Chapter 27
I’m in big trouble.
I’ve made an irreversible mistake.
“Wow! It’s finally complete!”
I can’t believe I finished the dance manual.
“Finally? Shouldn’t it be ‘already’?”
“Well, that’s true. Honestly, when Miss Lacey first started writing the manuscript, I thought it would barely take shape just before you left for Euphorian.”
My goal was to finish the book around the time my ankle healed.
“Just look at this neat handwriting. When the family head returns, he’ll surely applaud and praise you.”
“Oh, Chief Aide, you’re exaggerating.”
“If it were the family head, wouldn’t he just end it with a ‘Good job’?”
“That’s also true!”
I should have dragged it out as long as possible, but before I knew it, my hands just worked too fast!
This is all Louis’s fault.
“If it’s about Mayta, I’ll tell you when you become my superior.”
The way he avoided answering by beating around the bush!
It felt more significant and bothered me endlessly.
My fuming was brief. Later, I stomped my feet, trying to vent my frustration. Yet, the speed at which I held the pen accelerated infinitely.
As a result, the book was finished way ahead of schedule.
I have to somehow fix the mistake I brought upon myself.
Fritz, who had been looking over the book with the aides, came to his senses and approached me.
A sense of foreboding came from his gaze, which seemed to acknowledge my hard work.
“Miss Lacey, you’ve really worked hard all this time. From now on, get some good res…”
“Oh, my goodness! Look at me! It’s time to prepare the sheet music work!”
“Huh? But that’s…”
I roughly cut off Fritz and took refuge in the supply room.
Get some good rest? Get some good rest!
I can’t be kicked out of the office yet.
Not until my ankle heals.
At least until Ash Canith returns, I have to hold on by any means necessary.
“I have to hold on…”
Honestly, I’m not confident. About winning over that man.
“Shall we go together?”
Even after all these years, his habit of toying with people remains the same.
With that one lightly teasing remark, how many sharp glances poured down?
It was clearly intentional. He’s always enjoyed seeing me in awkward situations since way back. Of course, that was during my time as a princess…
Maybe I have some kind of disease where just seeing pink hair irritates me.
Anyway, setting aside the idea of making the first move, I should be careful not to get caught myself.
If I show a weak point, who knows what kind of trick he’ll play next.
“Miss Lacey?”
At the sudden call, I turned my head. A soldier guarding the office was peering into the supply room from outside the corridor.
“Did something get on your lips?”
“Huh?”
I must have been unconsciously rubbing my lips with my sleeve. I quickly lowered my hand and fixed my expression.
“It’s nothing. What is it?”
“The Head Maid has called for you. I think it would be good to go quickly.”
“Oh, yes…”
What could Louis want?
It was the first time Louis had called for me separately since the day she gave me Nina’s letter.
Her face, seen every morning report, grew paler by the day. It was the aftermath of taking on the Head Maid position without any handover or training.
In that sense, is Louis also a victim of Ash Canith’s mischievous tastes?
A wave of pity for her welled up inside me.
Knock knock-
“Head Maid, it’s Lacey. I heard you called for…”
Thud-!
What’s that sound?
“Are you alright?”
When I opened the door and entered, I was greeted by Louis buried under a pile of boxes and documents.
“L-Lacey. The office is messy, but come in.”
Oh my goodness. Is this the time for exchanging greetings? And even waving her hand while doing it?
I quickly pushed the documents aside and helped Louis up.
“Ouch, ouch? Uh, where did the crutch go? Is your leg okay now?”
“It’s okay enough for walking.”
“I’m glad you’re recovering quickly.”
“Haha…”
Grandmother Vivian scolded me, saying my recovery speed was at least twice as slow as others’.
“But how did you end up buried under documents?”
“I just got dizzy suddenly and fell, that’s all.”
Louis brushed off her palms and frowned.
“Shouldn’t you get checked at the dispensary?”
“Checked? For what? This will heal if I just put some salve on it.”
She’s only talking about her scraped palms.
The dark circles under her eyes, longer than when I saw her this morning, seemed to reach her jaw.
Is she too tired to even recognize her own physical condition?
