"It's good to mutually help each other. By the way... is Your Highness busy these days?"

Killian had advised Julietta to disguise herself as a maid and then let Ian buy her gla.s.ses, which she wore. Unlike her previous gla.s.ses, they were light and thin, but her eyes looked very small beyond the gla.s.ses after what they had done with the magic device.

Julietta was quite fond of the comfortable gla.s.ses that could hide her face. But Killian grumbled with a disapproving look, as if he was not satisfied with it. She finally became irritated at him because he was too interested in her disguise. She said, "I am burdened with too much attention, so please stop worrying and reduce the number of visits to the annex!"

After that, however, when the Prince suddenly stopped visiting, she began to care about it. She thought it would be better for him not to come because of Phoebe, but in the aftermath, she asked him if the Prince was busy.

Oswald laughed as if it were funny at her question. "I thought you'd prefer to have His Highness not come."

"Of course, it's inconvenient for him to come, but I was wondering if something had happened to him when he suddenly stopped coming entirely."

Oswald accepted that and added, "His Highness told Emperor His Majesty that he would step into the fight for the crown of the Emperor in earnest. Because of that, the official Crown Prince will be announced at a royal party on the last day of this year. His Highness will be very busy in the future. Furthermore, there was an order from the Emperor His Majesty that His Highness should get a wife before the end of the year, so he is busy in many ways."

Oswald glanced at Julietta as he said that.

"Lady Christine is the most likely candidate," Julietta said as she was frowning slightly, completely missing his glance. "I'm sure as long as she doesn't have any special issues. She is so devoted that she even followed him to Bertino."

Julieta found herself asking questions about her usual curious things, even though she thought she should stop caring about it and work.

"There's something I didn't understand. Lady Christine is the only granddaughter of the Duke of Dudley. The family of Duke Dudley is also the mother's parents' home of Francis, who is the political enemy of Prince Killian. Is it possible to combine the two families?"

"The enemy of yesterday could be today's comrade or tomorrow's family. That's what it's all about."

Julieta was in a bad mood for some reason. The Prince did not know who she was, but he wanted her to be a concubine; however, he would marry her half-sister!

Oswald stepped in as he watched Julietta pouting her lips. "Of course, if a lady with a better condition shows, then of course there's no need to mention Lady Anais."

Julietta was not a fool. She knew that Princess Kiellini was the only unmarried lady who was now of better status than Lady Anais, and she quickly came to her senses. "Of course, you can find the person if you want to. But I don't think the lady is me."

At Julietta's strong refusal, Oswald thought, 'it's because you are acting as a subst.i.tute for Princess Kiellini,' and tried to answer that no one knew about the future.

But she brought up completely different words. "I've heard that there have been a lot of women around him. Well, I don't think he's particularly bad, because most high-ranking aristocrats are that way. But he won't change after he gets married, and I think it would be awful to share my husband with another woman. I want to marry a man who only loves me, even though I'm poor and have nothing to do with it. Without such a man, I think it's okay to be single for the rest of my life."

Oswald began to talk, thinking of Killian. With such a strong refusal, the unsmooth love of the lord seemed to be darkened more. "You are going to be the next Duke, and you can't be single. If the Duke hears that, he'll lament."

Julietta smiled at Oswald's words, recognizing her current situation once again. "It's my wish. I'll have to get married to a man who won't send his eyes off to other women."

Oswald delivered a deep consolation from his heart to his lord, who might not know anything about this.

'My lord could be someone like that…' It was Oswald who repeated the words in his heart that he could not bring out of his mouth.

------------------

"Did Julietta say that?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Oswald left the dressing shop and went into Asta Palace to report on Raefany's preparations for the opening, and told Killian about the conversation he had with Julietta earlier.

As Killian's face went cold, Albert who was listening beside him crept in. "Princess Kiellini is saying something similar to Julietta. When I offered her a position as a concubine, she said that as she had seen such scenes of His Highness and other women in front of her eyes, she could not be a concubine, and she refused and ran away."

Oswald winked at the tactless remark, but Albert's mouth didn't shut. "Did I tell you? Didn't I? Now that I'm older, my memory is dimming. Come to think of it, I think I told you. That's why you're not bringing women into Harrods' mansion these days, isn't it? I was seriously concerned that your libido might have failed. Did that hurt your feelings? Your Highness, it's okay. You're not alone in the royal family or among n.o.bles who bring in bedroom maids during s.e.x. I'm sorry to hear that you liked the bedroom maid, but..."