Chapter 59
“Oh my.”
Erika widened her eyes in surprise and covered her mouth with her fan.
“You’re taking that lowborn girl as a maid? No wonder His Majesty was so concerned and sent me here.”
“……”
Erika failed to notice the chill that crept into Rudiche’s expression and kept talking.
“To serve as the duchess’s lady-in-waiting, at least a girl from a proper family should be chosen. From now on, I’ll attend the duchess myself. That common child should be sent somewhere more suited to her station.”
“Honestly, the nerve of you…”
“Pardon?”
Not hearing the contempt in Rudiche’s sigh, Erika blinked innocently.
“Lady Wasili. I dislike pretension. When you’ve spent your life on battlefields and managing a duchy, such things become rather useless.”
Rudiche’s calm words were directed squarely at Erika.
“I’m… not sure I follow.”
“This girl is skilled and clever. She knows many things and fulfills her duties better than expected. She senses what I need and has become a true companion. Tell me—why would I not take her as my maid?”
“But her status!”
“Her status, you say.”
Rudiche cut in, a cold smile touching her lips.
“Among the women of the Empire, aside from Her Majesty the Empress and Her Highness the Crown Princess, who holds higher rank than I? And neither of them are even present now.”
She lifted her head gracefully. Her elegant, commanding movement captured Erika’s gaze against her will.
“All women of the Empire stand beneath me. Tell me, is there any woman left to whom I must bow?”
“……!”
“To me, that girl and you are not so different.”
Beneath me either way.
Erika’s face flushed crimson—being compared to a half-blood, a being beneath even a commoner, was unbearable. Her body trembled with humiliation.
But she couldn’t refute it.
“Then, please take your rest, Lady Wasili.”
Rudiche smiled serenely and turned away. Without a moment’s hesitation, she walked back inside.
Erika bit her lip hard, glaring at Rudiche’s retreating back. Her whole body shook with rage, not just her hands.
If it weren’t for the gazes of the Ebenia Knights and the Duchy of Dfania’s retainers fixed upon her, she might have made a scene right there.
But she couldn’t.
—Go and reclaim your rightful place.
Those were his words. And she was the only one who could make them reality.
That marriage proposal had originally come to her.
If she hadn’t hesitated, thinking the ducal house was in decline, that woman would never have taken her place.
Yes, that seat was mine. She only stole it while I faltered.
Grinding her teeth, eyes burning with hatred, Erika stared at the spot where Rudiche had disappeared.
* * *
The guest who arrived at Dialune never left her room, citing travel fatigue.
A maid said that when food was brought to her, the lady had turned it away, saying it “smelled like the countryside.”
The next day, the same thing happened again—she refused the meal.
“Do they expect me to be treated like this?”
Erika’s sharp voice rang through the room. Her maid, worried that people outside might hear, tried to calm her down.
“My lady, this is the duke’s manor. Please, lower your voice…”
“Did I say anything untrue? This is the western end of the Empire—if that’s not countryside, what is?”
“But, my lady, it is the duchy’s territory…”
“What of it? Don’t tell me you think this backwater is more refined than Ebenia?”
Erika snapped, raising her voice again.
“I came here by order of His Majesty himself! Do you think I wanted to serve as that woman’s maid?”
A duchess’s maid—what humiliation. The very thought made her blood boil.
Erika Wasili was known even among the capital’s noble ladies for her striking beauty—
golden hair, emerald eyes, skin as white as the northern snows, and a supple waist.
There were countless men who sighed over her beauty.
“When will I even get to meet the duke?”
She bit her nail anxiously.
Duchess Rudiche Dfania was said to be a knight—a former vice-captain of the Ebenia Knight Order, no less.
It sounded impressive enough, but women like her were never gentle or sweet. Erika had planned to meet the duke herself and win him over.
Yet she hadn’t even seen him once. Every time she tried, he was “away on business.”
“This won’t do.”
“My lady?”
“I’ll meet the duke myself. I’ll show him that I’m far better suited to stand by his side than that woman.”
Her maid’s face turned deathly pale.
Erika seemed lost in her own world—her loyal servant doubted she could stop her.
As the maid stood frozen, Erika suddenly sprang to her feet.
“M-My lady!”
Before the maid could stop her, she had already marched out of the room.
Panicking, the maid rushed after her.
* * *
“The Duke is… out on inspection?”
The man who greeted Erika Wasili was Baron Dan Gilbert, the duke’s aide.
Though he caught the irritation in her voice, he ignored it politely.
“When will he return?”
“I cannot say, my lady.”
“……”
His indifferent expression revealed nothing. To Erika—who had never known anything but flattery—it was baffling and infuriating.
How could she stay near the duke’s office without being dismissed? As she struggled to think of a reason, he spoke again.
“If you have no further business, you should return. This is the Duke’s office—it’s not an appropriate place for a lady to linger.”
“But…”
She couldn’t just go back like this. She had to find some excuse to remain.
“Then please take care on your way back.”
“I—I came here as the duchess’s maid, but I don’t understand why I’ve been made to stay so far from her quarters!”
As Baron Gilbert turned to close the door, Erika grabbed his sleeve desperately. She couldn’t let this chance slip.
He paused—but when he spoke, his tone was frigid.
“That was by the duchess’s order. The place you’re staying is the guest wing of the ducal manor. The duchess oversees hospitality for all guests, so even if you saw the duke, it wouldn’t change anything.”
“What…!”
He regarded her impassively.
“I’d suggest speaking to the duchess instead. I believe she’s the one who can give you the answers you seek.”
“……!”
“The duchess is at the training grounds.”
With a curt bow, he turned and disappeared inside.
“That… insolent man!”
Erika glared at the closed door, her face twisting with anger.
“How dare they!”
She remembered now—Baron Dan Gilbert was local nobility.
No wonder. Country nobles—ignorant of true etiquette! Treating a noble lady so dismissively—what barbarity.
She wanted to leave this wretched place and return to Ebenia.
But then, a voice echoed again in her memory—
—Reclaim your place, Erika.
She clenched her teeth.
Right. The path to reclaiming what was stolen was bound to be hard. She’d just have to endure a little longer.
She shot one last glare at the duke’s office door, then turned on her heel.
“I’ll speak to the duchess myself.”
Ignoring the hurried footsteps of her anxious maid behind her, Erika strode out of the manor toward the back.
Finding the training grounds wasn’t difficult. Luckily, a man she met on the way pointed her in the right direction.
As she approached the source of loud voices, the scent of dust and dirt grew stronger. Men were shouting, laughing, cheering.
What on earth was causing such commotion?
Erika frowned.
“Lady Rudiche, that’s too much—”
“Well, it’s not bad to show them a lesson once in a while—”
“Now’s the time to beg forgiveness—”
The sounds grew louder as the practice arena’s wall came into view.
“Rude and barbaric, just as I thought.”
Erika scowled and stepped through the entrance.
“Waaah!”
A thunderous cheer erupted.
And in that instant—her vision was filled completely by a single scene.
“……!”
Rudiche, crimson hair flying, drove a long spear into the ground with a thunderous thud.
