Still, the knights couldn’t help but admire his strength, so they followed him.
In fact, this was also due to the existence that stopped Jiksen’s nasty temper.

“I’m sorry. My brother may be slightly unfriendly, but he doesn’t have big malice. Please understand.”

Lilika was polite even with the knights.
Because of her presence, at least, the knights were able to wield their swords for the Primrose duchy.

However…
Since Lilika was locked in her room because of this incident, there was no one to intervene.
Thanks to this, the morale of the knights was crawling on the floor more than ever.

“You guys care about your skin, don’t you? That’s not why you’re unpopular. Ah, is that why you’re training so hard? To catch a woman with money? Hahaha.”

They had definitely been sunburned together in the South, but Jiksen was the only one who was fine.
The peeled and wounded skin of the knights remained the same.

‘How can his skin become so smooth in such a short period of time? Was he healed by a priest?’

A priest’s divine power was limited.
If Jiksen had cut in line, some patients’ turns would have been pushed back.
And maybe the other person’s condition had gotten worse.

If he normally went to the priest making a great fuss with just a small wound… it would have been the same this time.
Even if they were knights of the duchy, they would not even dare to meet a priest, so it was an act that they couldn’t even imagine.

“If you don’t like what you see, shouldn’t you make an effort?”

However, there was no way they could be angry at the duchy’s heir, even if they were angry.
One day, when they were about to move on while pressing down their raging anger, a lady whom they had no contact with suddenly appeared and spoke.
It was Yuria, the eldest daughter of the Primrose duchy.

“Excuse me.”

She was an uncomfortable opponent to those who served Lilika.
As Yuria came closer, the knights didn’t even hide their vigilance.

‘Is she scheming to do something bad to Lady Lilika?’

But what she said was a surprise.

“Since you’ve been on an expedition to the South, your skin must be sore. I’ve got something for you. Would you like to try it?”

Yuria handed over the after-sun cream she had made with her blessing.

“It’s called after-sun cream.”
“… Sorry? After what?”
“It’s something you apply to sunburned skin. You can think of it as a kind of ointment.”

Yuria even explained in detail how to use it. She didn’t mind at all about the knights having a somewhat reluctant expression.
As the knights listened to her, it was just what they needed after going on the southern expedition.

‘But why is Young Lady Yuria doing this?’

As if she knew their confusion, Yuria said something surprising with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“Actually, I’ve been a little scared to come to the Knights… I used to ask others to do it for me. But I thought that since you’re part of the Primrose duchy, it’s only a given that I should take care of you.”

Yuria said that she had a big fever the other day and that she thought about taking care of the people around her that day.

“From now on, I will come myself. Aren’t the Knights the pillars of the Primrose duchy?”

The knights were the most famous members of the Primrose Duchy, which was famous for its swordsmanship.
However, they had never heard that from Duke Primrose or his successor, Jiksen, whom they saw every day. Not even from Lilika.

“I’m sorry if I didn’t seem to care for you all this time. I was unfriendly.”

Yuria felt unfamiliar as she acknowledged her own inadequacy and offered a sincere apology.
The knights were dazed, wondering if the person in front of them really was the Yuria they knew.

The atmosphere softened somehow. There was an unprecedented warmth between Yuria and the knights who had been handed the after-sun cream.
They were wary at first, but it was uncharacteristic of a knight to continue showing a sharp attitude to a lady who was only now an adult and was apologizing in person.

“Yes… Well… We’ll use it well. Thank you.”

Of course, some people still looked at her sharply, saying that she was the one who bullied Lady Lilika like that.
But even so, they couldn’t show their inner thoughts in this atmosphere.
After Yuria returned, they continued their training, muttering awkwardly how they had never thought they would hear these words.

After a few hours had passed since Yuria had come to visit, the sun grew hot.
The central part of the empire was not hotter than the south, but even so, the sun was quite warm.
Enough to be painful for those with already wounded skin.

“Ugh… It’s the first time the wounds are this severe.”
“I heard that the summer in the south was especially hot this year.”

As they sighed, it was only natural for their gaze to immediately reach the item Yuria had given them.
They didn’t use it right away because they were leery, wondering what had gotten into her all of a sudden, but…

“Would she have given us something that we couldn’t use? If we get sick, she will get harmed too.”
“Should we try applying it?”

Wondering if it would make their condition even worse than it already was, the knights applied the after-sun cream that Yuria had given them.
And…

“Hey, is there any more after-sun cream left? How many did she give us?”

It wasn’t just after-sun cream, it was made from Yuria’s homemade crops, so the effect was extraordinary.

“Was there something like this in the world?”
“How did Lady Yuria get this?”
“Did we run out of cream? Then we don’t have more to apply?”

The next day, they turned the training hall upside down to see if there was any more after-sun cream left.
However, the sun cream that all the knights inadvertently applied had already run out.
Within a day, their skin had calmed down and the stinging had disappeared.
It felt like their skin would return to normal if they applied it once more.

“Ah… I wonder if Young Lady Yuria has more.”

Soon, a fire started in their eyes, and they began to think about how they could get more cream.

***

Two days had already passed since she was stunned by the shock.
Lilika now tried to figure out her current situation.
Why weren’t things working as expected?
Sweeping her disheveled hair, she looked for the cause of the situation.

‘This is all because that girl, Yuria, has deviated from her original role.’

It couldn’t go on like this.
She should remain a lovely daughter and the daughter of the duke who everyone envied.

‘No matter what I do, I have no choice but to…’

Lilika realized that it would be useless to protest while stuck in her room.
She finally came out of her room, so that anyone could see that she wasn’t in good shape. She grabbed the railing and walked as powerlessly as if she were about to collapse.

“Young Lady Lilika, are you feeling better now?”
“Y-Yeah…”

She smiled weakly as if she were about to break to the maid who approached her.

“I think that the lies will become the truth if I stay still just because everyone misunderstood me…”
“Aah… You must have been very upset. Shall I take you to the kitchen?”

But that was it.
A public attitude of only performing her duties in moderation.
She only showed her worry for her with her words, and her eyes didn’t show pity as before.

Lilika made eye contact with the maid, and then opened her mouth.

“… Maria, did anything change in the castle while I was in my room?”
“I don’t know, Young Lady. I apologize.”

It wasn’t just this one maid in front of her. The same was true of the other maids who were not acting the same as before.
All maids were the same.
She thought that it wouldn’t be much different no matter who she asked.

‘The maids were most loyal to me before. They would run over and report if anything happened…’

Lilika bit her lips.

The first thing she did when she came to the castle was to bring the employees to her side.
Starting with them, a certain atmosphere would be created around her, and it would affect the really important people like her father and brother.
But… It was different now.

Now that she thought about it, she wondered if the maids being suspicious because of the dress was also something Yuria schemed.
But wasn’t Yuria a hot-headed, short-minded, easy-to-handle person?
Did she change like this all of a sudden?

“Ah…”

At the very least, it was fortunate that the knights were still on her side.
It was only two days ago that they were escorting her carriage, showing their full support for her even against Yuria.
More than a decade ago, when Jiksen had yet to completely open his heart to Lilika and lowered his head in cold refusal even though she hung around the military hall, wanting to get close to him… These were the knights who cherished and loved her, so it was natural.

‘Is there anything that can move the maids’ hearts?’

——