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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: The Esteemed Elders
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The butler standing beside Nina spoke, looking as if he were about to snort.
“Young Madam. The elders from the council will be visiting at noon. They are all very particular, so it would be best if you reviewed your dining etiquette once more…”
As of yesterday, whenever he spoke to me, he stressed every word like a hunter handling a wild hound.
“You nagged me all through my four meals yesterday, didn't you? Let’s just eat in peace for once!”
I waved a hand dismissively.
“You must also learn how to read the accounting ledgers!”
“I really do know how to read them. I’m better with numbers than I am with letters, I swear!”
The butler cried out with a deplorable expression.
“You haven’t done a single thing properly so far!”
I was keenly aware that my credibility was at rock bottom.
While the butler was busy lecturing me, Nina smiled and naturally lifted the plate.
“Then I will instruct the kitchen to prepare a new one.”
“Th-Then this salmon…?”
“It must be prepared again properly for the flavor to come alive…”
The moment I heard Nina’s words, my eyes flew open.
This insane mansion was the kind of place that would throw away a huge piece of salmon just because it was ‘improperly cooked.’
And me?
Once this fake pregnancy was over, I would naturally have to leave this house.
‘Ah, wait. I have to leave? Then shouldn’t I be getting everything I can out of this place?’
But the decision that came at the end of this combination of obvious facts was highly irrational.
“R-Right… Then a new one…”
“…Yes, I’ll have them prepare a new…”
“…I’ll eat that one too. Bring it.”
“…?”
I snatched the plate Nina had picked up.
For a moment, Nina didn’t understand what I meant, and we remained in a standoff over the plate for about five seconds. Then, she suddenly let go of the plate with a start.
“…Ah, you mean you’ll be having two plates…?”
“Is there a problem?”
“No. Not at all. None whatsoever…”
With a peculiar expression, Nina took only the empty plate and left.
✵ ✵ ✵
But after cleaning one plate, I was so full that I couldn’t possibly eat the new salmon steak. I looked at Nina with pleading eyes and said.
“Don’t throw it away… could you eat it for me?”
“…Pardon?”
“It would break my heart to see this thrown away.”
No matter how much I tried to be wasteful, my pauper’s instincts were still alive and well.
How could I let them throw away that huge piece of salmon!
Back in the day, a piece that big would have fed me for three days!
“…B-But, how could I sit here and eat… If you throw it away, the kitchen staff will…”
“I said it would break my heart if you throw it away!”
“B-But still…”
“Can’t you… just… eat with me?”
Nina wore that same peculiar expression again. But in the end, she obediently sat beside me and ate.
I ordered two desserts and two after-dinner drinks for Nina’s share and ate with her.
‘Ordering two drinks and two desserts in this huge mansion really makes me feel like I’m being wasteful!’
It seemed that a personal maid dining with her master was a rare occurrence, as the servants seemed to be whispering amongst themselves.
I happened to overhear them after I spilled iced tea on my front and had to leave the dining room.
“She’s from a lower noble family, so I guess she doesn’t come from a proper household, does she?”
“That’s why she got pregnant before marriage…”
“Maybe she and Nina are a good match. I think I heard Nina is also from a fallen noble family… said she was sold off to pay debts?”
And so on and so forth.
Nina’s face, who had followed me out, hardened.
I clucked my tongue and returned to the dining room. Nina cleared her plate and cup, saying.
“…I will clear the table now.”
“Hm? Why?”
I looked up from my plate, where I had been enjoying a slice of cake. Nina stammered with a flustered look.
“Y-You heard them, didn’t you?”
“I did. Do they really have nothing better to do? So interested in other people’s business.”
I, for one, had no interest in their business.
“Anyway, this cake is delicious. If I weren’t so full, I would’ve eaten it all myself instead of giving it to you…”
Nina’s expression crumpled even more.
She looked like she was reminded of something. But I had no desire to hear about Nina’s family history or her deepest thoughts.
We just sat side-by-side and ate, and I asked nothing, but at the end of the meal, I said this instead.
“By the way, why did you snitch on me to the butler when I offered you money?”
Nina looked down at her empty plate and answered as if it were obvious.
“The money the butler and this household give me is more than that.”
Oh… smart…
Tch. She won’t be easy to bribe.
