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Chapter 68
While Bastian stood there blinking in stunned disbelief, Killian rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought.
“Hm…”
The expression on his face filled Bastian with an overwhelming sense of dread.
“Y-Your Grace, surely you don’t mean…!”
You’re not planning to use this incident as part of one of your schemes, are you?
He couldn’t even finish shouting before trailing off.
A satisfied smile slowly spread across Killian’s crimson lips.
“I suppose I’ll have to arrange a meeting with Miss Millicent soon.”
Naturally, for reasons unrelated to work.
Just the two of them.
Emergency! This is an emergency!
Bastian’s polished shoes twitched.
He wanted nothing more than to run straight to Riana and warn her.
His Grace is planning to visit Lady Millicent just to encourage her to put you in an even more difficult position!
All so he can swoop in afterward, save you, and win your heart!
But Bastian froze at Killian’s next words.
“By the way, why is my butler still standing there? At this very moment, Posve’s informants are probably roaming around the castle.”
“Ah…”
“They’re probably stealing confidential information every single minute.”
“I-I’ll find them, of course. As quickly as possible…”
“You must be very busy. I doubt you’ll have any time left to chat with other people.”
“O-Of course not…”
“Good. Then go do your job. Hurry along and keep yourself thoroughly occupied.”
Smiling just as brightly as the duke, Bastian laughed awkwardly.
“Haha…”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
As always, his own neck was still his highest priority.
After sending Bastian away, Killian rested his chin on one hand, contemplating the best time to meet Deborah.
Meanwhile, completely unaware of his intentions, Riana spent her time thinking hard about how she could bring Killian and Deborah together.
It seemed as though the day would quietly pass by.
But there was one variable neither of them had anticipated…
The unbearable boredom of a castle full of people living in an age where magic had become commonplace.
Daniel spent the entire day wandering all over the castle proudly showing off Gray’s handkerchief.
It was nearly sunset by the time she finally returned to the maid’s quarters.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
Even maids who normally weren’t particularly close were gathered together in a circle.
Even the senior maid responsible for managing the wine cellar was there.
Sensing something unusual, Daniel walked over.
“What are you all talking about?”
“Oh, you’re finally back? Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“About Riana and His Grace!”
Daniel blinked in confusion.
The senior maid grabbed her arm, pulled her down to sit, and whispered,
“Well, apparently His Grace and Riana had a fight today. And people are saying it was because of Lady Deborah Millicent.”
“Really? But… how did Lady Riana end up arguing with His Grace…?”
“You know how it is. Has there ever been a maid assigned to the Isolation Tower who didn’t fall in love with His Grace? Looks like Riana finally ended up the same way.”
Daniel knew all too well about what had practically become a tradition among the maids of the Isolation Tower.
So Lady Riana finally fell for him too…
She secretly enjoyed admiring Riana’s beautiful face whenever she had the chance.
The thought made her sigh in disappointment.
I guess Lady Riana won’t be staying here much longer.
Then something the senior maid had said earlier suddenly struck her as odd.
“Wait a second. What do you mean it was because of Lady Millicent?”
The moment the question was asked, all the gathered maids erupted into chatter.
Apparently they’d already been arguing over this very topic.
Voices sprang up from every direction.
“Sure, everyone knows that woman caused all kinds of trouble over at Genevieve Castle, but what does that have to do with His Grace? Maybe it was just something between the two women!”
“But they were talking about that while arguing with His Grace today!”
“Then what exactly did they say? Is there any proof that Riana just goes around picking fights with everyone?”
The senior maid clapped loudly to calm everyone down.
“Now, now, everyone. I heard this myself! Someone from the main manor staff heard His Grace and Riana arguing, told one of the manor attendants, who told a research assistant from Genevieve Castle, who told my roommate, and she told me!”
“Then stop dragging it out and explain properly!”
“In short… here’s what happened.”
Daniel and the other maids all leaned forward.
Every ear in the room perked up.
“Until now, nobody knew why Lady Millicent and Riana couldn’t stand each other, right?”
“That’s right.”
Voices of agreement came from every direction.
