“Head Maid?”

Only then did clear awareness return to her unfocused eyes at Reibella’s call. When she looked over, Reibella said.

“Her Highness seems to need writing paper. If you tell me where it is, I’ll go get it.”

“No. I’ll bring it. Your Highness, please wait a moment.”

“Alright.”

“Then I’ll continue organizing the office.”

The head maid nodded and passed by Reibella’s side, leaving the office. Her steps were strangely unsteady, unlike her usual perfect composure.

……What’s going on? 

 * * *

 “Doesn’t the head maid seem strange today?”

As if everyone had felt the same thing, the personal maids brought up the topic of Raniel during their meal. They said she had been spacing out since breakfast.

“I think someone came from her household today, could there be something bad happening in her family?”

“I haven’t heard any such rumors. And when I saw the person who brought the letter earlier, they didn’t look particularly troubled.”

“Then what could it be?”

Just as everyone was wondering about this, Raniel, the subject of discussion, appeared. She glanced around briefly before calling Reibella.

“Yes, Head Maid.”

“Her Highness needs ink, so get some from my room and take it to her. I have other matters to attend to right now.”

“Yes.”

When Reibella nodded and hurried to clean up her meal, the other maids offered to take care of it and told her to go quickly.

Reibella expressed her thanks and hurried to the head maid’s room.

The head maid’s room was always perfectly organized. With only necessary items neatly arranged, finding the ink wasn’t difficult.

She found the ink bottle quickly and was about to leave when.

Reibella’s eyes fell on a letter on the desk. The maids’ earlier conversation suddenly flashed in her mind.

She shouldn’t look. But somehow the wide-open letter kept drawing her attention. Even the unfinished state was unlike the head maid, increasing her curiosity.

Slightly, as she moved closer to the letter, the first line caught her eye.

Addressed to Raniel, it seemed to be personal content.

But contrary to expectations, the content was really simple.

[That person has come.]

That was the point.

‘……That person?’

Who could that person be? Nothing more could be learned from just this content. To show such agitation all day over this.

‘Ah, perhaps…… first love?’

In the original story, on the day the princess was officially decided as heir to the throne, Raniel had shared an emotional line.

‘I’m glad I decided to stay by Her Highness’s side.’

She had a man she loved deeply, but when she chose to stay by the princess’s side, she parted with that man who was her first love.

There was definitely a scene where she reminisced that although it was really hard then, she could endure the hardship because she could serve the princess.

‘This must be that time.’

The time to decide between spending life with her loved one or choosing the princess.

‘Raniel will ultimately choose the princess.’

What would it feel like to give up one’s own life to live for another?

Surely, it couldn’t be entirely pleasant.

‘But this is strange.’

Why must she choose just one?

Even if she married, there were ways to remain by the princess’s side.

Why must extras always sacrifice their lives for the protagonist? 

 * * *

 Gurgle. While pouring ink into the princess’s empty ink bottle, Reibella secretly glanced at Raniel.

“Are they bringing a wife from there?”

“Yes. But His Majesty says Your Highness need not formally receive that person.”

“Hmm. But I’m the only female in the imperial family. I should receive them, who else would?”

The princess straightened her posture, adjusting her head position and hands as if she were an adult. That appearance was truly childlike.

Raniel smiled as if suppressing laughter at the princess’s cute behavior.

“I knew you would say that, so I told His Majesty the same.”

“As expected of Raniel.”

Looking at the grinning princess, Raniel finally couldn’t hold back her laughter. Her expression was similar to a mother looking at her newborn.

Come to think of it, the head maid always looked at the princess like that. She always treated the princess like a baby just learning to walk and never took her eyes off her.

‘No wonder she feels proud after raising her.’

The satisfaction must be great after raising someone with such devotion.

But that also made it somewhat sad.

‘Still, I should be the protagonist of my own life.’

Even if the princess was the protagonist of this world, its ruler, everyone had their own life. But the clear protagonist of the head maid’s life was the princess.

‘Why must extras always choose one or the other?’

When they could have both.

There were certainly ways. There were plenty of ways to be loyal to the princess while being married and having a family. Yet Raniel was trying to give up everything else to choose the princess.

‘It’s not my business.’

It was someone else’s life after all. Whatever choice she made was her right alone. Outsiders had no right to interfere.

Reibella pulled back her wandering thoughts and neatly organized the ink bottle.

Even until she left the room and closed the door, the head maid’s gaze never left the princess for a moment. 

 * * *

 “Did the head maid really do all this by herself?”

A few days later, heading to the head maid’s room early in the morning as usual, Reibella heard unexpected news. The story was that Raniel had suddenly collapsed. So they decided to divide up her duties…..

“I knew she did a lot of work, but I didn’t know it was this much.”

Emma, one of the four personal maids, clicked her tongue and muttered. Daisy nodded in agreement.

“It’s overwhelming even with the four of us sharing the work, but she’s been doing this alone all along. No wonder the head maid got sick.”

It was barely manageable even with four maids working together. Beyond staying by the princess’s side at all times except for bathroom breaks, it required thinking about and responding to even the smallest gestures and eyebrow movements.

Being work that required such expertise, no one could replace the head maid’s position, who had been with the princess since birth. The princess seemed to feel the head maid’s absence too, appearing subtly uncomfortable. Watching this, anxiety settled in the maids’ hearts.

“I hope the head maid returns soon.”

“Still, she needs proper rest. I think we should watch for two more days. We can’t let the cold spread to Her Highness. The head maid must be having the hardest time.”

“Well, that’s true but……”

As Daisy mumbled quietly, Emma picked up where she left off.

“But we have no choice. The head maid has been off since a few days ago.”

“Ah. Right, she was.”

Since receiving that letter, the head maid’s condition hadn’t improved. Of course, she didn’t make any major mistakes or errors, but she often spaced out, lost in thought, or moved more sluggishly than usual.

“What could really be going on?”

To Emma’s question, Daisy answered.

“It must be something with her family. Actually, a few days ago, a man requested to visit the princess’s palace to see the head maid, but she sent him away without meeting him. The head maid said he was from her family.”   

Daisy frowned as she recalled the events from a few days ago.

“But the atmosphere felt a bit strange.”

“How so?”

At Julia’s question, Daisy tilted her head and answered.

“How should I put it…… Like an ex-husband trying to make amends?”

“What are you saying? The head maid isn’t married.”

“No, that’s just what it felt like. Anyway, it seemed somewhat tender, you know?”

Listening quietly to the conversation, Reibella became certain that the man Daisy saw was the ‘first love.’

‘Could she be lovesick from not meeting him?’

Really foolish.

To choose to stay by the princess’s side despite loving someone enough to be this lovesick.

‘Ah, could it be because there’s too much work……?’

Because she knows it would be difficult without her.

That possibility was high too. From what she had observed, the head maid, except for unavoidable cases like this time, couldn’t leave the princess in others’ hands.

Because the princess followed the head maid so well, she probably thought ‘I am an irreplaceable existence to this person.’

Then what choice would Raniel make if someone showed her that this world would run fine even without her?