"Mm."
Mumuzawa gave a quiet reply, then turned and went back into the study.
Behind her, the study doors closed at just the right moment with barely a sound. The two maids behind the doors both breathed sighs of relief. Their interruption had not gotten them killed.
Although they had come on the queen's orders, it would have been perfectly normal for them to be executed on the spot for interrupting a prince's rest or studies.
In fact, had it been the arrogant second prince, Camilla, they should already have been dead.
"Thank goodness it was the twelfth prince-"
The two exchanged a glance, both inwardly rejoicing in their good fortune.
"Your mother invited us to lunch?"
Dio casually tossed aside the pile of documents that had been giving him a headache and asked curiously.
Mumuzawa, however, looked a little dazed. Only after a long moment did she say, "...Yes. The servants in the palace probably told her..."
Then she paused before continuing, "Mother probably wants to find out what you're really like, Master Dio, but I don't know how much information she has."
Judging by the timing of the seventh queen's invitation, she had received the news almost as soon as Dio arrived at Mumuzawa's palace. That left just how much she knew about Dio an open question.
"Most likely, she only knows as far as the escort job in Yorknew City."
That was Dio's guess. His mission in Pati City was highly confidential, while his record of killing several Spiders was in his Hunter files and not publicly available.
In that case, perhaps the seventh queen was worried that this "ordinary bodyguard" had fooled Mumuzawa and wanted to see what he was made of...
Yet at that moment, Mumuzawa was thinking something else entirely:
Was it happening again...?