#18. Entering the Grand Duke's Castle (1)
2023.08.18.
“……I heard everything, you fool.”
Bradley, a headache coming on, glanced at Noah’s mood. Noah spoke calmly.
“I’m not guaranteeing there won’t be blowback.”
“Huh, really? You won’t say anything different later, right?”
“Right.”
Dwayne grinned broadly, then his expression turned slightly sour as he jerked his chin toward Amy.
“You’ll make sure I don’t get scolded by the fussy head maid too, right?”
“Yeah. So…….”
As Noah trailed off, sparks flashed in his eyes.
“Try slacking off. If you can.”
“…….”
It was a statement that revealed an unchildlike, tenacious fighting spirit. Perhaps because he liked it, Dwayne smiled widely. It was a smile that seemed almost mad at a glance. Bradley, who had been looking back and forth between the two, silently ran his hand down his face.
‘I’m the only one who’s going to get it from the Captain.’
Amy, unaware that trouble had broken out, was focused on her conversation with the mercenary captain.
“You want me to check if Count Coleman is truly ill?”
“Yes.”
Amy frowned. Count Coleman was a deeply rooted northern noble who had long been displeased with the Grand Dukes who came from the capital. It was necessary to check whether this situation was a scheme to spite Noah, who had newly become the Grand Duke.
‘It’s also suspicious that his son ran away from home so conveniently.’
With his father on his deathbed, who would leave behind a title and fief they might inherit? She had subtly hinted during dinner that she wanted to pay a sick visit, but the butler had refused so firmly that she had no choice but to use this method.
“Tonight is the only time we have.”
“That’s right.”
“Understood.”
The mercenary captain bowed his head, then swiftly disappeared. Amy clicked her tongue in regret. He was taciturn and loyal; she would have liked for him to settle in at the Grand Duke’s Castle, but every time she had sounded him out, he had firmly refused.
‘I did tell him to come if he ever changed his mind, but…….’
Amy glanced sideways at Dwayne, who was chattering in the corner.
‘I wish I could trade him for that one.’
Then she saw Noah talking with them, his expression sullen. Amy’s brows narrowed slightly.
‘Should I stop them……?’
She worried about him being influenced badly, but he was her superior; it didn’t seem right to interfere in such matters…… Her heart was conflicted.
‘If he were the Crown Prince, I would have chased them off saying they shouldn’t get close since I’d whip them into shape like dogs, but Lord Noah is someone capable of restraining himself.’
Thinking that intervening now would be overstepping her authority, she restrained herself. Watching them whisper and laugh at whatever was so amusing, Amy smacked her lips and turned her head.
The next morning, Amy came out to the mansion’s entrance hall with Noah and entrusted the butler, who had been waiting, with the lumber trade contract and a letter to be delivered to Viscount Burton.
And handing over a pouch filled with gold coins, she said it was the Grand Duke’s wish for the retainer’s speedy recovery. The old butler bowed with a deeply moved face and received it respectfully.
Amy offered a perfunctory greeting and gazed at the mercenary captain standing at a distance. He twitched his head in a barely noticeable movement. It meant it was true that Count Coleman was lying in bed sick.
Amy was inwardly relieved. Then she met Vernon and the other knights, who had already come out to the inner courtyard, readied the carriage and horses, and finished preparing to depart, and they left the mansion.
***
The Grand Duke’s Castle was abuzz.
“Where are they said to be?”
“They’ve entered the outer castle.”
Maids wearing stiff white aprons and head coverings bustled about and went outside the castle. In the inner castle courtyard, the servants were already lined up.
How long had they waited? The Grand Duke’s party entered through the gate connected to the outer castle. Old Morton, who had been acting as the guard captain, and the butler Melburn walked with a small boy between them.
‘Is that him?’
Rita stretched her neck to see the boy when suddenly he turned his head back and whispered to a woman. The next moment, the woman’s eyes met Rita’s.
“!”
With a spine-chilling feeling, Rita hurriedly bowed her head. Marie, standing beside her, whispered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s nothing…….”
Rita was bewildered. Why did I do that? Calming her heart, she sneakily raised her head again. The woman was conversing with Butler Melburn. Seeing her side profile, Rita tilted her head.
Melburn stepped forward and clapped his hands.
“Everyone, attention. His Grace the Grand Duke has arrived.”
Everyone’s eyes focused on the boy. The boy who stepped forward—good heavens…… Rita’s mouth fell open, and her friends’ voices reached her ears one after another.
“Insane.”
“He’s crazy.”
It was the maids Marie and Cecil. As lively as befits their eighteen years, they couldn’t hold back their admiration at Noah’s face.
“I thought he’d just suck the energy out of this gloomy castle and grow old and die…….”
