"Have you eaten?"
"I heard you had departed, so I was waiting."
Rose's obedient answer pleased me quite a bit. She was complying willingly with my forceful-yet-not-quite-coerced demand that we share a meal at least once a day.
Was this also because of the contract? I was glad to see Rose's wariness soften compared to the beginning.
"Then let us eat together."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
"Wait for me in the dining room. I will change into something simple and head down."
"Yes, I will see you shortly."
Rose shyly nodded and left with light, quick steps. The sight of Head Maid Selma and the other maids following behind her looked quite picturesque, like a paired painting.
After glancing at that sight.
"Fabri definitely prepared things properly, right?"
This time, I checked with Bill without letting my guard down.
"Yes, Your Excellency."
Bill answered immediately as if he had been waiting for the question.
"As you instructed, I did not let him prepare any monster dishes at all. I had him prepare ordinary Schmaichel-style food."
"Ordinary Schmaichel-style?"
Schmaichel-style, Schmaichel-esque, befitting the Schmaichel family—such expressions only left me with bad memories. From now on, I will only use clear phrasing that won't confuse the meaning.
"What is ordinary Schmaichel-style?"
When I asked again, Bill paused and looked at me.
‘Is it time for an ideological verification?’
It was a very tense expression asking that very question.
"······No. It is not that."
I swallowed a sigh and waved my hand.
"Recite what menu you prepared."
"Yes. First, for the appetizer, pre-meal bread and cold soup······."
Feeling my unwavering stare, Bill made an excuse.
"Fabri prepared it because the Madam said it was delicious."
"······Continue."
"For the next course, crepes stacked in layers with generously stuffed meat in between······."
Bill's explanation continued endlessly. None of the dishes I had worried about were among them. Because of that, I was able to go to the dining room with peace of mind.
"Your Excellency, you have arrived!"
Fabri acted like a puppy needing to poop as soon as he saw me, but I thoroughly ignored him. If I showed even the slightest opening here, it was obvious he would jump at the chance to bring out some experimental monster dish.
"Bring out the food."
"Yeesh······."
As I kept feigning ignorance to his pitiful act like a rained-on puppy,
"Madam. Please try this as well."
Fabri completely ignored me and began serving Rose instead.
"Oh, this is really delicious. What ingredient is in this dough?"
And every time Rose exclaimed how tasty it was, he looked at me as if to show off.
‘Do you not see? She likes it this much! She has practically become a Schmaichel person!’
Dalgeureuk.
Rose even picked up her cleanly emptied plate and angled it so I could see it.
‘Look at this plate. It won't even need washing!’
‘That is not true.’
‘······Yes, of course, it must still be washed.’
While Rose happily emptied her dishes, a silent battle of wits took place between Fabri and me. It was a fierce clash resembling an intense battle, save for the lack of spears and shields.
Naturally, my hand bringing food to my mouth slowed down.
"Your Excellency?"
Feeling something was amiss, Rose looked at my plate.
"Do you not have an appetite? You seem to be eating slowly today."
"I was fighting a battle."
When I spoke euphemistically, Rose flinched and stopped her fork.
"Did something unpleasant happen during your journey?"
If Rose retained her pre-regression memories, she could not have not known. That the day I departed for the mine inspection, an assassin's attack occurred. And that I slaughtered the assassins and returned safely.
However, to hide the fact that she had regressed, she was purposely feigning ignorance.
"There was an ambush."
"Ah······."
"It was nothing. As you can see, I returned perfectly fine."
"That is true. You always win, Your Excellency. But······."
Rose's hand remained halted, still holding her fork. She gazed at me with deepened eyes.
"I was worried."
Was that why? Her complexion had noticeably brightened when I returned to the castle. Was that why she was so glad to see me?
Seeing this squirrel, younger and smaller than me, sincerely worrying about me, a corner of my chest warmed.
"······."
I stiffened and did not move as if glue had been applied to my lips. In times like this, a simple word of thanks would suffice, but I could not bring myself to say it.
Ultimately, the method I ended up choosing was,
"Did you fare well while I was away, Madam?"
Merely changing the subject.
"Yes. Everyone was truly kind."
"It seemed so."
"The dresses were all wonderful, and the bed was soft. There was not a single discomfort."
Rose reminisced about the past as if walking through a dream. Seeing her look like a full squirrel rolling contentedly in its burrow, I almost burst into a chuckle without realizing.
‘It is certainly a different look from the beginning.’
