Chapter 10 (1/2)

Lucia Ch 10

Northern Territory (1)

Some time after Hugo departed, Lucia woke up because she needed to use the bathroom. She hoisted herself up and pulled on a rope to call the maids. She was suffering from heartburn due to the heavy alcohol consumption yesterday. As if the maids were on standby right outside the room, they appeared a second later.

“Your Grace, good morning.”

“I wish to use the washroom, aid me up.”

Leaning on the maids, Lucia managed to get out of bed. When she tried to support herself on her own feet, an ache shot up through her body, causing her to grimace.

“Are you feeling unwell? Shall we call for the doctor?”

Lucia momentarily observed the maids’ expressions. The maids observed the highest form of respect while they spoke, but she couldn’t help feeling like they were telling her ‘We know where and why you are in pain.’

Maybe it was her own inferiority complex, as the maids’ expressions never changed. It was a relief she had the old maids to attend to her. If some of the younger maids in their twenties were attending to her, she would have been very uncomfortable due to her embarrassment.

Lucia understood every part of a maid’s life and habits. In front of their Lords, they would behave with courtesy, as they are educated to keep a blank expression at all times. However, they only kept to that practice when they were in front of the masters. Behind their master’s back, they would laugh and jeer like any other normal human being.

Maids often boarded in the same mansion as their masters, and were limited in their own freedom. Therefore, their interest and source of entertainment would naturally be directed toward their master’s family affairs. Their lives were a repeat of paying attention to their master’s words and habits. In their mundane existence, those moments felt like events to them.

Back when Lucia worked as a maid(1), she had stuck to concentrating on her tasks. She had been a quiet and sincere maid. Eventually, she had become her master’s favored servant and had often attended to her master during grand social events. When Lucia had become her master’s favorite, the other maids had looked at her with disdain and had ostracized her.

Had Lucia’s personality been more lively, she would have asked her master to punish the other servants and gone about with her head held high. However, all she had cared about was doing her job to the best of her abilities.

One would think that they would be grateful to her for that, but it was not so. They had treated her like a bug. Even so, Lucia hadn’t felt hurt seeing their behavior. If one were to listen to their words carefully, they didn’t hold any elegant conversations. That was especially true the mornings after their masters came out of the same bedroom. The maids’ gossips would become especially bad. Lucia would only sigh listening to what the other maids were laughing over.

These were the Duke’s maids, but they would be no different. However, if the maids weren’t seen talking that way, there was no way she could do anything to punish them.

It was just a little stressful, because she knew all the dark and dirty secrets that would happen behind the scenes.

“…No need. It will be fine if you assist me for a bit. That’s right, yesterday I broke a cup.”

“We have already cleaned it up. But please be sure to wear your slippers as a precaution.”

She had slept like a log all those hours, without knowing that the maids were entering and leaving the room. It was possible that she had fainted. Lucia was taking slow steps returning to the bedroom, when she stopped in front of the window. The maids, who were supporting her, also stopped and waited for her quietly.

She could see the grand garden just outside the balcony. The place was humongous, she mumbled to herself when she discovered something running toward the mansion at a fast pace.

‘Roy Krotin…?’

He was running like a wild boar that was being hunted. Had something happened this morning? In one look, she could tell it was something important.

“Where is His Grace now?”

“He has already gone to the Northern territory early this morning.”

“…He’s not here?”

“Concerning this, Madam, the head butler is waiting to inform you of the contents right now.”

“You should have let him into the room then.”

“He is not allowed to enter this place…”

“Ah…”

As long as her husband wasn’t with her, other than females, nobody was allowed to enter her bedroom. Xenon was very flexible when it came to laws on adultery, but it was extremely taboo to let a random male inside the master’s bedroom chambers.

They wouldn’t be able to deny a request for divorce without the slightest compensation. It would be alright outside in the gardens, but it was forbidden inside the bedroom chambers. It was a laughable custom since the old times.

There was a different country before the war, who pointed their finger at Xenon, claiming that Xenon was in disorder. Xenon had sent a letter saying they were insulting the country’s royal family, and had managed to receive an apology… But still, Lucia didn’t doubt their words.

“What about the plans to depart this morning?”

“His Grace has ordered for everything to be pushed for tomorrow.”

“Then it must not be anything too urgent. I will talk with the butler later. I wish to rest awhile longer.”

Lucia requested for a cup of honey water and went back to sleep. Roy’s desperate expression from a while ago kept glimmering in Lucia’s thoughts. The Duke had already left early in the morning, so what did Roy need? Thinking about that was too troublesome, so she fell asleep.