“Lacey, can I ask you for just one favor?”
If it’s a request and not an order, it must be a personal matter.
Since Louis became Head Maid, there have been many changes in the maid department.
As she mentioned before, we received our unpaid salaries, and working conditions and treatment have gradually improved.
Perhaps because minds were put at ease, the petty power struggles among the maids disappeared. As the atmosphere softened, the tendency to treat me as a troublemaker also quieted down.
I ended up benefiting unintentionally.
So it’s not like I can’t help.
“If it’s something I can help with.”
I thought she’d be pleased, but surprisingly, Louis hesitated.
“Would you be able to take charge of cleaning the office?”
“The office… you mean the family head’s office?”
Louis nodded with a determined expression.
If I become responsible for the family head’s office, I wouldn’t have to cling to the aides’ office.
For me, it’s an extremely welcome story.
But why does she want to entrust this to me?
“Isn’t there a more suitable person?”
In the Euphorian royal court, exclusive positions for royalty were not only honorable but also signified being a candidate to become a person of real influence.
Didn’t history, where kings were manipulated like puppets, prove that?
That’s why maids fought tooth and nail for those positions.
Those who failed in the competition but couldn’t give up their ambitions typically targeted collateral royal lines.
Just to get their hands on any scraps of power, however distant.
The reason maids lined up to flatter even me, a bastard, and volunteer for exclusive service, was based on simple logic.
Could it be that…
Is Louis, who just became Head Maid, trying to use me to solidify her position?
“I’ll be honest. The girls I had in mind turned me down.”
“……Huh?”
In the Canith family, becoming responsible for the family head’s office or bedroom could make you a rival to the Head Maid, or with good luck, even grant power similar to the lady of the house.
And they willingly gave up such a key position?
Putting that aside, isn’t it something that could be resolved by using the Head Maid’s authority to order them?
“They said if I forced them, they’d make sure I’d wear a smelly uniform for my entire term.”
So the candidates she had in mind were mainly laundry room maids.
To solidify one’s footing, it’s Politics 101 to place a supporter in a key position.
The reason things aren’t going Louis’s way must be due to their solidarity.
Having endured harsh conditions together, the laundry room maids were very close.
So leaving the laundry room meant severing the time they had relied on and endured together.
Perhaps finding that hard to bear, they refused the offers one after another.
But there must be many candidates outside the laundry room too. Why has the order come to me?
“I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for a newcomer like me to take on such a task.”
“Don’t worry. Your time working in the castle may be short, but you’ve been with the Canith family for well over four years, right?”
One year in Euphorian, three years in the provincial villa.
That was the surface-level career.
“And there probably isn’t anyone who could endure it better than you.”
Did a suspicious remark just pass by?
I narrowed my eyes and stared straight at Louis.
“So the reason you want to entrust the office to me is…”
“Sorry. As you know, the family head is not one to let people get close, so everyone’s scared, you see.”
“……”
So it’s a kind of avoidance department? The office cleaning position.
Did my distaste show on my face? Louis became flustered.
“Lacey, you’re not taking back your word about granting the favor, are you?”
“I’m sorry. I think I need to reconsider.”
“No, Lacey. Or would you prefer to take charge of the bedroom side? I was originally going to take it myself, but maybe that’s less burdensome?”
“Changing your offer is already too la…”
Huh.
I almost kicked away the opportunity that rolled in on a momentary impulse.
The qualification to officially come and go from the family head’s office, no less.
All incidents within Canith territory and documents sent from foreign countries ultimately converge in the family head’s office.
With luck, I might even get to know the movements of the Euphorian Kingdom.
“Please, I’m begging you. Okay?”
Louis clung to my arm as I tried to turn away, almost hanging on.
It hurts to go along with it even knowing she’s trying to use me.
What should I do?
“I’ll repay this favor somehow…!”
What?
I grabbed Louis’s hand at the speed of light. Tightly, so she couldn’t run away.
“Head Maid, you can’t take back those words. Understood?”
“Huh? Uh, uh, yeah…”
A look of regret for having said something unnecessary appeared on Louis’s face.
