Side story 2: Working as the Claes family head maid (1/2)

I was born as the third of three girls to a merchant family, and I began working for the Claes family as a maid when I turned 16.

Both my older sisters had good personalities, and were cute and lovely, with many offers of marriage received. And so, my oldest sister eventually got married, and my second sister got married as well after that. However, compared to my sisters, I’m not as attractive as they are, and I’m also bad at getting along with others.

I had rather sharp features, and talking is hard for me, I couldn’t even make any friends, much less get a lover.

And so, I graduated from school without having made any friends, and I remained in the house, without receiving marriage offers like my sisters. If I keep staying in the house like this, before long, it’ll surely trouble my family, so I went to work for the Claes family which has had a long relationship with our family business.

I already realized a long time ago that I wouldn’t be able to get happily married like other women, so for the time being I just worked as hard as I could.

And so, I worked harder and more seriously than anyone else, ten years later, before I realized it I’ve already become the head maid. It’s just that, the previous head maid just happened to retire, so I got the position unexpectedly. After I became the head maid, so that I wouldn’t be looked down upon for being so young for the position, I devoted myself even more to my work and became stricter.

And so, despite my hard work and effort, because of my sharp features, because I’m bad at communicating with others, and because I became even stricter so that people won’t look down on me for my age, I had turned into a person that all the other servants avoided before I realized it.

But even so, in order to “live on by myself,” I dedicated myself to my work even more furiously.

My hobbies were that I liked cute things, and to make sweet candies. Fluttery cute dresses, adorable stuffed animals, fairy tales about princesses, and sweet candies are what I love.

But since my hobbies didn’t suit the way I look and act, I’ve always been teased about it ever since I was young, so I started hiding my hobbies so that people around me wouldn’t find out anymore.

Since eating sweet candies doesn’t fit my image, even when everyone else is having some I would always say “I don’t eat sweet things.” Because of that, even though one of my hobbies is to make sweet candies, I can only eat them secretly by myself when I’m not busy……

A couple of years ago, when I was still a regular maid, I was sitting in a corner of the garden by myself and eating sweets secretly in between work.

A few days ago, one of my fellow maids had gotten married, and left the mansion. After sending off this coworker of mine that had worked with me for so long, I couldn’t think of anything to do other than stare blankly at the bushes in front of me. I’m not personable, I don’t have anyone that I like and I know that it’s impossible for me to get married, but…… Even so…… I’m envious of how happy my coworkers seem to be……

In a fairy tale I once read as a child, right now, a magician should appear from the bushes in front of me, and change me into a wonderful princess, and it’ll be great if I can be carried off by a prince — as I was letting my imagination run wild like a child again, that’s when it happened.

From within the bushes, I heard a rustling sound, and a girl that was covered in leaves appeared. And so, the girl that had appeared from the bushes was…… the daughter of Duke Claes. She was staring at the sweets that I was eating and her stomach was growling loudly.

“……Do you want some?”

Since she was staring so intently, I offered her some by reflex.