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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Madam's Letter
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“I-I’m sorry! Just once, please forgive me…”
“Forgive? How dare you ask for forgiveness after laying a hand on the Grand Duchess’s sacred body!”
“I-it was truly an accident! Please, please forgive me.”
The maid, prostrate on the floor, shed tears in drops.
The Grand Duchess had always been highly displeased with the maids of the Vandermir estate. She resented that the household staff, who served the very people she considered the cause of her son’s sleeplessness in the ducal territory, seemed to be doing well.
She had been picking unnecessary faults and scolding them, and today alone, three maids had burst into tears. Yet, the Grand Duchess was not satisfied.
‘My Alex’s eyes are sunken from all the emotional distress, but these maids, like their shameless master, look so well-fed.’
Scolding them until they cried wasn't enough. The Grand Duchess’s lips slowly parted as she emotionlessly gazed at the maid who was looking up at her, on the verge of tears.
“Jessie, fetch the switch.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess!”
At the mention of the switch, the maid’s face turned deathly pale. Whipping maids directly was an old custom, but unfortunately, the Vandermir Grand Duchess was a woman of old ways.
As her personal maid brought the switch, she rolled up her sleeves. The young maid knelt and pleaded desperately.
“Grand Duchess, please forgive me. I will never make such a mistake again. Please…”
“Silence! If you truly regret it, you should willingly offer your palm.”
At the Grand Duchess’s nod, her maid harshly grabbed the young maid’s hand and pulled it forward.
The young maid struggled with terror at the impending situation, but she couldn’t escape the rough grip.
Eventually, her small palm was laid open before the Grand Duchess.
“Hold her tight.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess.”
*Whish!* The sound of the switch cutting through the air was unusually loud. The Grand Duchess began to strike the maid’s palm with brutal force and speed.
Even as multiple lines like threads appeared on her skin and blood burst forth, the whipping didn’t stop. When her arm grew tired, she handed the switch to her own maid to continue the beating.
The low whimpers and cries of the young maid echoed around the guest room where the Grand Duchess was staying.
* * *
It was no coincidence that Aracilla returned home early from work.
The Grand Duchess had ordered her to return home before 3 PM for her household education.
Aracilla, who had intended to go straight to her room to change before the Grand Duchess noticed her, sensed a subtle atmosphere among the maids.
“What’s going on?”
She stopped halfway up the stairs and asked. The maids who had come out to greet her hesitated. Aracilla spoke again in a gentle voice.
“It’s alright, tell me. Is something wrong?”
“Well… Cindy is being whipped by the Grand Duchess right now.”
As someone broke the silence, another quickly added.
“It’s been ten minutes already.”
Even three minutes of whipping would be difficult and painful, but ten minutes? Aracilla’s expression instantly hardened.
“Do you know why she’s being punished?”
“She accidentally nicked the Grand Duchess’s quick while trimming her nails…”
“I see.”
So, she was being punished for ten minutes over something so trivial.
Aracilla immediately changed her plan to change clothes and headed for the guest room. Audrey quickly followed behind her.
*Knock, knock.* Aracilla knocked on the door and entered before permission was given. Her eyes, as blue as glass, swept over the room.
There were the estate maids standing as if being punished, the Grand Duchess’s maids holding the young maid and wielding the switch, and the Vandermir Grand Duchess herself sitting on the sofa, watching the scene.
And finally, the young maid, her face and palms swollen and bright red, looking at her.
“Who told you to enter so rudely without permission? Do you lack even basic manners, child?”
The Grand Duchess reprimanded Aracilla in a sharp voice. However, Aracilla paid her no mind and approached the young maid.
“Let go.”
A low command was given to the Grand Duchess’s maids who were tightly holding the young maid.
Intimidated by her cold gaze, the maids instinctively started to obey.
“Don’t let go.”
The Grand Duchess intervened. Her gaze and Aracilla’s collided in the air, a silent battle of wills.
“If you wish to command my maids, come with the proper qualifications.”
“I already possess all qualifications. So, I will assume I have permission and command the maids. Let go of her hands at once!”
At her loud voice, the Grand Duchess’s maids flinched as if burned and withdrew their hands at once.
Aracilla glanced at them, then took a handkerchief from her pocket and wrapped it around the young maid’s palm.
“You’ve suffered enough. I’ll handle things from here, so you may leave.”
“H-h-h-hic, Madam…”
“Audrey, take Cindy out.”
Audrey put an arm around the maid who had burst into sorrowful tears. The Grand Duchess, watching with displeasure, burst into a furious roar.
“Who said you could send her out! I forbid it!”
“You’ve vented your anger more than enough, Grand Duchess, so please let her go,” Aracilla said, shielding Audrey and the maid behind her. As she stood like a barrier, the two quickly slipped out of the guest room.
The Grand Duchess glared at Aracilla, huffing and puffing, then paused.
Those eyes, like a cloudless autumn sky, were clear and full of intelligence. In the morning, with her gaze lowered, she had seemed utterly disheartened.
But seeing her look straight at her with both eyes now, it seemed it wasn't quite the same.
‘Recovered so quickly, does she have the stubborn resilience of a weed?’
The Grand Duchess’s expression instantly turned fierce. She spoke in a frosty voice.
