"Rey told you to pick me up?"

Luana took off her high heels as she sat on one of the couches. The pink dress was still on her, and she and Mare had just returned to the room.


Mare nodded.

"What happened in there, Mad-Luana?"

Luana leaned her body against the back of the sofa. The last thing she had tasted at the dinner was a fruit-flavoured cake, which had turned out to be absolutely delicious.


"I almost fell earlier," Luana began. "Your master just left me and joined his business colleagues probably, so I didn't know what to do there."

Mare listened intently. The young woman was still standing on the sill of the sofa and watching Luana intently.


"Then, suddenly, I didn't realise wires were dangling from the floor," Luana continued. "You know, Mare, I thought I would fall and cause a mess at the dinner. But luckily, a man with jet-black eyeballs helped me and held me upright."

Mare had yet to speak. She still wanted to listen to Luana's explanation because now the Lueic lady looked dreamy, and a smile formed at the corners of her lips.

"His arm felt so manly, and he so politely extended his hand to greet me."

Luana looked even more dreamy, with an all-too-obvious eye contact.

"So?" Mare asked again.

Luana cleared her throat softly, not realising that a smile had grown wider on her beautiful face.

"So what?" Luana said softly. "I extended my hand in greeting. That's all."

As a servant who had dedicated her life to serving the noble families, Mare certainly knew how to greet men and women.

And if Luana had just said she welcomed the stranger's hand, then a peck had landed on the back of their master's wife's hand.

"His name also sounds very gallant, Mare," Luana said again. "Pedro... Pedro who--"

"Did you see him?" Mare cut off Luana's sentence, causing the young woman to turn her head reflexively in a super-fast motion.

"Did Mr. Rey see when you accepted that man's hand?" Mare clarified her question.

Pursing her lips, Luana shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't know," she said lazily. "I don't think so. Because that honourable noble was too busy talking to the other guests to realise what happened to me earlier."

Mare was silent for five seconds as she tried to think. Jovi would not have given the order in such a hurry if their master had not requested it.

Mare concluded in her heart that perhaps Luana did not realise that Rey saw it all.

The man saw how another man greeted his wife; even the stranger kissed Luana's hand when Rey had not done anything to his wife.

"Next time, never welcome a hand from another man if the master is not beside you, Luana," Mare now warned.

Luana raised her eyeballs, fixing Mari with a relatively deep gaze.

"What do you mean?"

Mare smiled slightly.

"Now you must know you belong to your husband," Mare continued. "I know it's a cliché, and it may seem strange, but I know that not a single woman in the Lueic family welcomes another man's hand without their husband by their side. You even have to ask permission first, whether or not your husband minds if you come into contact with another man."

Luana squinted in disbelief. Where did that rule come from? It didn't seem to have been mentioned when she forged the noble school.

Noticing the frown on her great mistress' forehead, Mare tried to make things right.

"I'm telling you this for your own good, Luana," the woman said again. Her tone was soft and gentle, not trying to intimidate or make Luana feel cornered.

Despite their status as mistress and servant, Mare truly appreciated how Luana had asked her to be a friend moments ago.

And that was where she was now, acting to make sure Luana didn't make any missteps in her following actions.

Luana took a deep breath. If what Mare said was true, then it seemed like she had to face something waiting for her ahead.

"If that's the case, then will I get punished?" Luana asked originally.

Mare shrugged.

"That all depends on the master," she said honestly. "Men in the Lueic family have full access to their wives, and they are the ones who decide whether or not to punish their women."

Luana gasped, staring in disbelief at Mare as if the words she had just heard were a figment of her imagination.

But Mare nodded her head, telling her that it was not a lie but the truth.

Thinking about it suddenly made Luana shudder in horror. She hoped that her earlier actions did not spark anger for Rey Lueic.

Mare approached, intending to help Luana change her clothes.

"Jovi said you can order dinner from the restaurant. What would you like to eat now?"

Luana didn't answer right away but instead leaned her head to survey the ceiling of the luxurious room in one straight gaze.

"I don't want to eat," she sighed softly. "I just want that man not to come tonight."