“Weren’t you the one who promised me to listen to Sybil and get some proper rest? What time is it now, and you’re still dealing with these things?” Liana asked.

“I’ll go and rest after I finish what I’m doing,” Erinna said.

Although Liana wanted to say a thing or two to get her to not be so busy with the affairs of the Venus Dukedom, Erinna’s status was different now. She had to be responsible for the territory.

And Liana had no reason to point fingers at her. She was the one who had shirked her original responsibilities and let Erinna bear it all.

“Let me help you. You go and rest for a bit, how about it?” Liana suggested. Some simple things, she could still help with a little.

“It’s alright. It’s almost finished. I’ll do it myself.” Although she was talking to Liana, the movements of her hands did not stop. She was constantly writing something.

Sybil also knew that her presence was a bit redundant. Her Highness had come back now, surely to see Duchess Erinna. It was better for her not to stand here, she was a bit clueless about the situation.

“Since Your Highness is here, there’s no need for me to urge the Duchess to rest.” Sybil bowed to Liana and then left the room.

Only the two of them were left.

“The soundproofing of the room seems a bit poor. What if someone overhears while we’re talking about something important?” Liana asked.

Erinna snapped her fingers, and the room was enveloped by magic. “Now, when we speak inside, it can’t be heard outside at all.”

Liana came to Erinna’s side and looked at what she was currently dealing with.

It was a request for help from a remote town. It wasn’t something particularly important enough to require her personal attention.

Some bandits were loitering around the town, seriously affecting their daily lives.

This was indeed serious, but not to the point of requiring her to handle it personally. It could have been easily handled by handing it over to her subordinates, or even Naibert.

“These things can be completely left to others, right? They can also handle this kind of thing. It’s not good to take everything on yourself,” Liana said.

“If it were the past, it would naturally be no problem to leave this matter to others. But for one, I haven’t made any strong contributions to the Venus Dukedom. Handing things over to them would surely lead to some gossip. Secondly, because of the demons, I must look at some things carefully. Perhaps these bandits are not real bandits?”

As time went by, the traces of the demons became more and more active. There had been news of attacks by unknown in many places.

According to investigations, there were residues of demonic mana, and familiar traces of withering had also appeared at the sites.

So these small matters also had to be carefully examined, especially in such a remote place. The demon race liked to start from these places.

“And then, this town is also very close to the Luska Kingdom. The Luska Kingdom has been abnormally quiet recently. I have no idea what they are thinking now.” From the perspective of a lord, there were many things to consider.

“It must have been hard on you...” Just listening to this long string of words from Erinna made Liana feel exhausted. “Normally, I would also come back more often to help you. After all, this is a complete mess I’ve thrown at you.”

Liana felt very sorry for Erinna. In the original story, she was still studying at the Ibett Magic Academy at this time. Now, she had been a lord for a long time and had to bear too many things that she shouldn’t have to at her age.

“Help isn’t necessary. I can handle these things completely. But if you are willing to come back to see me often, I would be very happy.” After all, Erinna had already done something very direct before. What she said now was also very direct.

Whether Liana helped her or not was not important. What was important was that she came back to see her. That was enough.

“For whatever reason, I will also come back to see you,” Liana said.

“That would be great.” Erinna tidied up the files she had just been working on. “Everything has been dealt with. Would you like to take a look, Sister Liana?”

“I’ll take a quick look.” Liana was also a little curious how Erinna, as a duchess, handled these big and small trivial matters.

She roughly looked at how the incidents were handled. Everything really had to be looked over by her.

The more she looked, the more she felt sorry for Erinna.

“Speaking of which, there really is something I need to ask you about recently, Sister Liana,” Erinna said.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Regarding the other territories,” she said.

She was a newly appointed duchess and would surely have to interact with the other lords. How to get along, and in what way, were also things she had to consider.

“Which territory?” Liana asked.

“All of them.”

“...” Liana glanced out the window. It was already very late, and Erinna had also been up for a long time. “Let’s rest first. This matter can’t be finished in a short while.”

