Chapter 64

‘I’ve never been like this before.’

Watching Owen lie back down, Lea ran her hands over herself. Her small hands passed over her protruding ribs, the scars from years of work, and the prickly hair growing in uneven tufts like a sick cat’s coat. Her lips were rough with dry flakes too. Her hair was thin and her eyes were grey. If only her eyes had been a pretty blue! Owen had said it didn’t matter, but Lea had not been at ease since the day she heard his confession.

Hope and expectation were a double-edged sword. Lea had been happy to hear Owen say he liked her, but she felt anxious at the same time. Every time she closed her eyes, the wedding from her dream came back to her. The image of herself holding dirty water and Owen standing in the sunlight had lodged itself in her mind and would not leave.

It was after that day that Lea began wandering near the Tetias manor. She started making her way along the main streets, asking around about the family called Tetias that Owen belonged to. Unlike before, when she would disappear straight back into the slums after picking up work, she now lingered to peer at shops catering to noble customers, people in fine clothes, and passing carriages. People looked at her as though she were something odd, and no wonder. A girl who was obviously a slum child was going around asking questions about a great ducal family.

Then one day Lea spotted crates stamped with the Tetias name stacked on a delivery cart outside a shop. It was a cart from a grocer. Coming face to face for the first time with an actual object bearing the name Tetias, Lea stood and stared at the crates in a daze. Every one of them was packed with the finest quality provisions.

“Hey!”

A delivery man noticed Lea loitering near the cart and called out to her. With a towel over his shoulder, he advised her that if she was looking for charity, she’d do better wandering near the department store two alleys over or around the theatre district. He also made it clear that they hired men who could do heavy work, not young girls. Poor children sometimes drifted around shops looking for odd jobs, and he had seen it before.

“I’m not looking for work.”

Lea’s cheeks colored at his words, and she pointed at the crates on the cart.

“Are those goods going to where the noble family called Tetias lives?”

At that the delivery man looked over the crates on the cart. The Tetias family crest was stamped on them alongside the name. The shop owner took great pride in supplying provisions to a ducal household and had every crate bound for the ducal family stamped with both the crest and the name, deliberately, so people would notice.

Still, it was strange for a girl who was obviously a slum child to be asking about a ducal family.

‘Maybe she’s looking for work.’

Wealthy nobles like the Tetias family offered their servants quite good wages and even lodging, so the delivery man thought she might be a girl hoping to find work at the ducal household. Thinking she was more ambitious than she looked, he scratched his head and answered.

“That’s right. But don’t even think about showing up near the place. A great household like that won’t hire a maid without a letter of recommendation. A young child like you won’t even get taken on as a general hand.”

“Is the Tetias family really such a great noble family?”

“Of course they are.”

The delivery man said it without hesitation.

“These days there are plenty of nobles who look impressive on the outside but are drowning in debt, but the Tetias ducal family has a long history and they’re enormously wealthy. They own several gold mines, I’ve heard!”

“Gold mines……”

Lea’s mouth fell open. She knew how wealthy a family could be just from owning a few iron ore mines. The family she had done laundry for before had owned several iron ore mines and been the wealthiest employer she had ever worked for. But gold mines! And several of them! Lea swallowed and stared at the crates stamped with the Tetias name. The delivery man watched her expression and shrugged, continuing.

“Well, you never know how things will go in this world. Even a great family like that has had something terrible happen to them. I heard their young lord was kidnapped and died……”

At those words Lea’s expression darkened. The delivery man watched her slowly back away and clicked his tongue. Cutting her hair that short, she must be living in real poverty. Poor thing. He called after the departing Lea.

“Girl! If you need work, I can look into it for you. The ducal family is out of the question, but I heard recently that a wealthy businessman is looking for a young maid.”

“N, no! I’m fine.”

Lea hurried away. A colleague appeared beside the delivery man as he watched her go.

“Ah, so that girl came here too.”

“What? Do you know her?”

“Hardly! My wife would half kill me if she heard that! ……But I do know that lately she’s been going around asking people about the Tetias ducal family. Strange business. What could a girl like that possibly want to know about that great noble family!”

