“Milady, there are letters that have arrived for you.”
‘As expected, they came.’
Although my own personal reputation was rock-bottom, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the amount of interest directed towards my father, a living hero, was unmatched in society. It was inevitable that I’d receive some letters.
“Come in.”
Marilyn came in with a silver tray which held a pile of letters on top.
“Here they are, milady.”
As I was reading through the letters, I couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.
Out of the dozens of letters I had received, not a single one sounded genuine in their concern for my health. Amazing.
‘Well, that just means I’ve been living a wasteful life.’
Though I felt quite bitter, I had no plans on getting even the slightest bit upset over something so insignificant like this.
‘It’s something I brought upon myself anyway.’
I spent all of my time only looking at Mikhail that I had paid no attention to anyone else. If anyone got in my way, I unleashed my wrath on them. Mikhail was the only one I had ever hinted favor towards. It was no surprise I became a loner and had no one but myself to blame.
“Milady, would you like me to clean up the letters?”
Marilyn’s sudden voice interrupted my thoughts. It seems she thought I was just going to skim through them before moving them aside.
“No, I’ll be replying to all of them myself.”
Marilyn seemed startled by my answer.
“You…you’ll be responding to these formal letters yourself, milady?”
I faintly smiled at her words and responded, “That’s right. They were all expressing concern over my health so I should be responsible for writing back myself.”
I knew the senders behind these letters didn’t actually care about my health, but the situation didn’t allow for me to ignore them like usual.
The nobles’ antagonism towards me was because I had been ignoring them….I had to do some damage control and appease them. No matter how bad one’s reputation was, it could be changed if one worked to show a better image than before. With that reason, I was determined to change my own image.
And although writing letters were part of that plan, I found myself already running into a wall.
‘But what am I supposed to write?’
Because I had no interest in anyone else, I didn’t even know the tastes of the few people that I managed to keep as personal connections. Thus, I had no idea what to write.
‘I don’t even know enough about them to leave compliments.’
I glanced towards Marilyn.
‘Now that I think about it, Marilyn was the one who always wrote the replies in my stead.’
The typical maid was in charge of completing tasks such as cleaning and doing the laundry. A personal waiting maid, however, was different from the average maid. In addition to having to assist the nobles, they had to be good at speaking and socializing as well.
As a result, these higher maids were usually someone from the educated middle-class or children of a fallen noble family. In other words, their role could be compared to that of a modern secretary.
“Marilyn, I have a request.”
“I will listen to any order you give me, milady.”
“Could you help me with the letters?”
Marilyn widened her eyes before looking at me with a puzzled expression. It should’ve come as no surprise that she reacted like that. If it was the old me, I would have never asked for help.
‘But I’m no longer the fool I used to be.’
Looking at Marilyn, I spoke, “Informing me of the preferences of each family we normally interact with is more than enough.”
“I understand. I will do my best to assist you, milady.”
At Marilyn’s pure intentions, I responded with a smile.
“Thank you, it’s reassuring to have you help me.”
After hearing my words, Marilyn’s face looked unsettled for a moment before it returned to its usual composure.
“I will go bring the pen and paper for you.”
* * *
With a stiffened expression, Marilyn stood in front of the doors of the duke’s office while the head housekeeper, Mrs. Ferris, announced her presence.
“Your Grace, Lady Juvellian’s personal maid is here.”
Instead of an answer, the door opened instead. Swallowing nervously, Marilyn entered the room and the moment she looked inside, her fear turned into admiration.
With his back to the huge windows, the light from the setting sun dyed the duke’s silver hair in red. It felt like she was staring at a painting.
Continuing to stare absentmindedly at his figure, Marilyn was brought back to her senses only when the duke spoke.
“What did Juvellian do today?”
“A-After writing replies to letters, Lady Juvellian spent some time reading a few books, sir.”
Hearing the maid’s stuttered response, the duke’s expression, which had been as stiff as a statue, subtly changed.
“She was reading books?”
A look of surprise washed over the duke’s face before it quickly disappeared. Staring at his deep blue eyes, Marilyn remained tense.
“Which ones?”
“Most of them seemed to be about managing territory.”
His brows furrowed at Marilyn’s response.
“What for?”
It was to no surprise that he responded back with a question that implied doubt, because his daughter, Juvellian, had never shown an interest towards books before.
Marilyn recalled the words Lady Juvellian had said when requesting for another book:
<I would be a disgrace to my father if I don’t even know the basics>
“Your Grace, she said she didn’t want to be a burden on you….”
“I don’t understand why she would waste her time reading things like that.”
Although he sounded annoyed, Marilyn felt that there was something distinctly different in his tone<b>. </b>Before she even realized what she was doing, Marilyn found herself opening her mouth once more.
“Y-Your Grace, perhaps…Lady Juvellian wanted to be able to carry a conversation with you?”
Seeing the duke’s face harden at her words, Marilyn swallowed nervously.
‘Did I say something I shouldn’t have?’
“She doesn’t have to go to such an extent for something like that.”