“I should go to the temple and offer donations this week.”
“Let’s go together.”
While the three were making a firm resolution under a birch tree, Melburn led the Grand Duke before them.
“Rita, Marie, Cecil. Pay your respects. This is His Grace the Grand Duke.”
Then he introduced them to Noah and Amy.
“These are the dedicated maids of the inner castle. Young though they are, their skills are certain.”
The three swallowed dryly and raised their heads. And the moment they saw Noah’s face up close.
‘God is alive……’
Seeing them spaced out for a brief moment, Noah furrowed his brow. Then he grumbled quietly.
“You said their skills are certain?”
“!”
The maids came to their senses at the chilly words and flustered, when a neat voice was heard from behind the Grand Duke.
“Are they not still young? And if Your Grace glares so frighteningly, even a perfectly fine person will break down.”
The owner of the voice came around Melburn to the front. Rita, Marie, and Cecil stared blankly at her. Was there more proof that God was alive……?
“I am Amelia Vesford. I am the head maid of His Grace the Grand Duke. You shall become my hands and feet until the chief maid arrives.”
“…….”
The maids couldn’t take their eyes off her honey-like light brown hair, ocean-blue eyes, and doll-like beauty.
When they remained flustered, Amy, who had been waiting for an answer, slightly narrowed her eyes. Then the Grand Duke whispered from behind, sounding amused.
“As if to prove she’s not a ghost of a head maid, it seems they broke because Amy glared at them so fiercely.”
“……Ahem.”
The head maid cleared her throat and smoothed the cameo brooch attached to the collar of her maid uniform with her hand. Seeing her ears turn red, Rita blinked and bent at the waist.
“I am Rita, a maid. I will serve you with all my heart.”
Marie and Cecil also hurriedly followed suit and bowed.
“I am Marie.”
“I am Cecil.”
“Well, very well. Let us get along from now on.”
Amy’s eyes swept over them. Then she turned to Noah.
“Please have Melburn guide you through the castle.”
“What about Amy? You’re not coming?”
Noah’s voice immediately hardened. Everyone present realized it then. The fact that the young Grand Duke trusted the head maid immensely.
“I am going to look around the village with Joseph. We arrived in such haste that I wasn’t able to inspect it properly.”
There was a small village with farmsteads below the Grand Duke’s Castle. Joseph and Amy had invited craftsmen whose shops and homes were also there, so she intended to look around.
Noah looked at her sullenly.
“You’ll come back before dinner, right?”
At that moment, everyone realized once again. The fact that the young Grand Duke felt immense attachment to the head maid.
“Of course.”
Amy answered lightly, signaled to Joseph, and withdrew. In her appearance as she exited the inner castle conversing with Joseph, not an ounce of regret or hesitation could be seen.
“…….”
The Grand Duke watched her retreating figure like a puppy abandoned by its owner. Melburn wiped his forehead with a handkerchief and rolled his eyes. Not knowing his master’s disposition, he couldn’t figure out how to console him.
“Let’s go.”
When Amy’s figure was no longer visible, the Grand Duke turned. Somehow his voice sounded subdued, and pity rose on the faces of the people standing in the inner courtyard.
While Noah looked around the castle with Melburn, the trio of maids, the servants, and the guards gathered in the hall and made a fuss.
“Do all people from the capital look like that?”
Starting with someone’s admiration, praise for the Grand Duke and the head maid poured out like a burst floodgate.
“I’ve never seen anyone fairer than a northerner.”
“I heard His Grace has the blood of the southern royal family mixed in…… My goodness, he’s fairer than the sheep at our house.”
“Rita has even entered the gallery. Were there any former Grand Dukes who looked like that?”
At the sudden question, Rita swallowed a hum. While repairing the Grand Duke’s Castle, they had redecorated the portraits of the former Grand Dukes and displayed them in the gallery. However, since there were also jewels and historically valuable treasures, access was restricted.
Rita shook her head.
“Do you think looks like that are common?”
“Exactly.”
As the people nodded in agreement, the maid Marie mumbled with a dreamy expression.
“The head maid, I mean. Doesn’t she feel like a total professional?”
Cecil quickly chimed in.
“Right? I used to dream of being a lazy maid who just scraped by. But the moment I faced her, I became a woman without dreams.”
“You mean you want to emulate her?”
“Exactly.”
Would it be similar if she walked around with her back straight like this? When Cecil clumsily imitated Amy’s posture, jeers poured from those around her.
“The knights were also imposing, weren’t they?”
Guards who had become guards merely because they could swing a sword like a pickax recalled Vernon and Dwayne and voiced envious admiration.
“They’re on a different level from us, who are at the level of a militia.”
Then, someone let out a sigh.