Chapter 17
“You! Yoooou!”
The head maid shrieked as she lunged at Rachel.
“It was you! You damn bitch—!”
She swung her hand once more toward Rachel’s cheek with full force.
But this time, not even a single strand of her hair was touched.
Because Rachel had seized her wrist in midair in one swift motion.
“Head Maid.”
The head maid flinched again at the low voice.
“I believe putting up with your rudeness once is more than enough.”
Rachel bared her teeth in a smile at her.
“Don’t you think?”
It was a smile sharp enough to chill to the bone.
Like the fangs of a beast of prey.
Having seen the nanny’s smile like that, the head maid backed away, clutching her own wrist.
“Then, Head Maid.”
Rachel continued speaking to her with a smiling face.
“The way out is this way.”
Her guidance was as impeccably polite as ever.
* * *
“Countess.”
Countess Failin of Catarina stepped out of the 3rd Prince’s Palace with her knight.
The knight following behind her quietly spoke up.
“What shall we do about the head maid?”
It was an exceedingly polite tone.
Though the content of his words was anything but.
“Just leave her be.”
“But…”
“For that woman, returning to her old position is a greater punishment than death. There’s no need to stir up more trouble.”
Disguising a death as a mysterious disappearance would be quite a hassle, too.
Besides, that woman might prove useful again someday.
‘Cornered lowly things will do anything.’
Failin covered her upturned lips with her fan.
“Instead, make sure her mouth is sealed tight.”
She gave the order to her knight in a firm voice.
“This mustn’t reach the ears of Her Highness the Second Imperial Consort, the Empress, or any other nobles.”
If word of this got to them, not only would she be the subject of gossip, but the Second Imperial Consort as well.
Everyone knew she was the Second Imperial Consort’s right-hand woman, after all.
“Truly, it’s so embarrassing I can’t even lift my head.”
In any case, the head maid was someone Failin had personally selected.
For that person to not only commit embezzlement but get caught doing it.
It was utterly mortifying.
Failin clicked her tongue in irritation.
“That’s why the slow-witted ones are more infuriating than the quick ones.”
“Understood. Then shall we plant someone else in the 3rd Prince’s Palace?”
“Someone else?”
Failin snorted at her knight’s words.
She had once thought the 3rd Prince might become a thorn in her side, but no.
A timid child who had nothing but his bloodline.
That was all the current 3rd Prince amounted to.
Just today, he’d sent down his nanny with the excuse of being ill upon hearing she’d come.
He was a prince who hadn’t changed from past to present.
“No need. It’s about time we stopped wasting energy on that mongrel prince.”
She thought of the old nanny’s face, which had always annoyed her, and smiled.
“With Lady Conrad—who kept filling his head with nonsense—dead and gone, there’s no one left to stir up foolish hopes in him.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, right.”
At that moment, Failin stopped as if recalling something important.
“Did you find that maid?”
“I’m sorry. We haven’t.”
Her knight bowed his head apologetically at her question.
“You haven’t?”
“Yes. We searched for a woman matching the servant’s description of having seen her directly, but we couldn’t find her.”
Failin furrowed her brow.
The mysterious maid who had delivered the head maid’s ledger to the countess’s estate.
That woman had passed the ledger to Failin through a servant.
Along with a note saying she couldn’t stand by while the head maid betrayed her.
At first, she’d been suspicious, but the handwriting in the ledger matched the head maid’s.
There was no room for doubt.
‘Since she went out of her way to say it was for my sake, she either knows me well or was trying to earn my trust in the head maid’s place.’
But contrary to Failin’s guesses, the maid hadn’t shown herself.
As if she didn’t want her identity revealed.
‘If she’d wanted a reward, she would’ve delivered it directly to me. Or at least appeared before me today.’
The more she thought about it, the less sense it made.
What on earth was her reason for exposing the head maid’s misdeeds and getting her chased out?
“Shall we expand the search area?”
“Hmph, you plan to comb the entire Imperial Palace? Forget it.”
Failin nonchalantly tended to her fingernail tips.
“From the start, how many women in maid uniforms with black hair are there in the Imperial Palace?”
The knight silently bowed his head at his lady’s words.
“And she was wearing a hood pulled low. Without even knowing her face, how do you expect to find her?”
“My apologies.”
Leaving her knight bowing behind her, she boarded the carriage.
“Back to the countess’s estate.”
“You’re not going to see Her Highness the Second Imperial Consort?”
“No need. I’ll see her in two days anyway.”
She recalled the banquet to be held at the Redcliffe Marquis Family in two days.
