Chapter 14: The Ducal Family’s Nuisance
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 14: The Ducal Family’s Nuisance
“Madam, Baroness Sionel has arrived.”
The speaker was one of the ducal maids assigned to Blair.
Blair tilted her head. The maids of House Delmark adored their master, Herdin, as much as they disliked her, so Lina was usually the one to bring her messages.
Quickly finishing her tea with Agnes, Blair left the greenhouse and returned to the mansion.
Baroness Sionel, who was waiting in her bedroom, greeted Blair in her characteristically high-pitched voice.
“Oh my! You’ve grown even more beautiful since your marriage, Your Highness. Oh, but I should be calling you Duchess now, shouldn’t I?”
“I wanted to thank you for the wedding dress, but things were so hectic afterward that I never had the chance to contact you.”
“For the greatest beauty in the empire to wear my dress, it is I who should be thanking you. And I am honored to be making your first dress since the wedding.”
As Blair listened to the baroness’s flattery, she scanned the room. Lina was nowhere to be seen.
“As for the fabrics, I’ve prepared a selection of lightweight materials that offer excellent protection from the cold, just as His Grace requested. It seems he was worried you might catch a chill.”
Blair hardly registered the baroness's pleasantries.
All that mattered was that Lina was not in the room.
Lina remained absent as Blair looked over the dresses the baroness had brought and decided on a design for her new one.
After Baroness Sionel left, Blair asked a nearby maid the question that had been nagging at her.
“Where is Lina?”
The maid flinched, then averted her gaze as she answered.
“W-Well, I’m not sure… Shall I go look for her?”
“No. Don’t bother.”
Blair rose from her seat and put on the fur robe she had taken off earlier.
“Are you going for a walk?”
“Yes.”
The maid prepared to follow, but Blair stopped her.
“I’m going alone.”
“Ah, yes.”
Leaving the maid behind, Blair exited the room. The maids waiting outside the door bowed their heads.
Blair walked past them, went down to the first floor, then quietly came back up. Through the slightly ajar door, she could hear the maids’ whispering voices.
“Where did that Lina girl go? Don’t tell me she’s off crying somewhere just because a little dirty water was splashed on her.”
“Crying? What are you talking about? She went to wash up without batting an eye. So boring.”
“She’s a tough one, that’s for sure. Just like her mistress. Still, it’ll be a pain to get that smell out.”
“But she’s not going to tattle to Madam, is she?”
“If she were going to, there would’ve been trouble already. She knows her place. No matter how noble an Imperial Princess her mistress is, in this Ducal Mansion, she’s nothing but a nuisance.”
Listening to their conversation, Blair clutched the hem of her dress. Her crimson lips trembled.
Her premonition had been right.
No matter how much they hated her, she was the emperor’s only sister. The maids couldn’t touch Blair, so they were tormenting her maid, Lina, instead.
But one thing puzzled her.
Knowing Lina’s personality, she never would have stood for it. Why would a girl like her simply endure it?
Only then did Blair realize.
Lina had been enduring it all, worried it would further tarnish the reputation of her mistress, who was already an unwelcome presence in the Ducal Mansion.
It was probably the same in my past life. I was just too buried in my own problems to notice…
At that realization, Blair bit her lower lip hard.
“Madam?”
Startled by the voice behind her, Blair turned to see Lina. She wore a clean, new maid’s uniform, but her still-damp hair proved she had just finished washing up.
Blair grabbed the confused Lina’s hand and pulled her into the room.
The maids, who had been gossiping in a small huddle, jumped in shock at Blair’s unexpectedly quick return and bowed their heads.
Blair approached them. “Apologize.”
A frigid chill settled in her eyes. The maids who met her gaze flinched at her intensity.
To them, Blair was a mistress to be treated with caution, but not one to be feared. She was a woman who never showed her anger, who moved through the mansion with the placid expression of a doll or a figure in a painting.
But faced with the cold fury in her eyes, they were too stunned to say a word.
Blair spoke again to the frozen maids, her voice soft yet firm.
“I said, apologize to Lina.”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, Madam. Did we do something wrong…?”
Slap!
Before anyone could stop her, Blair struck the maid across the cheek. Not only the maid who was hit, but the other maids and even Lina were utterly shocked.
Blair looked down at the maid, who had stumbled to the floor. The palm that had delivered the blow throbbed as if it were the one that had been struck.
She felt as if she had become Katrina. It was a disgusting, terrifying feeling. Her heart pounded, and her stomach churned as if she were about to be sick.
