After seeing the lord and his lady enter the southern wing, the three attendants turned back.

As soon as they entered the central hall, Martha and Joanne covered their faces with both hands, looked at each other, and let out soft, excited squeals.

Joy, standing nearby, flinched in surprise.

“Oh, this is so thrilling!”

“Me too, me too!”

“Don’t you smell something sweet in the air?”

“It feels like the start of a romance. Doesn’t it?”

‘Excuse me, those two are already married,’ Joy thought to herself.

‘And besides…’

Joy recalled a scene she had witnessed before.

‘It seems like their relationship was already strong, even back then.’

“But our Madam is truly so beautiful. When I first saw her, I thought, ‘Can a person even look like that?’”

“I find Madam’s hair so fascinating. How does it sparkle like that? I wish I could touch it just once. I could braid it so beautifully.”

“Oh, by the way, Joy. I know you’re not the type, but we need to be careful about what we say.”

“About what?”

“Hoffman gave strict orders not to speak of anything related to Madam.”

Joy nodded.

Not that she thought she’d have anyone to gossip with about such things.

 

❖ ❖ ❖

 

“Aren’t you busy?”

Cecilia broke the silence first.

“It’s been two months since the guild caravan came in. You seemed busy yesterday.”

“Most of it was finished yesterday. I don’t handle every little detail myself.”

“So, when are you going out again?”

Russell thought over the meaning of her words.

Before he could misinterpret, she clarified.

“Hoffman mentioned that you’d be quite busy until winter arrives. He said you’re hardly ever in the castle during that time. But there are still more than two weeks left until winter.”

“There hasn’t been any urgent message yet.”

“Message from whom?”

“The nearby villages.”

“What do you do when you get those messages?”

“Mainly… hunting. Right before winter is when mutated beasts are most active. They need to prepare for winter, too, so they attack villages, stealing stored food or taking livestock and even people.”

Cecilia’s expression shifted as she realized something.

“So, a ‘hunter’ really is a literal hunter. Do you go out and hunt them yourself?”

“It’s similar to what goes on in the Grand Duchy. If a band of thieves were to attack a local estate, the Grand Duke would send knights to subdue them.”

‘Not at all similar,’ Cecilia thought.

In the grand duchy, knights were the sword and shield that protected the duke’s authority.

She had never heard of the grand duke deploying knights for the sake of the people in rural areas.

And as for the grand duke himself going out?

That would never happen.

The grand duke never set foot outside the safety of his palatial estate.

Cecilia pointed to a hallway leading down a corridor she hadn’t explored before and asked,

“What’s down this way?”

“Hm…”

Russell searched his memory.

It had been a long time since he’d last been here.

“The most memorable room would be the Hall of Mirrors.”

“Hall of Mirrors? Does that mean it’s full of mirrors?”

“More or less. The walls and ceiling are covered with mirrors. I don’t know what it was originally used for, though.”

“That sounds interesting. I want to see it.”

The entrance to the Hall of Mirrors had a door.

The frame and large panels of the door were made of metal, with mirrors attached to it.

The rusty hinges squeaked loudly as Russell opened the door.

Cecilia stepped inside, her eyes widening as she looked around the room.

Just as he had said, the walls and even the ceiling were completely covered in mirrors.

It was impossible to gauge the exact size of the room due to the optical illusion, but it was quite spacious.

Their reflections in the mirrors were reflected back and forth endlessly, creating a feeling that the room was filled with people, even though it was just the two of them.

Cecilia slowly turned her head, looking at her own reflection from different angles—front, sides.

She liked looking in mirrors.

She enjoyed the admiring glances people gave her beauty.

So she would often gaze into mirrors with satisfaction.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t really looked in a mirror since coming to Lagos Castle.

She was experiencing something unusual.

Despite the countless reflections of herself in the mirrors, the only person she truly noticed was Russell.