Luna, walking into the dining room in a bad mood, saw an empty table, she realized that she woke up too late.

"Can anyone eat in the kitchen?"

Luna went to the kitchen. Luckily, someone was in the kitchen. Noise came from it.

Luna wanted to ask for food to be prepared for her, but when she saw an unusual picture, she froze, unable to utter a word.

"...Why is Emma doing the dishes?"

Everyone else was cutting or preparing the ingredients, but Emma was the only one who diligently washed those piles of dishes.

Unlike the others, who even had time to chat, Emma was busy washing the dishes. She was so immersed in this process that she did not look like herself.

- Emma?

Luna, staring into the kitchen for a moment, called out Emma's name. Emma and the other servants were startled by the sudden voice, and hurriedly set to work.

"I came to ask for food..."

"Why is Emma doing this?"

Looking around the kitchen with confused eyes, Emma wiped her wet hands on her apron and began to apologize.

- Oh, are you awake already? I am so into washing dishes! Wait, please. I'll bring you breakfast right now!"

Emma moved quickly. The rest of the workers calmly prepared the ingredients without saying a word.

- What are you doing? Come on, let's go to the dining room. You just have to wait a bit."

When Emma's insistence ended, a cold atmosphere filled the very warm kitchen.

While cutting the potatoes, one of the servants made eye contact with Luna, but at the same moment he looked away and began to cut the potatoes even more diligently.

Luna really wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but Emma was too insistent, don't let her say a word.

In the end, confused and shocked, Luna went to the dining room. She felt like she saw something she shouldn't have seen, so her steps on the marble floor were a bit heavy.

- You waited a long time? You should have woken up earlier. Come on, eat and have a good, productive day! And please, from now on, don't come straight to the kitchen."

Emma spoke to her as if she was trying to hide something.

Luna looked at her for a while, then picked up her fork and tasted some of the salad, pretending to be carefree.

"Emma, ​​is something wrong?"

- BUT? What?"

- Why are you washing the dishes? You're the chef."

- Oh, I had nothing to do. You overslept, so there was nothing for me to do."

Emma patted Luna on the shoulder as if she wanted to get away as quickly as possible. After washing the dishes, her hands were very cold.

"So you can cook dinner, right?" It's your main job."

"I need to get the ingredients ready for dinner."

- Do you wash the dishes? Do you want to always have such icy hands?

Washing dishes was usually the responsibility of the lowest ranking person in the kitchen. A beginner who doesn't know how to cook. The chef didn't do it.

"I just had time for it."

Emma replied with a warm smile, saying that there was nothing wrong with that.

Luna stared at her for a moment, then bit her lips and looked away to consider the situation. It was clear that if she asked her about it again, she would get the same answer as before. It's better to ask someone else who has an objective opinion.

- Don't do it again. The chef shouldn't be doing this. Your hands have become very cold. Why did you wash the dishes with cold water? You could heat it up!

- I wanted to wash it as soon as possible. Okay, miss. I won't do it again."

When Luna signaled she wouldn't ask any more questions, Emma returned to the kitchen, visibly relaxed.

Luna drank tea and thought about the whole situation.

She could no longer pretend to be calm, so the hand holding the cup was trembling slightly. No matter how I thought about it, the situation in the kitchen was very strange.

- Lady! You woke up?"

Laura appeared in the greenhouse. Luna always rested, drinking tea, in a glass greenhouse, so she did not have to look for her for a long time.

"Laura, sit down for a second."

At Luna's suggestion, Laura quickly sat across from her.

"I have a question for you."

- Which?"

Laura asked as she ate a cookie. Luna remembered the time yesterday when, after she and Emma brought snacks, Laura had no face.

- Yesterday. When you went to the kitchen to help Emma, ​​did you see anything strange?"

- ... BUT!?"

Dropping half the cookie from her hand, Laura looked at Luna in surprise.

Since the expression of emotion was sincere, this alone was enough to understand that something was wrong. It was clear that she had seen something in the kitchen last night.

