Chapter 42
“Then what about Sir Sirenster?”
Kaella seated Knight Lenar and asked about various people. Knight Lenar was impressed that the Duchess, who had only recently arrived at Lüsenford and met the noble ladies just once, remembered so many names.
“He’s an upright man. A knight among knights. He’s the one with the highest esteem. But he dislikes stepping forward and absolutely hates currying favor, so his promotions come slowly.”
Pheon looked at Knight Lenar as if hearing such words for the first time. Indeed. The one at the very top was bound to miss some things.
“That’s why I’m asking you, Sir. Is his wife the same?”
“Well, I understand they married for love. Sir Purdue’s marriage was a political one between families. Sir Sirenster doesn’t show it outwardly, but he loves his wife devotedly. He always hurries home and never stays behind to drink with the other knights. That’s part of why his promotions are slow, but he doesn’t mind.”
“Staying after work to drink is necessary for promotions?”
Pheon reacted sharply. Such things shouldn’t happen in Lüsenford. With enemies right at their doorstep, the best should be selected based on skill, not camaraderie.
“How much power does camaraderie wield in recommendations? Of course, in Lüsenford, recommendations are entirely different from elsewhere—you have to prove your ability—but even so, to get close to Your Highness quickly, you need to do some drinking.”
Pheon, who had been keeping an eye on Sirenster but hadn’t thought much of it, pressed a hand to his forehead.
Kaella could tell why his usually impassive face was now frowning like that. Knight Lenar, seeing that Kaella no longer urged him on with her gaze, naturally fell silent.
What should she do? She knew it was best not to interfere in Pheon’s affairs unless absolutely necessary.
And he had never permitted her interference. It would be overstepping. But there were many eyes watching here, and Pheon’s face was gravely set—almost tormented.
“Your Highness. Lüsenford is a vast castle.”
Kaella reluctantly spoke up.
“With so much to oversee, Your Highness cannot grasp everything perfectly.”
“But I must.”
His words were filled with self-reproach. Even though it was common for a duke to overlook talented subordinates, he was deeply tormented.
Because it all felt like the mistakes he had made before the regression—the cause of everything rushing toward catastrophe.
“There are many talents in the world who fade away unseen. Is that all Your Highness’s fault? No, it isn’t. You’ve just discovered a new talent this time, so rejoice in that.”
The Duchess’s calm words were entirely correct, point by point.
“Don’t grieve over those you didn’t know and lost. Rejoice in the one you’ve come to know.”
Pheon lifted his head and looked at Kaella seated across from him. Her hands were neatly folded in her lap, her gaze fixed straight on him without flinching.
Her frank, unadorned gaze never avoided him. Even if he drew his sword and pointed it at her right now, she wouldn’t look away. Her noble, utterly shameless demeanor was worthy of respect.
“That person will bring even more talents to Your Highness.”
“You are right, my lady.”
Pheon nodded slowly. Kaella turned to Knight Lenar.
“Tell me more about Sir Sirenster’s wife.”
“I don’t know the ladies’ affairs in great detail.”
“Just tell me what you know.”
“In my view, she’s a quiet person. Her reputation is a bit mixed. Some ladies say she’s gracious and kind, while others say she’s proud and standoffish.”
Kaella stared fixedly at Knight Lenar. The maids were the same, and so was Pheon.
“Why…… why are you looking at me like that?”
“You say you don’t know much, yet you know it in great detail.”
At Pheon’s remark, the maids nodded as well.
“You can pick up this much just by listening a little to what the ladies say.”
“No, ordinary men know nothing at all.”
“That’s because they don’t bother to listen.”
Knight Lenar felt deeply wronged. He simply wanted to hear so many stories!
“Then you must know this too. What kind of ladies praise Sir Sirenster’s wife as gracious and kind, and what kind call her proud?”
Knight Lenar thought for a moment, then answered Kaella with a slightly surprised expression.
“The former are mostly the wives of modest, relatively poor knights. The latter…… may I mention actual family names?”
“Go ahead.”
