Chapter : 53
“W‑What is it? Why are you staring at me like that…?”
The maid who asked that question bit down on her lip.
She seemed unwilling to believe that she had lost the battle of nerves against me.
I stared straight through her, then slowly opened my mouth.
“Do you know what I hate most?”
“…Pardon?”
“Wasting money inefficiently. Especially when people who don’t even earn their pay start acting out—I hate that the most.”
Nothing feels more wasteful than that.
At my cold voice, the maids stiffened in tension.
Under normal circumstances, I would have tested them a bit, squeezed out whatever usefulness they had, and used them as long as possible.
But when I’m in a bad mood like this, even that is a waste of time.
“Are you curious about how I ended up engaged to Seind?”
“O‑Of course!”
“That’s strange. Wouldn’t it be more interesting to ask how the Duchess allowed this engagement in the first place?”
“!”
At my words, the maids flinched as if they’d never considered that possibility.
Watching them, I whispered coldly.
“Judging by the way you behave, it seems you’ve been pretty bold, using the Duchess as your backing. I’m curious too—why are people like you so terrible at reading the situation?”
“What did you say?!”
“Did you really not know that the Duchess personally presided over my engagement ceremony? That I’m preparing my business under the Duke of Seind’s protection?”
Step by step.
As I moved closer while questioning them, the once‑cocky maids recoiled and stepped backward.
How ridiculous.
They trembled just from having reality pointed out to them—so why did they provoke me in the first place?
“If you want to climb the social ladder by clinging to powerful people, you should either be perceptive or know how to conduct yourselves properly. You don’t want to admit your mistakes, yet you want to keep your past sense of superiority. That’s why you keep hovering around me like this…”
I pressed my index finger firmly against the chest of the maid who had been the loudest.
“You’re exactly that kind of person. Useless manpower that does nothing but drain money without thinking.”
At my remark, the maid’s face flushed bright red.
Then, twisting her face in anger, she shouted,
“If Miss Nacelle hadn’t fallen out of favor with the Duchess in the first place, we wouldn’t have done anything like this!”
“T‑That’s right! We only did what we were told!”
“We couldn’t refuse the Duchess’s orders…!”
I turned my gaze away from the maids spewing excuses and looked straight ahead.
Then, with an expressionless face, I asked,
“So, that’s what they say. What do you think?”
At my gaze, all the maids snapped their heads in the same direction.
And when they saw the woman standing behind them, they froze in shock.
“H‑Head maid!”
“Head maid! It’s just—we—!”
There was no longer any need to talk to these lackeys.
I addressed the middle‑aged woman standing stiffly.
“Do you still think these girls are worth employing in the ducal household?”
At my question, the head maid quietly studied the maids.
In the original story, the head maid was a loyal tool who catered perfectly to the Duchess’s moods.
So she must’ve been the one using these maids according to the Duchess’s tastes.
After using them as her own hands and feet—
She now coldly ignored the desperate looks the maids were throwing her way.
Then she bowed politely to me.
“I apologize, Miss Nacelle. None of them have the value or qualifications to serve the ducal house. I will dismiss them immediately.”
“Just dismissal?”
“Of course, I will not provide any letters of recommendation. Furthermore, for the grave offense of insulting the Young Duke’s fiancée, they will be punished severely.”
“H‑Head maid!”
“How can you do this to us?!”
“This is a lie, right?! Right?!”
The maids turned deathly pale and clung to the head maid.
But she didn’t change her expression at all, focusing solely on appeasing me.
“You’ve come a long way, and I deeply regret that you had to endure such rudeness. I will ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.”
Only then did the maids seem to fully grasp the situation. This time, they rushed toward me instead.
“Miss Nacelle! We’re sorry! Please—just once, forgive us!”
“I really didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice!”
“We only did what the head maid told us to do! It’s true!”
Without even looking at them, I gestured toward the head maid with my chin.
“You said you’d make sure this never happens again?”
“I‑I apologize.”
The head maid hurriedly ordered other servants to pull the clinging maids off me.
