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When Rishe blinked, Arnold continued.

“Oliver had advised me to do so when we were gathering potential maids. He said it will do you more good if you choose elders from the nobility instead of hiring younger candidates from the common people.”

Speaking of which…

Rishe decided to recruit her maids, Elise and the others, herself.

However, she heard that it was under Arnold’s direction that the girls were gathered in the first place.

“Why did Your Highness invite them to the castle?”

Arnold faced the ceiling and slowly closed his eyes.

“…I was afraid that you might be isolated in that castle.”

“Isolated?”

When Rishe blinked the second time, he said gently.

“Normally, the Crown Princess should have a lady-in-waiting of the proper blood. But if I arrange for a poorly-qualified noblewoman, she may disrespect you for marrying from a small country.”

From Garkhain’s perspective, Rishe’s homeland was tiny.

Besides, Rishe came here as his fiancée, but nominally a hostage. Even at the first soiree, there were a lot of young ladies who were hostile to her. So Arnold probably had a point.

“Then it would be safer to gather the general public, who have no power. Fortunately, the Imperial Castle has a track record of hiring daughters of fallen families to serve as maidservants. It’s not that difficult, since even the commoners have a good track record of working hard.”

…Diana and the others for example. It’s because of their hard work that I was able to hire Elise and the others.

She was thinking of thanking Diana and the others for their efforts when she returned to the castle. With that in mind, she paid attention to what Arnold was saying.

“I also felt that you would not care about the status of those you put around you. If so, I’ll have them gather people who are inexperienced, but close in age and who have scruples in doing things…”

Arnold opened his eyes quietly and looked at Rishe again.

“You seem to be protective of those sorts of people.”

“Um…”

She guessed he was referring to her pretense of being unafraid of ghosts in front of the maids. She couldn’t help feeling embarrassed over that, so she raised her brows a bit.

“So you’re asking me if we should hire more maids?”

“Yes. Hire at least a couple of them older than you.”

He sounded somewhat apologetic.

After hugging the unused one of the two pillows on the bed, Rishe replied, “Even if I have an older lady as a maidservant, Your Highness still will have to sleep in this room.”

“…Why?”

“Because…”

His question made her squirm and bury her mouth in the pillow she was hugging.

“…Because there’s no way I would let anyone other than Your Highness see me like this.”

“―― ……”

He gave her a surprised look, making her hastily raise her upper body.

“Ah! But that doesn’t mean that I can’t trust anyone other than Your Highness! I think the maids, the knights, and Oliver-sama are all very reassuring. Even His Highness Theodore will be willing to lend a hand!　But, but…”

As she imparted these, she sank into her wide bed.

“…For some reason, the only person I’m willing to ask to do these things is Your Highness.”

“…”

She didn’t think she could explain why she felt that way.

Rishe needed only to ask, and everyone would surely lend a hand. She was well aware of that, but whether she had the courage to ask was another matter.

However, when Arnold returned earlier, she’d been hoping that he would ask what scared her.

“…Maybe, maybe it’s because Your Highness’s swordsmanship is stronger than anyone else’s in this world.”

“Mm, ha.”

An amused laughter echoed.

“I suppose you’d rather train the knights guarding you in swordsmanship than find additional maidservants.”

“Well, when you put it that way, I don’t think sword strength has anything to do with it!”

Despite saying that, Rishe was flabbergasted.

“…Was it really for the sake of protection that you assigned knights to me?”

There were always two guards for Rishe, and a total of six people in shifts.

They were originally Arnold’s knight guards, and she was sure they had other duties before Rishe’s arrival. On top of that, there have been talks of lending Arnold’s knights to the Koyor Kingdom recently.

She heard that there were about fifty knight guards, which was very few for the crown prince of a great nation.

Rishe wondered why the number of knights with her had not been reduced, even though there should not be enough manpower.

Arnold gave her a look of ridicule.

“What? Did you really think they’re guarding you to monitor you?”

“…Yes. For that matter, I don’t think you’re going to blame me for moving around without the knights’ eyes on me.”

Because people in the castle normally wouldn’t bother to assign personal knights to guard them.

That’s why Rishe concluded that the knights were guarding her not to protect her, but to report her actions to Arnold.

However, she realized that this was not the case.

At any rate, Arnold said earlier that he thought she might be isolated in that castle. His brother Theodore also told her that his brother had many enemies in the castle.

“…Your Highness, you don’t have to worry about me like that…”

“I know you can protect yourself.”

Arnold replied, taking Rishe’s words into consideration.

“――I’m doing that to show people that I’m trying to protect you, even with my own knight guards.”

“…”

He quietly stated.

And yet, his words were clear.

Deep down, Rishe could feel the echo of that castle being enemy territory for Arnold.