“Venting anger? Did you just accuse me of venting anger?”
“I heard that the young maid made a mistake while attending to you. You have inflicted a punishment that far exceeds what is appropriate, so please appease your anger.”
“Aracilla Hugo! How dare you be so insolent—!”
“It’s Vandermir, Grand Duchess.”
Even then, Aracilla meticulously corrected the Grand Duchess’s words and offered a gentle smile.
“I apologize if my words sounded insolent.”
“Ha! Is that the attitude of someone who’s repenting?!”
“Then what should I do? If the Grand Duchess tells me, I will follow exactly.”
A cold smile appeared on the Grand Duchess’s lips at her words. She had thought she had intimidated her halfway, but that wasn't the case, so this time she intended to deal with her more definitively.
Beckoning Aracilla closer with a finger, she said arrogantly,
“I’ve long thought the maids’ service in this estate was unsatisfactory. That’s all due to a lacking mistress, so shouldn’t you be the one to learn first?”
“Yes.”
“Starting tomorrow, stop going to work and attend to me directly. Only then will you truly feel to the bone how to lead and manage maids.”
A stir of unrest instantly rippled across the faces of the estate maids remaining in the room. The Grand Duchess’s declaration that she would exploit their mistress again was certainly not welcome.
But Aracilla remained calm.
“I will do as you say.”
“Good, now you may withdraw.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess.”
Aracilla quietly left the room with the estate maids, her face expressionless as she walked.
It was, in fact, fortunate for her that the Grand Duchess’s personality was more formidable than she had expected. The more the Grand Duchess rampaged, the more sympathetic glances would be directed towards her.
‘The more humiliation she inflicts on me, the more she’ll constrain herself later.’
Of course, reaching that point would likely be a more arduous and enduring period than anticipated, but the more difficult it was, the more certain the outcome would be, so it was fine.
* * *
The entrance to the eastern Etar Mountains.
Tents with Red Hawk flags were lined up everywhere. Knights in armor over their uniforms busily moved between the mountains and the tents.
A visitor came to Demian, who was reading reports submitted by his subordinates in the largest tent.
“Commander, a letter has arrived.”
Isaac handed him the letter with an unusually polite demeanor. Demian, without taking his eyes off the report, asked briefly.
“Was it sent by the Imperial Family?”
“No, it was sent by the Madam.”
“…The Madam?”
“Yes, Madam Vandermir.”
At the mention of Aracilla’s letter, Demian’s gaze immediately left the report. A question filled his golden eyes.
She sent me a letter? Why?
Was it to feign an affectionate marital relationship, or had something happened in his absence?
Demian tore open the envelope without delay and unfolded the letter. The opening words read:
“Demian, you must read this letter alone.”
Following that instruction, Demian turned his body away from Isaac, who was curiously peeking, and read the letter alone.
“The Vandermir Grand Duchess has arrived.
She has settled in under the pretext of giving me household education.
I don’t think she’ll leave until you return. You’ll be seeing your grandmother as soon as you get back.”
Demian frowned at the unwelcome news. It seemed this letter was indeed sent because something had happened.
“Really like it.”
He calmly read the rest of the content and paused at a small drawing in the middle.
Between ‘Really’ and ‘like it’ was a small, ugly drawing of a dog. Demian slowly blinked once.
“Really like a dog?”
“…Y-yes?”
Isaac, who had been lingering, curious about what his ice-sculpture-like superior was exchanging in letters with his wife, flinched, thinking Demian had spoken to him.
He straightened his posture and shouted loudly.
“I apologize! I will correct myself so I’m not like a dog!”
Demian, who was focused on the letter and uninterested in what his subordinate was shouting right next to him, chuckled.
How dog-like must it have been for her to send such a letter.
Then, his expression quickly turned serious. He knew his grandmother’s personality better than anyone. It was clear she was tormenting Aracilla terribly under the guise of education.
‘She did the same to me.’
The Grand Duchess’s abuse, disguised as discipline, was no less severe than the Duchess’s. In fact, it was worse. She had been wary of Demian even before he grew up.
Demian’s complexion darkened.
Should I have left Colin behind? Surely, she wouldn’t have laid a hand on the Madam, would she?
As his expression worsened, Isaac cautiously backed away. There was no good in staying near him at times like this; one would only get caught in the crossfire.
Whether his subordinate silently fled or not, Demian continued to read the remaining content.
“Anyway, for this reason, you’ll be returning sooner than you think.
So, pack your bags in advance. You can’t be late. I’ve already been patient for so long, I don’t want to wait any longer.”
What was this supposed to mean? Returning sooner?
Demian narrowed his brows. Unfortunately for Aracilla, the work of identifying the monster migration routes was not progressing quickly.
It seemed it would take the full fifteen days as scheduled, so why had she sent such a confident letter?
He lowered his eyes and discovered a drawing between the letters in the postscript, and he looked at it closely.
“PS. Really like it.”
What did she draw? It looks like a human figure…
“Ah, a beggar?”
*Really like a beggar, so come quickly?*
Demian couldn’t help but let out a low laugh. How many wives in the world would send such a letter to their husband who was away on a mission?
‘Typical of her.’
Shaking his head, Demian neatly folded the letter and put it in his pocket.
