Chapter 9

Madeleine started working as a maid at the age of fourteen and eventually rose to the position of chief maid. Still, no matter how long she worked for the duchy, she would still be a commoner.

She wasn’t too upset about that, to be honest. She only admired the dignity and elegance of Baroness Robert, whose neat hair, straightforward gaze, and elegant tone made her look more aristocratic than anyone else. The woman occasionally lost her cool when she was excited, but that was very rare.

“Madeleine.”

“Yes, madam.”

Even her name sounded so noble from her mouth!

Madeleine thought to herself that she would call the other maids that way the next time the opportunity arose.

“I heard you talked to the princess.”

“Yes, for a bit earlier.” She recalled what had happened that morning.

Princess Ingelos, the young lady of an enemy family whom they had only heard of, was in many ways different from expected.

First of all, she was gentle and friendly. Alessia spoke so sweetly and pleasantly that it was impossible to treat her coldly.

Really, it wasn’t because Madeleine was moved by the obvious flattery.

It was just that her smiling demeanor and responsiveness were appreciated. It had been three years since Duchess Ferdinand passed away. Three years since the sweetest of her superiors left the mansion. Princess Ingelos was kind enough to fill that void.

“It doesn’t seem like she’s as useless as I feared she would be,” she said cautiously.

Of course, that didn’t mean she accepted her for Kaon, whom she cherished as her own child. The arranged marriage was still a waste of his future in her opinion.

She added, “It seems that she respects Ferdinand as well.”

Nevertheless, being hateful in the face of kindness didn’t sit right with Madeleine. Besides, it would also have been wrong to treat Kaon’s fiancée as their enemy.

Moreover, Alessia’s face had not even lost its baby fat yet, being the same age as her second daughter, looked pitifully thin and fragile. As a mother, Madeleine couldn’t bear to be cruel.

“Oh, Madeleine. Respect?” Baroness Robert shook her head in shock, placing a hand on her temple. “Respect this, respect that—what words has she been using to coax our chief maid?” Her tone was curt, eyes sharp.

Madeleine shrugged. She realized belatedly that she had misspoken, but she had already offended the baroness.

“Ingelos is a family that does not know how to respect others. Of that I am certain.”

She’d known that the baroness had a grudge against Ingelos, but it was even worse than Madeleine had imagined. Everyone in Ferdinand, historically and empirically, had that hatred, but in this case, it seemed particularly strong.

“You might think I’m saying too much, I understand.”

“Well, if it’s Ingelos that we’re talking about, then I’ll agree. I made a mistake,” Madeleine lied, deciding that the baroness, her idol, must have had a proper reason to react that way.

Baroness Robert, who had been silent for a while, slowly closed her eyes. The wrinkles around her mouth deepened. “My younger brother passed away when he was twenty.”

“Something like that…”

There was a shadow of tears in the old woman’s eyes. Even though it had already been several decades, her heart still choked whenever she remembered what happened.

“He told me that I shouldn’t worry about the monsters.”

“…”

“But he couldn’t come back.”

Her younger brother had prided himself in being an elite knight, and he had also been their family’s pride and joy.

That day, the behavior of the monsters had been particularly strange. Hundreds of knights had been injured, with dozens dead, including her brother. The woods had become his eternal resting place due to a runaway monster.

“It was sudden. Monsters are always vicious and incomprehensible, but that was the first time we ever saw anything like that.”

That day of screams and weeping still often crossed the baroness’ dreams, disturbing her peace.

“You’ve been working for Ferdinand for quite some time,” Baroness Robert said with a forced calm, “You know the previous duke put in a lot of effort in his work.”

He had been busy trying to recruit a talented mage to the estate to protect the young knights. The task wasn’t easy because mages were a resource directly managed by the ryal family, so there were hardly any skilled mages who were not yet under anyone’s employ.

Typically, mages were obtained through the king, through a mage family, or through the Magic Tower.

The king used mages as a means of reinforcing his power, mage families were arrogant and disinterested in others, and the Magic Tower was a thief with a staff instead of a knife.

“Although not known to the outside world, he also considered allying with Ingelos. He was willing to put the past on the shelf because he valued every life.”

“Oh my goodness. The master?”

“Yes.”

Under such dire circumstances, it had been natural for the former duke to wish for cooperation. Even though the old grudges were piled up, Ingelos was still the best of the mage families.

“And Ingelos laughed at him.” the baroness’ eyes reddened.

Duke Ingelos, who rarely attended court banquets on spring days, had said, “Hundreds of years of passed since the monsters appeared in this world, and if the knights still can’t respond independently, then why do they exist?”

He had been aware of the crisis in Ferdinand, and yet he had turned his back on them in public so inhumanely.

Baroness Robert engraved those words in her chest so that she would never forget them. For the sake of her younger brother who had given his life to fight monsters, that grudge was meant to be taken to her grave.

“The princess seems to have been kind to you, but she must have had ulterior motives.”

She trusted no one from Ingelos, no exceptions. Those glowing red eyes were inimitably tied to the cruel rejection from the duke, the bloody scabbard that returned instead of her younger brother, whose body could not even be retrieved.

“Yes, Madam. I was too frivolous.”

“I’m telling you not to open your heart so easily. You’re too soft-hearted.”

How could an Ingelos ever be welcomed in Ferdinand?

***

Standing in front of the wall next to the lace curtain, Kaon didn’t knock, but instead put his nose to his sleeve.

‘I don’t smell like sweat anymore, right?’

He’d taken a bath as soon as he came back from rigorous outdoor training, so he only smelled of soap. He also usually didn’t care what he smelled like because he was always just training, but now he was strangely concerned.

Kaon agonized a bit more before deciding to change his clothes again. He had to guide Alessia through the estate once a while, and he also had to stop worrying.

Then he stood in front of the wall again, knocking this time.

Soon after, a silhouette appeared behind the curtains. It was small because she was small.

He held out his hand on a whim, checking to see if he could cover the entire figure. He couldn’t, but it was close.

“Kaon?”

‘Her voice is so pleasant…’

An Ingelos was being friendly with a Ferdinand. It would have been unimaginable in the past.

“I’m sorry for being late, I just finished training. If you’d like, I can show you around the estate now…”

“I’d like to do that! Shall we go now?”

“Sure. And…”

Kaon was just about to say that he’d ordered the weird lace fabric to be replaced when the said fabric was pulled back and the soft scent of flowers wafted over to his side.

He saw Alessia and stiffened. She had on a white dress, and the lace curtains looked like a veil. She looked like a spring bride…

It didn’t take him long to snap out of his thoughts. Obviously, it was just a plain white dress, nothing like an elaborate wedding gown.

‘A bride? Is the heat getting to me?’

He began to doubt his own sanity. Kaon had been out training in the scorching sun from morning to afternoon.

‘No way, it’s not that bad.’

“It’s nice to see you.”

So the reason why his heart was racing like crazy was the heat, not her playful smile.