CH 2.11

“Hurry up and follow me!”

The maid who had been walking in front of Rosé looked at her and urged.. Rosé struggled to follow her and apologized.

“I’m sorry. My physical state is a bit …”

“You know that’s not my business, right?  You must hurry.”

The maid intercepted Rosé’s words halfway through, and she responded coldly. Then, as if she didn’t care whether or not Rosé came after her, she took another long stride. It seemed that she was annoyed at the way she was a slow walker and that she could hear the sound of her footsteps.

“Why do I have to do this? To escort a non-noble woman to the inn? How lucky that she saved the Princess!”

The maid’s voice echoed through the quiet hallway as if she was intending Rosé to listen. But Rosé showed no reaction despite the maid’s cruel words. She wasn’t particularly offended or taken aback by her words.

Rather, Rosé could not control her overflowing emotions and was barely suppressing them. She was thrilled to be staying near Flitta, her child, so she had no time to care about anything else.

It was then. The maid, who was walking quickly, stopped,

“This is your room.”

The maid pointed to her door with her chin. Rosé’s gaze turned to the door the maid had pointed to. At the same time, the maid’s voice continued again.

“Once you go inside, there is your served uniform to change into. I’ll wait for you after you change your clothes.”

“I want you to wash yourself before changing my clothes.”

Rosé looked at the door, then turned to the maid and opened her mouth. Since she had fallen into the lake, her body smelled musty like fishy water. She grimaced, as if the maid didn’t know it either, and grumbled with a sigh.

“You’re really demanding. Do you really think you’re that someone….”

The maid glanced at Rosé and pointed to the stairs next to her room.

“You can go down these stairs and go out of the building. That doesn’t mean you’re going to relax while washing up, all right? I’m going to wash up quickly, change your clothes, and wait. The head maid will arrive soon.”

“Thank you…”

Rosé tried to say thank you despite the maid’s blunt words. But the maid had already turned her body as she had no intention of hearing her greeting. Rosé, who looked for a moment at the back of the maid as she walked away, smiled bitterly at the figure of her back, then opened the door of her room.

“Ehem. Cough.”

As soon as she opened the door, Rosé involuntarily coughed. It was because the dust that had been piled up all over the room gushed into Rosé’s nose all at once when the door was opened by her.

She covered her mouth with her hand and went to the window to open it. However, opening the window was not as easy as she thought. The locks on the windows were heavily rusted as if they had not been used by people for a long time.

“Cough.”

Rosé pressed her lips together and repeatedly applied force to unlock the lock, but soon gave up and sat down on the bed. Then, gasping for breath, she burst into small laughter.

“I could barely do this….”

It was absurd. Whoever saw her might have told her to reconsider the employer hiring her as a maid. Just by mere opening the window made her out of breath.

No, she couldn’t even open the window to be precise.

“… Should I go see the pharmacist later?”

She has not much money left in her hands, so of course, she wouldn’t be able to go to a pharmacist. Moreover, even if she goes to a pharmacist, the pharmacist won’t be able to cure her illness.

So she thought it would be better to go to the pharmacist, who costs less than a therapist, and do something about her insufficient money. Even if it can’t cure her disease, it will be helpful if she takes a medicine that replenishes her physical strength.

“Otherwise… I won’t last long in this condition, and I’ll be kicked out.”

Rosé took a deep breath and muttered to herself.

If there was anything she wanted right now, it was just one thing. To stay by her child’s side, by her man’s side, even a little longer.

She thought she would have nothing more to wish for if she could just see them from a distance, but when she had the chance to stay near the people she loved, she became greedy.

The desire to be with them a little longer… was deep and strong.

“… .”

Rosé looked out the window and saw the busily coming and going employees. Everyone seemed distracted by the preparations for the memorial service. Of course, in her case, she was not an employee here, but the Grand duke’s maid, so there was no need to do anything herself.

“But I can’t just stay like this.”

There was already an atmosphere where they regarded her with disapproval and rejected her existence, so she must not give the impression that she was a lazy maid.

Rosé shook her head and stood up. She saw the maid’s uniform hanging on a hanger by the bed.

‘I’ll wash my body first.’

She muttered inwardly what she had to do, grabbed her towel, and headed back out.

She knew that the stairs the maid had pointed out to her were a bit isolated, so she didn’t run into a single person until she left the building. She said that the location of her own room seemed to be one of the most remote places in the building.

However, Rosé was not particularly dissatisfied with that. It is also a temporary accommodation where she will stay until the memorial service was over anyway.

‘No, even if it was a more a worse place than this, it’s okay.’

If she can be by the side of the man and child she loves, she can live on a pile of straw in a stable even. Or, if asked to sleep on the street, she would be happy to do so.

… Whatever it was to take and do, she was ready to do it.

* * *

“No matter how great the credit for saving the princess is, how can she use someone who don’t know her even? I am worried that she must have taken His Highness too lightly.”

The nurse spat out words in a disapproving tone and busily fanned her. But instead of agreeing with the nursemaid’s words, the head maid spoke to her in a slow tone after a moment of silence.

“I do not know. You can’t say one way or another about what His Highness the Grand Duke did. How could I or you go against His will? We just have to follow and obey. Moreover, you are in a position where you have no face to see Your Highness after something disgraceful like this time has happened.”

“O, of course! That’s right. It’s not that I’m going against the will of the Grand Duke, I just… ”

The nanny nervously chewed her lips at the head maid’s words, then blurted out her words. The head maid raised her cup and took a sip of her tea when she glanced at the maid and narrowed her brows slightly.

‘If she couldn’t keep the princess safe, she’d better stay still…’

The head maid muttered to herself and withdrew her gaze from the other maid. She then gasped and tried to spit out a laugh but swallowed it whole.

It was something she couldn’t quite comprehend. As soon as she arrived at the royal tomb, she remembered the news she had heard and shook her head.

The princess wandered around alone, and she fell into the lake.

She had several servants who followed His Highness and the princess, but no one noticed until the Young Princess left the building alone and drowned in the deep lake.

She had always been proud of her position as the head maid in the grand duke’s residence. To that extent, she wanted the maid to be thorough in all of her words and wanted the other employees of the Grand Duke to do the same. But it was her self-esteem that was flawed.

Due to such a stupid mistake.

Because she almost lost His Highness’ only bloodline, not being able to take care of the princes properly, such a mistake.

‘I should have come sooner.’

The head maid clicked her tongue and narrowed her brows once more. The problem was that she had to be away for several days because of the memorial service, so she came late, giving orders to the remaining maids in the mansion.

Of course, that was nothing new. As the Grand Duke has no mistress of the mansion, she has many things to take care of herself.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel regret. As the head maid tried to swallow her sighs, again and again, there was a knock on her door. At the same time, the nanny’s gaze moved toward her door.

“She must be that maid.”

The head maid opened her mouth with her calm expression. The nanny looked back at the nanny, with a puzzled expression, then raised her eyes as she understood what she was saying.

“I thought it would be better for me to look first. If it’s really not possible, then I’ll have to make another suggestion to His Highness… Come inside.”

After explaining further to the nanny, the head maid spoke to the person on the other side of the door.

* * *

The eyes looking at her were cold. Rosé put her hands together and slightly lowered her eyes. Then one of the women who had been looking at her up and down for a long time spoke to her first.

“Your name is Rosé?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you from… There’s no way to know growing up without your parents and wandering from place to place… tsk.”

The woman, no, the head maid clicked her tongue as she leafed through the paper on which it was written about Rosé’s information. The sound was quite loud. She was probably just as disapproving of her.

And it was the same with another woman, the nanny, sitting next to the head maid. The nanny picked up the papers that the head maid had put down and she let out a blank laugh.

“She is an orphan who grew up without parents, and it is not clear where she came from. His Highness hired her as the princess’s exclusive maid. I don’t think this is really possible, Head Maid. Wouldn’t it be better off asking His Highness to reconsider?”

“… Hmm.”

“You said you would make a suggestion to His Highness if you really wanted to do it.”

As if the nanny was asking for help, she added to the head maid. Rosé, who had been standing still listening to their words, looked up in surprise. Her green eyes quivered to and fro, revealing her insecurities.

‘Am I being kicked out like this? Can’t I just be by Flitta’s side?’