She turned around and met the eyes of the Grand Duke standing by the window of the office. The Grand Duke turned and disappeared inside as soon as his eyes met.
“Brother, why doesn’t he wave his hand?”
“I guess he didn’t see us.”
No, it’s a lie. The Grand Duke was looking directly down at them, so there’s no way he didn’t see Luca next to her. After he returned from the forest, this often happened. Looking back, the Grand Duke was approaching without a word. When she looked up to see if he had any business, he quickly walked away without even talking to her. There were many times when she turned her head in a crowded place and her eyes met with the Grand Duke who was looking at her. Whenever that happened, he turned his head away like someone who had been caught doing something bad.
Was he monitoring her?
“What potion did you use on me?”
Could it be that he still didn’t believe her? Usually, when they go through hardship together, people become closer. But for some reason, the Grand Duke felt more distant. It’s good to prove her innocence, but… She was a little, a little bit upset.
* * *
“To fail again.”
The Emperor tore his hair in anguish. If he went bald like this, it would be because of Elliot, that damned bastard who wouldn’t do it. The operation to unleash the demons and drive the Grand Duke into crisis failed miserably. Elliot survived unscathed, and his reputation only improved as he weathered his crisis well.
“Tough guy…”
He would have thought he would have used a strategy to find and destroy all the habitats of monsters planted by wizards and cut off the buds of crisis. As the imperial palace mages confirmed belatedly, it wasn’t enough to completely wipe out the traces of the monsters, they even erased the magic circle.
“The evidence ended up in his hands!”
“Sir, if you would have given me more time…”
As the archmage in front of him brazenly made excuses, Albert slammed his fist on the armrest of the throne and yelled.
“If you don’t want to be executed for trying to assassinate me by raising my blood pressure, get out of here!”
As the wizards rushed back, the princess, who had been watching quietly, opened her mouth.
“Father, there is nothing to worry about.”
“Yes, that’s right. We can pretend that the wizard did it without our direction.”
The prince, who intercepted the princess’s words, laughed proudly, saying that she was a trickster in her own way, but everyone present, even the Empress, had cold eyes.
“The Imperial Palace Wizard without instructions? Why would he attack the Grand Duke with items from the imperial palace?”
He was really worried. Tsk tsk tsk. The princess, who clicked her tongue, continued her words.
“Even if we gather the evidence, can we bring it to us? It has no political base.”
“But the foundation may be there soon.”
The Empress curled the corners of her eyes and said with a smile. It sounded kind to her, but in reality, she looked down on the princess. However, the Princess did not fight back and clapped her hands.
“Ah! You mean Duke Monette.”
It was a family that believed that it had made a great contribution in the war with a neighboring country more than ten years ago, but was not given a proper reward or treatment and was thus taken advantage of. So there would be sediment in the imperial family as much as in the grand duke’s family.
Those two families were now going to join hands in spirit. It was not a pleasant thing for the imperial family.
“But I heard that the alliance was crumbling before it even started.”
The princess told the rumor that the evil witch of the Black Forest and the Grand Duke were lovers, and he was hesitant to form an alliance with the Monette family.
“With the witch?”
The Emperor crumpled his face funny. What the hell was that witch up to? Could it be that she was aiming for the position of Grand Duchess? He just couldn’t understand. Was she such an ambitious person? He thought she was an old woman who only revealed money.
The Emperor grew more and more impatient. It meant that an accomplice who committed a crime together was attached to the enemy. Of course, the witch who committed the crime with her own hands would not be able to confess it to Elliott.
“Ask Gerald if you don’t believe me.”
While he was lost in thought, the princess suddenly asked the prince to ask him.
“what.”
“Gerald was the one who saw with his own eyes that the rumors weren’t just rumors.”
At the Grand Duchess’s ball, attended by the Crown Prince, Eliot flirted with Princess Monette and tried to dance with her witch.
Everyone was dumbfounded at her shocking words that she hugged her around the waist like a lover and even tied her shoelaces.
“Isn’t that so, Gerald?”
“uh? uh, right.”
The prince nodded his head without thinking, but then he had to be scolded for not thinking.
“Why did you hide it until now!”
The emperor’s disgrace fell.
“No one asked.”
“It’s not something you have to tell on your own! If that was the case, there wouldn’t have been a waste of precious monsters. My hair thinning is all because of your lack of qualifications as a crown prince!”
Also, trying to divert the nerves of the emperor who snapped at the bait of her princess and hit her son, the empress suddenly intervened.