The delivery man agreed with his colleague. It really was strange. He filed the incident away and later passed it on to a maid he was friendly with when he made his next delivery to the Tetias household.

***

The Tetias ducal kitchen was as busy as ever. Every meal required a great many dishes, and beyond the three daily meals, tea and refreshments had to be provided, and on days when guests came, fine pies and cakes had to be baked to fill the trays. The kitchen was consequently one of the rooms with the most servants.

It was after the master and mistress had finished their morning meal. The servants preparing ingredients for lunch were putting away the freshly delivered provisions. One maid had finished carrying in the groceries from the delivery cart but lingered to chat with the delivery man before coming back. The two were around the same age and often exchanged meaningful glances, so the other maids tactfully made themselves scarce.

“It’s rather sad and rather inconvenient at the same time.”

The maid returned before long, set down a crate in the kitchen, and said it.

“What is?”

“The beggar girl!”

The maid sorting through the provisions in the crate answered the one who looked confused.

“You haven’t heard? Shoern told me just now. Yes, the delivery man from before. He said there’s a girl wandering around this area asking questions about the ducal family.”

“My goodness!”

“Do you think she’s hoping for charity?”

They said it, but the maids knew perfectly well that was not it. Of course there were plenty of begging children, but those children were not particular about their targets. To them, anyone in fine clothes was a gentleman or a lady, and they held out their palms or looked pitiful hoping for a coin to be tossed their way. Money was money no matter whose pocket it came from. None of them had ever seen a child wandering near a specific household asking questions about a particular family.

Could she be the child of a servant? Or perhaps just a girl who wanted to become a maid at the ducal household. There was certainly no shortage of people who wanted this good position. The maids were buzzing with speculation when the kitchen door opened and a sharp-faced maid said, “The tea should be ready by now. The mistress will not wait.”

‘She never waits even a minute.’ The maids exchanged glances carrying that thought, knowing the difficult and exacting nature of Lady Ellarod all too well. But they answered in polite voices as they arranged refreshments and teacups on the tray.

“Don’t worry, head maid. It’s all ready.”

“I could hear the chatter all the way from the corridor and thought you’d be behind, but I suppose that’s a relief.”

Everyone gave an awkward smile at the head maid’s sarcasm. The head maid, whose name was Veronica, was a maid Lady Ellarod had brought from her family home and trusted deeply. Whether her personality had been shaped by her mistress or whether she had always been that way, she had a tongue sharp enough to cut, and no one dared argue with her.

“It wasn’t that…… there’s, there’s been talk going around lately about the ducal family. That’s what made the conversation go on.”

One of the maids offered Veronica an excuse. Veronica raised an eyebrow and pressed in her characteristic sharp voice.

“Talk? What talk?”

“A child. One that looks about…… ten years old.”

The maid answered immediately at Veronica’s prompt. Lea had grown up underfed and looked younger than her age, so the delivery man had guessed she was around ten. The maid relayed to Veronica exactly what the delivery man had told her, that a child who appeared to be from the slums was going around asking about the Tetias ducal family.

Veronica was indifferent at first, but when the maids kept repeating that the child was strangely asking only about the Tetias family, her expression shifted for a moment. It was only a moment, and she returned to her usual exacting face, lifted her chin, and said, “In any case, it would be best to deal with that matter before it reaches the master’s ears. Odd rumors could start circulating.”

A new maid blinked and asked. She was an innocent, unobservant girl.

“Odd rumors? She’s just a poor child. At most she’s looking for work. What kind of rumors could possibly come from that?”

“Well……”

Veronica had opened her mouth without thinking and caught herself, shutting it quickly. She gave an awkward cough and raised her voice unnecessarily.

“In any case! I’ll handle this matter myself. You must not let something this trivial interfere with your work again.”

“Yes, head maid.”

The maids pursed their lips but went back to their tasks. Veronica’s sharp gaze moved over them one by one as though in warning, then settled on a maid quietly sorting vegetables in the corner.