“It seemed that the young lady loved the young master, and I was happy that the relationship between the two of you had improved recently… Today, I saw only the two of them, Miss Lise and Master Killian, going out…”
“Oh, my…
“Why… Did you send only the two of them?”
She felt even greater joy in the fact that Anna was delighted with the improved relationship between her and Killian. However, seeing that Lise and Killian went out alone today, it seemed that Anna became anxious again.
“What can I say…”
“But you’re Master Cillian’s wife, and no matter how much they get along like a brother and sister, Lady Lise wants a man with a wife… No, no. Pretend you didn’t hear it.”
She felt a little comforted because she thought that was how Anna saw it.
“Killian… He is not one to commit irresponsible things. That person may be in love with Lise, but as long as our marital relationship continues, at least he won’t cause a scandal with Lise.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust Master Killian. Rather… I cannot understand you.”
It was worth it. From Anna’s point of view, what a strange master she was.
“Anyway, to you, I must be frustrated and strange. But in the end… I am doing this to live.”
She just chuckled. And Anna’s gaze at me looked complicated.
“Do you love Master Killian?”
“…Huh. I love him.”
It may be something she couldn’t confess to Killian.
“How could I not love him?”
A man who was completely unknown. However, a man who was secretly considerate and protective of her even though he spoke cold words. The man who was dazzlingly beautiful, awakened a passion within her that she had not known, and called her, the daughter of a political opponent, ‘my wife’. Perhaps even if someone other than her possessed Edith, she would have had no choice but to fall for him like Edith in the original work.
“Then why do you do so many concessions to Lady Lise?”
“It is not a concession. Concession is a word used when the other side also covets it.”
“Yes…?”
“Lise doesn’t want Killian. If so, she would have clung to him already when the talk of me and Killian’s marriage came out. Even if she had only dropped one tear in front of Killian, Killian would have defeated anyone, including the Duke, and tried to get Lise.”
But Lise blessed Killian and Edit’s marriage. Because the male lead given to her was Cliff, not Killian.
“Cliff… She must be after the young master.”
Anna nodded her head as if she had read her thoughts. However, she soon giggled and muttered:
“Then, why is Lady Lise looking for Master Killian these days…?”
“Huh?”
“Oh no!”
“No, I won’t be angry, so tell me.”
It was clear to her relaxed Anna that she was resenting her mouth now. But she couldn’t pick up the words she had already spat out, so she hesitated and then mumbled.
“It’s strange these days, Lady Lise seems to be nice to Master Killian.”
“Lize… she used to be like that.”
“Yeah, that’s true, but lately, she has been visiting Master Killian often. Of course, there’s no way the young master will do anything dishonest!”
A look of dismay appeared on Anna’s face. Perhaps she considered it a mistake to say such a thing out of her mouth. Maybe the effort Edith put into the extras was finally paying off.
“Of course. By the way, when did the ‘these days’ you just mentioned start?”
“That is… that… It must have been since the day the young lady and the young master went to see the opera.”
It felt strange that it was the day after the second stage exception conditions were met.
“May I ask why you thought that?”
“In fact… That night, Miss Lise visited Master Killian’s room. She didn’t stay long, but it’s kind of strange that she stopped by at that time wearing just a chemise…”
If you have something to say, you can do it the next morning. If it had been urgent, she would have had her maid. It was a little strange that she would bother to visit Killian at night.
“And from that day on, I think I started seeing the two of them together often. They used to see each other often, but unlike before, Miss Lise recently came to visit him.”
Was something going on? Or was she preventing Killian from escaping out of her fishery due to the setup to have Killian as her sub-male lead?
“I am…I thought that if the young lady loved the young master, she would stop only Miss Lise and the young master from going out alone.”
She laughed a little at that.
“Anna. As you know, I have no right to do that.”
“But lately, Master Killian has changed!”
“It’s true that Killian has been visiting me often lately. But I’m not sure if it’s because he has a crush on me or if he’s spying on me. Well, it’s me, I don’t care either way.”
It really was. She would appreciate it if he had a crush on her, but she was fine with being a surveillance girl. It just felt good to be able to see him.