There’s no way I could have more money than this family!
After giving her sharp reply, Nina seemed to have something on her mind and spoke just before leaving the dining room.
“Young Madam… actually, the reason I told on you was because at home…”
But I cut her off with a wave of my hand.
“Ugh, I’m sure there’s some sad story about your home! I’m not curious! Hearing it will only make me uncomfortable!”
A sick younger sibling at home, or a starving family… if she was sold off by some pathetic noble family because of debt, it was all too predictable. There were plenty of people with stories like that.
“…”
“You handle your own business. Just sneak some food from the pantry every now and then and say I ate it all.”
“Pardon?”
Nina’s face contorted. My heart ached seeing her, poor as she was, still clinging to her integrity.
Is a fallen noble still a noble, after all?
No wonder she looked down on me from the very beginning…
I scratched my ear in annoyance and said.
“How much food do you think goes to waste in this family? It needs to be eaten in a timely manner!”
Soon after, the butler, having heard that Nina and I had dined together, began to nag that I shouldn't break the hierarchy within the mansion.
But of course, it went in one ear and out the other.
“So, you must absolutely not dine with your subordinates within the mansion, nor should you sit in the same place… Are you listening?”
“Nothing beats being warm and well-fed.”
I had already hopped onto the bed and was rolling around.
“And about yesterday, when you paid Nina to write for you…”
“Wow, this blanket looks ridiculously expensive. Can you sell something like this as stolen goods?”
“…”
“Hmm… I should probably give up now, shouldn’t I?”
Yes. Give up.
It’s easier if you give up.
As of yesterday, I’ve given up on the image of a noble young madam.
It’s too much trouble. Such a hassle.
After the butler’s harsh training yesterday, my goal had completely changed.
An elegant young madam, my foot!
Besides, making a good impression outside the house is more important than making one inside.
For instance, with someone like Margaret Beaufort…
I examined the letter envelope Eric had left behind.
I’d heard that Margaret Beaufort was not only the grand dame of high society but also the wealthiest person in the capital.
If I give this envelope to her, greet her properly, build a rapport, and get on her good side, she might lend me around 500,000 gold!
To us, it’s an amount worth selling a heart for, but for the nobles of the capital, it probably wasn’t that much.
Then I could pay back Marina Corleone.
Marina Corleone.
That woman whose humanity had packed its bags and left, the one who held us as collateral for the Wedgwoods’ debt…
Was it even right to call it ‘hu’manity in the first place… There were even rumors she was a real witch.
‘By now, that woman has probably heard that we’re in the capital…’
I recalled the witch’s curly black hair.
‘They say a red-haired maiden’s heart is good for the skin. Will you sell your heart or your conscience? Pick one.’
Ugh, that horrible, grating voice!
Just then, the butler rubbed his forehead and sighed.
“In any case… you are aware that the elders from the council will be arriving soon, are you not?”
“…?”
The council?
“…Have you forgotten that as well!”
The butler shouted abruptly. Only then did I remember the nonsense he’d been spouting this morning.
Ah, the council was coming to hand over the accounting ledgers to the new lady of the house…
Not every family had an institution like a council of elders.
But for a great house like the Duchy of Orleans, there were bound to be collateral branches or vassals who had served the ducal family with loyalty for generations. Though it was called loyalty, it was closer to a business transaction over rights to businesses or land use.
So, since it was a kind of cooperative relationship, these collateral branches and vassals wanted to give themselves a plausible name like the duke’s advisory body to gain the right to meddle in every single one of the duke’s affairs, and that’s what they called the Council of Elders.
Probably because calling them subcontractors wouldn’t sound as grand.
“Hey. I remember. They’re coming to hand over some accounting ledgers.”
But wait, what am I supposed to do with another family’s ledgers?
“You must learn how to read the ledgers right now! If you don’t, the books…!”
That damned learning, learning, learning!
And why on earth would I need to learn how to read accounting ledgers?
I already know how!
“Ah, I’m telling you, I’m really good with numbeeeers!”
✵ ✵ ✵
Two hours later—
Three elderly men entered the mansion.
They were the so-called elders from the council. With stern faces, all of them, they looked down on the servants and the butler as if they were their own people and were guided to the drawing room.
I stood in the drawing room and watched the three of them.