***

“How could this happen? How?”

Roy was fuming in anger under the shining morning sun. His red hair looked like burning flames at that moment. It was a common sight and nobody seemed interested to watch.

“What about the Crown Prince? Why are you here?”

“Who cares? I didn’t agree to do it!” (Roy)

The Crown Prince had agreed to let Hugo leave the capital as long as he left an assuring guard here; Roy being the selected candidate for the deal. It was impossible to predict in which direction Roy would go, but there wasn’t anyone who could beat Roy when it came to skill. The only person who could beat Roy into a pulp was Hugo.

Nobody cared about Roy’s opinions. Hugo had commanded in his usual style, ‘because I said so’, while ignoring any of Roy’s objections. Two nights ago, Roy had thrown a tantrum, refusing to become Kwiz’ guard, and Hugo had given him a bad beating, turning his face black and blue and forcing him into the job.

This morning, the Duke had sent a message to Kwiz by post. Roy had also read the letter while looking over the Crown Prince’s shoulder. It was a brief letter explaining that something had happened in the North, so he would be departing to his Northern territories. The moment Roy read the letter, he had run to the mansion as fast as he could, but the Duke was already gone.

“The Lord has already given you your task. It will be better for you to return, it’s not good to leave your post empty.”

“Ain’t nobody got time for that! Things are going bad in the North! How can he leave me out of something so fun?” Dean looked at Roy like he was pathetic.

“You call that something fun?”

“It’s a hundred times more fun than being stuck next to the Crown Prince like a statue! I’m going to follow him.”

“Yeah, right. Give it your best shot. The Lord will kill you on sight.”

Despite Dean’s merciless prediction, Roy locked arms with Dean.

“Hmph, the Lord might beat me to the brink of death, but he’ll never kill me.”

“…You’re so proud of the oddest things. As you said, you won’t die, but you’ll probably lose an arm or a leg. No, wait. He won’t break any of your bones, but he’ll beat you up so bad, you won’t be able to move for about three or four days.”

Roy glared at him with annoyed eyes, but slumped his shoulders in the end. Roy admired his Lord very much, but from time to time, that personality of his was really one of a kind. But other than Roy, the Duke didn’t bother beating up the other knights.

The only person who dared to annoy the Duke was Roy. In another sense, it was quite admirable that he would continue to defy the Duke while suffering such horible beatings.

“Yes, it’s quite painful. Actually, why are you here? How come you didn’t follow the Lord?” (Roy)

“I’m in charge of escorting Her Grace until we reach the North.” (Dean)

“Ah…His Grace is married now.” (Roy)

Roy mumbled in a flat tone. Others had gaped in shock when they heard about the Duke’s marriage, but Roy had taken the news as it was, without much of a reaction. Roy’s mentality was a bit different than that of the normal population.

“Mm, who has become the Lady of the House? I’ve heard she was a princess.” (Roy)

‘Although I already know about this.’

Roy wasn’t stupid enough to release the Duke’s private information so lightly. Roy would randomly snicker whenever he thought of the day The Duke and the Princess had met.

The Princess had thrown a straight jab at the Duke, ‘I’ve come to propose a marriage.’ At that moment, the Duke had been in total shock. It was so refreshing to see such a petite young miss throw a punch at the Duke.

“I’m a little worried. I’m not used to escorting… nobles.” (Dean)

“You’ll probably be fine.” (Roy)

“Hmm? Have you met the Lady of the House yet?” (Dean)

Roy scratched his head.

“No, but rather… Anyway you’ll probably be fine. It’s my gut feeling.”

Dean burst out laughing.

“Okay. I’ll believe that beastly instinct of yours. Anyway, quit while you’re ahead and return to your duties. If the butler catches sight of you, he’s going to give you an earful.”

“Ugh… Jerome… scares me.”

Sometimes he was much scarier than the Lord.

“Well, I’m thankful for that.”

Roy’s face paled upon the voice that resonated from behind them. Jerome had appeared behind them some time ago, and was glaring at them like a hungry savage beast. Roy screamed as if the God of Death was at his door.

***

When she woke up from her sleep, the midday sun was shining brightly. She could open her eyes, but she couldn’t move her body as she wished. It felt like her body had turned into a giant rock and had become attached to the bed. She felt greater fatigue than she had felt in the morning.

‘It hurts…’

Her muscle ache was getting worse as time passed. She would be able to calm down if her pain had been subsiding after a long time of rest, but it was not so. It was like he had said, the trip to the North would’ve been impossible in her current state. The maids attending to her could tell her condition was getting worse, and they looked restless.