It was to celebrate the birth of her newborn nephew, so the Second Imperial Consort was sure to attend.
She could tell her about today’s events then.
‘Some stories sound trivial only when heard in a good mood.’
This time, she pondered how to spin the tale to suit her mood.
Failin sighed as she thought of the Second Imperial Consort’s unpredictable temperament.
“I’m tired. Depart at once.”
“Yes, my lady.”
And so, the carriage carrying Countess Catarina departed leisurely from the prince’s palace.
As if nothing had happened here at all.
* * *
“This is just ridiculous.”
“What is?”
“Why me! How did a wretch like me become head maid—?”
Catherine, the new head maid of the 3rd Prince’s Palace, threw both hands above her head and cried out.
“I’m just the daughter of a viscount! Why! Why! Why did Your Highness appoint me as head maid?!”
“His Highness said it himself. Because you’re the most trustworthy maid.”
“More precisely, he said it was because he liked your stew.”
“Even more precisely, it was because Her Imperial Majesty the Empress heard of the former head maid’s misdeeds and highly commended your loyalty to His Highness.”
The Imperial Palace’s ears were terrifying; even though the head maid had walked out on her own two feet, the reason for her dismissal had already spread throughout the palace.
And by coincidence, the news had reached the Empress’s palace as well.
There must be a reason why the Empress—who had no interest in the 3rd Prince—had gone out of her way to appoint the head maid.
‘Countess Catarina is the Second Imperial Consort’s right hand. With her spy in the 3rd Prince’s Palace gone, now it’s her turn.’
The factions vying for the throne were currently split into two.
The faction supporting the 1st Prince, son of the Empress, and the faction supporting the 2nd Prince, son of the Second Imperial Consort.
Given the situation, the Empress and Second Imperial Consort were naturally bitter enemies.
‘Moreover, the Empress’s family and the Second Imperial Consort’s family have never gotten along.’
She might not want the Second Imperial Consort’s influence reaching the 3rd Prince’s Palace anymore.
I tilted my head at Catherine, who was still wearing a sulky expression.
‘Well, I don’t really know why the Empress went out of her way to put Catherine in the head maid position either.’
If it was to monitor in place of the Second Imperial Consort, it made more sense to send someone new.
Yet the Empress had defied her direct superior’s orders and appointed Catherine—who had served stew to the prince—as head maid.
It was a puzzling matter.
“Nanny, when are you going to return the maid uniform you borrowed last time?”
“Ah.”
Right, I’d forgotten about that.
“Nanny?”
“…Well, I lost the clothes.”
“What? The maid uniform?”
It was closer to having thrown it away than lost, but there was no helping it.
“I’m sorry. I’ll buy you a new one.”
“Forget it. Where would you get the money, Nanny?”
Catherine eyed the dress I was wearing with pity, then sighed.
“Anyway, the head maid can’t wear that maid uniform. I’ll have to get a new dress tailored as soon as I get my salary.”
Unlike ordinary maids, the head maid of each palace represented the palace itself, so she had to wear elegant attire.
Of course, at her own expense.
“But there is one good thing about becoming head maid. The unpleasant ones leave on their own.”
After Catherine became head maid, a natural purge occurred among the maids in the 3rd Prince’s Palace.
Perhaps because the former head maid had been dismissed for unsavory reasons.
Most of the main building maids seemed worried they might get dragged into it and dismissed too, so they quit on their own.
Thanks to that, the annex maids who had worked with Catherine moved into the main building.
It was a good thing. The main building maids’ duties had always rightfully belonged to the annex maids anyway.
In any case, the 3rd Prince’s Palace returned to its everyday routine.
No— to an even more peaceful routine than before.
‘They’re playing well.’
I turned my attention to the prince siblings, leaving Catherine—who was chattering away by herself—to the side.
Under the warm spring sun, the kids frolicking about looked just like puppies.
It was while watching them play that I absentmindedly brushed back my hair.
Something dark smeared onto my fingers.
Even though over a week had passed since ‘that day,’ charcoal dust was still coming off my hair.
I’d thought it was only on the clothes I’d borrowed from Catherine.
I was shaking my head in annoyance when—
“Nanny! Are you listening to me?”
“Yes.”
“What did I just say?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t listening.”
Unable to withstand Catherine’s fierce glare, I asked,
“What did you say?”
“You know, I heard this from the servants working in the Emperor’s palace.”
Catherine lowered her voice like someone divulging a great secret.
“The most famous person on the continent right now is staying in the Imperial Palace.”
