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Adele opened her eyes on the soft bed she had grown accustomed to.
Her whole body felt stiff. She hadn’t noticed yesterday due to the shock, but it seemed her body had been tense.
As soon as she raised her upper body, Epony entered the room.
” Miss, you coughed.”
Epony looked surprised seeing Adele, then quickly approached like a squirrel.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. And you, Epony?”
“Of course. I’ve heated some water for you to wash. What would you like for breakfast? If your stomach feels uneasy…”
She seemed somewhat flustered. Adele shook her head.
“It’s fine. Serve it as usual.”
“The chef will be delighted.”
They say humans are creatures of adaptation. Adele gracefully headed to the bathroom, her thin white negligee fluttering.
Yellow rose petals floated in the bathtub. The scent of roses wafted with the warm steam.
Without a trace of shame, Adele removed her negligee with Epony’s assistance and entered the tub.
“Nice fragrance.”
As she murmured, Epony responded.
“The roses were brought from the nearby Topolo village at dawn. Their roses are excellent.”
“Topolo?”
“Have you been there?”
“A little.”
She had been there briefly when working as a drug courier.
Back then, Topolo appeared to Adele as a dreary city. Of course, that was because she only frequented the back alleys.
How interesting that a single village could be both a village of roses and drugs.
With these thoughts, she accepted Epony’s touch as she combed her hair.
For washing, she used pinkish salt and milky soap with a milk scent. Adele finished bathing in cream-like bubbles, feeling almost drowsy.
Epony took charge of applying violet oil to Adele’s hair and braiding it into a style.
Adele waited in a thin robe, sitting on a porcelain chair until Epony brought out her indoor clothes. She had grown quite accustomed to this now.
“Sorry for the wait.”
Soon after, Epony brought today’s outfit. It was a light green sarasa dress printed with butterflies and flowers.
Epony set up a partition, applied fragrant oil all over Adele’s body, then helped her into the dress.
“Is anything uncomfortable?”
“The chest is a bit tight.”
“It can’t be helped since it’s Lady Katarina’s dress. She was quite thin. You’re slim too, Miss, but you’re taller and have a larger chest.”
Epony spoke to Adele through the mirror.
“But in my opinion, I think the young master will soon allocate you a dignity maintenance fund.”
“Dignity maintenance fund?”
“For buying clothes and accessories. Until now, you’ve been wearing Lady Katarina’s clothes, but now that you’ve caught the young master’s eye…”
Caught his eye? What a strange expression.
Epony glanced at the blinking Adele through the mirror. She averted her gaze, pretending to pin a pearl in Adele’s hair.
“The shawl you were using belonged to Lady Katarina. And the young master doesn’t share particularly good feelings with his mother, Lady Katarina.”
Ah, I see.
Adele nodded indifferently. It’s common for children to dislike their parents. There’s no need to consider it a disgrace.
After putting on a thin bracelet made of carved coral, Adele sat on the sofa in the reception room.
As if they had been waiting, maids entered. They came with several silver trolleys.
It was the first time Adele had seen so many maids at once.
Upon closer inspection, they were indeed different from Lucrezia’s maid who had visited her.
They all wore black flannel dresses that fit their bodies perfectly. The short-frilled white headdresses covered only their hair, leaving their faces exposed.
Moreover, they made no sound as they moved, and it seemed as if they weren’t even breathing.
Without Epony’s instructions, the maids set the table in perfect unison. Then, they slipped out of the room as silently as sand falling through fingers.
After they left, Adele spoke.
“Thank you for being considerate, Epony.”
“Pardon?”
“You showed me the maids so I won’t be fooled in the future, right?”
Epony rolled her sky-blue eyes slightly.
“It was the young master’s order.”
“Big brother?”
“He’s more thoughtful than he appears.”
There was much to say, but Adele lacked the courage to criticize someone close to a son in front of someone close to a mother. She nodded vaguely.
Epony must have been considerate, the breakfast consisted entirely of easy-to-eat foods.
There was lentil soup with a chicken broth base topped with grilled scallops, saffron risotto sautéed in butter, and duck breast cooked until tender with a crosshatch pattern on the skin.
