Chapter 13
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 13
‘I don’t have to do a thing.’
Thanks to Adel’s excellent management, I hadn’t found much to do myself so far.
A total of five maids had been assigned to me, including Lilda. They were somewhat insolent, but for the time being, they made a show of following Adel’s orders.
It wouldn't benefit anyone if I stepped forward right now.
“My Lady, your hair is truly beautiful,” Adel said as she sat me before the vanity and began to brush my hair.
“Beautiful?”
“It’s like rosy clouds.”
‘Goodness.’
To call it clouds instead of a bomb.
I felt a bit bashful.
‘Is Adel an angel?’
Until just a few days ago, I didn’t even have a single maid to help me dress, so I had wandered the main castle with hair that looked like a bomb had gone off.
Adel must have heard the rumors about my hair. She might have even seen it in passing.
And yet, she used such a kind expression.
“It’s because you brush it so well, Adel. Thanks to you, the vassals don’t look at me like I’m a madwoman anymore.”
Adel, who had been smiling softly, eventually let out a giggle.
“My Lady, I’d like to start taking better care of your hair. What do you think?”
“Mhm. It is a bit brittle.”
It was mentioned in The Milk Bread.
The dignity of a noble comes from three things:
Refinement.
Attitude.
Appearance.
Though appearance was said to be the last of the three, ironically, it was the first thing people saw.
The jewels, dresses, and shawls one wore were secondary and held less meaning.
What truly mattered was how diligently the noble’s hair was groomed, how white and smooth the backs of their hands were, and how intelligently and elegantly their eyes shone.
It was a common belief that such graces were the standard of nobility.
Of course, Tulia had already failed, starting with her hair.
“First, I’ll need to trim the ends. Pink hair is rare and lovely, so it will look much better once we add some luster to it.”
“Okay.”
As soon as I answered, the hair cut below my shoulder blades fell to the floor.
A fragrant oil, blending sweet and soft scents, was meticulously applied throughout my hair.
Watching my hair being braided beautifully, I suddenly remembered my time as Han Ina.
When my mother would tie the hair of my much younger sibling, I felt an inexplicable, deep envy.
It was simply that tenderness, that harmony.
Every time I felt, saw, or heard that unique confidence of a loved child—the kind who knows both their mother and father adore them—I felt it.
Why did I have to suffer countless thin, stinging wounds?
My sibling had simply been born between my mother and my stepfather.
After Adel finished styling my hair, I touched it for no particular reason.
It was no longer Han Ina’s hair; Tulia’s pink hair wound around my palm like a full spool of silk thread.
* * *
“How has Tulia Frezier been lately?”
The vassals had all filed out, leaving the Grand Duke’s office.
The more spectators a play has, the more pronounced the silence feels once the performance ends.
However, this massive office did not look empty in the slightest.
The mere presence of one man was enough to overwhelm such a vast space.
That was the presence of the only Grand Duke in this great empire, Grand Duke Asis Frezier.
Luc Kelposher, the Grand Duke’s chief aide, responded immediately.
“Lady Tulia is doing well, now that Viscountess Aubrey has sent her new maids. She sent one head maid and five regular maids. I have also personally looked into the rest of her daily necessities.”
“Luc Kelposher, what has gotten into you to take care of such trivial matters?”
“Shall we say I am repaying the only grandchild who brings the Grand Duke homemade jam every day?”
In the entire continent, Luc Kelposher was likely the only one who could toss such a joke at Grand Duke Asis Frezier.
Of course, Luc never used this tone in public. He treated the Grand Duke with the same strict formality and respect as everyone else.
Similarly, Grand Duke Asis Frezier noticed that the expression of his long-time chief aide darkened ever so slightly for a brief moment.
There seemed to be something he didn't know, but he didn't bother to ask. If it were a matter of great importance, his aide would have reported it to him already.
“Ah, Grand Duke. A reply has arrived stating that Marquis Aster Frezier will be unable to attend your birthday banquet.”
“You mean he replied saying he won’t come.”
At the Grand Duke’s words, Luc Kelposher bowed his head, feeling embarrassed on his behalf.
Ever since the death of the eldest daughter, Grand Princess Hyacinthia, it was a fact known to every noble in the empire that the relationship between the Grand Duke and his eldest son, Marquis Aster Frezier, was as distant as spring sunlight and a snow-capped mountain.
Luc Kelposher spoke with a smile.
“Still, the other young lords and grandchildren will all be attending. Naturally, the twins will be coming as well. They should arrive at the main castle shortly. It will be lively for the first time in a while, Your Grace.”
“That Tulia Frezier girl... she doesn't get along with her twin brothers either, does she?”
“No, she does not.”
“And the twins hate Tulia.”
“……Yes.”
He thought that Tulia’s reluctance to come to the main castle wasn't just empty rebellion.
She had been on such terrible terms with her twin brothers that she had insisted on living away from them since she was a child.
Though it was strange that she insisted on staying in a warehouse when there were plenty of castles to spare, he had assumed the youngest son and his wife were taking good care of her.
To think they had been deceiving that young thing.
“……Wicked scoundrels.”
If Lilius and Aubrey had been ordinary vassals, their heads would have been rolling, but they were his own flesh and blood—his son and daughter-in-law.
Furthermore, keeping his late wife’s request in mind, Grand Duke Asis Frezier decided to let it slide with a moderate reprimand for now.
It wasn't as if he didn't understand his youngest son’s inferiority complex.
Luc Kelposher spoke up.
“Still, there shouldn't be any trouble this time, Grand Duke. I’ve intentionally arranged her new quarters to be as far as possible from the Marquis’s family’s usual residence.”
Luc Kelposher’s handling of the matter was meticulous.
Grand Duke Asis Frezier said nothing more.
* * *
After a few relatively peaceful days had passed.
The incident occurred in the morning.
“Lady Tulia, if you are going to see the Grand Duke, why don’t you wear this dress?”
I made a strange face as I looked at the dress Lilda was recommending.
She was definitely Aubrey’s pawn. Just two days ago, Aubrey had visited me and casually suggested that I appoint Lilda as a ‘senior maid.’
Since Aubrey still held half of the internal administrative power of the Grand Ducal House, it was awkward for me to refuse such a request.
“Then I’ll do as my aunt says.”
“I knew our Tulia understood how things work.”
When I readily agreed, Aubrey had laughed behind her fan.
“After all, it’s hard to fully trust someone from the Borderlands. The nobles of the Imperial Capital feel this even more strongly, you know? You just don’t realize it yet.”
While letting Aubrey’s words go in one ear and out the other, I couldn't help but think that the Tulia in the game was a complete idiot.
Lilius, who acted perfectly sweet to her face, was one thing, but it was obvious that Aubrey looked down on Tulia as a fool.
And yet, in The Milk Bread, there was never any mention of a conflict between Viscount Lilius’s couple and Tulia…….
Then again, isn't that how most villainesses are?
Wicked yet stupid, digging their own graves and meeting a tragic end.
‘Yeah, but listen, everyone…….’
I stared intently at Lilda, who was already acting like a head maid just because she’d become a ‘senior maid,’ before shifting my gaze back to the dress.
“My aunt sent this dress?”
I’m not that idiot Tulia, you know.