The Lusenford Castle, too humble to be called a ‘castle’, was swept by a chill today as well.
Winter brings blizzards, covering everything and plunging it into silence. The castle had become even quieter due to the recent unfortunate incident.
The newly married Grand Duchess had nearly died, resulting in an execution, and the head maid who had ruled the castle was exiled.
The castle employees, having lost their leader overnight, anxiously looked around, unsure of what would happen, and for now relied on the butler, Baron Rolf Anderson.
But even he didn’t have a good solution. The Grand Duke’s gaze was ominous, and he had ordered that everything should be kept as peaceful as possible until the Grand Duchess fully recovered.
At the end of this silent winter where everyone held their breath, only the crying children were making noise thoughtlessly.
“Sasha, Sasha, stop crying now. Hush. Hush.”
Children born to castle employees usually came to the castle with their mothers, as there was no one else to look after them, and played together where the employees were.
“If you don’t stop, the dragon will come and eat you! Stop quickly.”
From a young age, children grew up with fears of the harsh cold, the fearsome Emperor, and the dragon who, though unable to cross the border, commanded an army of spirits and ghosts. Those raising the children used these fears effectively.
The pale mother, holding her daughter who was crying loud enough to shake the castle, ran aimlessly. Her Highness the Grand Duchess, the Emperor’s niece, was barely recovering, and if it became noisy where she was staying, who knew what might happen.
His Highness the Grand Duke himself had said that where Her Highness stayed should always be peaceful. The nobles, except for the head maid, had ended up on the execution block, so the terrified mother, holding her child, ran as far as possible from the inner part of the castle.
The crying echoed through the castle.
In the huge stone building where no sound could be heard, even the smallest noise resonated loudly. The face of the child’s mother, who worked as a laundress in the castle, turned pale at the thought that disturbing Her Highness the Grand Duchess’s peace would be a grave mistake.
“I said stop!”
The helpless laundress slapped the child’s bottom with her cold, chapped hands. Waaah, the child’s cry grew louder.
“You have to be quiet in the castle! Stop it now!”
Just as the laundress, now panicked and terrified, was about to hit the child once more and run as far as possible, she suddenly discovered something.
She unexpectedly found three knights and maids standing in the open outer courtyard. Among the maids was a noblewoman wrapped tightly in glossy fur.
There was only one ‘noblewoman’ in Lusenford Castle now.
“Oh, my goodness!”
The laundress collapsed on the spot, still holding the child. The ignorant woman thought she was surely dead now. She had never felt so resentful and pitiful of her daughter who was crying loudly enough to shake the entire castle.
“I’m so sorry! The child is sick, I didn’t mean to make noise…!”
The elegant Grand Duchess, who looked noble to anyone’s eyes, looked at the laundress for a moment before turning her gaze to the doctor who had come with her.
“She says the child is sick.”
The child, red-faced and wailing, looked concerning.
“Examine the child.”
Darinka, who had been observing the girl’s condition from afar, turned to the Grand Duchess in surprise.
“Is that alright?”
“You have nothing else to do right now, do you?”
Well, not exactly. The doctor, who had insisted on a walk saying the Grand Duchess should move a little, quickly approached the child while still doing his duty.
“You must walk around this inner courtyard once, Your Highness. Don’t rush, take it slowly.”
Just as Kaela nodded, Darinka was already kneeling in front of the child. Kaela, who had to walk forcibly despite being so tightly wrapped by her maids that it was hard to move, stared at the trembling woman.
It would be right for the newly married Grand Duchess not to know what this woman did, but Kaela immediately recognized her as a laundress working in the castle’s laundry room.
The wet apron, hands red and swollen from soap and cold water, and the headscarf worn by the young woman indicated she had likely come to do one of the most arduous jobs – laundry.
Kaela, who once obsessed over knowing everything happening in Lusenford Castle as the Grand Duchess, now found it tiresome that she could immediately understand most things just by looking at the laundress.
Despite feeling weary, she asked a nearby knight. Peon always assigned one of his most trusted knights to Kaela when he was away. Today, Sir Wilberk was in charge of Kaela’s security and happened to be nearby.
“Why is she like that? Isn’t this place where castle employees also walk?”
There’s no need to be so pale and trembling with her head bowed to the ground, is there? Kaela was more accustomed to such laundresses whispering about her from a distance.
She knew various rumors circulated among the castle employees and outside – that she was a witch sent by the Emperor, or a barren woman who couldn’t bear children. Compliments were rare, while malicious gossip was so abundant it easily reached her ears.
“It seems to be because of the order His Highness the Grand Duke issued.”
“What order did he give?”
“He said that peace and quiet would help Your Highness recover, so everyone should remain as silent as possible.”
Isn’t that a bit excessive? Silence in a castle where over a thousand people come and go? Kaela unconsciously tilted her head.
“I’m fine though…?”
That was precisely the statement that everyone except Kaela would absolutely disagree with. Even though she had just gotten up, Kaela, barely walking around with a face completely devoid of color, looked like a patient in poor condition to anyone who saw her.
Given the rumors about how the young Grand Duchess was greatly shocked by the Northerners’ forceful way of pushing things and was made to eat forcibly, it was natural for the Grand Duke to treat her like fragile porcelain.
“It’s natural for a child to cry when sick. That much is fine.”
The laundress, who was already bowing her head, now prostrated herself completely.
“Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you!”
“How is the child’s condition?”
The child looked even thinner than the employees’ children Kaela had seen in Ostein. Lusenford, built on barren land, was extremely harsh.
Peon had been running around trying to somehow make this place livable, shouldering all the burdens alone.
Kaela once tried to share that purpose with him. She attempted to repair the poor facilities in the castle and somehow secure funds for further construction. She had overstepped her bounds even when Peon didn’t want it.
Eventually, these actions significantly contributed to Kaela’s confinement.
Her efforts to help Peon and shape Lusenford into a proper Grand Duchy by running here and there ultimately became a noose around her neck. In this place, she should have done nothing at all.
“The child has a fever. If left untreated, it will become seriously ill, and it might spread among the children in the castle.”
