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Chapter 21
Leonhart continued to smile as I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression as Lord Andrew stood frozen in shock. Good heavens.
“We – we’ve been tricked! We’ve been tricked by the older Young Miss of Crescente family!” Lord Andrew shrieked, astonished by what had just happened. I awkwardly extended words of apology.
“I apologize.”
“How did you know?”
“There was no severe swelling or scarring, no wound and you’re not even using a splint. Who would believe such an obvious lie?”
“I believed it…”
Leonhart ignored the dejected muttering of Lord Andrew, and continued, “The first person to say you hurt your leg was the second Young Miss, right? Just to be sure, your fake injury, was it the second Young Miss’s idea?”
I was struck dumb by his straightforwardness. He took my silence as an affirmation and continued to speak.
“Even the handmaid over there doesn’t seem reliable… It seems you aren’t treated very well at the mansion. Don’t you want to get away from it all?”
I was not sure how much he knew about the abuse I’ve received, but it seemed that he’s clued in on the fact that I was being discriminated against in some ways, like being excluded in important events and having an unexperienced handmaiden.
In conclusion, he was saying I could escape my situation if I became his Empress in a roundabout manner.
He was right. After recovering memories of my past life, I considered marrying in order to leave the mansion.
If I was still the Adrianna in the book, I may have even accepted this offer considering it as a salvation.
However, I knew what would happen in Leonhart’s future. He had fought Claudia bravely until the bitter end, not surrendering until he was completely defeated and was exiled.
“Somehow, it will be hard for me to follow the will of Prince Leonhart.”
“That’s rather awkward. To tell you the truth, since I broke off marriage talks with the second Young Miss willfully, I have been hearing a lot of offensive words from the elders. Maybe to them, it seemed like I received benefits from the Duchess and acted ungratefully.”
“If that’s the case, then it is certainly better for you to get engaged to Sharon,” I said prudently. That was how the original work had unfolded anyway.
“You’re determined. Well, it’s because I like this side of you that I insist we join hands… Will you not reconsider?”
“Alright, I’ll think about it. Please give me some time. At least, until my Debutante ball.”
The children of the aristocrats attend the Debutante ball in the year they turn 18. Everyone who would turn into an adult that year was allowed to attend even if their birthday hadn’t passed.
For example, even if your birthday was in the summer, you can debut in the Spring Ball though most people prefer to debut during the New Year Festival Ball.
I, too, was thinking about officially debuting in high society during the New Year Festival. It was the day that Ramona returned to the empire and her existence was revealed to high society.
The same day that Leonhart fell for her.
“Okay. Let’s do it according to your wishes.”
Given that there was nothing too strange about being asked to delay the engagement until I became an adult, Leonhart accepted my proposal without any suspicions.
***
The entire way back to the mansion, both Marianne and Sharon were in a foul mood.
It appeared that His Highness the Emperor chose not to side with the Crescente Family.
At such times, the best thing for me to do was to lie low and not get on their nerves. However, it seemed like I’ve already done so without realizing it.
Sharon was already upset when Leonhart left his seat to seek me out. Me addressing him by his first name only further fanned the flames.
Smack!
Sharon’s palm struck my face. I covered the burning cheek with my hand and fell on the floor.
“Just because His Highness struck up a conversation with you, you think you’ve become someone special?! How arrogant! You don’t even know your place…! Who do you think you are to act like you’re close to the Prince? The likes of you – who do you think you are?!”
“What Sharon said was right. You were out of line. Trying to seduce the man who will be your younger sister’s husband, how dare you do such a disgraceful thing?”
Them saying I was out of line somehow felt ironic. I lowered my gaze and stood by in silence, awaiting my punishment.
“Alyssa!”
“Yes, madam.”
“Inform the cleaning staff. Tomorrow, everyone gets the day off.”
“As you wish, madam.” Alyssa, one of Marianne’s attending handmaids bowed low and excused herself.
“Adrianna. Tomorrow, you must clean the mansion.”
This was not the first time this had happened. As punishment, they’d have me clean the mansion instead of the handmaids. Cleaning the massive mansion all by myself was pointless labor. Not even a skilled handmaid could do it.
It was, however, embarrassing for a young girl to be mopping in the plain sight of the hired house help. Worse of all, it allowed them to tarnish my authority as a member of the household.
Marianne had already replaced all the employees who had worked at the mansion since I was young eliminating any possible allies.
In front of the new and unfamiliar employees, Marianne wouldn’t hesitate to criticize me. She would also loudly ridicule my appearance which had become dirty from the task.
“You, was your name Leah? You’re to take the day off tomorrow as well. Don’t even think about helping Adrianna.”
“I-I’ll bear your words in mind, madam.”
I was just about to ask her to not help me. This was better instead.
Whether there was one person or two, the task was still impossible. Anyway, their goal was not to have a clean and polished mansion but rather to inflict damage on me physically and mentally.
The next day, the person that woke me up was Alyssa, not Leah.
Leah wasn’t even in the room. Alyssa was by herself standing by the headboard of my bed. Alyssa’s attitude may seem polite at first glance, but her neck was stiff and her gaze was nothing but arrogant and insolent.