Her youthful cheeks, fitting for a girl, were slightly flushed, and her green eyes sparkled vividly beneath her fluttering long eyelashes.
‘With looks like that, she is not an ugly face, is she?’
The current Rose was quite fine. Enough so that I could not understand why she thought she was ugly.
"Thank you, Your Excellency."
Hearing words of gratitude from Rose brought me a rather pleasant feeling. There was no one who refused praise for what they had done.
"You say the darndest things."
I felt an urge to scratch the back of my head. Suppressing the impulse, I suddenly noticed Bill standing beside me.
"······"
A faint smile floated on Bill's stiff and stubborn face.
Selma's mental education had softened Bill's rigid beliefs, and with those newly opened eyes, he was able to see Rose's unadorned self.
Because of that,
"Your Excellency."
Bill spoke to me while we were moving to the office after finishing the meal.
"How was she while I was away?"
"She was truly an easy person to serve. She acted as if she wanted to integrate into the Schmaichel family's order as quickly as possible."
His attitude was calm, as if he had already thought it through sufficiently.
"She has a habit of being overly conscious of the people around her. She is completely different from her image in the rumors."
"Is that so."
"Even when doing something, she always asked us first, and there were times she worried about whether she was infringing on mine and Selma's authority."
Stopping in front of the office, Bill smiled faintly.
"It seems a rare, good person has come to the Schmaichel family."
Even in Bill's eyes, Rose's ingrained attitude and behavior were not at a level that could be feigned through brief practice.
"It is a relief that you realized it, even if late."
"It is greatly my fault for not believing in Your Excellency's foresight."
Entering the office, I sat in the chair. Stacked on the desk were the documents Bill had organized.
"When the Madam arrives, I will bring her inside."
"Do so."
I replied and immediately unfolded the documents to begin reading. Bill quietly stepped backward and left the room.
Pallak, pallak.
There was an official document flown in from the royal palace that required careful reading.
‘Regarding magic stone distribution rights······.’
There was also an official document from the Magical Scholar research lab within the territory.
‘Progress on this research······ I apologize for not meeting expectations······ I am trash······ Here we go again.’
How long had I been focused on the documents like that?
Ttok, ttok.
"Your Excellency, the Madam has arrived."
A servant announced from outside the door.
Soon, Rose entered the room, looking slightly tense.
"This way."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
When I pointed to the sofa in the center of the office, Rose walked over demurely. Seeing her sit silently on the sofa, it seemed she had faithfully followed her etiquette training.
Rose gathered her hands neatly and opened her mouth.
"I heard you called for me."
"We agreed to write the contract, did we not."
"It was that after all."
Rose had a somewhat resolute expression, as if already bracing herself. But seeing that expression, my worries actually took the lead.
‘She is not making some strange resolve again, is she?’
I recalled Rose's misunderstanding—or rather, lack thereof—that I had seen when we were in the bedroom together. So I decided to politely correct any misunderstandings Rose might be harboring.
"It is not a contract written in blood."
"······Even I know that much, Your Excellency."
"Is that so."
Baseurak.
I took out a document envelope and placed it on the table in front of Rose. Inside was the contract I had written in the spare moments at the Kalmar Mine barracks.
"Read it for now. We will talk after."
"Yes, I understand."
Rose calmly took the contract out of the envelope and began to read.
Tak.
Eventually, Rose set the contract down on the table. She gazed at me intently with her cleverly shining eyes.
"Your Excellency, may I ask a few questions about the contract?"
"As many as you like."
"This clause here: Party A and Party B shall not disclose this contract to the outside. And written below that, if the contract is leaked or discovered, best efforts must be made to rectify it. That is what it says."
Rose pointed to the contract and began to methodically ask about her curiosities. I thought she had just skimmed through it at a glance, but it was evident she had read it much more meticulously than expected.
"What does it mean to rectify it with best efforts?"
"Exactly as it sounds. It means I will silence them permanently."
"······Pardon?"
Rose opened her mouth in dismay. She seemed startled by the scale of killing someone to shut their mouth.
"How could I possibly kill a person······."
"Do not worry. I will take care of it."
I replied nonchalantly and added.
"You are not making the assumption that I might get caught, are you?"
"Because you will be perfect, Your Excellency."
Setting aside that Rose's answer sounded quite pleasing to the ear, I had to make sure things were nailed down.
"In any case, if you were to get caught, hmm. Will you be able to control the situation so the truth does not spread?"