The Empress Dowager rested her chin on her hand and grinned.

“Linna needs to cut back on drinking a bit. Don’t you agree?”

“Yes, Your Majesty…”

“Madam Lorant, Linna is someone I cherish, so I hope you’ll let it go. But I do agree that what happened could be seen as disloyalty to me. Though Linna and I are very close, naturally you may feel differently.”

The Empress Dowager’s eyes glinted coldly as she looked at Linna.

“So, Linna, if you bow your head and apologize to me, I think Madam Lorant’s misunderstanding will be cleared up. What do you think?”

Ray clicked his tongue inwardly.

As expected of a wily old fox of high society—her ability to steer things exactly as she wanted was exceptional.

She couldn’t directly force an apology over some muttered words outside, so she was crafting a situation where an apology became inevitable…

‘She probably ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) gave that lady-in-waiting the signal to act by asking her for water.’

And seeing Linna already preparing to apologize, even with that wronged look in her eyes, it was clear this kind of thing had happened more than once.

Ray could clearly see what was happening and felt a little sorry for her, but he had no intention of stepping in.

Helping Linna wouldn’t gain him anything, and he didn’t like her enough to take her side.

If anything, he was closer to disliking her.

Sure, the Earth Divine Beast had started acting maliciously when Linna was still a child, so Ray wasn’t foolish enough to blame her for everything… but that didn’t mean he could feel anything good toward her.

That’s when it happened.

“Um… Madam Lorant?”

Quietly, Rosie, standing behind Linna, spoke slowly.

“I’m sorry, but… for such a long, even scratch mark to appear, wouldn’t it take more than just a second? Did you just stand still, Madam? Normally, wouldn’t a person push back or dodge?”

“W-what?”

Madam Lorant was visibly flustered for a moment before she quickly responded.

“T-that’s because! Lady Linna poured the wine she was holding over my head… I was too stunned to react.”

“Ah…”

Rosie rolled her eyes slightly, then tilted her head and spoke again.

“I see. But Lady Linna is left-handed. She always holds her wine glass in her left hand…”

Linna flinched and looked at Rosie in maid’s clothing. Then her eyes shifted to the teacup still in her own left hand.

“And even when she fell down the Second Class staircase afterward, she was still holding the wine glass. You can ask the knight stationed by the stairs at the time. I handed that wine glass over to him myself.”

“B-but! You can scratch someone’s cheek just fine with your right hand…”

“You said it happened in front of the second-floor staircase…”

Rosie blinked slowly and spoke.

“If you were standing with your back to the stairs, where no one else could see, then structurally, based on the ship’s layout, the wall would’ve been on your right… from your position, Madam Lorant…”

As the Empress Dowager’s brow began to furrow, Ray smiled inwardly.

He thought he understood why Rosie was siding with Linna.

It was probably just… “because she couldn’t bear to ignore it.”

Just like she had with Theo. Just like she had with him.

It didn’t sit right with her to let someone be falsely accused like this.

Even if that someone was Linna Idra.

“Hm, so… she twisted her arms into an X, poured wine with her wine glass hand, and used her right hand to scratch a straight line across your cheek while drunk and staggering…”

Rosie shrugged and let out a deep sigh.

“If that’s really what happened, perhaps Lady Linna should consider changing careers to the circus…”

The content was a complete mess, but her expression and tone were dead serious. It was exactly how Ray remembered Rosie from childhood.

That slow, strangely uninterested way of speaking—needlessly serious and logical—and before you knew it, she’d unraveled everything and flipped it on its head…

“Of course, noble status is impressive, but in the end, the names remembered most last longest in history are often the artists who marked an era.”

A moment of silence followed Rosie’s words.

Then Ray exaggeratedly let out a sigh.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“That maid seems to be right.”

Now that he heard it, the scratch on the cheek really was an unusually long, clean line.

That mark was likely made by the Empress Dowager herself.

The maid must have irritated her last night, and the Empress Dowager punished her personally.

Otherwise, how could someone in service to the Empress Dowager have stayed still long enough to be scratched like that?

And while Ray had no intention of taking Linna’s side, he was willing to back Rosie.

“Even if she tried to reenact it while sober, I doubt Lady Linna could pull it off. Honestly, I don’t think most people could.”

With Ray joining in, an uncomfortable silence fell over the table.

“I-I-I’m sorry!”

Finally, unable to endure the situation any longer, Madam Lorant dropped to her knees again.

“I truly apologize! Your Majesty the Empress Dowager! The truth is, I was jealous of the affection Lady Linna received from Your Majesty, so I made it up!”

“Phew.”

The Empress Dowager shook her head with a displeased expression.

“That won’t do… Linna is like your niece, and you’re jealous? Leave at once. I won’t let this go.”

Then she turned to Linna with a beaming smile and said,

“My maid did a wicked thing. I’ll give her a proper scolding once the guests are gone. There are so many guests now—I don’t want to ruin the mood.”

“Yes, Your Majesty…”

Linna did not grow angry at the absurdly biased judgment. In fact, she even looked a little moved.

She kept glancing at Rosie with eyes full of gratitude, seemingly relieved simply not to be bowing and apologizing for something she didn’t do.

Rosie just stood there politely, as if it were nothing at all.

Ray looked at Rosie impulsively and said,

“That maid is clever. Seems kind, too. Now that I look closer, she’s rather charming.”

Before Rosie could say anything, Linna answered snappily.

“Thank you. She’s my maid. And don’t flirt.”

Having lost her chance to respond, Rosie exchanged a playful smile with Ray.

‘You’re back, Rosie.’

And Ray thought that alone was enough.

‘You really came back exactly as you were before.’

He even liked that Zahid wasn’t here.

Even though he knew Rosie didn’t see him as anything more than a friend, he couldn’t help but feel a little flutter.

Then—

A commotion began outside.

“Ruff! Ruff! Ruff ruff!”

“That sound…”

The Empress Dowager tilted her head.

“Isn’t that the sound of the Duke of Dyfenril’s Divine Beast barking?”

At the same time, the voices of the maids murmuring outside could be heard.

“The Duke? Why is he…?”

“Didn’t he leave earlier?”

And then came Zahid’s low voice.

“Who is inside?”

“Ah… Lord Ray Lavendal and Lady Linna Idra are inside.”

A look of disbelief crossed Ray’s face. Judging by Rosie’s stunned expression, it was clear even she hadn’t anticipated this situation.

‘Persistent bastard…’

Ray clicked his tongue in his mind.

It hadn’t been long since he’d felt flutters from exchanging glances with Rosie in Zahid’s absence…

‘And here he comes.’

And soon after, the door burst open with a bang. As if he couldn’t even wait for a maid to open it, someone had gestured urgently.

“Duke of Dyfenril?”

The Empress Dowager slowly stood, blinking.

“Ahh… you’ve returned. Sit, please.”

She glanced at Linna, then clapped her hands and fussed excitedly.

“You must’ve come to see Lady Linna’s face! Oh dear, seeing you young people gathered like this makes me so happy.”

Her voice was even more animated than before, perhaps in an attempt to smooth over the earlier incident.

Zahid didn’t respond to the Empress Dowager’s words and quietly took a seat prepared by a maid.

Coincidentally, it was directly across from Linna. His violet eyes looked past her—straight at Rosie, as if intrigued.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep