CH 12

My wife and maid shouldn't be here in my office.

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In the morning, in the office of Desmond's mansion, I go through the documents sent out by the government officials, which are the work of the lord. Tax revenues, crop harvests, bandits, security issues in the city, demon attacks, arrangements for knights......etc. As long as the documents are in order, I sign and approve them.

when I see the documents that come in. It makes me always think about how I feel.

It's been eight years since I was locked away here in <Aldra>. and the place has become quite prosperous and peaceful. Originally, it was an emaciated and barren land, abandoned by the other lords, but thanks to a new farming method I invented, the land has been transformed into a rich and prosperous place. Land is now a bountiful place where no shortage of food. In addition to that, I've found that having the lord personally thank the people has such a positive effect....... It's true that the small territory has a small population that needs to be fed, but still, my skills are commendable.

Also, there's the magic-powered defense device that I invented.

I'm glad to hear that it's working more than adequately. With it, the villages can effectively protect themselves from foreign enemies, and when bandits or demons appear, they can be beaten back, and even enriched with bounties.

The next document I read said that the device in Moiré Village needed to be replenished soon. There are some commoners who can handle magic power, but they can't compare to the nobles. I'm going there to replenish the magic power myself as well as to inspect.

The normal stance of a nobleman is that lowly people are just objects to be taxed, and there is no one who cares or performs duties as I do. The duties of a proper nobleman include the defense of his domain, the expansion of his territory through wars of conquest, and above all, the political maneuvering in aristocratic society. If the tax revenue goes down, the politician is fired and a new politician is appointed to who can collect the tax more mercilessly.

If everything is like that, no matter how aristocratic you are, you'll only be strangling yourself. It is true that the greater the aristocracy, the more likely they are to regard their subjects as laborers who produce wealth, not as human beings.

It is regrettable, but for the lord of this rural, cat's forehead-sized land, it is a fire on the other side of the shore, an event above the clouds, there is nothing I can do about it,

Besides, all I want is to rule this land peacefully and live in peace.

I will check the schedule and make plans to go to Moiré Village. Later, I'll order Steward and Butler to prepare the carriage, escort, and contact the other side.

I was mostly satisfied with the management of my domain.

However, there was one thing that I could not do anything about.

That was my wife, Charlotte.......

My wife, who could not bear children, was returned from her previous marriage, and I married her as soon as I came to rule this territory. It would be perfect if she and I could be on good terms, but that may not be possible. Although I have been trying to find a way to impregnate her, we have not made any progress in the eight years since we were married, and the insurmountable gap between us has grown deeper over the years.

With no children of our own, we would disappear, having been absorbed by the Terrace family.

Looking out the window, I saw that the sky was reasonably clear, although there were clouds. That has been my life so far, and that will be my life from now on. I breathed a sigh and started working on my papers again.

That was my normal job and workplace as Desmond Damwead.

It was supposed to be like that....

I'm usually alone in my office sanctuary, and I don't call my maid or butler unless I have to. And yet, on this day...

When I glanced at her, she seemed to be glancing at me, too, and smiled.

She smiled at me softly, like a tender field of flowers. She had wavy platinum blonde hair and large emerald eyes. Her face is so childish that it is hard to believe that she is one year older than me at twenty-nine, and her white cheeks like white porcelain are covered with vermilion-like flower petals.

Charlotte, my beloved wife and the woman who fell in love with me through my sexual techniques, which I called sexual art. My technique was almost like a virgin with zero experience, but I wonder if women in this world are all vulnerable to sexual thing or it's just that Charlotte herself was a lewd person.......

However, she is so cute and lovable that it doesn't matter. Even if this is my workplace, if she smiles at me like that, I can't help but smile back.

However, she is so cute and lovable that it doesn't matter. Even if this is my workplace, if she smiles at me like that, I can't help but smile back.

In my previous life, I would have been extremely unsuitable, but now I'm a sweet, handsome aristocrat with blond hair and blue eyes, a sweet man that makes me want to punch myself in the face.

I'm sure we're a good match!

And there was another person in this room who looked very different from the rest.

She was dressed in a classic, black one-piece outfit with a white apron. Her red hair is pulled up at the back of her head, and she is wearing a white brim, with her back straight and splendid posture. The graceful manner in which she poured herself another cup of tea before Charlotte ordered her to do so was perfectly refined and flawless as the attendant of a noble lady with a long history. I had always heard that the behavior of those who have mastered their craft is beautiful, regardless of the form, but hers was just that.

--Yes, she is a maid.

The only one from the House of Count Terrace to accompany Charlotte as her personal attendant, her name is Katherine, and she will be twenty-six this year.

Although she is the youngest of the three, she is the one who seems to be the oldest. I mean, I'm this young and Charlotte is a twenty-nine year old.

It should not be strange for a maid to be waiting in the lord's office, but...

--Oi, Charlotte. Aren't you sitting down gracefully and comfortably on the soft sofa as if it was natural? You're eating a cookie (noiselessly) and enjoying a cup of tea gracefully? You do realize that this is the Lord's office and I'm at work, right? I'm tempted to ditch my paperwork right now and get a full-time job as your chair. (If you want, I can be a bed or a blanket.)

It's really....... But honestly, though, it's just as comforting. --Yes, that's it. I feel like watching a hamster. However, unlike the hamster's pulley exercise, I have never seen Charlotte exercised, aside from the bed exercise from the other day. I wonder how she keeps her well-proportioned body so well......

I immediately noticed it. Those big breast pouches. The excess nutrients must be stored in the fat sacks of her breasts, like the cheek pouches of a hamster. But then again, Katherine said.

--Yes, everyone's body shape is different, and there's no such thing as being too big for boobs.

Good, Charlotte, eat your fill. I'll be grinning and enjoying your reserves once again tonight.

I knew that the only time I would ever see the two of them together in my office would be when I was filing for divorce. If they did, I would lose the will to live, but it all came to this because this morning, after breakfast in the cafeteria, I was ready to work when I heard.

"Why can't I stay with you, Desmond-sama? I won't bother you."

-- Can't I go to Daddy's workplace?　I won't bother you. I don't want to be separated from my Daddy. Yaaaay. I'll stay with you!"

Just imagine if you could stare down a twenty-nine year old child with a beguiling sweet emerald, such illusions overlap.

"You're an irrepressible wife, all right."

I think the only people who don't have a problem with this are the saints who are very good human beings, or the devils who have no blood or tears in their eyes. And the personal maid of the twenty-nine year old.

"Master, if I may be so bold, I would like to ask you to do the same.

I have heard that your job was to check the documents reported by the Political Officer. Although you have done an outstanding job of planning the project, the actual progress and management of the project seem to have been received and carried out by the Political Officer. Furthermore, the improvement proposals that Master has received from the Political Officer have all been rejected, and Master has not been involved in any projects beyond planning. The only work he does beyond that is to make plans for the future. Even then, the Political Officer sorts the documents in different formats, and she also makes sure that the schedule is set.

Madam is also a noblewoman, and we are both in the same room, she only stays in the same room with him and does not talk to him or interrupt him. Considering the nature of her husband's work. I don't think She will cause you any trouble. master doesn't seem to be doing much exchanging of letters between nobles, which is the original job of nobles. If you have such a stressful job, I'm sure madam will withdraw from it.

The reason why madam made this suggestion was that she knew the nature of the husband's work. Master, can't you fulfill the wife's desire to be with her husband? I apologize for my impolite advice, even though I am a maid."

……………………。

--Don't you think that all is forgiven if you bow down with a condescending and graceful gesture......what is this maid?

You are being ridiculously polite and serious, but there's a thing that called condescension, you know?  In addition, it seems that she's being disrespectful to Charlotte...... Charlotte doesn't seem to mind, though.

And the worst part of it was that everything she had said was true.

I'm doing my best... but the Political Officer (she) is too good.....

She was appointed as the political officer of Aldra's territory at a young age, and she was so talented that one had to wonder how she ended up here. I asked her, she says that she worked hard in the royal capital because of her excellence, but she worked too hard and her shitty bald boss defense mechanism was kicking in, telling her not to be so bossy as a woman. She hates it, the old-fashioned Ancient Régime that workes like shit and an incompetent boss who is all about showing off.

She was sent here, but she has no intention of going back to the capital because she can fully demonstrate her abilities, and she is doing a perfect job that the lord cannot interfere with or even control.

My job as the lord was only to check the contents and give a sign.

Hmm? Me? You're asking if I find her annoying?

Why should I?

If she's better than me, wouldn't it be better to have her do the work for me? Well, in many ways, I have to admit that I'm baffled by the incomparably better alternatives she comes up with when I suggest something to her.

And as for the socializing of the aristocracy, I'm not interested in getting a promotion, so I'm not actively exchanging letters. It's not that I don't have friends, you know. There are even some aristocrats that I occasionally exchange letters with.......

So, as Katherine said, I don't get any work that requires me to be on my toes, and it's an irrefutable fact that I have no trouble working with Charlotte and Katherine in this room.

--It's a fact that can't be overturned.

