'Besides.'
The fact that the people here particularly like Nerys Trued is not because she knows how to please others. Ultimately, once they catch the Duke, the rest will all follow suit.
After a moment of thought, Catherine spoke.
"Your Grace, keep insisting on meeting His Grace. It's best to be weak enough to drive us away even when the Duke is tired of us. Oh, and please yell at me a bit."
"What?"
The Viscount was puzzled. Catherine chuckled.
"Why can't you understand? Yell at me. Loud enough for everyone outside to hear. You need to unleash a tirade so harsh that anyone listening will feel hurt to the point of thinking you're useless, passive, and how you'll manage. You need to do it right now. Until I tell you to stop."
The Viscount did as he was told. It wasn't too difficult since it was what he had in mind.
After a few minutes, Catherine stood by the door leading outside, listening, then gestured slowly to the Viscount.
The Viscount, who had been shouting, finally concluded somewhat, "If you're going to act like that, get out in front of me!" Catherine, feeling like a person being chased away, hastily left the room in her disheveled attire after bathing.
Bang. She closed the door firmly behind her and took a deep breath as if she were emotionally charged. Then she closed her eyes sadly.
'Now.'
One, two, three.
She counted silently in her mind. And when she opened her eyes.
"...Miss Haricot."
The sight of Ellen's shocked face looking at her brought a sense of triumph to Catherine.
While the Viscount disliked Ellen's disrespectful behavior towards him, Catherine understood. Ellen had formed a deep attachment to Cledwyn, her former master's son.
So, how appropriate was this greeting?
To whisper to the Duke's ear that the 'guest lady' was fundamentally different from the Viscount.
Catherine stiffened her face in confusion. Then, deliberately using a friendly title, she called Ellen.
"Uh, Ellen."
"Miss Haricot, what... Did His Grace just yell at you?"
"Please... Pretend you didn't hear anything. It's nothing."
"How can this be nothing? Is this something you often experience?"
Ellen's pupils trembled mercilessly. Her wise eyes seemed to see through everything Catherine didn't say.
A poor and unremarkable household, a young lady with potential, the ambitious nature of the Viscount... Perhaps a hypothesis was forming in her mind to best explain the current situation.
'It shouldn't be too difficult.'
Since it was something she had seen before in the past.
Step one is a success. Catherine thought so.
"Mrs. Ellen gave Miss Haricot a separate room. It's as far away from the Viscount's room as possible and a better room."
"Well done. In fact, it wasn't appropriate for distant relatives and a young lady to share the same room."
Nerys's response to Dora's report was nonchalant to the extreme.
The lower-ranking managers who were listening felt annoyed internally. Had Mrs. Ellen lost her mind? She wasn't even at that age yet?
Everyone in the castle disliked the Viscount. So they disliked the woman he brought as well. It was even more dislikable as the purpose of bringing a young woman at this time was glaringly obvious.
"Hilbrin apparently said something nonsensical when he met the Duke."
As she was organized to be directly under the Counselor, this lower-ranking manager also had her own abilities. At least she understood the fact that Viscount Tiphian went to Hilbrin to insult 'our Counselor' and ended up embarrassed.
However, amidst all this, Lady Ellen, who was supposed to read the Duke's mind and was the castle's steward, was seen giving coats and rooms to the woman he brought.
Moreover, rumors had spread that the Viscount had kicked her out of the room in a bathrobe not long ago, subtly creating a sympathetic atmosphere.
The lower-ranking managers were getting irritated every day.
"The future mistress should be our Counselor!"
What if the guest lady is pitiful, or what if she's not? If the person behind her is like that, even if she has the best impression in the world, Mainland would still reject her!
"Unlucky!"
"Are you okay, miss?"
Dora, who was thinking similar to the manager, asked cautiously. Nerys gave a bitter smile.
"Why wouldn't I be okay? There's no reason Ellen can't do that much with her authority."
The lower-ranking manager was about to explode. Oh, what would happen if she acted so refined and then got into trouble with that strange woman...!
Regardless, Nerys quickly changed the subject to another task. The manager soon became engrossed in work.
While the manager was scrutinizing the documents, Nerys glanced out the window for a moment.
She sighed inwardly.
"Are you okay?"
Dora asked the question even though she wouldn't know Nerys's feelings at all. It was as if she innocently believed in a future filled with some hope that Nerys couldn't see.
Cledwyn and Nerys had not had a private conversation since the tournament. They behaved neutrally towards each other, but it was different from before.
She thought Cledwyn was upset. He must have lost interest in her by now.
After receiving so much help, she gave only a cold response to the question of whether she liked him even a little. Who would continue to like such a person?
But then, what should she have said in response?
Cledwyn had to get married at some point. The sooner, the better.
And whoever the partner was, it wouldn't be Nerys Trued.
So, there was no reason for Nerys to be angrier than the other Mainland people at the Viscount and Catherine's schemes.
The current situation was ridiculous and insulting to Mainland. However, 'Let's wait and see. To find out.'
The two people who didn't know at all what kind of man this Cledwyn Mainland was, why did they rush in so blindly.
"It's strange."
Because Dora and the direct managers kept asking for information, Nerys knew exactly how Catherine behaved and carried herself.
As a noble lady who was a relative of the high nobility, she greeted even the lowest servants without any hesitation. She spoke to messenger children without any airs, as if on equal footing.