Despite the flat tone of his voice, the corners of the duke’s mouth were raised in a smile. It was such a wonderful sight to see that Marilyn couldn’t help but continue staring at the duke in a daze.
“Please continue to look after my daughter,” said the duke, whose smiling face had quickly morphed to that of indifference.
* * *
It has been four days since I started isolating myself in my room. I spent most of that time reading every day and ended up finishing all the books that I had brought from the library.
‘I need someone to go and bring me some more….’
I looked up at Sella. She was filling in for Marilyn, whom I had sent out earlier on a few errands.
“Milady, is there something you need me to do?”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t give Sella the task of bringing me new books. Unlike Marilyn, who had received a higher education, Sella didn’t know how to read beyond basic letters.
‘It’d be better if I go to the library myself.’
Afraid that she’d blame herself if she found out the reason why I wouldn’t assign her the task, I decided to give her a different job instead.
“Sella, could you go and bring back some tea and chocolate cookies?”
“Yes, of course!”
When she left the room, I headed for the library after letting another maid know where I was going.
‘How tiresome. What should I read this time?’
Having those thoughts, I opened the door only to barely catch myself from letting out a scream.
Why did my father have to be in the library right now!?
“F-Father….G-good morning!”
Ah, it seems I was really shocked, seeing as how I stuttered like that.
Although I did greet him, I wasn’t expecting to get a response, much less any acknowledgement.
“It’s the afternoon, not morning.”
I was rebuked in response to my greeting, which I wasn’t surprised by. Not one to get hurt by being corrected, I answered in a calm manner.
“Yes, it seems so. That was my mistake.”
Acknowledging my own mistake, I believed he wouldn’t have anything else to point out. But as I headed towards one of the bookshelves, I heard my father speak again.
“That….that book is about territory management.”
With a fierce look in his eyes, my father spoke to me while staring at the book I was holding. I guessed the meaning behind his hard expression.
‘It looks like he’s questioning why someone like me is even reading something like this.’
I quickly moved to put the book back in its proper place.
“Yes, I was curious as to what kind of duties you had to carry out as the Duke.”
I remained calm while giving an excuse, but my father’s face hardened further.
“Why are you curious about that?”
‘Geez, is he displeased thinking that I may have a desire to manage over the fief?’
I replied in a dry tone that lacked ambition, not wanting him to misunderstand and see me as a greedy daughter.
“It was out of pure curiosity, there’s no other meaning to it.”
I tried to minimize offending him as much as possible, but I saw him slightly frown at my words.
I swallowed nervously, “I’m sorry for bothering you while you’re trying to rest. I’ll take my leave now.”
“Juvellian.”
As I was trying to slip out, I heard a cold voice call out my name. My father was staring at me with a hardened face that lacked any amusement.
“Sit.”
‘Telling me to sit all of a sudden…does he have something to say?’
I was starting to get a headache from trying to figure out my father’s uncertain attitude.
‘Allen even advised me to take it easy…’
At this rate, the stress was going to make me collapse here at home. However, I couldn’t ignore my father who was staring at me with those fierce eyes of his.
‘Ah, I should sit down for now.’
I sat on the sofa across from my father. The feeling of the soft cushion made me drowsy, but I was too nervous thinking about what my father was going to say.
“Juvellian.”
I heard him call my name but soon doubted my own ears at his next words.
“Do you know the three main things which make up a manor?”
I wasn’t expecting a quiz to be thrown at me all of a sudden, but I answered him immediately without revealing I was flustered.
“The land that serves as the foundation, the lord who establishes and protects order, and the people that make up the productive power.”
“You know it well.”
“Yes, I read the entire thing.”
Thinking that was it, I was about to ask him if I could be dismissed.
“Then do you know about this?”
My father’s quiz didn’t stop there. As if he was trying to check the contents of the book I had read, he continued to ask me question after question.
‘Just when is this going to end?’
Glancing at the clock, I saw that two hours had already passed and that it was already 3 o’clock. This was usually when I enjoyed my normal tea time.
‘Speaking of tea…Sella should be in my room with the chocolate cookies I asked her to get for me…’
As I was lamenting over the fact I could’ve been in the middle of eating the cookies by now, I heard a knock.
“Your Grace, your guest has arrived.”
My father rose to his feet when he heard the sound of Derrick’s voice behind the door.
‘Is it finally over?’
Thinking that our quiz time was finally over, I observed my father.
‘I beg of you, please leave now’
However, unlike my expectations, my father walked over to one of the bookshelves.
“Your Grace?”
Despite Derrick’s call for him again, my father remained silent.
‘Why is he looking for a book instead of leaving?’
Before I could think further on that thought, my father approached me while holding two books.
“Read them.”
After he handed the books off to me, I stared, with trembling eyes, at the retreating figure of my father. Once he left the room, I looked down at the titles of the books and became confused.
‘Father, giving an ordinary lady like me these books on general and military tactics… just what are your intentions?’
T/N: LONG NOTE IM SORRY but please read ):
tl;dr what do you think about changing Jubellian/Jubel to Juvellian/Juvel?