The mood took an odd turn.
Sensing it, Lord Kerif quickly bowed his head.
“It was my idea to go together. So if there’s a problem, please take it up with me…”
His attempt to defend me made the Emperor’s lips twist even more.
His voice was harsher than usual as he spoke.
Lord Kerif bit his lips in silence.
Watching this unfold, I felt like I was sitting on a bed of thorns—utterly uncomfortable.
If he had done anything wrong, it was only being kind to me. I just felt sorry about it.
The Emperor, eyeing Lord Kerif with clear displeasure, waved his fingers arrogantly and commanded:
“Get out of my sight.”
“…Excuse me. Then I’ll take my leave.”
Watching Lord Kerif’s back as he left filled me with a heavy heart.
I couldn’t help but voice my quiet resentment.
“Was that really necessary?”
“Of course. Just the fact that he’s in Hamilton disgusts me.”
Based on what I heard at the tower, I could understand, to some extent, why the Emperor hated Lord Kerif.
A child born between his father and another woman while his mother was pregnant…
But still, wasn’t this too harsh?
“Lord Kerif… because of me…”
The guilt weighed down on me.
At that moment, the Emperor let out a low sigh and looked at me.
“So, what was it you wanted to say to me?”
Right—I’d come here originally to ask for his opinion about the Duchess’s tea party invitation.
Shaking off the discomfort, I got straight to the point.
“Oh, I received an invitation.”
“An invitation?”
“Yes, and one of them is to the Duchess’s tea party. I’m thinking of attending. But… I’d have to go to her mansion.”
I was nervous he’d flatly refuse.
“Where’s the invitation?”
“Ah, here. I brought it.”
I handed him the Duchess’s invitation I’d kept.
After reading it, a smirk formed on his lips.
“A tea party only for ladies, huh? It’s clearly a trap.”
“Most likely, yes.”
“And yet you’re going?”
I fidgeted with my fingers before nodding.
“Yes. I think I should.”
It had been days since arriving in Hamilton, and we’d made little progress in proving my innocence.
We hadn’t secured a single convincing piece of evidence. So even if it was a trap, it seemed too valuable a chance to pass up.
“The Duchess is not someone to take lightly. She’s greedy, and she’ll do anything to get what she wants.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
His expression as he looked at me was somewhat meaningful.
After a brief silence, the answer I’d been waiting for came from his lips.
“I’ll assign Walton as your escort knight.”
That was his way of giving me permission to attend the tea party.
I replied in an excited voice.
“Thank you! I’ll do my best!”
Of course, I didn’t expect anything hopeful to come of this.
I had only just seen someone die before my eyes this afternoon and was shaken.
But even if things are frightening or unclear, I have to muster courage and move forward.
Only then will another path open.
Just as our conversation ended, Sir Samuel stepped out from the meeting hall.
Upon spotting us, he walked over.
“Lord Argon, it’s time for the meeting. You should be heading in soon.”
Just as the Emperor rose from his seat and started toward the meeting room, he suddenly turned back.
“If you don’t want to be caught off guard, you’d better learn Hamilton-style etiquette in advance.”
“Hamilton-style etiquette? Where would I learn something like that? There are only four days left until the tea party…”
The Emperor’s gaze shifted toward Sir Samuel, who was standing nearby.
“Fortunately, I have a very capable aide at my disposal.”
Realizing he was about to be saddled with a troublesome task, Sir Samuel’s face immediately twisted with displeasure. He protested, his voice brimming with complaint.
“Me? I’m already drowning in urgent work—it’s practically bursting at the seams…!”
“If I were to give you a bonus worth half your monthly salary?”
At that, a spark lit in Sir Samuel’s eyes.
His expression, which had been turning ashen, quickly returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
Not stopping there, he even raised one hand like a knight and bowed deeply, swearing allegiance to the Emperor.
“Leave it to me, Your Majesty. Even if it burns this body to death, I shall faithfully carry out your command. Where shall we begin?”
The Emperor smirked at the overly dramatic response.
“Start with high society etiquette. Begin right after this meeting ends. The tea party is in four days.”
“Four days? That’s even tighter than I thought… but not impossible. Not with someone as capable as me.”
With confidence in his eyes, Sir Samuel adjusted his glasses.
“I’ll come to your room as soon as the meeting’s over, Miss Mayhen.”
“Alright, see you later.”
With that, I returned to my room with Perry.
In order to learn something properly, one has to expend quite a bit of energy.
So I decided to lie down on the bed and take a good rest before Sir Samuel arrived.