“Thanks for telling me anyway, Anna. You must have had a lot of trouble deciding whether to tell me or not.”
Anna’s face immediately turned red. It was quite meaningful that Anna, who had only thought she was a member of the Ludwig family, gave her information that only she knew. Because it meant Anna finally became her maid.
* * *
Anna was a girl living with a fallen male writer. Her great-grandfather, Baron Sorel, was a man of decent character who took pity on his brother’s daughter, who fell into a gambling addiction and died violently, but he was not good at making money. Thanks to her upright personality and sincerity, she participated in the count’s business and received a monthly salary, but Baron Sorel and his wife already had five children, so it was very difficult for all the male writers to live on that money.
Thanks to her father who was addicted to gambling, Anna, who had grown up with all sorts of looks from an early age, was an expressionless child, but she was quick to notice.
“Great mother. I’m sorry, but could the noble find a place for a maid?”
Anna said that as soon as she turned fourteen, she would get a job as a maid. Since she had taken care of the housework since she was a child, there was no objection to her work as a maid. But Baron Sorel objected.
“No matter what, you are the blood of the baron family. You’re not even a maid, you need a maid!”
In the meantime, Baron Sorel, who had taught her aristocratic knowledge she needed without discriminating against his own children, loudly proclaimed that he would marry Anna off as well. But Anna knew. If this happened, everyone would fall into the pit. She called her troubled aunt aside and asked again.
“Thank you so much for raising me all this time. I will leave a letter for uncle, so please find a place for me to work as maid.”
“…Thank you, Anna.”
That way, Anna entered the house of a Countess her aunt had introduced her to as maid.
Her life as a maid was arduous, but Anna quickly earned a good reputation for her ability to do the hard work in silence. Anna lived faithfully, sending part of her salary to the Sorel family and saving the other part. She then found out that she was able to come to the Ludwig duchy. And the Duke and Duchess of Ludwig also quite liked Anna, who was quiet, sincere, quick-witted, and had the right values.
“Starting today, take care of Lise. She is a child with a deep wound in her heart, so she may not be able to speak even if she is a little uncomfortable, so please take a good look and help her.”
When a dazzlingly beautiful girl named Lize Sinclair came to live in the Duke’s family, it was Anna who was chosen as her first maid.
“Didn’t I say no? Nice to meet you. I’m Lise, Lise Sinclair.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, Miss Lise.”
Lise, who smiled like sunlight at her as she greeted her, was so beautiful that she couldn’t explain it in words. Anna, as always, was a model maid, taking care of Lise delicately and making arrangements for her before she felt some discomfort. However, she noticed that Lise was overly lucky because of her life that was ‘examined closely’. She wasn’t talking about an illegitimate child who had been abandoned by her own father and living the life of a duchy’s princess. Lise was literally just lucky. The weather was always nice on the day she was going out, her things she wanted were always there, and circumstances were especially favorable to her.
‘It’s a little… strange. How could a person be this lucky?’
Around the time she thought about it, Anna was suddenly assigned to a different place.
“Sorry for the sudden change, Anna. But you have been doing it before, so it shouldn’t be difficult, right?”
“Yes, madam.”
Anna ended up working as one of the Duchess’s maids, as she did before becoming Lise’s maid. She had no regrets about the change in her job, but strangely, she had an inexplicable distance from Lise. It was for Anna’s instinct, who had experienced various misfortunes since her childhood. Because she had never seen anyone as lucky as Lise. So she spent several years at the Duke’s house, and Anna was assigned as a maid to Edith, who would become Killian’s wife.
“Anna. I trust you so I will assign this to you. If Edith seems to have plans or does something weird, you’ll come right back and let me know. Even if Edith acts evil on you, be sure to report it.”
Duke Ludwig made a solemn statement as if sending his beloved knight to the battlefield.
Anna was unmoved, but she bowed her head quietly as always.
Contrary to the Duke’s fear, Edith was a very ordinary person. She seemed to have a flamboyant appearance and a pretty loud gossip around her, but within the realm of duchy she was quiet.
How do you feel?