“Well, now we finally have an explanation. Riana bullied Lady Millicent because of His Grace.”
“What? Why?”
Unable to hold herself back, Daniel blurted out the question.
The senior maid shrugged.
“Because His Grace favors Lady Millicent. Riana got jealous. Otherwise, why would she keep picking fights with a baron’s daughter? If she was crazy in love, it all makes sense!”
“So that means…”
Daniel clapped both hands over her mouth.
“It’s a love triangle?”
The rumor spread like wildfire.
As it passed from mouth to mouth, facts and speculation blended together in unknowable proportions, snowballing larger and larger.
“So… what will happen to Riana now?”
A man’s voice drifted out from the stables.
Hearing the familiar name, Gray stopped in his tracks just before entering.
The stable walls were thin enough that every word carried outside.
“Well, what else? Haven’t we seen this before? She’ll cling to His Grace’s trouser leg, beg him to accept her, and eventually get thrown out for improper conduct.”
Judging by the voice, it wasn’t one of the knights.
Probably one of the stable hands.
Instead of opening the stable door, Gray leaned against the wall beside it and listened.
“But isn’t this different from the others? They say Riana even went into His Grace’s bedroom.”
What?
Gray’s eyes widened.
He wanted to storm in immediately, grab someone by the collar, and demand where that ridiculous rumor had come from.
Instead, he clenched his fist and held himself back.
“I don’t believe that rumor. His Grace with a maid? Impossible!”
“But until now, whenever a woman threw herself at His Grace, he’d recoil in horror and throw her out. Yet despite the rumors that Riana already spent the night with him, he hasn’t taken any action. Isn’t that different from before?”
“Even so…”
“And have you even seen what she looks like? If you had, you’d think the rumor was believable too.”
“What does she look like?”
“Ridiculously beautiful.”
The idiot has decent taste, at least.
Gray let out a brief snort of amusement before realizing this was hardly the time to laugh.
His expression quickly hardened again.
“No matter how beautiful she is, our duke is a man who would’ve become the royal family’s in-law if only the royal household had been blessed with a princess. There’s no way he’d end up with a maid.”
“But there isn’t a princess, is there? Unless he’s planning to marry the crown prince instead, any woman is fair game—”
“You never know what the future holds! If His Majesty has a princess even now, House Droche could still become part of the royal family!”
“Come on, Senior. The age gap alone—”
“You think nobles care about the same things we do? To them, social status is a much more realistic concern than age.”
“But they say Lady Riana and His Grace already… you know…”
“Just nonsense! Surely! Isn’t there more than one reason a maid might enter her master’s bedroom?”
“But that maid doesn’t exactly look like someone who’d only be going in there to do chores!”
“That’s just your opinion! Our duke’s standards aren’t ordinary. At least say something believable!”
It sounded as though they were about to start fighting.
Gray had spent the entire day doing personal training, so he had no idea what rumors were circulating.
This was the first he had heard of any of it.
He already knew that the ducal castle was practically another city within the capital.
With so many people living together, rumors were inevitable.
Whether they were true or not.
Usually they were meaningless stories—a maid caught stealing and severely punished, a servant and another maid having a loud affair and breaking up after a huge fight…
Gray had always ignored such worthless gossip.
The other knights were much the same, caring more about their muscles and the muscles of the man standing next to them than anything else.
Avoiding gossip had been easy.
But this time…
This time he couldn’t simply ignore it.
So Riana’s the subject of everyone’s gossip now.
Gray ground his boot into the dirt floor.
A chill spread through him as though hailstones had struck his head.
Could it actually be true?
He remembered the way Riana had looked at Killian Droche.
He also remembered how long—and with what expression—Killian had stared after Riana as she walked away.
For the first time, Gray found himself wondering whether those absurd rumors might actually be true.
An indescribable sense of discomfort weighed heavily on his chest.
What was this miserable feeling called?
No matter how many new things he learned, what happened inside his own heart remained an unknown territory.
Meanwhile, inside the stable, the two men had grown increasingly emotional.
Their voices rose higher and higher, on the verge of becoming a full-blown argument.