I don't mean to be unreasonable, but how does this maid know so much about the inner workings of her master's business when she's just a maid? I knew that you were no ordinary maid though. You've hardly ever spoken to me.

But if I think about it, it's quite natural.

Katherine, the personal maid from the House Terrace, comes alone with Charlotte. I'll be surprised that she's really just a maid. I'm sure my "chicken sense" was able to detect the scent of a strong person in this maid, and Randolph, the head butler, had reported it to me.

Because now, even though she's standing behind Charlotte like a shadow, I can't properly sense her. If I don't focus your attention properly, I might overlook whether she is there or not.......

I didn't expect her to be a maid with the skill "presence blocking". and what is the common maid's skill? The essential skill of the maid is "sense of presence" which reads the feelings of the master and takes the best care.  That would make her an assassin, wouldn't it?

--Bururu.

Well indeed? you've been reading about my wife's feelings, but please read the husband's feelings a little more. I would like to be left alone with my wife to do some office play. With Charlotte on my lap and playing tricks with her, I'm sure my work will be three times faster. And this maid, as you can see, even though she works in this mansion her real master is still Charlotte, and she is not on my side. It would not be surprising if she were to spy on me, her husband, for the sake of the Lord.

--The Gray Hound's name will be ruined if this little girl gets away with this kind of espionage. Chief Steward Randolph.

I would like to say that, but I think he's not afraid to let people know information that he doesn't mind them knowing.  --No report, contact, or consultation to me... 

It's true that Grandpa would be able to perform at his full potential if he were left to his own devices, and the real master of the house is actually my father. He is my guard and head butler, but he is also my watcher.

I ain't got no enemies around me, and I ain't got no allies.......

--But I don't care!

Because Charlotte is on my side!　I'm going to be Charlotte's baby, and I'm going to spoil her! But, you know, even the woman who was supposed to be my mother is......

"I'm sorry, Desmond-sama, but Katherine meant no wrong. Katherine really does know what to say and what not to say, who to say it to and where to say it."

Charlotte mama...... there's no point in mercilessly sticking a blade in the wound and gouging it, right?

But you're right. This maid, with her cold, unconcerned appearance, She took the perfect route of being condescending and rude, but not violating the boundaries of irony and sarcasm. What masterful steering. She must have been able to drift through the sharp curves of the mountain pass. If I go for Charlotte, I also get a personal maid, but I'm not sure I can get along with this girl.

--I'm sure I'll be awakened to some dangerous sexual habits.......

and his beloved wife mama said.

"But I am glad to hear Katherine use such words to Desmond-sama, for it shows that she is beginning to feel more comfortable Desmond-sama."

She was smiling softly, looking really happy. I could almost relax at the sight of her face. But...

--is that really okay?

If the master and the maid get closer, there's a risk that the master might unintentionally touch the maid.

Oh, I see, I realized.

--She's a commoner. Although Charlotte has heard that she can use magic, and she has been a follower of Charlotte's since she was a child, so Charlotte considers her to be someone she doesn't have to worry about, but that's still how she treats me.

Charlotte is also a very venerable, noble, daughter of a noble family.

That's why I've been able to do that kind of thing...

But even so, I haven't laid a hand on any of the maids in the mansion. If I were to impregnate one of the maids, it would be more than awkward for Charlotte.

If I hadn't convinced her otherwise...

"But Desmond" Charlotte said, her face suddenly becoming serious.

she looked at me, and I'm getting nervous. If she tightens up her pampered and squishy appearance, she will turn into a noble and high-ranking noblewoman. As I remembered my previous life as a commoner, I felt even more pressure than usual.

"It's Katherine, so I don't think it'll trouble her. but If it offends you, Desmond, let me be the one to take the punishment."

--Whoa!

It's all right, isn't it? I didn't unintentionally inflate my nostrils, did I?

"Master, you've got a nasty look on your face."

"Uh..." 

This maid..... if that's what you're going to do, then fine, I'm going to play naughty tricks on your mistress instead. --What? I can't? but she just give me permission.

This morning's incident must have been some kind of an accident too I suppose.

She's quiet, almost expressionless look.......

"...... Good. As long as you keep quiet, you can stay with me."

"Thank you, Desmond-sama."

A wife with a big smile on her face makes me feel like I've done something good. there's the disgusting smile in my mind too, thinking about various scenarios of office play.

--That's why they were in my office and by the way, there was no sofa in my office. My study desk was placed on a thick carpet, and on either side were shelves full of papers. Katherine brought in a sofa for her mistress and a small desk, all by herself! (I'll said it twice because it was important. She is a magician after all.)  The two of them came together to visit me.