I watched briefly, then quietly warned her,
“You’ll have to properly prove your worth too. Even the salary I’m paying you feels like a waste.”
“!”
“Still, you seem better at reading situations than they are… I’ll be watching.”
To see how long you survive.
With that, I turned and walked away without hesitation.
The stiffened head maid didn’t matter to me anymore.
Right now, nothing but that man was in my sight.
***
“Young Duke!”
Marcus, Harten’s chief aide, burst into the meeting room in a panic.
Harten, who had been working, grabbed his throbbing head and snapped,
“Get out.”
Normally, Marcus would’ve retreated at his superior’s sharp reaction—but this time, he couldn’t.
Without even fixing his slipping glasses, Marcus spoke,
“B‑But Lady Eani—”
The moment the name Eani was spoken, Harten’s ears practically perked up.
“She’s here at the company right now!”
Bang!
The instant those words ended, Harten shot to his feet.
His pupils shook rapidly from side to side.
“…Where did you say Eani is right now?”
At Harten’s question, Marcus answered as if driving in the final nail.
“She came all the way here from Tadivna Island to see you in person! She’s waiting outside right now!”
“You’re saying Eani is right beyond that door?”
Nod. Nod!
“And she knows I’m here?”
Nod. Nod!
At Marcus’s frantic nodding, Harten was visibly shaken.
He paced restlessly near his seat.
For reference, every executive in the meeting room was watching this unfold.
‘Huh? Am I dreaming right now?’
‘Good heavens… I feel like I’ve seen something I shouldn’t have.’
‘So the Young Duke really is human. He’s always so cold that there were rumors he might be an artificial being modified by the Mage Tower.’
Feeling the executives’ astonished gazes, Harten belatedly tried to regain his composure.
He forced himself to stop pacing and hastily came up with an excuse to avoid Eani.
“F‑For now, tell her I’m not here…! Say I stepped out due to an urgent schedule!”
But Harten’s small retreat was cut short before it even began.
“…I’m sorry, Young Duke.”
Marcus bowed his head, his voice filled with guilt.
Then, from behind him, a gentle voice was heard.
“How could you say someone who’s clearly here isn’t?”
As she spoke, Eani calmly walked into the meeting room.
“!”
At her sudden appearance, Harten froze completely.
Regardless—
Eani smiled sweetly and glanced around at the executives.
“I’m sorry, everyone. There’s something I need to discuss with this man immediately.”
Her voice was gentle, but the executives felt an undeniable pressure within it.
Some even shuddered and rubbed their shoulders.
“If it’s all right, could you all step out for a moment?”
When Eani finished speaking, the executives looked back and forth between Harten and Eani.
Their visibly flustered boss, and his smiling—yet somehow terrifying—fiancée.
Anyone could tell the outcome of this confrontation was already decided.
“Ahem! Of course, we should step out.”
“There wasn’t anything urgent anyway.”
“Hoho, we hope you have a productive discussion.”
Starting with the perceptive ones, the executives rose one by one.
Harten reflexively twitched one eyebrow, but the executives ignored it and filed out of the room.
“…I wish you luck, Young Duke.”
With that, even Marcus left.
Left alone with Eani, Harten swallowed hard.
“Eani.”
“Harten.”
Once they were alone, Eani dropped the smile she’d been forcing.
She looked at him with eyes so heartbreakingly sad.
At that moment, Harten’s heart ached as if it were being torn apart.
He never wanted to make Eani look at him like that…
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“……”
Feeling guilty, Harten immediately understood what she meant.
Unable to make excuses, he lowered his head.
Eani kept her gaze fixed on him as she slowly walked closer.
“Tell me. Why did you hide it?”
“……”
“The records left by the Sun Mage. You saw all of them—so why didn’t you say anything?”
“……”
“Do you want to break the curse that badly?”
As the questions continued, Eani’s voice grew colder and colder.
Harten, who couldn’t even meet her eyes, finally sensed something was wrong and lifted his head.
Then—
Right in front of him.
Their eyes met.
Eani, without blinking even once, whispered,
“Do you want to get away from me?”
