“Pardon?”

“What?”

“Is there anything else you need? I will have it sent to you as soon as you request it.”

“I’m… fine.”

Rather, it was Roen who was more taken aback by the duke’s words. It seemed like the duke genuinely liked Violet’s art—it wasn’t just empty talk. Perhaps his younger sister and his father had the same taste?

Roen briefly questioned if such tastes ran in their blood.

“…And I would like to have tea with you again next time, if possible.”

Roen watched, aghast, as the duke finally concluded with what he’s been wanting to say. Roen already couldn’t take it, but the next thing he heard made him even more baffled.

Violet smiled brightly.

“I refuse.”

“…Just a little of your time.”

“There’s no need for that.”

“It’s also fine for you to come to the main mansion.”

“What a dreadful thing to hear. Your Grace, are you rescinding your order? While pretending like nothing ever happened?”

“…You—”

Ke-hum.

The duke’s dry cough reverberated throughout the narrow studio. Roen took a step back from Violet.

“…Roen, both you and Aileen are to stay in your rooms for an entire week.”

At last, their punishment was handed down. Roen got trapped along with Aileen, and he didn’t even get what he wanted out of this visit. He bit his lip.

“…You really have changed.”

Instead of further admonishing Violet, the duke simply turned to face the painting once again, then left after saying just one phrase.

Violet interpreted those words in a simplified manner. Your temperament has died.

* * *

After the storm had finally passed, Violet was free once more, and so she lay back on her bed as if she had melted. There was no need for her to see them off.

Leaving behind the tense atmosphere, Mary also followed after Violet.

“Milady, would you like a massage?”

“No, you must be tired. You should go and rest up. Tell them I won’t have dinner tonight.”

Still, Mary vowed to wake Violet in time for dinner to make sure that her master would eat. She didn’t want to be a salary thief again today.

* * *

New members had come to the annex. They were the escort knights that the duke had promised to send.

For a woman who had been confined for her misdeeds to be protected by knights… Aptly enough, there’s no other way to describe this than ‘waste of manpower’.

At the garden, where no handmaid was in sight, Violet stared at the escort knights as she smiled in vain. The look in their eyes was clear as they glanced up at her from where they’re kneeling.

The duke sent a total of two knights to the annex.

Of noble birth and one of the most powerful men in House Everett’s chivalric order, Zylo Benthel. And, a commoner knight, Alec Hans.

They rose from the ground, finishing their first greeting to their new master. Obviously enough, they looked unhappy.

They must have been forced to do this. But Violet did not point out their discourtesy.

Zylo Benthel was such a talented man that there were talks here and there about how he would be the next captain of the chivalric order. And since he had established a close enough friendship with Mikhail, the household’s eldest son, he was too good to have been sent to the annex.

The same was true of Alec Hans. He was quite known for his robust sense of justice. And even as he was a commoner, he overcame the barrier of ‘status’ due to his capabilities. He was promoted as an official knight, and it would be too much to assign him to the post of just an escort knight.

As Violet gauged the knights, so too did they gauge Violet.

The most wicked villainess of all time.

Everett’s ice witch.

The cold-hearted woman who has neither blood nor tears.

It’s said that the number of people who’d been affected by her evil deeds exceeded three digits. It was bad enough to serve her as a master, even worse that they had to treat her as a lady. This was just a temporary arrangement, but it was still terrible.

Just what was the duke thinking?

Zylo glanced up at Violet, but soon lowered his eyes. Just like him, Violet was also trying to figure out what could possibly be going on in the duke’s mind.

She then gestured as she spoke.

“There won’t be much to do here for knights like you. Since you’ll have a lot of time on your hands, you can do whatever you wish to do.”

If you’re bored, then just train or something.

That’s what she meant.

At this, Alec flew off the handle.

“If you think that we came here merely to play freely…!”

“…Watch yourself. Her Ladyship is still the Duchy’s esteemed daughter in the end.”

As he immediately calmed down the furious Alec, Zylo again gauged how Violet would react.

However, the eyes of the wicked woman stared back at them not with fire behind her eyes, but dull, lifeless ashes.

.

.

.

That was how new members came into the annex.

* * *

As they were assigned to be escort knights, there really was nothing that they could do here.

The annex was too quiet, too peaceful.

Even as she had ordered for various servants to have their tongues, hands or legs cut off, Violet was also too calm.

Rather than escorting Violet, the knights had taken up this post with another objective in mind—to deal with her posthaste if she were to act up. But then, they were met with only surprise as they took in the peaceful scenery before them.

Besides that, Violet often talked to the maids. And it’s not because she constantly gave them orders. They had ‘conversations’.

Well, the maids chatted one-sidedly and Violet only answered insincerely, but it was still quite the surprising sight.

Was she truly the same wicked woman from all those rumors?

Zylo himself heard a lot from Mikhail, but he was now doubting his own eyes.