Chapter 74
“Ah, yes! Of course. Nurse, please take the young lady to her room.”
Rose nodded at Flita’s words, then turned to the nurse. The nurse clenched her lips tightly, glared at Rose, and without saying a word, spun around.
“Take the young lady to her room quickly.”
Rose, flustered, didn’t know what to do, when someone gently touched her arm. It was Veronica, who had defended Rose a little earlier. Rose slightly bowed her head toward her.
“Thank you.”
“No need… I just thought it was impressive. I also realized I’d been a bit childish until now. Hmm, so from now on, let’s chat together and enjoy some snacks, alright?”
Veronica added with a slightly embarrassed expression before turning away with the other staff.
Watching her retreating figure for a moment, a smile crossed Rose’s lips. It was the first genuinely friendly attitude she had received since arriving at the Duke’s residence.
“Rose, have you made a friend?”
At that moment, Flita grabbed her hand and asked. Rose smiled at the child’s question.
“I suppose… I hope so.”
Even just spending time with Haven and Flita felt like there wasn’t much time left for her. So, even if others treated her coldly or excluded her, she thought it didn’t matter. But seeing her chest warm at such a simple word, perhaps that wasn’t entirely true.
…She must have been lonely.
Even when beside the man she loved and the child, she was still just an ordinary person.
Sometimes, one needed someone else to talk to, and perhaps she had longed for that time more than she realized.
“Shall we go to your room now, young lady? I wonder how they’ve redecorated it.”
“Yes! I’m curious! Let’s go quickly!”
Flita nodded eagerly and hurried ahead. Rose smiled, holding the child’s hand as they walked into the mansion.
“Unbelievable, really!”
The nurse, unpacking the luggage she had brought for her leave, threw things around irritably. Her temper flared uncontrollably. She vented her frustration by tossing away innocent belongings and muttered in complaint.
“I should have volunteered instead.”
But it was too late for regret. The time had passed, and the young lady had miraculously recovered. Yet, the nurse could hardly calm herself.
“500 Setena… If I had gone into the annex with her, I could have gotten even more!”
The nurse threw what she held in annoyance. Her cherished necklace rolled across the floor, but she didn’t care. Just a cheap necklace… It was nothing compared to the reward she had missed out on.
“They gave 500 Setena to a girl who’s only been here a short while. If it had been me, they might have given even more. Why did I… I shouldn’t have hesitated. I should have gone into the annex with her myself.”
Looking back, it was probably not such a serious illness. All the talk about dying or no cure was likely exaggerated. Seeing the young lady return perfectly healthy confirmed it. She had panicked unnecessarily.
“It’s all that girl, Rose’s fault. She interferes with me at every turn. I didn’t like her from the beginning.”
She had become the dedicated maid, praised for saving the young lady. She continued to catch the Duke’s attention, and now she received such a large reward…
“Wait.”
The nurse muttered to herself like a madwoman, then suddenly paused and narrowed her eyes, thinking deeply.
“…Something’s suspicious.”
She squinted, convinced her intuition was correct. The scene she had just seen between the Duke and Rose felt somehow off. It was hard to pinpoint, but it seemed as if their relationship had grown closer during that time.
What could have happened while she was away and the young lady was ill?
“Could that girl be aiming for my position?”
She muttered without thinking, frowning at her own thought.
“Nonsense. That girl… No, it’s not impossible. If she keeps catching the Duke’s eye and gaining favor like this…”
The nurse frowned nervously at the thought that her own position might be threatened. Biting her lip, she recalled the late Queen.
“Yes, first I’ll visit Her Majesty. She pretended not to notice, but she seemed subtly wary of that girl, right?”
The nurse pursed her lips with a plotting expression.
“Zzz…”
Rose smiled, watching Flita sleep deeply. Excited by her newly redecorated bedroom, Flita had explored the room for a long while before falling asleep, still smiling as if dreaming of something pleasant.
Rose gently stroked Flita’s head, tucked the blanket up to her neck, and straightened her bent back. Though Flita was asleep, Rose herself was far from resting.
In fact, the child’s sleeping time was when Rose had to be busiest. She had to finish organizing the luggage while Flita slept.
She hurriedly opened her bag and took out the items. Though her time in the annex had not been long, there was quite a lot to organize. It felt, by intuition, as if she had spent a very long time there.
Seeing the child sick, and forcing herself to suppress the fear of potentially losing her, was an experience Rose never wanted to repeat.
After finishing Flita’s clothes, Rose exhaled softly. She approached the bed again and bent toward Flita. The child’s gentle breathing was peaceful.
No rattling, no moaning. Once more confirming this, Rose quietly turned and left the bedroom. By the time she returned to her own room, it was evening.
Only then did she relax slightly, sitting on her bed and sighing deeply.
“Phew…”
It seemed she could rest for a short while before Flita’s dinner. Perhaps due to the sudden release of tension, her whole body throbbed with exhaustion.
“Oh, I need to take my medicine…”
In the morning rush to prepare to return to the main building, she had forgotten her medication. She hurriedly opened her bag to retrieve it.
Though Flita’s luggage was sorted, her own was not.
Knock, knock.
As she reached for the medicine, someone knocked at the door.
“Um? Who is it?”
Startled, Rose dropped the medicine packet and called out. From the other side came the head maid’s voice.
It’s me, Rose.
“Oh, Head Maid!”
Hastily putting the medicine back in her bag, Rose approached the door. The head maid entered in a formal posture as soon as the door opened.
“Looks like you haven’t finished organizing yet.”
“Yes, not yet…”
“Hmm…”
The head maid glanced around the messy room, then fixed her eyes on the wide-open bag on the bed. More precisely, the medicine packets spilling out of it.
‘Oh no…’
Rose panicked and tried to quickly hide the packets. She thought she had put them in the bag properly, but in her rush, she had not. The head maid waved her hand before she could act.
“It’s fine. I’ll be leaving soon, so no need to rush like that.”
“…Yes.”
Rose picked up the packets but then set them down. The head maid, observing her, asked casually:
“Are you sick? Were you about to take medicine?”
“Ah, um… that is…”
Flustered, Rose stammered. She hadn’t prepared an excuse, and her mind went blank. But the head maid simply nodded at her, seeming to understand.
“Of course you’d be in pain. Your arm’s in that state… Don’t rely on painkillers; make sure to get proper treatment.”
“Yes, Head Maid.”
Relieved that she didn’t need to make excuses, Rose obediently agreed. The head maid handed her the packet.
“Take it.”
“…Um? What is this?”
Surprised by the unexpected packet, Rose frowned. The head maid raised one eyebrow and explained:
“This is the reward His Highness instructed to be given to you. Check if it’s indeed 500 Setena.”
“Um, but this is far too much money for me…”
Rose hesitated again. But the head maid calmly continued:
“When the chandelier fell in Middle Pion, you saved the young lady, and this time you cared for the sick young lady alone. It’s only right you are rewarded. By that logic, it’s not a large sum. Your humility is fine, but when it comes to matters concerning the young lady, refusing it could insult her and His Highness.”
“…Yes, then I will accept it gratefully.”
Rose had no choice but to accept the packet, as the head maid’s words carried a meaning similar to Haven’s. Yet the thick envelope felt awkward, perhaps because it was an amount she had never held in her life, or perhaps because she considered it the reward for saving her child.
