Of course, it wasn’t just Jera who wanted to talk about these things. Even the other employees talked sneakily to the knights, who knew nothing, and said it was a secret.
There weren’t just one or two witnesses, and they spoke with coherence, so they had no choice but to believe them.

“Oh… We had no idea about this.”

The knights forced a laugh when they found out what had happened.

“It seems that we have been covered in prejudice and misunderstood Young Lady Yuria.”
“All this time… how hard has it been for her? We didn’t even know that, and we only took Young Lady Lilika’s side.”
“Hey, wasn’t there a guy who bragged that he glared at Young Lady Yuria while escorting Young Lady Lilika the other day? Who was it? Come out right now!”
“Forget it. Honestly, it wasn’t just one person. Everyone insulted Young Lady Yuria as the worst villainess…”
“Exactly. I’m not going to criticize anyone. We didn’t even try to know the facts. We just trusted Young Lady Lilika.”

The knights’ voices were hoarse.
After a few self-reflections, they started investigating to see if there was anything else they didn’t know.
Then, the topic of conversation quickly turned to Jiksen.

“I thought it was true because he often brought Young Lady Lilika to the training hall, and they would always criticize Young Lady Yuria in front of us!”

If they didn’t know the details of the situation this time, they would have thought that Yuria was being rebuked in front of the knights because she had done something wrong, even if the other person was Jiksen.
Even though everything they knew about Yuria so far was distorted…

“She is also the Young Master’s sister, but doesn’t he like only one side?”
“You’re right. And even though he spent more time with Young Lady Yuria…”

Acting as if they had never sided with Lilika for being an illegitimate child that came from the outside, they were now quietly reproaching her in the same way.

“Young Lady Yuria is also someone we need to serve. We kept our distance from her because we thought she was a young girl who complained about things a few times.”
“You’re right. But she was tolerant to what Young Lady Lilika, who is an adult, had done…”

The fact that Jiksen publicly criticized Yuria the other day was a big deal.
Adding the creation of the resting area to that, her reputation among the employees, especially the knights, increased.
On the other hand, Lilika and Jiksen’s reputation declined.

“What is this…”

And Lilika, who ran in shock because she heard that a resting area had suddenly been set up, was seeing it all.

There was no reliable maid to scout now, so she could not examine the movements of the duke’s castle.
She was waiting for the right time, waiting for a chance to come here… But after making an effort, what she heard was Yuria being complimented!
And Lilika soon found the person she was especially trying to capture.

“I heard that the Young Lady gave you a special hand cream?”

It was Jera, the maid who Lilika thought would easily come over to her.

“Jera, you seem to be a little close to the Young Lady…”
“Yeah. I said that my hands are easily dry, so she gave me something I can take around and apply when necessary.”

Jera took out the tiny hand cream she had received from Yuria.

“Do you also want to try it?”
“Can we?”

The maids around Jera held out their hands while looking at her.
Jera showed off, referencing once again that it was a precious item.
The maids let out low exclamations.

“My hands feel so soft after applying it. It smells good too!”

It was an item that was difficult for even noble ladies to have, or even think about.
Although she had always worried about her hands being dry due to working as a laundry maid for a long time, even the maids with older careers and those who worked in other mansions had told her that there was nothing that could solve that problem.

“I thought what people who went to the resting area said was an exaggeration… but it was real.”
“How does she know this stuff?”
“The important thing is that Young Lady Yuria gave such precious things for employees like us!”

Jera raised her chin.

“From now on, if someone says anything bad about Young Lady Yuria, I won’t stay still!”
“It’s amazing that you said that, Jera.”
“It’s because you haven’t gone there yet. When you go to the resting area, you’ll understand what I’m saying.”

Lilika’s mind became confused when she faced Jera’s sincerity.

‘She’s saying that about Yuria, not me?’

Even if Yuria’s reputation had improved a little, few people were loyal to her.
Yuria was still a difficult person to approach and someone they didn’t know very well.

‘But the mood has changed.’

Lilika pricked up her ears to grasp what had happened so far.
She had to dig into how such words had come out.
As an esteemed daughter of the duchy, she felt ashamed to eavesdrop on the servants and try to hide from them, but she couldn’t help it.

“Young Master Jiksen hates Young Lady Lilika. How could he do that, when she’s his younger sister?”

It was only after hiding like a mouse that she could figure out what was going on.

When Lilika heard what had happened, she clenched her teeth.

To overthrow the situation that was unfavorable to her, it was good to go to Jiksen.

But how could she have imagined that her damn brother, who was so confident, would rather awaken the employees’ loyalty towards Yuria?

‘Were they reproaching him openly for criticizing that woman?’

It wasn’t the best. It was the worst.
How could he hold his head up so shamelessly when he picked the worst among all the bad moves he could have done?
When she asked him how it went, she believed that he had taught her a lesson. She shouldn’t have done that.
She should have asked what he was going to do from start to finish.
She shouldn’t have said that she would trust Jiksen just because she was looking out for his feelings!

‘He couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t said anything back then!’

No matter how wicked someone was, if they are criticized sharply, a sense of sympathy would arise.
But Yuria didn’t even do anything bad, and instead went through something unreasonable while doing something for the knights.
Of course, the knights’ hearts would inevitably lean towards Yuria!
They already seemed to be thanking her the other day for the after-sun cream… But now, everyone has a good feeling towards her!

‘He was acting confident, telling me to trust him, while this was happening.’

Lilika closed her eyes tightly, feeling a sense of confusion.
Starting from the sympathy of the employees and the compassion of the knights, she was able to become the young lady of the duchy.
But those sympathetic feelings were now all directed at Yuria.
Where did it start going wrong so that she can correct it…? No, she didn’t know if she could put everything back in place.

***

The favor and goodwill that poured out to her. The gazes that began to look at her in a different way.
The construction of the resting area was intended to get such a response from the employees and the knights.

But something Yuria didn’t expect also happened.
The gazes that started looking at her differently didn’t stop with the employees and the knights.

“Not even Lilika… Yuria got told that?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”

Duke Primrose, who had returned from a trip to another province, was very interested to hear the butler’s report and questioned the circumstances of the incident.

“Was he such a caring child?”

Duke Primrose looked back at his first daughter, who had been blocked from his view by the lovely Lilika.
In fact, he thought of Yuria as a vicious, lacking child who was unnecessarily jealous of Lilika.
Even if she was also his daughter, she was totally the opposite of Lilika, who would make her feel warm and kind when he thought about her.

He didn’t want her to be particularly competent, but then she would have to be cute, like a daughter. For a long time, he only heard bad news.
Who in the world did she resemble? Was she poorly educated? He even rebuked the duchess once.

‘I feel like things have changed at some point.’

Thinking of what that occasion might have been, Duke Primrose suddenly recalled that day.
He had sided with Yuria during Lilika’s birthday banquet.
But at that time, rather than feeling sorry for ‘his daughter’, he was angry because he thought that the dignity of the ‘Primrose Duchy’ had been damaged. He wasn’t really interested in Yuria itself…

She hadn’t gotten into trouble recently, and she was acting quite cleverly.

“That’s why you were abandoned by your fiancé.”

Duke Primrose swept his face as he remembered the words that kept confusing his mind.
Clearly, the Lilika he knew was not a child who would say such a thing.
But even after reflecting on it again and again, there was no way he could have mistaken Lilika’s voice.
Maybe… Did Lilika not mistake Yuria for a maid and really say that to her?

——