“Ladies from mainstream families like Rulemon or Windgood, the wealthy ones…… that’s mainly it.”
“In other words, Mrs. Sirenster is closer to the poor and modest side than the mainstream families.”
“Not that close. I haven’t gotten the impression she’s particularly friendly with any of them, but Sir Sirenster and his wife are famous for frequently sharing food and other things with their poorer comrades.”
Kaella nodded. She clearly remembered how Mrs. Sirenster, whom she had pointed out at random during her first meeting with the noble ladies, had trembled yet greeted her politely.
“Your Highness. I wish to appoint Mrs. Sirenster as head maid.”
“Do as you wish, my lady. You don’t need my permission.”
“Even so.”
Even so, it was advantageous for Kaella in many ways if the duke knew in advance, before the steward jumped up in shock upon hearing the news.
In Lüsenford, everything had to be handled with the utmost care and no gaps. No—even doing that, something always went wrong somewhere. Probably because her overworked brain wasn’t sharp enough.
“It seems like a good choice.”
Kaella thought she’d been lucky this time, seeing Pheon smile. The head maid issue might resolve more smoothly than expected.
But would she be this lucky next time too? Without expecting it at all, she decided to write an invitation to Mrs. Sirenster.
Somewhere, a snap rang out. Kaella, who had been composing her expression, looked up.
“Oh dear.”
Pheon muttered indifferently as the backrest of the quaint, flower-patterned sofa, which had been creaking不安定ly, suddenly broke backward.
“My apologies, my lady. I’ve done it again. Buy a prettier sofa.”
What kind of back muscles allowed one to recline and snap a sofa backrest? Kaella didn’t even want to imagine, but somehow, seeing that ugly sofa ruined felt satisfying.
*
Fabiola, wife of Knight Alfred Sirenster, was appointed head maid remarkably swiftly compared to how the Duchess had been dragging her feet on the matter.
Fabiola, grumbling about the urgent summons from the Duchess without knowing why and coming to the castle, was utterly flustered upon facing her. She had been agonizing over what to make for dinner and whether to go shopping, and now suddenly head maid?
“I’ll be counting on you. Start tomorrow.”
“Y-Your Highness.”
“I’d prefer you not refuse. I see you as the right person for it.”
Fabiola, merely the wife of a modest knight, found the Emperor’s niece—who had grown up wealthy yet looked somehow weary—quite intimidating.
“I’m grateful you think so highly of me, but I don’t understand why I’m the right person. I have many shortcomings.”
“That’s exactly why you’re right for it. What were you doing at home?”
Fabiola hesitated, then answered honestly.
“I was worrying about preparing dinner.”
In other words, Fabiola’s circumstances weren’t wealthy enough for her to not think about household chores herself. Compared to the illustrious background of the exiled former head maid Doris Windgood, Fabiola Sirenster was truly nothing.
Still, she straightened her shoulders proudly. Her husband’s modesty and their tight finances were nothing to be ashamed of. Fabiola lifted her brown eyes to the Duchess, who had never once worried about dinner preparations.
“Pondering what to serve every day must be a headache. Tonight, have dinner with Sir Sirenster at the castle. I heard your children study at the school nearby. I’ll send a knight to fetch them.”
“Pardon? But…….”
“His Highness the Duke mentioned he has much to discuss with your husband anyway. And I have much to say to you as well.”
Was Fabiola Sirenster someone the steward could sweet-talk, or not? Kaella needed to gauge how far she could push. As Duchess, she had to figure it out quickly.
The line she absolutely wouldn’t yield was sending back the maids from Ostein. She didn’t ask for much. The head maid just had to not block that.
Her confidence that Fabiola Sirenster at least wouldn’t came from the steward’s expression upon hearing the announcement of the new head maid.
“Pardon?”
“I said Mrs. Sirenster is the new head maid.”
“But…….”
The steward, about to speak, shut his mouth as both the Duchess and Fabiola Sirenster’s gazes turned to him.
“No, Your Highness. Well done. It’s a relief.”
‘Fabiola Sirenster isn’t from some powerful family, so I can bend her to my will. Her husband struts around stiff-necked, but this is on a much larger scale.’
