of distress.
She quickly pulled a notepad from her front pocket and scribbled something down.
“I think I upset the lady. What should I do, Head Butler? What if she ends up hating the North because of me?”
“Mia…”
“Compared to the glamorous capital, this place is so barren. She must be disappointed.”
As she scribbled, Mia’s lower lip pouted.
She looked utterly heartbroken, completely different from the stern demeanor she had shown in front of Litricia.
And the butler was no different. His deeply wrinkled face twisted into concern.
He didn’t look like someone who disliked Litricia at all.
In fact, contrary to her assumptions, the people of the Grand Duke’s estate didn’t dislike her.
After all, they had already heard everything that had happened in the capital thanks to Pell’s messenger birds. Rather than being wary, they were actually eager to welcome Litricia.
They had long feared that the Grand Duke line might end since Killian had no interest in marriage and only sought out the battlefield.
And then—suddenly, a Grand Duchess appeared. Of course they were delighted.
Not only that, but Killian, who treated women like fragile glass, had returned home with Litricia in his arms.
That alone was enough to set the entire estate abuzz.
So if someone asked why they were keeping such distance from the Grand Duchess they were so excited about, they did have their reasons.
“We thought showing our excitement might overwhelm her, so we hid it on purpose… but I suppose that only ended up upsetting her instead.”
The butler, having grasped the situation from Mia, pressed a hand to his forehead.
Just then, the head housekeeper suddenly appeared behind him.
“What are you two whispering about outside the lady’s door? Did something happen while I wasn’t looking?”
She stepped out of the shadows, her dress buttoned up tightly to the chin and half her face covered by a black mask.
Her neatly tied white hair suggested she was around the same age as the butler.
And as expected, the butler scowled at her words.
“Hmph. Do you think I’m the type to cause trouble all the time?”
“Are you not? You’ve been like that since your youth…”
“Ahem! Marsha! What if the lady hears us?”
“Hmph.”
Afraid the sound might leak into Litricia’s room, the butler Gorten quickly covered Marsha’s mouth.
Marsha slapped away his hand.
“You two never change. Always bickering, even in the Imperial Palace.”
Mia scribbled on a piece of paper, used to their antics.
“Still, you seem close. It’s nice to see.”
“Close, my foot. He’s insufferable.”
Marsha grimaced and glared at Gorten.
“I thought I’d never have to see you again once we left the palace. Why in the world did you follow me all the way to the North?”
“Follow you? As if I chased after you! I came here with His Highness. A servant must stay with the master they serve.”
“Well, aren’t you loyal.”
“And what about you, Marsha? Didn’t you follow me here?”
Marsha jumped at Gorten’s words, and her movement caused the mask to briefly reveal the burn scars on her face.
“Don’t be absurd! I came to serve His Highness! As his former nursemaid, who else could protect him if not me?”
Their familiar bickering made it clear—most of the staff at the Grand Duke’s estate had come with Killian when he left the imperial palace.
But they shared one unfortunate commonality: every one of them bore some physical affliction.
These were the marks left by Astarra’s brutal interrogations after the Crown Prince’s death. She had punished the palace staff of both the Crown Prince and the imperial princes for their failure to protect him.
One was punished for not preventing the prince’s outing. Another had their leg broken for not rescuing him in time.
Mia, who had been a child at the time, was spared physical injury, but the trauma left her unable to speak properly.
Most of the staff, like Marsha, Gorten, and Mia, bore scars—some visible, some hidden.
And to them, those scars were hideous.
Even after more than ten years, seeing them in the mirror made them flinch.
They didn’t want to show such appearances to Litricia.
She’d lived surrounded by beauty and refinement in the capital. If she saw them like this in a foreign place, wouldn’t she be startled or even repulsed?
That’s why they tried to stay out of sight.
But in doing so, they’d only upset her.
“Ugh…” Gorten let out a groan.
“It seems we didn’t think this through.”
“Oh dear. The poor lady must be so hurt. I should never have listened to you, Gorten.”
Marsha sighed, massaging her temple, and Gorten’s eyes narrowed like a wildcat.
“Then tell me, Marsha—can you stand confidently in front of her?”
“…”
She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she fidgeted with her high-collared dress.
Under her wrinkled fingers, the texture of her burn scars was unmistakable.
Even her own family had gasped in horror at the sight…
She recalled Litricia’s pale, frightened face and crossed her arms.
“Hmph. Who said anything about standing in front of her? Listen here, Gorten. We don’t have to show our faces to prove we don’t dislike the lady. There are other ways.”
***
While the three outside were deep in discussion about how to clear up Litricia’s misunderstanding…
Inside, Litricia flinched as a water droplet fell on her nose.
It had dropped from the now-steamy ceiling of the bathroom.
“Mm… Did I doze off?”
She had only meant to soak for a moment and get out quickly.
But it had been so long since she could bathe peacefully without Isis watching her every move, she must’ve drifted off.
The water was now lukewarm—time had passed.
“I stayed in too long. My hands are all wrinkled.”
Amused by her pruned fingers, she chuckled softly.
“I wonder if the Grand Duke has returned by now?”
As she recalled Killian’s back as he left in a hurry, she swung her legs out of the tub to grab her robe.
Water droplets slid down her milky-white skin, pooling on the bathroom floor.
“…Then I’ll take care of that as instructed.”
Litricia froze mid-reach for her robe.
She had heard murmuring behind the door—the one that had been bothering her from earlier.
“I understand. I’ll see myself out, Mark.”
“Are you planning to bathe now, Your Grace? I’ll inform the servants to prepare fresh bathwater.”
Killian.
That was clearly his voice.
“No wonder the shelves were so high—it’s his bathroom! But why in the world is it connected to my room…?!”
She didn’t know why he was behind that door, but that wasn’t the issue now.
What mattered was escaping before he entered the bathroom.
Unfortunately, Killian opened the door a second faster than Litricia could grab her robe and leave.
“That’s enough. I’ll handle things on my own toni—”
“Gasp…!”
Clack! The bathroom door opened without warning, and Killian’s eyes widened in shock.
“…Litricia?”
