Abandoned Maid of the Grand Duke - Chapter 2

content/trigger warnings: dubcon/noncon, coercive relationship, incest (side characters)

‘Once, twice, three times…’

As I absentmindedly counted on my fingers, trying to escape reality, Sophie, unable to bear it any longer, hit me on the shoulder and crossed her arms, scolding me.

“If you’re any later, you’ll have to work without eating breakfast. Hurry up, Julie!”

Julie, Lily, Julie, Lily. The author really named them carelessly.

Still, having a name is something. It’s a relief that the woman who rolled around in bed with the Grand Duke and died with a stab wound was given a name at all.

‘Well, she was quite a long-time maid, after all.’

In the novel, it was only described that she was a maid working in the mansion, so I didn’t know, but the abandoned maid was actually quite an established employee already.

I woke up here at the age of fifteen, and now I’m seventeen. And Julie’s backstory was that she started working as a maid with her parents when she was seven, so she has worked in this mansion for ten years?

With that much experience, even a subordinate would be familiar enough to recognize faces.

In fact, he acknowledged me when he recently returned to the main house after graduating from the Imperial Academy, indicating that he had some degree of familiarity with me.

“……”

Wait a minute, that makes the situation even stranger. Despite the master-servant relationship, they have known each other since they were quite young, right?

So it wasn’t a sudden spark. They already knew each other and then got involved behind the scenes?

…While his wife was pregnant? In secret?

‘Ah shxt, this is absurd.’

I get that the heroine’s background needs a tragic and oppressed storyline, but this is too cruel. If that boy, who I just met the other day, was notorious for being a playboy, I might understand, but he was known for his exemplary conduct. Not a single bad rumor about him.

So why did he mess around with a maid?

And that’s not all. He looks delicate and frail, like he might break with a touch. How is it even possible that he later becomes a hero in the civil war and inherits the grand dukedom with that setting? He hasn’t even gone through puberty, so he still looks somewhat like a girl.

So what is it? What on earth is his deal? Is it pure love, a scandal, an affair, or a rash? What was he thinking when he fooled around with Julie?

“Whatever, I’m going ahead. If you skip breakfast, it’s not my problem.”

Sophie, tired of waiting, tightened her skirt strings and went down to the dining hall first.

Left alone in the room, I thought for a long time and finally made up my mind, closing my eyes tightly.

‘Ignore it.’

Yes, let’s ignore it. Live life my way.

Who cares about the heroine? She’s not even a character yet, so why should I display any maternal instinct?

I’ll just dutifully serve the future Grand Duke, whom I can’t even recognize from 500 meters away, in front of his wife, and then work steadily until I retire from my secure job.

Even better if I meet a hardworking, honest man of my age, start a family, and live well with a son and a daughter.

I refuse to accept an ending where I wander around, give birth on the streets, and die from an assassin’s knife.

If it were a grand romance, I’d at least get to kiss passionately against the burning backdrop of Atlanta like Scarlett in “Gone with the Wind” before dying—but even that’s not happening.

Just a character who gets abandoned after some illicit fun? And as a mistress?

No, no. Even mistresses have ranks, and those who mess around with a pregnant wife are beyond sympathy. I’ve always said they should be branded with “adulterer” on their foreheads with a hot iron.

‘Who? When?’

Me, in my past life. Damn it.

Recalling my past where my friends and I would gather in cafes, cursing out every scandal involving some group, university, or celebrity we read about in online articles, I clasped my hands together and prayed.

And thus, a conclusion has been reached.

The future can always be changed.

In a world with a rigid class system, if a trashy nobleman tried to force himself on me, there wouldn’t be much I could do. But the novel I know is a romance fantasy. It’s not a wretched tragedy, and it’s not even an erotica either. So let’s cleverly avoid any improper affairs.

Wise adults make wise choices.

Having decided that, my mind felt much clearer. Knowing the future, in a way, means my life is already set.

The heroine? Even if it’s not me, she’d be born to someone else, probably. And if she’s going to suffer as an illegitimate child, it’s better they aren’t born at all.

I enjoyed reading the novel for fun, but if I were to face all those life-threatening dangers and do foolish things, I’d rather not do it.

So the answer is simple, right? It’s good if the Grand Duke doesn’t become a scoundrel, it’s good if the Grand Duchess doesn’t get betrayed by her husband, it’s good if the heroine doesn’t have to suffer, and it’s good if His Majesty doesn’t become obsessed.

‘Oh my, am I not doing the world a great favor?’

Happiness in life isn’t much. Someone like me is bringing happiness to everyone.

Giggling, I tidied up my uniform just like Sophie had done, then opened the door and stepped out. It was as if I were taking a step toward a new world, boldly moving forward to the next chapter.