Chapter 06
Lately, I had been practicing dance eight hours a day with Margaret.
“Madam… please straighten your back more… no, why is your neck leaning forward again…?”
Melissa, the etiquette teacher in her forties who had recently joined us, must never have seen such a stiff body before.
Day by day, her skin was getting drier, and wrinkles formed around her eyes.
At this rate, she’ll probably start growing white hairs soon.
I truly felt sorry for her, who was aging by the day because of me—but my dancing still didn’t improve at all.
“Madam, please follow my lead. Usually, in dancing, the man leads, so you can relax your body more.”
Even though Margaret—who danced far better than a noble lady like me thanks to (or because of) me—offered her advice, I didn’t know what “relaxing my body” even meant.
“L-like this?”
“No… Madam. Just a bit more.”
I was still as stiff as ever.
“Madam, we’ll take a 10-minute break.”
Even though I was the one moving and dancing, Melissa was the one drained of energy. She said she needed some air and stepped outside.
She… she’s not actually packing her bags and leaving, right? Melissa?
“Margaret… what do I do…? I’m not improving at all…”
If someone told me to analyze 10 balance sheets, I could do it just fine.
But even a five-minute dance routine was unbearably hard.
“Won’t His Grace dance well? Young Master Chester was a good dancer, so even if Madam was bad at it, he always covered for you.”
Margaret outright said I was bad at dancing.
“He dances? Imagine a wolf dancing. Or a bear.”
As I spoke, I could really picture a big bear and a stiff wooden puppet dancing together at the ball.
I was doomed. The moment I set foot in this Abel Empire, I was going to be humiliated.
“Who’s the bear?”
A deep male voice made me turn toward the door—Kallis and Melissa were standing there.
“Madam, I asked His Grace to help you with your dance practice.”
Kallis had tagged along behind Melissa.
Ah. I cannot give this jerk anything to tease me about…
Instinctively, I knew—this was the kind of material he could tease me about for a hundred days.
“Well then, Your Grace. Shall we try dancing together?”
I couldn’t refuse when Melissa looked so exhausted. And honestly, a tiny part of me hoped that maybe Kallis would dance as well as Brother Chester.
“Wife, your body is far too stiff. It’s like… dancing with a log.”
Of course, not even one minute into dancing, Kallis began teasing me.
“A good dancer doesn’t blame their partner. Just like a master craftsman doesn’t blame their tools.”
I spouted nonsense.
Still, since he was terrible with language, he just accepted it with a blank expression.
Good… he let that weird sentence pass… But… hey, aren’t YOU being too much right now?
We’d spent a few days together now, and perhaps I’d grown a bit attached—or maybe I was just worried he’d get scammed someday.
“I see. So it’s my fault. I shall dance better, then.”
Look. He was already getting fooled.
He seemed deeply moved by my words and led me more actively.
“Oh! Madam, now it actually looks like dancing!”
Unsure whether Margaret meant it as praise or criticism, I glanced at her and saw her eyes sparkling with literal heart shapes.
Where on earth did those hearts come from?
I truly didn’t understand Margaret’s tastes.
While I was analyzing Margaret’s heart-filled gaze, he suddenly grabbed my waist—lifting me into the air—and spun me around once.
“Ky—aaah!”
I screamed and stared at him in shock from the sudden attack.
“I thought it might make you less stiff.”
He spoke softly, pretending to do it for me, but I could see it clearly—his rotten smile.
Normally, seeing that rotten smile would make me relax out of exasperation, but maybe because I was startled, my heart raced even faster and I became even stiffer.
If I told him “That didn’t help at all. It made it worse.”
—he would definitely enjoy it. So I chose another solution.
I stepped down on his foot. Hard.
He flinched, but didn’t make a sound.
Look at this guy. Tough, huh.
I was going to stomp him again as we danced, but he must’ve guessed it—he dodged.
“Wife. A mistake should only happen once.”
He looked down at me knowingly.
He was taller, so of course he looked down at me—but somehow even that annoyed me.
“Perhaps this will make you less stiff.”
I threw his own line back at him—and stomped again.
“Ugh.”
This time he hadn’t expected it, so he let out a sound, and I returned his rotten smile right back at him.
“Wife. From now on, you’ll practice with me one hour every day. But mistakes won’t be allowed.”
“I don’t make mistakes when my partner is good.”
“I see. Then let’s do well.”
…Was he smiling?
Even after getting his foot stomped, he was smiling…
He really was a formidable one…
After that, he gave me an hour of practice every day, and by the time the banquet approached, dancing with him didn’t make me nervous at all.
+++
“Madam is selecting an aide.”
“Filina is selecting an aide?”
