UDBL~29

CHAPTER 29

Riana stared nervously at Cecilia, who was holding the Forsthive Weekly, urging her to read faster.

Cecilia had the prettiest voice among the maids, so she was the one assigned to read news articles out loud.

After clearing her throat quietly, Cecilia finally began reading.

“The charges of smuggling cooperation against Duke Droche have been completely cleared. Undeniably, he was found entirely innocent.”

At that first sentence, Riana let out a deep sigh of relief and placed a hand on her chest.

“Whew—Forsthive is so two-faced. They were the first to throw accusations, and now this.”

Though she grumbled, she couldn’t stop smiling in relief.

But just then, Cecilia’s voice turned somber.

“—However, the clean and clear trial didn’t last long. This writer has chosen to call today’s trial: ‘The Bloodstained Trial.’”

“What?!”

“What do you mean?!”

The maids started murmuring in confusion, so Cecilia shushed them and continued reading.

“Right after the verdict, an assailant who held a grudge against Minister Gilderoy pulled out a knife, and the courtroom turned into chaos. A 23-year-old witness stepped in to save the minister and got injured instead. Though the attacker was caught at the scene, the courtroom couldn’t be cleared for some time.”

Gasps of “Oh no!” and “That’s why they’re late!” burst out from all directions.

Since Cecilia couldn’t keep reading with all the noise, Riana snatched the paper from her hands.

“The young man is safe. More than just safe—in recognition of his bravery… he was specially appointed into the Duke’s knight order?!”

Thud.

The magazine slipped from Riana’s frozen hand and hit the table.

What the heck is this nonsense?

A maid quickly grabbed the fallen page. All the other maids were so into the story that they couldn’t wait for someone to read it out loud.

“In a kingdom where noble duty to give back is often forgotten, Duke Droche proved his righteous beliefs. Taking in the man who saved his family member, Minister Gilderoy, is a noble act worthy of wiping away any slander. Today, the Duke has gained both innocence and honor.”

It was a happy ending.

The maids put their hands over their hearts and sighed in relief. Even Mrs. Baker, who rarely smiled, let a small grin slip.

“Well, it all ended well. Our Duke cleared his name—”

And just like that, the maids around the table began pulling things out one by one.

“—and we’re happy to have a new knight.”

From nowhere, black-and-white photos, half-finished crafts, and all sorts of keepsakes were spread out on the table.

By the time Riana recovered from the shock, the topic of conversation had already completely changed.

“Sir Chase’s fencing gloves were worn out, you know? You remember, right? He never uses the issued ones—only the gloves his mother back home made him.”

“Of course, of course.”

“So I offered to repair them, and he gladly handed them over!”

The red-haired maid pulled out a pair of leather gloves from her pocket. Gasping sounds came from all around.

“Oh my! Are those really the gloves Sir Chase uses?”

“Yes, they are.”

“I want to touch them too!”

“Me too! I like Sir Chase too!”

Ahem—a bespectacled maid cleared her throat, quieting the crowd and drawing attention.

“You all know about the handkerchief I embroidered over two months, right? Well, this morning during training, Sir Ander wiped his sweat with it.”

“Waaah—!”

Cheers and applause erupted.

While everyone was caught up in the excitement, Riana sat blinking blankly by herself.

‘What is this?’

What else? It’s a knight fan club.

“Now that we know a new knight is joining, shouldn’t we prepare a proper welcome, hmm?”

Mrs. Baker took charge, and a meeting began. Should they throw a party? Prepare gifts? Write welcome letters…?

“I guess I’ll leave now since I got the update…”

Riana stood up quietly, but no one paid attention.

“Hey? I said I’m leaving.”

Sigh. Giving up on a proper goodbye, she quietly exited the kitchen.

Step, step. Riana walked slowly toward the main building.

‘I have to live under the same roof as Grey now…’

“Sigh…”

Just thinking about it made her let out another sigh. It was such an unfortunate situation.

