After hearing the housekeeper's report that Eleanor and Maria got along well in the past few days, Simon was surprised and wanted Maria to become his wife as soon as possible.
Simon was handsome, outstanding in martial arts, inherited the blood of the ancient wolf king, and was a knight officially awarded by the king. He had his fiefdom and a promising future. When he was in the capital, he was very popular with those noble ladies, but he had lived for twenty-one years and had never felt moved.
Although Simon is a man, he unexpectedly has a romantic idea. He thinks that love should be the beauty of love at first sight. If he can't be moved at first sight, then it is not the love he wants.
It's not that he can't appreciate the beauty of other women, but when Simon sees those beautiful women who are praised by others, he always feels that something is missing, some kind of quality that makes him move.
Until he met Maria, the feeling of being shot by Cupid's arrow and having a strong and exciting heartbeat made him realize that this was what he wanted.
If Maria knew his thoughts, she probably wouldn't agree, because unfortunately, unlike Simon's view of love, Maria never believed in love at first sight. Of course, she didn't like love that grew over time. Her attitude towards love is dispensable. She has never considered falling in love so far. She believes more is earned through her ability, which is the basis of everything.
To be more practical, she is the kind of person who would rather stay single for her whole life. If that is not possible, she will just pick someone she likes and gets along with to live with.
Love has never been something she considers.
However, now Simon's suggestion does make Maria a little moved.
Apart from his obvious ulterior motives, working in the castle is indeed the best choice for her at the moment.
She will live in Andalus in the future. In addition to buying a house and land, she needs a decent job.
But this era is still harsh for women. It is difficult to find a suitable job, especially since she is an outsider. If she hadn't been lucky enough to meet Simon, she was afraid that people here would not accept her so easily.
The range of jobs available to women is very small, and being a tutor in a noble family can be said to be the most decent of all choices.
Being a tutor for Eleanor can also allow her to get the protection of the Gonzalez family, making her life in Andalus smoother in the future, with no harm.
To sum up, this job is perfect.
After confirming that she was attracted, Maria began to think about whether she could teach Eleanor.
What does a noble lady need to learn at this time?
They often go to the garden together. Although Eleanor doesn't talk much, when Maria asks, she can answer with a voice as small as an ant and talk about her daily life.
In addition to the required etiquette classes, she also learns dance and music. In addition, embroidery and reading are also what Eleanor typically does. Apart from this, it seems that there is nothing else.
It is a very standard lady's education.
Because they only chat when they are walking, Eleanor needs to go to class the rest of the time. Maria thinks she is a good guest and will not ask to go with her, so she is not sure about the level of Eleanor's learning, but if it is a course like music and embroidery, she seems to be able to teach.
Because they only chat when they are walking, Eleanor needs to go to class the rest of the time. Maria thinks she is a good guest and will not ask to go with her, so she is not sure about the level of Eleanor's learning, but if it is a course like music and embroidery, she seems to be able to teach.
She didn't know how to embroider before, but after getting life skills from the system, she secretly tried it privately. Sewing includes various embroidery methods.
As for music, she learned a little harp when she was a child.
Although she hasn't touched the harp for many years, it is not difficult to get it back after practicing.
At this time, there is already a harp, if Eleanor wants to learn, she can teach.
After confirming that she has some material to teach Eleanor, Maria has confidence in this job.
She pondered for a long time before she made her decision: "I can be Eleanor's tutor, but I cannot accept the position of housekeeper."
Simon saw that she didn't speak for a long time and frowned in thought. He thought she would refuse. Now he was relieved to hear her answer.
Although the housekeeper's job was turned down, it was enough that Maria was willing to stay. Other things can be discussed slowly. There is no rush.
"Then I'll trouble you with Eleanor's matter. If possible, I hope you can take care of the kitchen at the same time."
Simon couldn't forget the food Maria prepared after eating it, and even hoped to eat more in the future.
Maria was of course very happy about this. Bob, the chef in the kitchen, often looked for opportunities to ask Maria for advice these days, and she would not hesitate to advise on her taste.
Then, they discussed the salary issue. Simon stopped when he saw the good and did not give too high a salary. Instead, he gave a salary of two gold coins per month according to the current standard of tutors, plus a part of the subsidy for managing the kitchen.
Don't think that this money is too little. In fact, in this era, the lowest-ranking baron among the nobles only earned between 200 and 500 gold coins a year. Ordinary people could not even earn two gold coins a year. She could earn 20 gold coins a year, which was already very high.
Maria was very satisfied with this salary. As far as she knew, maids like Lucia and Julia did not even earn two silver coins a month.
After the salary was negotiated, Maria naturally wanted to talk to Simon about the land issue the most.
Simon was not going to sell his private plot. Selling land was a wasteful act that only a down-and-out noble would do — if he did that, his father would beat him to death.
What he wanted to sell to Maria was the land in his manner that was distributed to serfs for cultivation.
Serfs were a kind of status between free serfs and slaves. They had no land of their own but could get land from the lord. The price was that they had no personal freedom, could not leave the lord's land, and had to cultivate the land for the lord for free, perform various labor services, and hand over most of the labor products.
Simon planned to sell some land together with the serfs on it to Maria.
This was his good intention. If Maria wanted to buy land, she would need someone to cultivate the land for her. Simon's decision could save her the trouble of hiring.
But he also stated in advance that after the land was sold to Maria, she could not sell it to others. If she didn't need it in the future, she could only sell the land back to the Gonzalez family.
In addition, he also gave Maria a benefit that only nobles had. The taxation system of Andalus is as complicated as that of all noble territories. In addition to land tax, they also need to pay more than a dozen taxes, including head tax, firewood tax, marriage tax, and church tithe, which means that one-tenth of the land output belongs to the church. These taxes and levies can allow the lord to take half or even more of the land output.
In addition, freemen and serfs have to serve the lords. If they don't obey, they have to use food and money instead, which is also a big expense.