Chapter 22
Chapter 22
When asked, the maids exchanged glances, hesitated, and then mumbled, “This girl touched Your Highness’s jewels.”
One maid lay prostrate at their feet.
“My jewels?” I questioned. They chorused their accusations, pointing at the maid on the floor.
“I saw it with my own eyes!”
“It was Delphina! You must dismiss her at once!”
I silently observed them, their faces brimming with self-importance. There was only one thing I could feel: ‘How dare they?’
I pointed to the auburn-haired maid who had spoken first. Her clothing was of the finest quality, suggesting a higher rank. “You there. What’s your name?”
“…Elda.” Elda feigned surprise at being singled out, but quickly composed herself, clearing her throat.
I adopted a languid, arrogant expression. A brief silence hung in the air, and Elda’s face flushed with confusion as she studied my expression. “I, I am the head maid here.”
Finally, she revealed her name and position. In slow, measured tones, I asked, “So, Elda. What is all this commotion?”
The other maids erupted, “Delphina!”
“This girl!”
I raised a hand to silence them. “Elda, you explain.”
“This morning, during cleaning, Sara witnessed Delphina handling Your Highness’s jewels. That’s why we came here.”
“I see.” I surveyed their faces again, reading much in their eyes. It was almost comical. This was some sort of initiation, a test. Whether my jewels were actually missing, as they claimed, was irrelevant.
I knew these power plays well. I had experienced something similar when I first arrived at the Flores estate. I remembered the way the servants looked at me then.
‘That’s Duke Gasparo’s b*stard child…’
‘From his affair with the kitchen maid, Annalisa…’
They refused to acknowledge me. My position, the fact that half my blood came from the same place as theirs, seemed to particularly offend them.
And Celestina, my stepmother, the Duchess…
‘You have the same v*lgar eyes as your mother.’
She, the living proof of her husband’s infidelity, naturally despised me. That’s how my first impression at the estate was formed.
A b*stard with no backing, hated by the mistress of the house—my treatment was worse than a servant’s. Perhaps it would have been better if I had been a servant. Even a scullery maid, after a decade of service, could rise in rank, gain influence. Some even saved their wages to find better employment or open a shop after leaving service.
But I was afforded no such opportunities. Everyone scorned and mistreated me. Even the butler and the head maid joined in the torment. It seemed my being the daughter of a maid from the same estate deeply offended them.
My life at the estate was little different from the other servants. No, it was worse. I often went hungry, suffered beatings in secret. Even in the dead of winter, I scrubbed laundry in freezing water until my hands cracked and bled. I cleaned the floors in their stead whenever they could manage it.
That’s why I understood their behavior. Why they acted this way, what they feared.
“Elda.”
“Yes, Your Highness!” She had been anxiously watching me, and now, as the long silence ended, she looked genuinely pleased.
“I haven’t brought any maids from my family home.”
A look of smug satisfaction spread across Elda’s face. She likely believed I was showing my support, that I had no one else to rely on but her.
“You say you’re the head maid. So, tell me, are you in charge of all the female servants in the Emerald Palace?”
“Yes.” Her smile stretched wide, refusing to fade. I would see how long it lasted.
“However, Elda,” I lowered my voice, “you are incredibly impertinent.”
“What?” Cracks appeared in her perfect smile, replaced by confusion.
“Where did you learn the manners of entering my chambers before I’ve risen?”
“Th-that wasn’t my intention…” Talking back to her mistress so readily… if this were the Flores Duchy, she would have been slapped across the face.
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