Duke Filiaregis’s residence in the aristocratic quarter of the royal capital of Nirvaan was shrouded in a heavy atmosphere. His family was still suffering from the aftermath of the scene Rocheford had caused. Scarlough and Freid were scrambling, visiting here and there to try and restore their honor. Christa had stayed holed up in her room ever since her relationship with Rocheford had been hinted at, and Diane was mentally unstable thanks to Christa.
“Hah…” Claud sighed while watering the flower beds. It had been almost a week since Drossell left the manor, and the atmosphere in the manor had deteriorated with each passing day. Scarlough and Diane had been the worst, their pent-up stress causing them to find fault with the servants over the tiniest things. They’d already fired two maids in the past week, and they’d literally just fired one of the butlers earlier.
Plus, when they tried to hire new staff members, they were immediately turned down. Claud had heard that it was getting harder for them to bring new people on after firing so many. Even the head butler had been scolded the other day over something minor. Every day, angry shouts rang out in the duke’s manor over one thing or another.
“It’s probably because Miss Drossell is gone.” Claud sighed once more while looking up at the manor. Drossell had been the most hated member of the duke’s family when she was there. He knew that Scarlough and the others had talked poorly about her in the shadows, even if they never acted out in front of her. He hadn’t been able to stop them or speak with Drossell unless spoken to first.
And now, the person the Filiaregises had been using as a target was no longer in their home. Considering how bad things already were, he didn’t want to imagine how bad they could get in the future.
“Claud, I’m going to head out!” a middle-aged gardener called from behind Claud. He was leaving early because he had work at another mansion today. Many gardeners were contracted to work with multiple noble families.
“Okay, good job today.” Claud waved goodbye before taking a breath and continuing his work. He also planned to finish a little earlier than usual today; he’d promised to get drinks with Ruvik.
I’ve never been able to go out for drinks with him. Since he was a live-in servant, he never had the time…
CRASH!
The crack of something breaking cut through Claud’s train of thought. Wondering what it was, he whipped around and saw a young gardener nearby, clutching his head with both hands and trembling. When Claud looked at his feet, he saw that a pot that could barely be held with both hands had shattered. Pottery shards mixed with soil, and the plants that had been inside the pot were scattered on the ground.
Seeing that, the blood drained from Claud’s face. The mullolia, a rare flower from the south, had been planted in that large pot. It was bad enough that it had been ruined, but what made things worse was that it was Christa’s favorite flower.
Claud’s mind froze for a moment—he could easily guess what lay in store for them—but he quickly shook his panic off and ran over to the gardener. “What happened? Are you all right?”
“Sir…” The flustered young gardener was new at the duke’s manor and had only been working there a few days. “I’m terribly sorry! It’s my fault that the f-flower is…”
“Calm down. You’re not hurt, are you?”
“N-No… B-But what should we do? I’ve done something horrible!”
All of the servants were acutely aware of how heavy the atmosphere had been in the manor the past few days. Perhaps out of fear, the gardener crouched down and buried his head in his hands.
“Wh-Wh-Wh-What should I do, sir?!”
“Just calm down. First, we need to replant the flower in another pot. Leaving the shards here is dangerous, so let’s hurry and clean them u—”
“What’s going on here?” came the voice Claud wanted to hear the least at that moment. He turned around and sure enough he saw Diane, who had come down to see what the commotion was about.
Diane approached, not even attempting to hide her displeasure with her fan. As soon as she saw the mess on the ground, her eyes narrowed and her face reddened in anger.
“What have you done?! That is Christa’s favorite flower! Do you have any idea how hard it was to get it here?!” In her fury, the fan she’d been holding cracked in half with a dry sound. She threw the broken pieces at Claud as hard as she could. “Honestly, you’re such an idiotic dunce! How did someone as useless as you become the head gardener?! Don’t get a big head!”
She probably didn’t care who she vented her frustration to. Anyone would have been fine. Without Drossell as her target, Claud was the one who took some of her strikes. The reason was simple: out of everyone else left in the manor, Claud had the deepest connection to Drossell.
“Do you have any clue how much that flower cost?! How is a filthy commoner such as yourself going to repay us?!”
“I’m terribly sorry, mada—”
“No excuses! Hurry up and put the flower back in its place! Right now! Hurry up and get back to work!” Diane increased the speed of her walking while shouting in a high-pitched tone. If she didn’t need to uphold her dignity as a duchess, she’d probably be on the verge of sprinting.
However, they had just watered the flowers, and the garden paths were wet. Claud and the others had no problem traversing the paths in their easy-to-move-in outfits, but Diane and her frilly gown were different.
“Wah!” Diane lost her balance as her foot slipped in a puddle. Plus, she was about to fall right into the area where many pottery shards were peeking out of the dirt.
Oh no! If Claud didn’t do something, he’d have a catastrophe on his hands. Running up to Diane, he shoved her with all his strength. Unable to kill the momentum of their crash, he went flying into the ground.
“Ow!” Since he’d fallen backward, he felt a sharp pain in his back. In this case, his thin, easy-to-move-in clothes had worked against him.
Diane wasn’t hurt, but the impact of Claud’s push had knocked her to the ground. Her dress must have gotten caught on the shards, as it was ripped and muddy. Seeing this, her expression twisted into one that was practically demonic.
“Now look what you’ve done! Who do you think I am? I’m a duchess! You have a lot of guts, pushing me when you’re nothing but a mere servant!” She violently kicked at the ground, and with both of her eyes red and bloodshot, Diane no longer looked sane. “This dress is ruined now! It was one of my favorites, you know!”
“Please forgive me, my lady. I’ll take responsibility for everything.”
Upon realizing the head gardener was taking the fall for him, the young gardener standing behind Claud widened his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but Claud shot him a sharp look. Diane’s irrational anger was already directed at Claud, so there was no need for him to pointlessly get involved.
“Why is there a puddle there in the first place? I almost got injured because you don’t know how to do your job properly!”
“I’m terribly sorry,” Claud apologized, but Diane wasn’t listening. She had an extra fan that she’d pulled out to angrily smack Claud’s cheek.
“I won’t forgive you! You won’t get away with this! I’ll have you locked in the cellar with no food! Your punishment will be officially decided when my husband returns!”
“I’m terribly…sorry…”
Claud could only endure the pain and continuously apologize to a hysterical Diane.