Rachel stiffened in surprise.
She was about to ask what was going on, but Cian placed the index finger of his other hand in front of his lips.
Shhh.
As she held her breath, she heard human voices outside.
“…I can’t do it!”
“Ahhh! Ahhh! mother…!”
It was Berengella and Theodore. The voices grew louder as they passed through the hallway.
“Don’t be silly and follow me! We need to make it through today!”
“I did nothing wrong!”
“What on earth are you doing! And for a commoner girl? You got us into this silly mess for that kind of thing!”
“Mother, she is not just a commoner girl. I really love Jane… Ah!”
“You really think it’s love? How many arranged marriages overflowing with love are there? Do you think that all of them commit obscene affairs like the Count? And at the birthday banquet of His Highness the Crown Prince?”
It was refreshing.
Berengella was stubborn and often mistreated Rachel, but at this moment, she was like an ally.
“What are you going to do? Now that this rumor has spread, we won’t be able to return to the manor today!”
“What is there to be ashamed of? If I’m confident enough, ah, ah!”
“… Please shut up before I cut off the Count’s important part.”
“Uh, mother. Please just…”
“Lead the way. I heard that you found separate accommodations near the imperial palace. I’ll have to stay there for a while.”
“Yes, I’ll take you there immediately! It’s a townhouse not far from here, and I’m sure mother will like… Agh!”
The voices gradually became quieter.
She relaxed her stiff shoulders and tried to remove his hand from her lips, but Cian didn’t move.
“… Not yet.”
She strained her ears, but couldn’t hear anything.
Is it because he’s the guild’s informant that his ears are sharper than others?
Rachel just blinked in the silence.
Cian looked into the distance, concentrating, then glanced at Rachel, then at the ground. His finger, which had been touching her lips, slowly moved away.
“… It’s over. I guess we should take a side road so we don’t run into them.”
“You’ve been so thoughtful in so many ways, I don’t know how to repay you.”
“Don’t worry, I’m only doing this because I’m sorry to have caused you any trouble.”
When their eyes met, Cian smiled slightly. He bent at the waist in a smooth motion and held out the cufflinks to Rachel.
“It’s a waste to give them to a man like him.”
From the beginning, everything was a waste.
Rachel, who was quietly looking at the cufflinks, shook her head.
“You said it was something you wanted. I’ll give it to His Majesty the Archduke. I don’t need them anymore.”
“Are you sure? Due to guild’s rules, we cannot refund the fees already received.”
“It’s fine.”
Cian looked at the cufflinks in his palm and curled his fist.
* * *
As Berengella expected, the front of the Elrosa mansion was crowded after the banquet ended that day. Although no one actually gathered, numerous glances and rumors poured in from alleys, beyond windows, and from passing carriages.
“The Count had an affair, right?”
“At the birthday banquet of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!”
“I guessed he was doing something like that he didn’t since come home often.”
“I heard that the wife loved her husband very much, I feel sorry for her.”
Anyway, Rachel didn’t care and just enjoyed the morning without Theodore or Berengella. She didn’t even see Carl, who hadn’t bothered to ask about her schedule today.
“Ta-da! What do you think, Graham? Mom prepared a gift!”
Graham’s eyes widened as Rachel held out a luxuriously packaged item.
“Huh? What’s this? Is it my birthday today?”
“It’s not your birthday, but I wanted to give you a gift!”
She’d followed Cian’s advice. Even if it was for a good cause, it was ridiculous to only give gifts to people you hate and not the ones you love!
Graham accepted the gift, which was longer and thinner than his torso.
“What is it, Mommy, can I open it now?”
“Well, of course!”
Graham gently peeled off the wrapping paper without tearing it, looked inside, and cheered.
“Wow! It’s a wooden sword? I really wanted one!”
The child neatly folded the peeled wrapping paper, placed it on the floor, and clumsily swung the wooden sword. It was clearly an uncoordinated movement, but every time the wooden sword moved, there was a sound of cutting through the air.
“Awesome! Now I can protect mom with this!”
“Do you like it?”
“Yes, I like it, a lot!”
“Oh, wait. Graham, be careful!”
“Ouch!”
Graham swung so hard that he lost his grip on the wooden sword. The sword, which was moving at high speed, flew through the air towards her direction, and coincidentally, it hit the head of a maid who was passing by.
“Ugh!”
Graham’s face turned white at the maid’s moans. The child quickly hid behind Rachel’s skirt and muttered.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“… No. It’s okay.”
She didn’t look okay at all. The fat, short maid narrowed her eyes and glared at Graham as if she were going to eat him. If Rachel hadn’t been there, she would most likely have screamed at him.
“Keria, are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
The maid scurried away only after Rachel spoke to her.
Rachel let out a long sigh.
This was due to Marsha’s influence. Thanks to the nanny, who hadn’t taken proper care of him, the entire household ignored Graham.
Carl said he would warn them all, but it didn’t change anything.
