Chapter 25

“Ah, Bianca.”

Daniel froze as if he’d been struck by lightning.

Several thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

He considered telling Bianca about the maid’s disrespectful behavior, but shut his mouth.

If he did that, she would obviously ask why those words had been exchanged in the first place.

Because of everything he himself had said, he couldn’t easily bring himself to speak.

Besides, just as Diena had said, he was too embarrassed to admit he’d received such humiliating insults from her.

So he hurriedly lowered his hand and forced an awkward smile.

“It was nothing. There was some dust in Miss Diena’s hair, so I was just trying to brush it off.”

“Why would you brush dust off Diena’s hair?”

However, Bianca seemed displeased.

“Bianca?”

“Why were you trying to touch Diena’s hair? Even I’ve never touched it before.”

Daniel’s face quickly became troubled.

He couldn’t understand why Bianca was reacting like this.

Then he came to a conclusion.

He thought Bianca was jealous of Diena.

It seemed that seeing her fiancé standing so close to Diena had bothered her.

‘Still, even so, for her to be this angry…’

Seeing Bianca genuinely angry for the first time in his life left Daniel flustered.

So much so that he completely forgot about Diena’s insolent behavior toward him.

She had acted prickly before, but this was the first time she had shown sincere anger.

“You really were just trying to brush off dust, right?”

Suspicion filled Bianca’s voice.

“Huh?”

“W-Well…”

At that moment, a small sound drew Daniel’s attention.

He slowly turned his head.

At the same time, his eyes widened.

Because Diena’s expression had completely changed from moments ago.

She looked downcast, lowering her eyes and hesitating like a dejected person.

“Wow, what in the…”

“Daniel. I asked if that’s true.”

“Y-Yes. Of course.”

Bianca was about to ask Diena directly, but stopped herself.

She figured it would be difficult for a commoner and a Non-Ability User like Diena to speak honestly in front of Daniel.

Flustered by Bianca’s cold gaze, Daniel quickly pointed toward the letter in her hand to change the subject.

“More importantly, who sent that letter? It seems important.”

But despite his efforts, Bianca’s mood showed no sign of improving.

Frowning deeply, she answered,

“It was from Lady Ediltum. She asked me to host a tea party this time.”

Daniel immediately brightened and chimed in.

“Lady Ediltum? She’s such a suitable friend for you, Lady Bianca. Someone of proper standing.”

“A friend?”

“Of course. Lady Ediltum has always wanted to become closer to you.”

“…”

“You should associate with refined young ladies like her. That’s how you maintain your status. They’re on an entirely different level from people who come from who-knows-where.”

At his strange tone, Bianca’s eyebrow twitched.

Her low voice cut him off.

“You’ve been saying weird things for a while now. What does it matter who I meet or what I do?”

“Bianca?”

Startled, Daniel cautiously studied her expression.

“Are you… very angry? Well, I suppose you could be jealous. But really, nothing happened.”

“What are you even talking about?”

The more he spoke, the worse her mood seemed to become.

In the end, Bianca spoke with a face that was clearly struggling to hold back anger.

“I don’t think this conversation is going anywhere today. You should leave now, Daniel.”

* * *

Daniel’s complexion was poor as he practically got kicked out of the estate.

After glancing around, he immediately climbed into a carriage and headed elsewhere.

His destination was a tavern completely devoid of customers.

When he entered, a bartender greeted him.

Daniel spoke urgently.

“Have they arrived?”

“Yes. They’re downstairs.”

Daniel nodded and headed down.

When he opened the basement door, he found a middle-aged man and a young girl wearing a hood seated inside.

The middle-aged man, Count Roche, immediately stood up when he saw his son’s twisted expression.

“How did it go?”

Instead of answering, Daniel irritably loosened his necktie and spoke.

“Reason doesn’t work on her. Even when I brought up Matilda, she showed absolutely no interest. All I managed to do was make Bianca angrier.”

“That young lady got angry at you? Why?”

“Well, I ended up doing something that could make her jealous. You know Bianca likes me.”

“I know.”

“I was only trying to put her maid in her place because she was acting insolently, but it ended up being misunderstood…”

“I see. That’s not necessarily bad. A reasonable amount of jealousy could actually make Lady Bianca become more attached to you.”

“Yes, that’s what I think as well. More importantly…”

“More importantly?”

“That new maid is strange.”

Daniel’s eyes gleamed.

Count Roche also looked sharply at his son.

“You mean the one who drove out Matilda and the other maids. What do you mean by strange?”

“Well…”

Daniel hesitated and closed his mouth.

He felt too embarrassed to repeat what Diena had done to him.

In the end, he gave only a brief explanation.

“Her way of speaking and her presence were impossible to believe for a commoner. She didn’t even blink while looking directly at me.”

Daniel frowned.

“She acted as though she were someone in a far higher position than me.”

At that moment, the girl who had been quietly listening to their conversation slowly removed her robe.

Brilliant golden hair cascaded over her shoulders.

“It seems Bianca has truly lost her mind. Taking in a commoner as her Dedicated Maid and all.”

Her name was Eshina Ediltum.

House Ediltum was the most powerful family in the North after House Kardian and possessed considerable influence.

Daniel merely shrugged despite Eshina insulting his fiancée.

With cold eyes, she continued.

“Seriously, Bianca needs to stop acting like an idiot and learn some restraint. Daniel, didn’t I tell you to keep Bianca under control? What are you going to do if she ends up tarnishing the name of House Kardian?”

Daniel narrowed his eyes.

It was painfully obvious why Eshina was angry.

‘Honestly. Does she think Varkan will pay attention to her if she does this?’

Eshina was aiming for the position of Varkan’s fiancée.

That was why she kept telling him to keep Bianca in line.

Her attitude made it seem as though she were already Varkan’s fiancée.

Daniel almost laughed.

“I think Bianca needs a warning. At this tea party, I’ll teach her some manners for the first time in a while. Along with that maid.”

However, Daniel didn’t bother arguing with Eshina’s next statement.

Being well versed in noble speech, he immediately understood what she really meant.

‘She’s planning to bully Bianca at the tea party.’