Although lacking in etiquette, she didn't leave a bad impression on others. Always looking at the other person directly, smiling sincerely as if genuinely wishing for their happiness.
It was an attitude suitable for endearing herself to the Mainland people who appreciated sincerity. So, if this attitude was taken for that purpose, it could be understood.
"If you can't win Cledwyn's favor, it's meaningless."
The clever Catherine seemed to be aware of this fact. Therefore, her current actions should be seen as an attempt to appeal to Cledwyn in some way.
But what exactly was that 'something'?
"Memories of the Late Duchess?"
The reason Ellen treated Catherine so well seemed to be directly related to the late Duchess. The more she looked at the old portrait, the more she resembled her. The eye color was the same, and the determination felt in her smile was very similar.
"Being relatives, it's not strange, but..."
At the level of Viscount Tiphian, there were many distant noble families. He might have chosen a suitable woman for his grandson based on eye color as a condition.
Just by bringing Catherine, who was not a noblewoman, it seemed that the Viscount saw some resemblance between the two women. Perhaps he believed that seeing a woman who resembled his deceased mother in front of his grandson would evoke a certain reaction.
"Disgusting man. Not only is he not making any progress, but he's also treating my grandson lightly because of his power."
However, Catherine's attitude, which seemed to intend to evoke memories of Edith Tiphian, who was a noblewoman and had a strategic marriage with the Duke, was too... unaristocratic.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
"Ahem."
It was the person she had just been thinking about. As soon as the office door was knocked, without waiting for a response, the Viscount entered abruptly. Nerys calmly asked him,
"What's the matter, Your Grace?"
"I have something to discuss."
"Please, have a seat."
The manager gathered the documents that had been spread out on the table until now and went into her office. Dora skillfully prepared tea in her place.
Without being prompted, the Viscount sat on the high seat and began to speak.
"It seems my grandson is quite busy?"
Since the first day, the Viscount hadn't had a proper conversation with Cledwyn. Nerys, sitting across from the Viscount, nodded her head.
"Yes."
A firm and resolute affirmation. The Viscount was momentarily speechless. But what could he do? He had to make a promise to scold him later.
"Understood. I was going to talk to my grandson, but I suppose I should tell you instead. We are currently staying in the main palace, aren't we?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"No matter what, our Catherine is a young lady without an engagement, but there are too many outsiders coming and going in the main palace. If we consider that the child is also my grandson's relative, how about moving her to the West Palace? Where my daughter used to stay. I'm fine with the main palace."
Nerys's hand, holding a teacup, paused. An uncomfortable expression crossed her face.
The Viscount smirked inwardly. His expectations were correct.
'This one and her mother were seated in the West Palace.'
It was absurd. Where did a lower noble like him get the idea to take over the place where the Viscount's daughter used to live?
'Just like his father. A foolish ruler who can't manage his territory properly because he's obsessed with women.'
So, how much care did this foster uncle need?
This was the next step planned by Catherine. To gain a reputation for 'Catherine, unsuitable for conspiracies,' 'Viscount gone mad with power,' and 'anxious to push her in by any means.'
Catherine, who had been praised for her honesty and straightforwardness for the past few days, was aiming to gain sympathy from the people in the castle.
While the Viscount saw them all as worthless peasants, they were the eyes and ears of the Duke, so it wasn't incomprehensible to Catherine that they didn't understand her words.
Nerys looked at the Viscount for a moment before shaking her head.
"I'm sorry, but who enters the West Palace and who doesn't is entirely up to the Duke's decision."
"Is that so?"
Well, he couldn't just hand over the West Palace, which he couldn't even visit, so easily.
With this, Catherine's demands were met. The Viscount pretended to be upset.
"Well, then, there's nothing I can do. Since the adults are speaking... Ahem, ahem!"
"Please wait a moment, Your Grace."
Nerys gestured around her.
In an instant, everyone in the office left the room in an orderly fashion. The lower-ranking manager who was in the small room did the same.
"Look at this. The Viscount's eyes narrowed. Nerys spoke calmly.
"I still have something to say, Your Grace. You seem to be in a hurry. That's something you have in common with the Duke."
"Right now..."
Was it correct to call him 'Your Grace' instead of 'the Duke'? The Viscount doubted his ears.
The sharpness in Nerys's eyes, which had been quietly observing him, felt strange. The sharpness that seemed to see through everything on this side...
'No, no.'
How much did that young one know about the thoughts of a high noble? The Viscount closed his eyes briefly to think accurately, then opened them.
But even when he opened his eyes, his vision was filled with Nerys's sparkling eyes.
"Let me help you. But please lower your voice."
Nerys could almost grasp the thoughts going on in Viscount Tiphian's mind.
She lowered her voice and whispered, "How would the Duke's subordinates react if they found out? I've been working so hard to keep this secret."
What?
The Viscount's eyes glazed over. Nerys deliberately flashed a playful smile.
It was precisely at that moment. The most efficient moment to ease the tension and win the other person's heart.
"My family background is known to you. Surely, the Elendria family did not send me here without any meaning, a mere jewel in the crown. Your Grace... The Elendria family is committed to fulfilling your desires to the fullest. As in the past few years, we hope our alliance remains strong."
Yes, the alliance between the Elendria and Tiphian families needed to remain strong. Nerys sincerely believed that.
This way, the author would trust her more and she could share all the information he needed.
It was Nerys who kept waiting for the opportunity to be alone with the Viscount.