But to protect Lina, she couldn’t back down now.
Blair clenched her trembling hand into a fist.
“You know better than I do what I’m talking about.”
“Your Highness, I-I’m really all right. Truly.”
Lina, finally snapping out of her shock, grabbed Blair’s arm. In a mansion where everyone already disliked Blair, escalating things would only make matters worse.
Besides, if Herdin were to see this…
“…I’m not all right.”
Blair’s face was contorted as if she were about to cry, but her eyes blazed with fury. “I’m not all right with you suffering like this because of me. Not one bit.”
“What is going on?”
Herdin appeared in the open doorway. Dressed in outdoor attire and holding a pair of leather gloves, he must have heard the commotion on his way out.
“Y-Your Grace.”
At his sudden appearance, the maids and Lina turned pale and bowed their heads.
Herdin pulled on his gloves, his eyes quickly taking in the scene: a maid clutching her reddened cheek, and Blair, whose hands were trembling minutely.
It didn’t take him long to grasp the situation.
While everyone stood in silence, the maid Blair had slapped scrambled to her feet and stepped before Herdin.
“This girl failed to do as she was told and acted insolently, so I was disciplining her, but Madam seems to have misunderstood—”
“I don’t recall asking you.”
It was a simple but clear rebuke. The maid clamped her mouth shut and lowered her head.
Herdin’s gaze shifted to Blair. He was waiting for her to speak. The maids also looked at her, planning to blame Lina and end the matter there.
Even if Herdin didn’t think highly of Blair, they wanted to avoid confronting the Duchess, who was also an Imperial Princess. They assumed Blair wouldn’t want to escalate the situation either and would corroborate their story.
But Blair defied their expectations completely.
“I was punishing these girls for ostracizing and tormenting the maid I brought with me.”
The maids were surprised by her response, but they weren’t particularly worried. There was no way Herdin would side with Blair, the daughter of his enemy.
Blair, too, didn’t expect Herdin to believe her. Still, she refused to end this by letting Lina take all the blame.
And yet…
“It is my fault for failing to properly educate my staff. I will see to it that these girls are dismissed at once.”
He didn’t ask any further questions. He simply believed her.
Hearing this, the maids’ faces turned ashen. Blair, too, stared at him with wide, surprised eyes.
Lina, who had been watching the scene unfold, spoke up urgently.
“Y-Your Grace. I’m fine. It was just a bit of roughhousing, part of getting to know one another.”
Of course, she felt no fondness for the maids who had tormented her. But as someone in a similar position, she knew better than anyone the hardships they would face after being fired.
Sensing Lina’s discomfort, Blair agreed.
“Herdin. That… seems too harsh. A sincere apology and docking half of this month’s wages should be enough.”
The maids, who had been fidgeting anxiously, dropped to their knees.
“We’re sorry, Your Grace! We were foolish to commit such an indiscretion. Please forgive us this once.”
“Your apology should be directed to the Duchess and this maid, not me,” Herdin replied coldly, then gave an order to Mason, who had arrived a step behind him. “Mason, dock two months of their wages.”
“Herdin.”
“I believe this to be an appropriate punishment.”
Blair called his name to object, but Herdin cut her off as if he already knew what she was going to say.
“Your Grace.”
Ruth, checking his wristwatch, called to Herdin. It was time.
“I’ll be going now.”
Herdin gently pulled Blair by the shoulder and pressed a kiss to her smooth forehead.
Startled by the uncharacteristic gesture, Blair only understood his intention when she saw the maids standing beside her.
It was a warning. This woman is my wife. See that nothing like this ever happens again.
Blair stared blankly at his retreating back as he left the bedroom.
He had believed her.
But why, then, did a sense of futility overshadow any gratitude? The problem that had tormented Lina for three years in her past life had been resolved with just a few words from him.
* * *
That night, Lina headed to Blair’s bedroom carrying a silver tray with a bowl of cold water and a towel.
My lady… if I leave her be, her delicate hand will surely bruise.
Hitting someone required a certain hardness. A gentle hand like her lady's, which had never struck a soul or known a day of rough labor, wouldn’t be able to handle the shock.
‘I’m sorry, Lina. I’m so sorry I realized so late…'
Her lady was so soft-hearted that she apologized even after saving her. The thought of that maid’s hard cheek striking her lady’s gentle hand was utterly infuriating.
“Madam, it’s me. I’m coming in for a moment.”
Lina opened the door with her elbow and entered Blair’s room. In the same instant, she dropped the tray she had so carefully carried.
“Y-Your Highness?!”