I can’t say the truth.
Several days later. Accompanied by my maid, Dora, I arrived at the palace. She was the youngest of the maids and most sensible after Anna. I came here with her to clean up the room after Anton. On the outside, Anton was in temporary retirement. After that, he will be treated as succumbing to a disease.
The office of the Commander of the Imperial Guards was neatly arranged. There was only a bed in the nap room beside the office, and there seemed to be nothing else left. The Vice-Commander Zail, has been promoted to the Commander. I came here with my maid to clean up the room so that it can be used right away again.
We ventilated the room and started cleaning and sweeping. Did Anton and Anna do it in the nap room here? Wicked thoughts floated in my mind. These thoughts seemed to be endless.
Shaking my head, trying to drive away the useless thoughts, I focused on cleaning what was in front of me. We finished cleaning in about two hours.
I exchanged glances with Dora and took a breather.
“We are done, aren’t we? We finished faster than I thought we would. Would you like to have a cup of tea on the way back?”
“Yes.”
“Then, could you arrange the carriage for the way home.”
“Yes. Right away!”
When I rewarded Dora for her work, she who thought of the sweets shop waiting delightfully ran out of the room. What an easy to understand girl. As I seen her off with a smile, “Yurika-sama” I heard someone addressing me from behind. When I turned around, I saw it was a brown-haired, gentle-looking middle-aged woman. It was Nancy, the wife of the Vice-Commander Zail. I heard that Zail was older than Anton and was already in his thirties. Younger than him, she should be approximately the same age as Anna.
“Long time no see, Lady Yurika.”
“Lady Nancy. How is your family doing?”
“Thank you for asking. Everyone is doing well.”
Nancy also brought several maids with her.
“Are you here to clean up by any chance?”
“Yes, this room will belong to Lord Zail from now on, so we came to clean it up.”
“Thank you very much. I heard about Lord Anton. How is his health?”
“……”
Although I couldn’t respond to Nancy immediately, I remembered that publicly, Anton was supposed to have fallen ill. Because of the confidentiality obligation, Zail, who is aware of the circumstances, didn’t seem to have told even the person closest to him, his beloved wife.
“Lady Yurika?”
“Oh. Anton is… there’s no change.”
“Is that so? If there’s anything you need help with, please don’t hesitate to ask me.”
“Yes, thank you. It seems that I have been receiving your favor with anything and everything. Forgive me.”
“No, please don’t mind it.”
Nancy has been always taking care of me. I was able to meet the Zail couple when I just married Anton. She taught me a lot about the Imperial Guards as I didn’t know anything when I married even though I was the Commander’s wife.