Chapter 43
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“Madam, how about this dress?”
At Kate’s spirited question, brimming with enthusiasm, I smiled.
“It’s fine.”
“You said the dress from earlier was fine too. Don’t say that. Which one do you like better?”
“I don’t mind either dress.”
At that, Kate looked deflated.
Kate, now my personal maid, was even more enthusiastic than I’d expected. Perhaps because she’d been promoted so quickly, she seemed to feel a great sense of responsibility.
“I think the problem is that none of the dresses are quite to your liking, Madam. It would’ve been nice if we’d had time to have a dress made in advance, but there wasn’t enough time for that either…”
“That’s not it…”
I simply wasn’t particularly interested in banquets.
But Kate misunderstood my reaction and clenched her fist with determination as she nodded.
“I’ll find another dress right away! Even if I have to search every boutique in the capital, I’ll find one you like, Madam!”
Since I honestly didn’t care much which dress I wore, I smiled awkwardly and tried to stop her.
“Come to think of it, I think the dress just now might have been the best one.”
“No way! I know you’re only saying that because you feel bad! Just wait a moment!”
With that, Kate hurried out of the room.
Watching her go, I let out a helpless laugh.
In this estate, where every day had felt like walking over thorns, I found myself thinking that having someone like Kate beside me wasn’t so bad.
Just then, not long after Kate left, there was a knock at the door.
“Madam, this is Vanessa, the head maid.”
I looked at the door in puzzlement before answering calmly.
“Come in.”
A stern-looking woman soon entered the room.
She came from a household family that had served the Baldomer estate for generations.
“What is it?”
“I heard you took Kate on as your personal maid.”
“And?”
At my indifferent question, the head maid hesitated for a moment before stiffly bowing her head.
“That girl hasn’t been at the estate for very long. I’ll assign you a more experienced maid.”
I stared at the head maid.
In my previous life, Head Maid Vanessa had never acknowledged me as the lady of the house.
It was probably the same now.
No matter how skillfully and neatly I managed the estate, I couldn’t win over every servant.
After the orphanage incident, the servants’ hostility toward me had eased somewhat, but those who were Baldomer’s hands and feet to the bone still remained wary of me.
Head Maid Vanessa was one of them.
“I appreciate the offer, but there’s no need, Vanessa.”
I saw her expression stiffen at my calm reply.
She had probably intended to place a maid beside me who was utterly loyal to Baldomer. But I had no intention of being watched by someone even during the few moments when I wanted to rest in peace.
“What I need isn’t an experienced maid. I need a maid I can trust to have my back.”
Vanessa’s brow furrowed slightly as she caught the hidden meaning in my words.
But she quickly concealed her expression and reluctantly bowed.
“I understand what you mean.”
After bowing deeply, Vanessa quietly left the room.
I stared at the door through which she had left, then turned toward the window.
I could see Kate just leaving the estate.
Just then, a group of maids passed by Kate and deliberately tripped her. Before she could react, Kate fell flat on the ground and remained there for a while.
They were probably the sort who resented her for becoming my personal maid, or who disliked that she served the daughter of an enemy house.
Seeing Kate fall so hard, I unconsciously half rose from my seat.
But I knew that if I intervened here, it would only make Kate’s situation more difficult, so I couldn’t recklessly step in.
Just then, Kate suddenly sprang to her feet.
Then she casually dusted off her clothes and began walking away briskly again. She looked as though something like that hadn’t affected her in the slightest.
She looked so completely unfazed that even the maids who had tripped her stared at her in disbelief.
At the sight, a small laugh escaped me before I knew it.
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