The only good thing was that the knight order stayed in the southern wing of the estate, while she mostly stayed in the northern side. If she avoided him well enough, she might not have to deal with him at all.

‘All I have now are more people to avoid!’

At this rate, she might become a hide-and-seek master.

As she climbed to the 4th floor, she sighed again—and just like the saying “speak of the devil,” the person she didn’t want to see was right there.

‘The Duke of Veloci?’

Riana quickly hid before he could notice her and peeked at the man pacing in front of her room.

‘Why is he here? Don’t tell me he heard my name somewhere?’

Her heart pounded at the thought he might’ve found out her identity.

Thankfully, Duke Veloci soon left the hallway.

Riana secretly followed with her eyes until he exited the building. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief and head back into her room.

“Sigh…”

Living with multiple male leads under one roof is seriously exhausting.

Even in her own room, Riana couldn’t sit still. She kept pacing, nervously biting her lips.

“Could he really have recognized me?”

But no matter how much she wondered, there was no answer.

So she made up her mind. She had to find out whether Veloci really knew her name and identity.

Of course, she couldn’t just go ask him directly…

She peeked out the window and saw her downstairs neighbor, Duke Veloci, walking away.

‘I’ll ask someone who’s met him before.’

Riana walked over to the wall. There was a cabinet filled with fancy teacups.

Without hesitation, she pushed over the large piece of furniture. Thus began the second round of intentional noise complaints.

CRASH!

“Oh no!”

Then she peeked her head out the door and called out.

“This is terrible! My room’s a mess! Sophia! Sophia!”

Sure enough, Sophia came rushing out from the room next door.

“What happened?!”

“I accidentally knocked over the cabinet. Could you help me clean it up?”

Though Sophia liked to butt into all sorts of tasks, she was actually in charge of cleaning the main building.

She rolled up her sleeves with determination.

“Of course!”

The Droche estate had magic placed all throughout, so most chores didn’t require people.

The bathtub heated itself, towels floated over, dishes cleaned themselves once put away—so no bath attendants or dishwashers were needed.

Same for cleaning. The tools moved on their own, sweeping the floors and wiping windows.

So then, what do the maids do?

“Clean everything. Someone could get hurt stepping on ceramic shards. Hey, yellow broom! Not you. Go get the one with tighter bristles. You’re no good.”

The yellow broom left the room, looking strangely sulky.

“How interesting.”

Riana had heard that the maids mostly managed the enchanted tools, but this was her first time seeing it in action.

At her quiet remark, Sophia shrugged.

“No big deal. Though, honestly, the tools have been acting up lately… I was planning to tell the butler and schedule a magic checkup.”

Riana didn’t care about that at all. Cleaning wasn’t the reason she had called Sophia.

“By the way, Sophia. Did you and Duke Veloci ever visit my room recently?”

As the new broom swept diligently, Sophia smiled, pleased.

“How did you know? I thought you weren’t here at the time.”

Saying “I thought you weren’t here” meant she really wasn’t sure. In other words, they didn’t actually enter the room.

“I must’ve been in a really deep sleep. I thought I heard your voices, but assumed I was dreaming.”

Riana laughed awkwardly and casually brought up the real question.

“But… did Duke Veloci mention why he was looking for me?”

“He said it was because of the noise from your room.”

“That’s all?”

“Probably. At least that’s all I heard.”

Now for the important part.

“Did he seem like he knew my name?”

“Hm? I don’t think he ever mentioned it.”

Hmm.

Riana clicked her tongue, thinking this was all a waste. She’d just ruined a nice teacup set.

If Veloci did know who she really was, everything would be over—her stay here, her paycheck, all of it. She’d have to flee immediately.

So for now, she had to assume he didn’t know and come up with safety measures.

Maybe he really was just sensitive to noise?

“Sophia.”

“Just call me Sophia. Turns out we’re the same age.”

“…Really?”

Riana stared at her in disbelief. She thought Sophia was way older than her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…It’s nothing.”

She tried to act like it was nothing, but it was obvious. Sophia’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“Just wait until you’ve been working for five years…”