“It feels like I’ve learned a lot today.”
Deputy Leader Ledith, Sir Walton, Sir Jem, and finally Lord Kerif—all of them carried complex stories of their own.
Although I’d come to Hamilton under the cloud of suspicion as an assassin, if I had remained in Medderand all this time, would I have ever had the chance to meet people like them?
“Probably never.”
Even if I somehow ended up working as an honorable resolver of divine will, we dual-bloods could never fully reveal ourselves to the outside world.
That was a basic principle of our role.
So maybe I would have simply longed for a world out of reach, then eventually married whoever my family had arranged, and quietly accepted my fate, living like all the other dual-bloods.
“Hey, Perry.”
“What?”
Perry answered with a sulky tone, annoyance dripping from every word.
“You know… I think I actually kind of like how things are now.”
“…What?”
“If nothing else, I got to meet you, Perry.”
For a moment, Perry looked genuinely flustered—then snorted in response.
“As if. You’re just a pain.”
It was a spiteful remark, but it didn’t feel bad either.
I guess I had grown quite attached to Perry during our time together.
In fact, even if someone became a fixer with great effort, there weren’t many who decided to step outside into the world.
After all, beyond the walls of Medderland, all kinds of terrifying things were said to be lurking.
The majority of sheep, who were timid, preferred to stay within the comfortable fence.
“If it were me, I would’ve run straight out into the world. It’s really strange.”
As I continued my solo thoughts, I suddenly remembered the back of Sir Kerif from earlier.
I felt both grateful and, at the same time, guilty. I wanted to somehow repay him for his kindness.
“Hmm, what would be good?”
There was a tradition in Medderland when a child was born.
It was customary to place the parents’ hair lock in a cloth sheep doll and give it as a gift.
The sheep-shaped deity, Briya, was believed to stay by the child and bring them blessings.
Following that meaning, it seemed like Briya would look after Sir Kerif’s younger sibling well.
“I should try making one sometime soon.”
Just then, a knock came from beyond the door.
Knock, knock.
“It’s me, Lady Mayhen.”
It was Sir Samuel’s voice.
He arrived earlier than I had expected. I straightened my disheveled clothes and got up from the bed.
“Yes, come in!”
Behind Sir Samuel stood some servants, carrying various dishes that were placed on a three-tiered shelf.
“What’s this?”
“These are things Lady Mayhen will need to use naturally during the tea party.”
Since I was from the Slimella family, I had learned the basic etiquette since I was young.
However, there were many tools I had never seen before in Medderland, but they were common here in Hamilton.
“You don’t expect me to use all of this, do you?”
“Not all of them, but it wouldn’t hurt to know them. After all, you never know what kind of words might come up in a place where women as venomous as vipers gather.”
The mere thought of such women made Sir Samuel shudder.
He then glanced at Perry, who had a grumpy expression, and spoke to her.
“Why don’t you learn with Lady Mayhen as well? I’m sure it will come in handy.”
“Well, I’m fine with just the skills I use when slicing people.”
Even though Perry responded nonchalantly, Sir Samuel didn’t seem disappointed.
Perhaps he had expected such a reaction from the beginning.
“Well then, you can just watch. I won’t force you.”
After that, Sir Samuel’s full-fledged lesson began.
He showed me two similarly shaped knives and explained their differences.
“This is a cheese knife, and this is a dessert knife. If you look closely, you can see the differences, right?”
“It feels like I need to look too closely.”
“It’s just that you’re not used to it yet. You’ll get the hang of it soon.”
For several hours, I listened to lessons about the proper etiquette for tea parties that I needed to learn as a lady.
Unlike when we were simply talking, Sir Samuel was quite stern when teaching.
But thanks to that, I was able to learn for sure, and I was glad about it.
“I remember he said I shouldn’t let the teaspoon make a sound when stirring sugar into the
teacup, right?”
As I gently stirred with the teaspoon, Sir Samuel smiled softly.
“Shall we take a short break?”
“Yes, I’ve been in desperate need of a break!”
“Considering the tight schedule, I appreciate your understanding as I’ve been pushing you hard. But seeing how well you’re keeping up, Lady Mayhen, I feel a sense of accomplishment as well.”
I hadn’t had the chance to talk so closely with Sir Samuel before.
But now, as we were having a lesson, it seemed like I could easily ask him the questions I’d been curious about regarding the Emperor.
“Sir Samuel, I have something I’m curious about.”
“What is it? I’m happy to answer anything for such a passionate student!”
His gaze seemed touched, and for some reason, I felt a little guilty.