The steward quickly calculated and forced a smiling face.
“It lightens my load considerably.”
Fabiola Sirenster clearly read the underestimation on his face. She had never liked Viscount Rolf Anderson to begin with. How dare he say “well done” to the Duchess—that was practically insolent.
As if nearly dying when the young Duchess arrived wasn’t enough, to suffer such an arrogant steward on top of it.
Fabiola was not one to tolerate such behavior. She glared fixedly at the back of the steward’s head as he retreated, claiming he had much to do. No, she shot daggers with her eyes.
“We have much to do as well.”
Kaella murmured, seeing that gaze.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Fabiola Sirenster no longer uttered a word of refusal. The dinner conversation, with the Duke and Duchess joined by the Sirenster family, was just the kind of talk between a head maid couple and the ducal couple.
“Though it’s late, congratulations on your marriage, Your Highness. Welcome to Lüsenford, Your Highness.”
Fabiola’s husband, Sir Alfred Sirenster, was an exceedingly refined knight. Though slightly balding in middle age, he was quite handsome.
“We were overjoyed to hear of Your Highness’s marriage. Have you visited Lüyannes yet, Your Highness? The waterfall is truly beautiful.”
Fabiola was a dainty beauty, an elegant middle-aged lady with shrewd brown eyes and brown hair.
Kaella, who had never interacted with this couple before her death, surprisingly found the Lüsenford dinner conversation enjoyable.
At least the Sirenster couple and their children didn’t snicker among themselves when she spoke, like the Lüsenford locals had.
“The Duchess hasn’t fully recovered yet, so we haven’t ventured out.”
“I was just wondering how your health has been lately. Seeing Your Highness with such good color today is a relief.”
She was said to be standoffish, but Fabiola turned out surprisingly sociable. She clearly worried about Kaella with genuine concern.
“I can get around now, and handle work too.”
“That’s wonderful. Such a relief. At the last gathering, seeing you enter leaning on His Highness, my heart was truly uneasy. Your face was so pale then; I was terribly worried.”
Fabiola Sirenster patted her chest.
“So that’s why His Highness escorted you.”
“No, not for that reason.”
Unexpectedly, Pheon interjected.
“Isn’t it a husband’s duty to escort his wife wherever she goes?”
Kaella couldn’t fathom who the man beside her was. But before she could look at him, the usually taciturn Sir Alfred Sirenster heartily agreed with Pheon.
“Exactly, Your Highness. Isn’t that just natural?”
“Of course it is.”
“In Lüsenford, some treat escorting one’s wife like a saintly act, but I personally think those people are the real saints—or rather, the prudes. In this cold weather, how is a woman supposed to navigate muddy paths in these long skirts? Women are far frailer than men to begin with, and after bearing children, even more so. What’s wrong with escorting them?”
Sir Sirenster shook his head in disapproval. Every word he spoke brimmed with care and affection for his wife.
Fabiola smiled quietly beside him. Her face, radiating the serene peace unique to a wife with a harmonious family and good marital chemistry, shone like the moon.
Kaella envied her deeply. She had once longed for the same but been denied it, making the envy all the sharper.
“Escorting is nothing, no need to make a fuss over it.”
“Indeed, Your Highness. With Your Highness thinking that way, it won’t be long before all husbands in Lüsenford change their minds.”
“That much?”
“Yes, Your Highness. When the ladies saw Your Highness escorting Her Highness at our gathering, they were all shocked, and the rumor spread. They’ve all likely given their husbands an earful by now.”
Fabiola chimed in with a bright smile.
“Now that Your Highness has arrived, it feels like Lüsenford’s atmosphere will change completely. I hope you fully recover your health, bring much good news, and enjoy long-lasting happiness.”
It was said that blessings from a wife with a long, happy marriage were a precious gift to newlyweds.
That was why such women were deliberately invited to weddings. Kaella smiled at blessings that didn’t apply to her in the slightest.
“Thank you.”
Her smile bloomed faintly, then soon faded away.
