The madam’s day was set.
At ten or eleven, she would wake up, wash, and dress. At that time, the servants who served by her side were maids from the royal palace of Rosenta, her motherland.
Unlike the Empire’s custom of taking in the nobility’s daughters as servants, the Rosenta royals keep those raised within the palace by their side.
Sometimes, they would speak to the madam in a language unknown to the people of the ducal household, a language from her home country, which Ada didn’t know how to speak. She could only vaguely guess from Madam’s responses, her nods, or her shaking of the head.
It was the same for the other maids from the Empire. Their madam came from a nearby reclusive country, and the royal palace was always more closed than others.
Fortunately, the madam knew the Empire’s language, and so did her attendants.
Thanks to this, there were no problems with communication, but that does not mean that communication was frequent. To begin with, the madam wasn’t talkative, and Rosenta maids rarely spoke unless necessary.
Still, Ada maintained good relations with them by being sociable. In fact, she could count on one hand the number of people in the Grand Duchy who weren’t close to her.
Anyway, after washing and dressing, the madam would sit by the window or listen to the maids reading books. Sometimes she would have breakfast, but not often.
After a while of reading, flowers would arrive from the main building. They were personally chosen by the master himself.
Everyone in the annex marveled at how beautiful and luscious the flowers were, but the madam showed no interest whatsoever.
When she saw the ever-changing flowers, she would always say the same thing:
“Put them away.”
So Ada would quickly arrange the flowers before anyone else touched them and place them in the madam’s office. She hoped they would catch her attention even in that way.
Of course, the madam didn’t care where the flowers were. She might have said something like, “Oh, there’s blue iris here too,” and that was it.
For someone waiting for even a small reaction, that was enough. After that, irises occasionally appeared.
After the flowers arrived, the madam would have a quiet lunch.
Sometimes meals would be served outdoors, while other times they would be arranged inside her room.
On rare occasions, the madam would refuse to eat, usually because she wasn’t feeling well.
Even when meals were prepared, she barely ate anything, and most of the food would go untouched. Even though the portions were planned with her light appetite in mind, that was still the case.
After finishing her meal, the madam would write letters, draw, or take a stroll in the garden.
The garden, fashioned after the renowned Rosenta royal palace gardens, was a sight to behold, with intricate craftsmanship and luxurious decorations.
The madam would stroll through the gardens, where all kinds of rare plants grew, adorned with gold and silver, while her servants, including Ada, walked behind her. Knights from Rosenta as well as the ones appointed by the master accompanied them as well.
The walks were short because the madam’s stamina was limited, but Ada enjoyed that time the most.
Perhaps because the garden was inspired by a venerable royal palace, the flower garden was unlike anything she had ever seen before.
A large tree planted in the center had a swing made of gold, surrounded by a man-made stream.
Just this was enough to be astounding, but the decorations throughout—pure gold and carnelian—and the ornate bas-reliefs on the bushes one could climb were the kind one would expect to find only in the imperial palace.
There were many other marvels, but the madam who owned it all maintained an impassive expression.
Every time Ada looked at her stern face, she couldn’t help but imagine the royal palace of Rosenta, which she’d heard so much about. How extravagant and beautiful a place must it be for this madam to remain so unaffected by such grandeur?
After the stroll, the madam would take a short nap or instruct the maids to read to her again. As the books were written in the Rosenta language, the maids from her homeland were always chosen for this task.
As time passed, the main house became bustling again. At such times, the madam would call a maid to check outside. This task, unlike reading, was assigned to whoever was available, sometimes even Ada.
Once it was confirmed that people were returning to their homes, the madam would change into formal attire. She would return to the main building for dinner, the only time the couple would meet.
Since the dinner was attended by the other servants rather than Ada, she used the time to rest or help others.
But even without entering the dining room, one could sense the atmosphere within.
The madam had never once enjoyed a meal.
When leaving the dining room, her expression remained stiff, and she walked briskly.
To calm her soured mood, she would head to the garden, but upon thinking of who had prepared that garden, her irritation would flare up again, and she would abruptly retreat into the building.
Afterwards, she would take a bath. Once she was done, she was too exhausted to do anything else.
After retiring to bed, except for the maids attending to her, everyone else was expected to leave according to the mansion’s rules.
But what on earth was happening?
Ada blinked, unable to believe what she was seeing. Was she hallucinating?
“This foolish man, who asked for that?”
No wonder the woman who was punching the man’s chest with her fists, her face soaked with tears, was none other than her madam, a woman whose words would have been sharp enough to cut through the air on any ordinary day.
“Ju- Juliet.”
And the man, unable to bring himself to touch her body, simply stood there, taking the blows.