“A man who fell in love with a witch who is hundreds of years old just by looking at his appearance. Don’t you feel stupid just thinking about it? Who would want to have a man like this emperor?”
“hmm… … Right.”
The emperor quickly regained his composure and lost himself in his thoughts. It was her will.
“Albert, my love. I have a very good idea.”
A very good idea to prevent an alliance between the Monette family and the Grand Duke, and also reduce the popularity of the Grand Duke as the heir to the throne.
“It further fuels rumors of an affair with a witch.”
Hearing that, the Emperor slammed the armrest again.
“Yes, this was it! If this was the case, Elliot is over!”
* * *
“Nanny.”
She was on her way to the mansion after picking up plenty of chestnuts from the chestnut tree garden in the yard with the children.
“A letter has arrived.”
The butler called her and held out a very luxurious parchment envelope.
A letter? To her? It was unexpected. She didn’t know anyone other than the Grand Duke’s residence, and the only mail she got was a newsletter from the Wizards’ Association, which the stork brought her yesterday. It’s a pretty high level person or a place with authority enough to put a seal on it. The seal of the seal was unfamiliar. It had to be. The only seal she knew was the seal of the Grand Duke’s family. Who was it? Usually these sudden letters were bad news. The bill, or the bill again. She was shocked when she opened the letter with a nervous heart after washing the children.
“From baron Hobart?”
They said that they would invite her to a grand ball for spring in two months at the baron’s house, where she hadn’t even met them. To her? To a commoner and a witch with a bad reputation? Did they misunderstand and send it to the wrong person? However, the recipient was definitely ‘the witch of the black forest and the Grand Duke’s nanny, Miss Hazel’.
It’s nice that it’s not asking for money, but what kind of absurd invitation was this?
“Hmm…”
Suspicious. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t think of any reason to invite her. Then, what she managed to squeeze out was a cookie puppet show at the New Year’s Festival. But if they wanted to see her at a party, shouldn’t they invite her as a clown and not as a party guest?
Also, it was suspicious.
She looked down at the invitation and stood up.
“We need to fire the witch.”
Elliot did not pretend to hear Daniel’s determined remonstrance.
“What kind of noble lady would entrust her child to a nanny who had been rumored to be having an affair with her husband throughout the empire?”
Elliot still kept his eyes on the papers on his desk, but he gave a vague nod as if he were right. Daniel, who gained confidence, put the pressure once more.
“So, even for the sake of the new Grand Duchess, the witch should be dismissed as soon as possible.”
“No.”
He thought that the persuasion was done, but the rejection felt like a snip with a knife.
“Isn’t the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke no problem now?”
“Wouldn’t it be? As soon as you cut it, you will go back to the old days and start a riot?”
Elliot laughed and acted like a tease.
“Now that she is barely recognized as a protector by my younger siblings, are you trying to make them hate me again? Do you think I will be fooled by such an insidious trick, Sir Daniel?”
He was seriously worried, but the head of the Grand Duke’s family was playing pranks in front of a serious crisis. Daniel burst into rage, punching his stuffy chest with his fist.
“Now the future of the Grand Duke’s family is in jeopardy!”
“I’m in a hurry as the present Grand Duke.”
Elliot glanced at the pile of papers on his desk. Fall was the season of harvest. It also means tax season. There were a lot of things related to taxes.
“If you have time to worry about the future, help the present.”
However, in Daniel’s eyes, Elliot was suspicious of him for acting lukewarmly even though the Grand Duke’s reputation was suffering a major blow.
“I will ask as a friend. You can’t…”
It was the moment when he lowered his voice as he leaned on his desk.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door of the office.
“Come in.”
The moment the door opened with Elliot’s permission, Daniel’s face turned pale.
‘Certainly she didn’t eavesdrop on the office the same way she did with the prince.’
She was a witch who rarely comes to the office, but she appeared at the moment when she herself became a hot topic.
“Your Highness, are you busy?”
Elliot was also nervous. However, the reason he was nervous was completely different from Daniel’s guess.
‘I… Was I busy?’
The moment he saw Hazel, the taxes, tax rates, and harvest that had been floating around in his mind flew away like a straw hut before a wolf. He cared for Hazel even more after their days in the woods. His eyes wandered around looking for a woman with brown hair and green eyes among the servants.
He never thought he’d be glad that Mrs. Valeria misunderstood his order for a nanny outfit.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. Thank you very much for reading! 😀
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