Graham, who was hiding behind her skirt, cried.
“Uh, mom. Sorry. I was wrong…”
“No, you didn’t mean to do that, mother will apologize to Keria, but next time, watch out for people around you and only swing when you have to. Okay?”
“Yes! I’ll be careful from now on, and I’ll hold on to my sword tightly, with both hands!”
“Good boy, Graham.”
“Ehehe. Then mom, I’ll bring the wrapping paper and put it in my room!”
“Huh? Wrapping paper?”
“Mom gave it to me!”
Graham picked up the wrapping paper he’d left on the floor and walked away.
While Graham was away, Rachel followed the maid Keria out to the garden.
Multiple maids, including Keria, were gathered near the entrance to the mansion, gossiping about Graham and Rachel.
“Ugh, it hurts so bad I’m dying! Anyway, he’s such a troublesome young master!”
“Oh, are you hurt bad?”
“I hope so, that way I can file a medical claim.”
“I know a doctor, he’ll give you a fake bill!”
What the hell.
She was going to fire them all at some point, but it looked like it was going to have to be sooner rather than later.
Rachel crossed her arms and leaned against a nearby stone railing.
The maids chatted a lot without even knowing that Rachel was listening.
“Anyway, is there something wrong with this family?”
“That’s right. There are no proper people in the Elrosa family. A husband who cheated, a wife who let her husband cheat and an immature son.”
A wife who let her husband cheat?
It was Theodore who started the affair, so what did Rachel do wrong? Rachel was naive, she didn’t know anything, and she just worked hard to marry the person her parents chose for her!
Besides, Graham is four now, right? How is a kid like that immature? The thought of apologizing properly again and paying for the maid’s treatment suddenly left her mind.
The maids giggled among themselves, Rachel wondered what was so funny.
“Lady Rachel is pretty, but she’s also stupid. The Count was probably sick of it. If he had to see a stupid woman like that every night, I’m not surprised he didn’t want to be around her anymore, right?”
“That’s right. Mrs. Rachel seemed to be quite obsessed with him. If it were me, I would have cheated, too.”
“Jake, who works at the barn, said that even if it were him, it would have been terrible to be married to Mrs. Rachel! How dare she be a hostess without even knowing that her house’s assets are constantly leaking out! Ahaha!”
She couldn’t listen anymore and was about to say something.
Just then, a rider on a black horse came across the garden and stopped in front of the entrance. The post office emblem was painted on his horse’s saddle.
The maids who were watching the rider noticed Rachel standing with her arms crossed at the entrance and bowed their heads in shock.
The maids looked at each other with nervous expressions. They seemed worried that Rachel might have heard what they were talking about.
It was absurd that they made such a big fuss when they hadn’t checked if there was anyone nearby who could overhear them.
The rider got off his horse and saluted Rachel.
“Hello. Are you by any chance Countess Elrosa?”
“That’s right.”
The rider nodded as she took out the noble badge hanging from her belt and showed it to him.
“I came to deliver a letters and package.”
“Who sent it?”
“Someone named Marsha sent me.”
Now that she thought about it, it was around this time that she’d asked Masha to send her compensation. She was planning on scolding her maids, this would work out well.
The rider unloaded the package tied to the back of the horse and handed it to Rachel. There was also a letter with Marsha’s name on it.
[We are sending you the requested compensation. If it weren’t for your grace, I would have had to starve to death with my family in the countryside while preparing the compensation. I will live quietly out of your sight.Marsha]
She checked the weight of the letter and the package she was handed and nodded.
“Thank you. I’ll send someone back later when I have a reply ready.”
“Thank you for always using us.”
The rider took off his hat, bowed, and got back on his horse.
Rachel turned and placed the items she had received on the table near the entrance. She untied the strap, opened the box, and took out the documents inside. She smiled as she checked the information written on the document.
As the rider disappeared and Rachel smiled, the maids lowered their tense shoulders in relief.
‘What are you feeling relieved about?’
“Keria.”
The maid who had been glaring at Graham stiffened in surprise.
“Yes.”
“You are hurt because you got hit by Graham earlier, right? Here. It’s the treatment fee.”
Rachel threw the bag of money that Masha had sent to Keria.
Keria’s face became incredibly bright. The money needed for her doctor’s treatment was 3 copper, and the money she had just been given was 3 gold, equivalent to 30,000 copper.
“Thank you, ma’am!”
“It’s too early to be thankful.”
“… What?”
“That money, I’ll probably need it all back soon.”
“What’s that…….”
Rachel smirked.
“It’s the 450 gold you owe in reparations to Countess Elrosa’s family.”
All of the maids’ faces turned pale, including Keria’s.
The generous Rachel paid all of them a monthly stipend of one gold, the second-highest salary after the imperial palace.
It was surprising that she was asked to pay an amount that would take more than 37 years to pay off without spending a single penny of her salary, as compensation.