“Young Miss, let’s go.”
“Okay.”
She first brought me to the dressing room of the handmaids responsible for cleaning. I had to change into their uniform and collect the cleaning tools there.
After I was done, Alyssa had a surprised expression on her face.
Why would that be? I momentarily tilted my head in wonder before I understood. In the past, there was a time I was unable to change into these clothes and tearfully asked for her help.
Alyssa had coldly rejected me then by saying, “Today, Young Miss is no different from a handmaid. Please don’t think of receiving any help. You have to do it by yourself.”
Now that I thought of it, I became speechless. Even handmaids, when they change and cannot braid their hair or tie the ribbons properly, don’t they ask their fellow handmaids for help?
“Well then, please start cleaning.”
“Hmm.”
“You should be able to do it well, right? I now have to return to madam, so I’ll leave you to it.”
After acting like my superior, Alyssa left me alone. I went to the water storage station and filled up the bucket with water.
I wasn’t very good at cleaning. It was because I wasn’t a meticulous person. In my past life, I was the type that dumped the cleaning responsibilities on my younger siblings and followed my parents out to assist their work.
Therefore I didn’t find this aristocratic lifestyle, where others were completely responsible for cleaning tasks, too bad at all. No. In fact, I liked it very much.
Although this lifestyle does come with a fatal disadvantage of being life-threatening.
Even in the village, there were many cases of a second marriage. They increased the number of family members therefore increasing the manpower for labor.
My friend Benjamin’s mother was also a stepmother. But even when Benjamin was acting rebellious, she only cursed him or smacked his back a few times. She never poisoned his tea… Just my luck.
I came across some attendants on my way back after filling up my bucket with water. In the past, I would get red in the face and shake in humiliation. Not anymore.
Even if it was difficult, I had to appear confident and dignified. If I didn’t do that, I won’t be able to bear the indignity.
I straightened my back and walked like I owned the place.
I knew it was ridiculous to be strutting about like an aristocrat while dressed as a maid. However, shrinking in shame wouldn’t make me look any better. Since I couldn’t do anything to change my circumstances, I’d rather look dignified.
As I soaked the rag in water and started wiping the windowsill, Sharon approached me.
“The clothes suit you rather well.”
“Thank you.”
Since expressing anger would only put me in a difficult situation, I controlled my temper and took her words as a compliment. Sharon looked shocked.
“Can’t you even tell the difference between sarcasm and a compliment?”
“Sorry.”
Sharon stared at the bucket placed on the floor for a moment before kicking it hard. The bucket hit the floor with a loud sound before the water spilled all over.
“Oh dear, I didn’t do that on purpose.”
Yeah right! Of course she did it on purpose!
“Wipe it right away. It’s difficult to go across from here because of the water. Sigh, even my slippers are all wet. Can you bring me a new pair of slippers first?”
“….I’ll do that.”
“Bring it to my room.”
Sharon returned to her room while slowly dragging her wet slippers across the floor leaving a wet trail of mess. Now I had more things to clean. I sighed and went to bring her new slippers.
When I entered Sharon’s room, she was rolling in bed. When she saw me come in, she asked me to put the slippers by her bed and leave.
I left the slippers where she asked me to, wiped the prints of water on the floor, and left.
The mop I was using wasn’t good enough to clean Sharon’s trail of wet footprints and the mess of the spilled bucket. I decided to go back to the dressing room to get a bigger mop.
“We don’t have a bigger mop?”
The big mops which were definitely there earlier when I was changing, had disappeared without a trace.
Did someone hide them intentionally to tease me? While wondering about that, I returned to the flooded area and was met by an unbelievable sight.
A few handmaids were diligently wiping the floor. They had the missing bigger mops with them.
“…What are you all doing?”
“Ol-older Young Miss. We are… We thought it would be too hard on you, so we wanted to help… Please keep it a secret from the second Young Miss and Madam.”
What is going on?
I couldn’t understand what was happening. Since when did these people become so kind to me?
Being bestowed favors for reasons unknown only made my heart feel uneasy.
“Please go back to what you were doing before mother finds out and becomes enraged.”
“But…”
“I said go back. Are you not going to follow my order?”
“…No, Young Miss. Then, please excuse us.”
The handmaids vanished. I took one of their mops and started cleaning the floor.
Before I knew it, it was already lunchtime. I thought she would want me to have lunch with the handmaids as well but in an act of unusual benevolence, Marianne let me join them at the mansion’s dining table.
Rudolphe, who didn’t understand what was going on, looked at me in confusion.
“Older sister, why are you dressed like a handmaid today?”
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“She did something wrong so she’s being punished.”
“Wearing a handmaid’s clothes is her punishment?”
“You don’t have to know the details, child. You should eat all the food on your plate,” Marianne lightly admonished Rudolphe who wasn’t eating his vegetables.
Thankfully, the food I was served wasn’t of poor quality. I was given a fresh salad and warm meat.
As I was cutting the meat with my knife, I could feel the gaze of the mother-daughter duo on me. They both looked at me mockingly.