"Oh, Melfina-sama, could you please allow me to speak?"
While we were glaring at Cedric without taking a step back, Marie lightly raised her hand. When I nodded, she said, "Please," and looked straight into my light blue eyes.
"I am also employed by the duke and serve Melfina-sama, but would it be possible for me to quit my job as a servant of the duke and change my job here?"
"What… Marie-sama!"
"Cedric, Marie is talking to me now."
As a knight, he probably wouldn't do anything like grab a woman, but just the spirit of his anger was a big deal. However, Marie didn't look at Cedric at all, and she had a cool expression on her face.
I didn't think Marie would say something like that, and I couldn't figure out what she meant. She had a faint feeling of goodwill from Marie, but asking her to change jobs was a different story.
"Marie, I know what you're saying, but I don't really recommend it. Being a servant of the Duke's family, you must have some pretty good recommendations, don't you?"
People who work for aristocratic families need someone to recommend them, no matter how big or small. If the person you work for is a duke, it is not uncommon for them to be blood relatives of the aristocrats.
She quit her job as a lady's maid hired by the duke's family and began serving Melfina, the lord of Enkar. Even though I am her lord, the Enkar region is literally a territory at the edge of the country that is still in the process of being developed. It may sound good to say that there is only room for growth, but I am the owner of a small, remote area where everything could be blown away if the wind blows.
The size of the house that a servant serves is the servant's status. If she became a maid working for a duke's family, she was in a position where she could even hope for a lower-class nobleman to marry. Marie responded to Melfina's words in a quiet voice.
"Melfina-sama. My father was a retainer of the former duke, and my mother was his second wife, who was about 30 years younger than him. It seems that my father always accompanied my mother when he stayed at the duke's house. I am the one who was born."
Marie's hair is light pale blonde. Depending on the lighting, she may not look like silver.
Her eyes are long and cool, and her eyes are light blue. She wonders how she didn't notice until she was told.
--Looks like Alexis.
She must have understood what Melfina had guessed, and a carefree, bitter smile appeared that was not typical of her.
"My father already had two older brothers and an older sister with my mother's previous wife. I guess I wasn't particularly needed at home, so I lived with my parents until I was five years old. A year after my younger brother was born, I was sent to work as an apprentice maid to the Duke's family, where I had the opportunity to learn culture and manners.
Even after I left my parents' home, I had the opportunity to meet my mother and younger brother from time to time, but when my father went to work, he always told me to serve the duke's family properly."
He doesn't say it explicitly, but with this many hints, anyone would understand.
Marie is the former duke's illegitimate daughter and Alexis' half-sister.
Not only her appearance but also her regular facial features and cool demeanor, which have many similarities to Alexis.
It's not uncommon for a noble or semi-noble's daughter to serve as an apprentice in a house with a higher status than her own, but most of the time she starts out as a senior maid apprentice. The fact that she was treated as a maid-in-training from the beginning was proof that she was treated that special.
A maid is a woman who serves the young lady or mistress of a household, and although she has the title of taking care of the household, she is essentially an assistant and is different from a typical servant.
She is similar to an older sister who assists her younger sister who has the responsibilities of a nobleman and is sometimes even treated as a semi-young lady depending on the noble family she serves.
What's more, the Ordland family has not had a matriarch for a long time because the former duke did not remarry after Alexis' mother died, and Alexis remained single until recently marrying Melfina.
The fact that she was welcomed as a maid in a house where there was no hostess probably meant that, even though she was an illegitimate child, she wanted to be guaranteed a life similar to that of an aristocrat.
That's how I understood why Marie was chosen as Melfina's maid, having arrived as the new wife of the head of the family.
Even if it was unofficial, Marie was the person closest to the mistress of the Duke Orlando family.
"I kind of understand the circumstances. However, I think there is no reason for you to resign from the ducal family."
"Both my father and mother have passed away, my younger brother is living in the royal capital, and I am estranged from my half-brothers who have inherited the family. I have worked for the duke's family for over ten years, and even if I quit now, I won't be able to see the faces of the recommenders. There's no way they'll destroy it."
"That's not what I mean..."
If Alexis had treated Marie as a maid, as he had done with the previous duke, he would have been willing to treat her as a half-sister.
The name given to Melfina was not only meant to serve as a role model and monitor her as a mistress but also meant that if Melfina moved to a townhouse in the royal capital, she would have the opportunity to meet her younger brother or that she would want her to accompany her when she entered and exited the royal palace. Maybe there was.
Marie is in the prime of her life, has a cool beauty typical of the north, and has the position of being the duchess's maid. She may be noticed by the nobles and civil servants who come and go to the royal palace, and it shouldn't be that difficult for a savvy noble to find out her connection to Alexis.
And if you think about it, Cedric is in the same position. His family is a court noble, and the royal capital is probably closer to his hometown. If I was going in and out of the royal palace as Melfina's escort knight, it would have been easy for me to interact with his family.
--I'm sure Alexis never expected that he would take the two of them and settle down on the edge of such a remote area.
It was certainly an unconventional behavior for a young lady who was born to a playful marquise and was ridiculed for her dubious origins. Of course, she doesn't know about Alexis' intentions, and regardless of her feelings for the two of them, she can't help but think that she's a bit out of place when it comes to Alexis.