In order of age: Alain, Sicard, and Oscar.
I recalled the names the butler had briefly recited two hours ago.
Now, to greet them politely…
Just as I was about to greet the newcomers as the butler had instructed.
“When a guest enters, the first thing you should offer is a tray for their gloves. To take their coat first!”
“…?”
The old man who seemed to be Alain, the head of the council, snapped at Nina.
“Ahem! The coat is not like that, but like this…”
As if that were a signal, the three elders began to lecture Nina on her reception of guests, which, in my eyes, had been perfectly fine.
“Next season, we’ll have to cut your wages!”
At the words of the man who seemed to be Sicard, Nina’s face went pale.
‘Hey, who do you think you are, cutting wages…’
…Oh, right. They have the accounting ledgers.
The process of taking off their coats alone took about ten minutes. Those old geezers, who hadn’t even greeted me yet, were busy teaching someone else’s servants in someone else’s house. It was only after ten minutes that they finally accepted my greeting and their names…
…before they even said their names, they asked me this.
“So, your age this year is…”
The butler had said the three highest-ranking members of the council were coming, but looking at them now…
‘They didn’t bring the highest-ranking members; they brought the stuffiest old coots from the entire council.’
And none of them liked me.
I looked at the three old men’s expressions and smiled wryly.
The first thing the Duke did after Eric and I married was to convene a family council, so it was obvious whose side they were on. I answered calmly.
“I am twenty-two.”
“You’re not that young, are you.”
Sicard said.
Seriously, are you one to talk? The butler said you were in your sixties, but I can’t believe it for a second!
As I struggled to maintain a composed expression, Oscar chimed in.
“In our day, it was very difficult for a woman to marry once she was past twenty, Young Madam!”
“…?”
‘Who asked? Why are you answering a question nobody asked… Who was it? Who asked this man such a thing!’
They didn’t stop there, criticizing my family background, education, and even my vocabulary.
The butler, seeing my face gradually stiffen, shot me a look from afar that said, ‘This is why I told you to prepare beforehand…’
But really, how could I have prepared for this? Was I supposed to change my age and lineage in advance?
Or should I have found out information on these three elders beforehand and blown up their carriage?!
“Frankly, I simply could not tolerate the fact that the Orleans ducal family was being featured in those low-class newspapers because of this marriage, Madam!”
“And that, that, the picture on the front page…!”
I smiled gently at Oscar, who was clutching the back of his neck.
“You call them low-class, yet you still read them…?”
Oscar looked momentarily flustered. But soon, he glared at me with an expression that said, ‘Have you ever seen such an audacious thing?’
I glared right back at him.
‘Yeah. What. What are you going to do about it.’
Oscar clutched the back of his neck again, as if deeply concerned by the audacity of the Duke’s impertinent daughter-in-law.
Alain clucked his tongue and said.
“Actually, the most problematic part of the newspaper article is… I’m hesitant to say this, but…”
You don’t look hesitant at all.
I had a feeling I knew what Alain was about to say, so I spoke with annoyance.
“Just say it.”
Alain set his teacup down on its saucer with enough force to make a clattering sound.
He spoke with a disgusted expression, as if the words were too vile to utter.
“That the two of you had already met at the Rose that Blooms at Night before the marriage, and in your womb… in your womb…!”
Alain’s mouth moved, but he couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.
I scratched my neck with a bored expression.
“We heard a rumor that you carry their child. Oh, dear God!”
Alain clasped his hands together and looked up at the heavens.
Behind him, the butler was fidgeting, looking only at me.
Before the elders arrived, the butler had implored me again and again.
‘Couldn’t you perhaps mention the blessing in your womb at a later time?’
‘You want me to lie?’
‘It’s not a lie! Just deflect the question for now…! Wait, but you like lying, don’t you?’
Well now… I couldn’t disappoint the butler any further…
“Oh-ho-ho, that’s right. Say hello, Rose. These are your grandfathers. Hello, Grandfathers.”
I stroked my belly and smiled brightly.
Might as well just admit it quickly.
What’s the point in making excuses? The premarital pregnancy is a fact, isn’t it?
‘Well, not really… but anyway…’
The three men stared at each other, their mouths agape.
The butler seemed to feel dizzy and lost his balance. Nina steadied him.