Kallis replied indifferently to the butler’s report, but he was definitely curious.
The butler explained that he had narrowed it down to three candidates and was now arranging interview dates.
“All men?”
Kallis pretended to read another document but kept glancing at the resumes.
“Yes, Your Grace. All young and competent.”
Without noticing the mood, the butler proudly emphasized how capable the men were—as if to show off his excellent selection skills.
“Choose a woman.”
“…Pardon?”
In his 20 years as a butler, this was the first time he openly questioned an order.
“Choose a woman. Don’t hire a man and invite unnecessary rumors.”
He pretended to say it for my sake, but the butler finally understood everything.
Still—
“Your Grace, there was only one female applicant. It is very rare for an adult noblewoman to work as an aide.”
She hadn’t made the cut, so the butler had filtered her out earlier.
“Bring her in for the interview first.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Defeated by Kallis’s insistence, the butler reluctantly put the lone female candidate’s resume on top, looking regretful about the three men he had chosen.
+++
The butler suggested interviewing the female candidate first, and I accepted easily.
A woman might be more helpful in social gatherings and events later.
“My name is Stella, Madam. I have applied for the position of aide.”
Stella had bright red hair and ruby-colored eyes, older than me by five years.
Her eyes are ruby-red.
Kallis’s were more like… red diamonds.
Even though both had red eyes, they looked completely different.
Her hair was tied neatly in a bun, and instead of a dress she wore a suit—very fitting for someone applying to be an aide.
Twenty-three years old.
She was far more mature and beautiful than me—both in face and figure.
“I reviewed your resume. You graduated from the academy, and your accounting and economics scores are high… but you have no practical experience.”
I didn’t want someone who excelled at studying—I wanted someone who worked well. Her résumé had nothing particularly special.
“I learned practical work while serving as a countess for two years. I am now divorced and looking for a place to use my skills. If you hire me, you’ll be able to receive social-network and society information faster and more accurately. I’m extremely well-connected.”
Stella confidently revealed that she was divorced and emphasized her strengths.
“Social connections and information… I like that. And since you’ve worked as a countess, understanding my duties should be easier.”
I already liked her. She probably noticed it in my eyes.
“I’ll give you a one-month probation period. Satisfy me within that month, and I’ll give you the highest salary in the field.”
Kallis had already told me to spend money freely, so I offered the top salary without hesitation.
“I’ll begin work tomorrow.”
Moved by the generous compensation, Stella started the very next day.
And on that very day, she already satisfied me… about 50%.
“According to imperial law, a couple can only divorce after two years of marriage. A terrible law. You should be able to divorce in a day or a month… And if you maintain your virginity for two years, you are considered unmarried by law, not divorced.”
She told me, without being asked, extremely important details. She said she often gives professional advice about this, speaking from experience.
Pretending not to care, I scribbled on another document and asked casually:
“How do they prove… that virginity?”
A priest had already taken the evidence from the wedding night. Overturning that wouldn’t be easy.
“The couple testifies together. Then, you drop blood into holy water that can identify it. And of course, since you deceived the priest, you pay a fine.”
From her explanation, I learned something new about the Abel Empire’s temple.
Ha. “Holy water that distinguishes purity”?
What nonsense. They just want the fine. They look poor so they make up the holy water part… the fine and joint testimony are the real key.
Think about it.
Would my blood change composition just because a night has passed?
Would RH+ suddenly become RH– overnight?
The logic of this empire’s people was questionable.
“Stella… you don’t actually believe that, right?”
I kept my words vague, afraid that saying too much might get me reported for temple blasphemy.
“Madam. I’m smart.”
She winked at me.
Yes—Stella was definitely someone I liked.
And then a grand ambition formed within me.
After 2 years, I’ll divorce and become legally unmarried!
I’ll be over 20 then—
That’s when I’ll find my love!
+++
Two months had passed since I came here, and winter had begun.
That meant the banquet was just around the corner, and I was fully devoted to final dance practices.
“Madam, just dance exactly like this. Then no one will notice.”
…Notice what, exactly?
It’s not like I committed a crime… or was doing secret work…
But Melissa’s eyes gleamed sharply.
Still, thanks to Kallis’s help, my dancing now looked decent on the outside, Melissa’s skin had recovered, and she wasn’t growing new white hairs anymore.
I found comfort in that much.
“Madam, make sure you only dance with his grace—”
Margaret lifted me up by force as I resisted, brushed off the dust, and brought over a chair from the corner for me to sit on.
“The lady should have been Margaret, not me…”
Should I… try to switch places even now?
Why? Sometimes in romance novels, it’s not the young lady but the maid who ends up getting married and living happily with the male lead, isn’t it?
I entertained this naughty thought for just a second.