Ada rubbed her eyes at the unbelievable sight. Is she still not fully awake? The scene before was no less unbelievable.
Her madam had been hitting her master since the early morning hours, and in her nightclothes no less.
If someone had told her this the day before, she would have laughed it off as absurd nonsense.
But all of these things were actually happening.
“I never, huff, asked for that. I never asked you to do it. Do you understand?”
With tears in her voice, the madam swung her fists. Her blows were so weak that they couldn’t have hurt.
The master, seemingly at a loss for how to handle his crying wife, grabbed her a few times, but it was no help.
Then her madam, who was sobbing like a child, threw her arms around the other person.
“You foolish, idiotic, stupid man. How could you do that……. Don’t ever do that again, do you understand?”
She said, wrapping her arms around her husband’s body. It was a weak gesture, but it was enough to startle the people standing in the hallway at that moment.
Ada also took a sharp breath. What had she just seen?
She knew that the relationship between her madam and master was as cold as ice. They lived in separate houses, and of course they never held hands.
Like most unhappy families, they had their reasons. The reason was that one of them entered the marriage unwillingly.
It wasn’t hard to guess which one that was. The madam had always held the upper hand in their relationship.
Unlike the master, who was timid about even the slightest physical contact, the mistress did not seem to hold her husband in any regard.
She was never physically violent—she didn’t have the strength to be—but she didn’t need to make anyone bleed in order to wound them.
It was hard to understand where such hatred came from in her frail body, but the madam’s words were always sharp as knives when directed at the master.
“If it weren’t for you, I would have been much happier. So what exactly do you think you can do for me?”
“Don’t act like you can solve everything. You know my biggest problem is you.”
Normally, she speaks in her native language, which only a few people know, but at that moment, she would switch to the imperial language. Though her husband was familiar with the Rosenta language, she still chose to do so.
“She’s trying to embarrass him.”
One of the servants had said so.
The maids, like Ada, were from the northern regions, and those who had followed the master to the duchy were typically deeply loyal to him.
Another maid sitting beside her added,
“But she doesn’t seem like such a bad person, does she?”
“Well, that’s just how she is with us. She can’t be that harsh with the master.”
Ah, some of the servants sighed. So did Ada, who was watching them from a little distance.
While not cold towards the servants, her madam particularly treated her husband with disdain.
More than once, Ada had seen her cornering her husband. Those were the days when the master still visited the annex.
“I can neither understand nor like you! I have nothing to give you! And even if I did have something, I wouldn’t give it to you, understand?”
“I regret the moment I met you. If I had known you were such a two-faced person, I wouldn’t have made that mistake.”
Each time she shouted, her madam always straightened her back, making her already stiff posture seem even more rigid.
But those moments didn’t last long. Her madam’s frail body couldn’t handle such intense emotions for long.
Even a slight increase in her anger made her dizzy. This was why her fury, despite its ferocity, ended absurdly quickly.
Once her brief anger passed, the madam always looked for somewhere to lean on with her tired eyes.
Each time, it was the servants from Rosenta who supported her. She’d lean on them and add her final words.
“It’s all your fault that I’m like this. You were the one who dragged me here against my will.”
With that, she would turn away, and the master would walk away, not wanting to further upset his wife.
The sight of the large man doing so looked quite pitiful, making the servants feel pained in that moment. It was always distressing to watch someone shrink like that.
So Ada thought it would be nice if her madam could be a little more lenient towards her husband. She, too, found it painful to witness what the man was enduring.
However, her madam did not cherish her husband enough to feel such emotions. Her thin body seemed constantly filled with longing for her homeland and anger.
Thus, it was only natural that the master no longer set foot in the annex. For someone who was the root cause of such immense sorrow, it was impossible to remain beside the person consumed by that grief.
But to offer such a willing embrace.
It even seemed a bit desperate. Ada rubbed her eyes again.
She wasn’t the only one who couldn’t accept the situation. The master, frozen like a statue, rolled his eyes.
The man’s large blue eyes reflected bewilderment.
He stammered, unsure if he should answer her question.
“Yes.”
Then she came back with another question.
“Do you even know what I’m talking about?”
That was also what Ada wondered most; she couldn’t understand her madam’s words.
As far as she knew, yesterday’s madam was no different from usual. She was quiet and indifferent, as always.
And nothing happened between yesterday and today.
At least, as far as Ada knew. Probably the same is true for most of the servants.
So naturally, she couldn’t follow the situation.
The master appeared to be just as lost.
Ada saw the man’s face flush red. It seemed like embarrassment, something uncommon for him. It wasn’t his nature.
With a flushed face up to his ears, the master replied,
“I don’t know…”