- Tell me the truth. I just came into the kitchen and saw how Emma herself washes the accumulated dishes. Not even talking to other people."

(*Bam*)

As soon as Luna started talking about washing dishes, the maid who was preparing the tea dropped the tray with all the contents. When Luna looked at her, she was very frightened and worried, but did not look surprised.

Luna felt uncomfortable about this. It seemed to her that everyone except her knew about this situation.

Everyone around knew, the worker cutting potatoes, Laura dropping cookies in surprise, and the maid breaking cups of tea.

It seemed that everyone knew something, but did not want to tell the moon.

- In any case, even if Emma says that everything is fine, I will deal with this situation and punish all the people involved. The same will happen to those who knew the truth and hid it."

When Luna said this, the maid who was wiping the spilled tea was amazed.

"Of course, if I had been told about this earlier, I would have mitigated their punishment or not punished at all."

The maid tensed and didn't move. Luna couldn't tell if she was worried or trembling with fear.

But one thing was clear. She knew something...

In her mind, Luna wanted to grab her, shake her, and tell her to tell her everything she knew.

"So, if you tell me everything you know now, I won't bother you anymore. Joanna...",-

Luna said to the maid.

Surprised by this, the maid Joanna stopped breathing, as if a hangman's noose had been thrown around her.

"...But if you don't tell me, you won't just be kicked out of the mansion. I'll find out soon anyway, so go ahead and tell me."

As Luna spoke in an almost menacing tone, a frightened Joanna suddenly fell to her knees on the floor and began to plead with her.

- I, I...! I did not do anything...! We had different responsibilities...!"

It would be better if she didn't say anything.

Luna drank the slightly cooled tea and said:

"Tell me all about it."

- Eh... This is...! Carr, Carlton did it...! The day the mistress came to the mansion...!"

Luna frowned, wondering if she had heard correctly that the butler was in question.

- Carlton?

- Yes... ! He said he doesn't want you to eat the food prepared by the baron's cook...!"

"Oh my gosh...!"

Laura said in surprise, maybe she didn't know something either.

Come to think of it, these days, every time she ate, she tasted a strange taste. She thought it was because Emma wasn't used to cooking for a large number of people, but she didn't even think it wasn't Emma who did it.

Luna was momentarily speechless at the thought that everyone knew about it and was involved.

"Why didn't you tell me? If I talked to her, she wouldn't have to go through this."

She is not recognized as a chef. ......This is a mockery, and I don't understand why she took on all the troublesome work......! From the very beginning, I was worried about whether you should talk about it! I should have told you what happened this morning..."

Hearing that something happened this morning, Luna grabbed the edge of the table.

She wanted to immediately run out and cripple those involved in this incident, but she needed to listen to all the atrocities that were taking place, so she had to restrain herself.

- Tell me what happened. Tell me everything."

The maid lowered her head and gathered all her will into a fist.

- Yes Yes! Good...! Actually, it all started with the fact that I found out that the mansion was bought by a new mistress ...!

***

Luna got up from her seat and left the glass greenhouse, she ordered the servant who was cleaning the hall on the first floor to call all the workers.

- Call them all. Right now."

The look of the moon was different from the usual. She looked very angry, so the servant hurried off.

Laura, who followed the moon, wiped away her tears. She thought that now they would live happily, because the moon had found a gold mine, but now she was sad. Laura did not understand why this happened.

- What's happening?"

- I do not know either..."

After a while, servants began to gather in the hall. The lunch break soon arrived, so Royer and Antares witnessed the scene on their way to the dining room.

- Laura?

Royer ran over to Laura, who was constantly wiping away her tears. She always expressed her emotions very honestly, but this was the first time she had cried so much.

In front of her was Luna, who stood silently with a fierce look. Antares intuitively guessing that something unusual had happened, hurried down the stairs.

- I heard you called. I was finishing the report to show it to you..."

(*Thousand!*)

Luna appeared in the hall and slapped Carlton's cheek with her hand. Everyone stopped and the room fell silent.

Carlton, who received a slap in the face, could not even breathe, as if he did not understand what had just happened.