"Um, so why did you change jobs?"
"I'm not meant to be a maid."
I was wondering if it was because she didn't want to be treated as an illegitimate child or because she felt suffocated, but Marie simply said so.
"It was a shame to just watch the servants of my age work with their hands covered in chapped hands, while I was forced to wear them and watch them. I didn't really want to learn about manners or culture. I wasn't interested in pretty dresses, and I just wanted to wear cotton clothes, make friends, and go shopping in town on my days off."
Me and Cedric were stunned and stared at Marie.
From the moment I met Marie, I had the impression that she was a beautiful woman with a well-shaped face, but she didn't have many expressions, which gave me the impression that she was cool and hard to be moved by things. She never imagined that she was thinking such a thing in her heart.
"Also, Melfina-sama doesn't let me work with the water even though she doesn't care about it. I know that's because she considers me to be a 'handmaid.' Even so, Melfina-sama herself says that there is no point in pretending to be a duchess here... I was jealous of that."
"Well, there's nothing to be jealous of, right? In fact, as a noblewoman, having her husband tell her to do whatever she wants is almost an insult."
"Trying to treat someone who is not originally the daughter of the family as the daughter of a family just for the sake of a name is an insult to people in all walks of life.''
Even if you are among the servants, you are not a servant. Even though she is treated as a young lady, she is not a young lady.
You won't know until you put yourself in that position, but in the sense that she doesn't have a suitable place to be, she may be similar to a wife whose husband didn't want her.
"The day will never come when I will become the daughter of a duke. And even if I marry some noble, I will end up in the position of a noble who has been given a commoner servant. However, if she were to marry a commoner in the position of a maid, it would lower the value of other unmarried servants of the ducal family. … All of that bothers me."
That's all I can say about luxurious worries. Although this is the world of an otome game, it is a place where humans live. Many commoners other than aristocrats were poor, and it was not uncommon for them to starve or die without treatment for their illnesses.
A position where you have the right to wear beautiful clothes, eat good food, and even choose wealthy men is not something you can easily obtain.
However, the 16 years she has lived as Melfina insists that it is not enough.
Even though she lived as the daughter of a marquis who had nothing to do with poverty, Melfina was always somehow miserable because she was not loved by her parents. In order to shake it off, she worked hard to learn and behave like a noblewoman.
Even if she couldn't get her parents' love, she was thinking positively about applying what she's learned to her future husband, but right after the wedding, my husband-to-be denied me everything. Ta.
Melfina in the original story no longer has anything to support herself other than her pride, which she desperately supported herself with. The innocent and beautiful Saint Mary appears before her and is admired by everyone, even her husband, who rejected her, without knowing the culture and etiquette of the aristocrats.
The foundation for Melfina to become a villainess was created by the people surrounding her other than Melfina. Even so, Melfina was left to take responsibility for her.
In the original story, the hero and heroine are brought together and the curtain falls on a happy ending. However, Melfina's life continues as she is forced to live a harsh life in a faraway monastery.
Other than Alexis Root, Melfina doesn't really have a role. I have no way of knowing what her future holds, but did she live her life as a playful duchess who did not fulfill her duty to bear children, living in the royal capital, socializing, luxuriating, and feeling unfulfilled?
I wonder what Melfina must have felt when she heard that her husband and the Saint had been married through Alexis Route.
"If that's what Marie wants, I don't care. Is she treated as a maid? Or do you have other wishes?"
Speaking of female servants other than maids, I guess they are nannies, tutors, and cooks. There is no need for a nanny or tutor, and Marie is well aware that there is no need for one.
For the first time, Marie looked confused. Once she dropped her gaze to her lap, she glanced at me and looked up as if she had made up her mind.
"If possible, I would like to be Melfina-sama's secretary."
"Secretary..."
"I can read and do calculations. Since there was no one to serve as a maid, I helped the head housekeeper and butler with their work, so I was able to keep accounts and manage supplies. I was able to help the lord, Melfina-sama. I want to."
"That...that would be a huge help!"
I can't help but lean forward. His behavior was unbecoming for a nobleman, but he couldn't help but do it, as if his back was being pushed.
"I'll keep my salary as much as it is now. I'd really like that, Marie."
"…thank you"
Marie, who was always cool and expressionless, smiled softly. She has naturally beautiful features, and when she smiles, she looks like a white flower has bloomed.
"I will also do my best to meet Melfina-sama's expectations."
"Yes, nice to meet you, Marie."
We stare at each other for a while, then at the same moment, I get embarrassed and look away.
For Melfina, who had never had a close friend of her own age, it was a very unfamiliar but pleasant feeling of embarrassment.
--Oh, I'm starting to feel a bit jealous about Cedric.
Well, even if I return to the capital, I won't be able to make a quick decision to stay with Melfina as a supervisor.
Cedric is originally a knight with a very serious personality.
As expected, even if the person he was escorting was told to return to the capital, he wouldn't do anything to cause violence to those around him.
It would be a good idea to wait a while and make your selection again.
. . .
++Thank you for reading++