“Okay.” Erinna thought for a moment. “Then can I sleep with you once, Sister Liana? We were always like that, weren’t we?”

“Er...” Liana knew Erinna’s feelings for her now. For someone who liked her to invite her to sleep with them, did she even need to say what she wanted to do?

“Don’t worry, Sister Liana. I won’t do anything to damage your good impression of me. If I really wanted to, I would have had the chance last time, wouldn’t I?” [N O V E L I G H T] Erinna saw through her concerns.

That’s true. If she had had that thought, she would have done it last time. But the way she tied me up so tightly last time wasn’t something a normal person would do!

Not to mention, Loraviel was still waiting for her back in the room. Yesterday she had just done those things with Mephilia, and today she was going to sleep with Erinna. Liana didn’t dare to imagine how Loraviel would retaliate.

“You’ve already slept with Loraviel many times before, haven’t you, Sister Liana? It shouldn’t matter if you sleep with me once, right?” Erinna asked, a little resentfully.

She didn’t know the relationship between Liana and Loraviel and thought it was just a simple mistress-servant relationship. “I’m so envious of Loraviel.”

Mephilia snatched you away from me, and Loraviel can sleep by your side. I’m so envious.

“Um...”

“Alright, I won’t make things difficult for you, Sister Liana. After all, we’re not children anymore, are we? We can’t just recklessly say things like ‘I like you.’ We have to be responsible for what we say,” Erinna said with a smile, though her expression was still a little sad. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Liana bit her lip, feeling a little bad.

“You should get some good rest first. There are still many things to discuss regarding the territories.” Erinna left the duchess’ room and went back to her own.

And Liana also returned to hers.

“Welcome back, Your Highness. The hot water has been prepared for you, the bed has been warmed, and a nighttime snack has also been prepared. Which would you like to do first? Or would you like to taste me first?” Loraviel said with a laugh.

“I’ll take a bath first.” Liana’s tone was clearly a little sad.

“What is it, Your Highness?” Loraviel immediately noticed that something was off. “Was there some unpleasant exchange?”

“It wasn’t unpleasant, just a little sad.” Liana told Loraviel some of what had happened with Erinna, but she didn’t mention the extreme thing Erinna had done to her, nor that Erinna liked her.

Loraviel’s expression was also a bit subtle, especially when she heard that Erinna wanted to sleep with Liana. Her expression froze directly.

But she didn’t think in that direction. She just thought it was a younger sister acting spoiled with her older sister.

“I thought Your Highness would agree. After all, it was a request from a cute little sister,” Loraviel said with a laugh, not taking it too seriously.

In her eyes, it was a very normal thing for Erinna to act spoiled with Liana.

Erinna had always admired her sister very much. Coupled with the things Liana had been doing recently, and the pile of troublesome matters Erinna had to deal with as a duchess, it was only reasonable for her to want to act spoiled with her sister.

Not to mention, Erinna’s act of protecting Liana in the illusion had also gained her a lot of favor.

Of course, all of this was under the premise that Loraviel did not know Erinna’s true feelings. There was already a Princess Mephilia competing with her for Her Highness. If another Erinna were added to the mix, it would be strange if Loraviel didn’t hiss.

“It’s because of you,” Liana said, glancing at Loraviel. If it weren’t for her, perhaps Liana would have agreed.

“So it’s because of me?” Loraviel hugged her from behind. “Are you worried I’ll be jealous, Your Highness?”

“Guess?”

Loraviel opened her mouth and took a bite of Liana’s cheek. “I’m not guessing.”

“After all, from your expression this morning, it was obvious that you were definitely angry. If I had left again today without a word, I don’t know how you would have retaliated,” Liana said.

“So you were just worried I would retaliate against you, Your Highness?” Loraviel attacked from both sides, pinching Liana’s cheeks with both hands. “You are so cute, Princess Liana. How could I bear to retaliate against you?”