Adelina gradually settled into her new life at Pembroke Manor. She studied the servants' personal files with meticulous care, inspected the various rooms one by one, and personally gathered information about every aspect of the household. Of course, she could have simply asked the butler—but she preferred to verify everything herself. Perhaps this approach seemed overly cautious, even narrow-minded to some, but she felt far more comfortable doing things her own way.
While the Duchess busied herself with domestic affairs, Alexio remained constantly absent. He appeared to be resolving the very issues that had cut their honeymoon short. Because of this, the couple hadn't even managed a proper conversation.
It was exactly as Alexio had warned: once they returned to the capital, they were unlikely to see each other often. Mason and Simeon seemed worried that the Duchess would feel offended or hurt by her husband's sudden immersion in work immediately following their wedding. However, Adelina displayed no displeasure whatsoever. Even when she had lived with her father, spending meaningful time together as a proper family had never been customary. Each person focused on their own concerns, gathering only when matters regarding her marriage arose.
Besides, this was a marriage of **convenience**. Demanding familial warmth from Alexio fell far beyond the contractual terms—and so the young duchess had never expected it. She was simply surprised by how extraordinarily busy her husband seemed to be. But remembering the enormous pile of documents she'd glimpsed in his room that first night, everything made perfect sense.
A week passed, and Adelina had developed a general understanding of the estate's situation. She placed the keys on the table before her and counted them several times. Sophie, pouring tea while observing her mistress from the side, couldn't resist asking.
"Madam, why do you keep recounting the keys?"
"Sophie," Adelina turned to her maid, "how many warehouses are there in Pembroke Manor?"
"Not counting those personally controlled by His Lordship—twelve." Sophie answered without hesitation, having accompanied Adelina everywhere during her inspections.
Aristocrats considered modesty a virtue, yet they also delighted in subtle displays of wealth. Rather than directly stating how much money a person possessed, they would casually mention the number of warehouses they maintained. Legend held that long ago, when people stored all their wealth in gold, certain individuals had been so phenomenally rich that their warehouses numbered in the **hundreds**. But now, in an era when monetary assets resided safely in banks, noble families possessing twelve warehouses could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
"Was that a test?" Sophie threw her shoulders back proudly, looking thoroughly delighted at having answered correctly.
Adelina laughed softly at the maid's extremely satisfied expression and pointed to the keys spread across the table.
"Then tell me—how many keys do you think are here?"
"Madam. Do you really believe I'm that stupid? I may not be particularly skilled at writing, but I'm quite competent at counting." Sophie pouted, as though deeply offended, but then began her tally. "Let's see... One, two, three, four..."
Sophie counted the keys slowly, then bowed her head and started over. After repeating this process several times, the maid finally raised her head.
"Why are there only **eight** keys here?"
Puzzled, Sophie approached the elegant ivory box that stood in the corner of the room. A few days prior, Lady Pembroke's maid had delivered it with the words, "A gift for the new mistress." Sophie had naturally assumed the remaining keys would be inside—but the box was **empty**.
"If they're not in the box..." Four keys were missing. If one or two had gone astray, it might be dismissed as accidental loss—but certainly not **four**. "Lady Pembroke only gave eight keys in the first place!"
Sophie's frown deepened as realization dawned.
"I suspected something strange was happening. Judging by the atmosphere throughout the estate, I could tell the Lady wasn't going to surrender her position easily—yet at the same time, she's been nothing but kind to you."
"Exactly so."
Lady Pembroke had personally shown Adelina around the estate and even offered advice on household management. Watching the woman hand over what appeared to be important keys, Sophie's wariness had eased considerably. *Perhaps I was wrong to distrust her? Perhaps I've been too fixated on stereotypes about wicked mothers-in-law?* These thoughts had crossed Sophie's mind, and she had even felt genuine remorse for her suspicions.
"But the Lady turned out to be a **hypocrite**! She pretended to be a kindly mother-in-law while plotting to stab you in the back. One should never succumb to an attractive façade." Sophie snorted indignantly and crossed her arms over her chest with resolution. "We must go to her immediately and settle this matter!"
"Do you think so?"
The maid, already seething with righteous anger, blinked in confusion at her mistress's calm reply. Observing Adelina's composed demeanor as she examined the keys, Sophie realized that perhaps this wasn't the wisest course of action.
Her anger subsided, and the girl listened attentively to her mistress.
"Lady Pembroke has been exceptionally kind to me over the past week—and all the servants have witnessed it. If I create a conflict with her now, I'll appear to be an ungrateful daughter-in-law."
"That can't be right! The servants aren't so foolish as to misunderstand Lady Pembroke's true intentions. Doesn't **anyone** in this estate recognize how wary she is of you?"
"Sophie." Adelina fixed her maid with an intent gaze. "You yourself nearly believed in the sincerity of her intentions."
"W-well, that's—!" The maid flushed with embarrassment. Kindness and compassion were Sophie's greatest strengths, but they sometimes prevented her from assessing situations clearly. "Madam, how do you understand the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law so thoroughly when you've never been married before? All you do is read."
"Sophie, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is one of the most **fascinating** topics in literature. Countless books are devoted to it."
It was entirely true.
"Then... what should we do?" the maid asked, her eyes brightening with sudden admiration for her mistress.
"The best course would be to make Lady Pembroke hand me the keys **herself**. In truth, she should have done so from the very beginning."
"Hmm... but I don't think the Lady will do that easily." Otherwise, she would have surrendered them right away.
Adelina considered for a moment, then rose from her chair and addressed the maid.
"Sophie, take the keys and follow me. I need to inspect the warehouses."
The maid, who typically fulfilled her mistress's every request with cheerful readiness, hesitated this time and glanced at the clock. The hour had grown far too late for a stroll.
"Madam, perhaps we should postpone this until morning?"
"Ah. It's already so late..." Adelina checked the time herself and drew a sharp breath. It was nearly eleven o'clock. She had been so absorbed in her work that she'd completely lost track of the hours. The fatigue she hadn't noticed before now made itself felt, settling into her bones. Stretching slightly, the Duchess glanced at her desk, which lay buried beneath scattered papers.
_Alexio always kept his desk impeccably tidy, even when there was a mountain of documents._
Recalling her husband's workspace, she felt unaccountably embarrassed—like a child who couldn't even organize her own things properly. Of course, no one but Sophie could witness this small failure.
Adelina quickly gathered the scattered documents into neat piles and glanced at the door leading to their shared sitting room.
_Will Alexio be late again tonight?_
She had barely seen her husband since their first night together. Adelina sensed his presence in the bedroom late at night—the subtle shift in the mattress, the warmth beside her—but by morning, he was always gone. If Sophie hadn't reported that Alexio departed before dawn each day, Adelina might have believed it was merely her imagination.
"Madam?"
The maid's voice drew the girl from her reverie. Her thoughts had drifted to Alexio so naturally that she hadn't even noticed how distracted she'd become.
"What are you thinking about?" Though Sophie understood her mistress's thoughts perfectly well, she decided to feign ignorance, a knowing smile playing at her lips.
Lightly poking the impertinent maid in the ribs, Adelina gave her order once more.
"Sophie, take the keys and follow me. It's late, so we'll need to prepare a lantern."
For some reason she couldn't quite name, Adelina wanted to stay awake a little longer tonight.
Perhaps long enough to see Alexio when he returned.