Epony watched as Adele’s eyes widened at the aroma of the saffron risotto, then carefully spoke.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Yes. I’m not hurt anywhere.”
“…I’m glad. Truly.”
Epony’s response sounded somewhat uneasy.
Adele looked up at her quizzically. She saw guilt in those blue eyes.
‘Come to think of it, did anyone ask if I was okay yesterday?’
Neither Cesare, nor Guido Rossi. Not even Epony or Gigi. Even Giotto Grimaldi, the physician, didn’t examine Adele.
Rather, no one had mentioned that there was someone here who had fallen from six stories high and needed to be checked.
Adele took another bite of the risotto.
The time for feeling sad about such things had long passed.
Besides, with the head of the Buonaparte family injured, who would care about a mere shoe shiner who fell from six stories high?
But Epony’s heart seemed to feel differently.
“Miss, I’m sorry I couldn’t take care of you yesterday…”
“It’s okay. I’m not angry or upset.”
Adele deliberately interrupted Epony, stabbing a shelled bean on her plate with her fork.
“What about the maid who pushed me?”
“……”
Epony pressed her lips together, expressing her dissatisfaction with this sudden change of topic, then calmly said.
“She was found in the sewer. Her face was mutilated, making identification difficult, but you mentioned hazelnut-colored hair, so it must be her.”
“I see…”
Suddenly, Adele lost her appetite.
“Her clothes were removed, perhaps to destroy evidence…”
Epony leaned in and whispered.
“There was a large stab wound in the same area where the young master was injured.”
Adele swallowed hard as she chewed the shelled bean.
Lucrezia. A frightening woman. So she hurt her own man, did she?
Her actions were reckless, but she was quick to cut loose ends and ruthless in cleaning up.
Considering the timing, it was clear that she had brought in a new maid from the family immediately after sending the maid to kill Adele.
“It seems big brother wasn’t joking when he said he wanted to work with her. Has this happened before?”
“There have been occasional unfortunate accidents to ladies who showed interest in Master Cesare.”
“What will happen to Lady Lucrezia?”
“Since there’s no evidence, we can’t impose any sanctions on Lady Lucrezia.”
“It doesn’t have to be an official sanction, does it?”
“That’s true, but…”
Epony paused, as if hinting at the weight of the topic.
“She’s too high-profile. The commoners adore Lady Lucrezia. She’s also renowned as a beauty in social circles. She’s deeply versed in archaeology and aesthetics, lending her abilities to many families. Including the Buonapartes, of course. If anything were to happen to her, all of Fornatia would be in an uproar trying to find the culprit.”
It means it’s difficult to handle this discreetly, Adele thought.
Nodding, she pushed her plate away.
Epony kindly took out the last remaining orange soufflé dish from the trolley.
“You must feel disappointed and upset…”
“No. It’s survival of the fittest, the strong eat the weak.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
Epony spoke as if she was truly relieved.
“But this might actually be good for you, Miss. From today, there will be no lessons for a while. The young master has ordered you to review what you’ve learned so far.”
Adele paused as she was about to pick up the small dessert spoon.
“What about Madame Flavia?”
Epony gave a slightly troubled smile.
“The young master is in the process of recruiting a new governess, but due to his current busy schedule with public affairs, it’s been delayed. He said lessons would resume after the Orquenina envoy leaves.”
Adele nodded. It seems the Madame has already become shark bait, or rather, minced meat. With that, Adele lost all interest in Madame Flavia Loredan.
As Adele’s eyes sparkled while eating the orange soufflé sprinkled with powdered sugar, Epony asked, seemingly relieved.
“By the way, when would you like to change into your outdoor clothes? We haven’t received the dignity maintenance budget yet, so you’ll have to wear Lady Katarina’s clothes, but…”
Adele paused as she was about to put the spoon in her mouth.
“Outdoor clothes?”
This time, it was Epony who looked puzzled.
“I heard you were assigned to take care of the young master. He also said you should start from today.”
Clang.
Adele dropped her spoon.
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