The mistress. Has there ever been a time when my mother-in-law wasn’t furious with me? She was always furious. From the moment she found out my background was lowly.

In the meantime, the maid thrust a heaping armful of food at me.

“What are you doing? I told you the mistress is furious.”

The maid furrowed her brow at me, apparently finding it strange that I just stood there in a daze.

“Hurry up. How much more of a scolding do you want?”

They addressed me as the young mistress and kept up the formal speech, but what they actually did to me was something that could only happen if they clearly regarded me as beneath them.

Whenever I didn’t move fast enough, the maids would naturally step on my feet. Those little acts pleased my mother-in-law.

This time was no different. Worse, even. When I stood there staring at her in a daze, the maid pinched my arm with all her strength.

“Still not with it? Should I go tell the mistress?”

Without making so much as a sound, I bit down hard on my lip.

“No.”

What she held out was a rolling tray loaded with food.

“Then get in there and help with the meal preparations. We have a guest today on top of everything, so you’ll need to be especially sharp.”

“Alright.”

“Finally. Don’t make me say things twice. Move quickly. Young mistress.”

An ordinary day, no different from any other.

Ordinary discrimination, no different from any other.

And now I find it almost laughable, the way I take all of it in stride. I had sworn to get my revenge, and yet here I am, still unable to do a single thing.

Just then, as I stood there in a daze again, the maid shoved me from behind.

“I said move.”

“Oh!”

And so, as on any other day, I walked into the dining hall being treated no differently from the other maids. It had started with the excuse that they were short on hands, but by now this kind of work had simply become mine to do. I trudged along, pushing the cart into the dining hall.

That was when the guest visiting the house came into view.

The moment I saw that guest, I realized an opportunity had arrived.

“What took you so long? How long are you going to keep a guest waiting!”

On any other day I would have had to pretend to flinch at Mother’s outburst, but I was startled in an entirely different sense and couldn’t manage any reaction at all.

Noble households generally don’t receive guests at breakfast. Most days, even lunch is a simple tea, with dinner being the occasion for meal invitations, yet today there was a guest.

And not just any guest. This was someone I had been quite eager to see since my return. I was so stunned I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

My husband’s mistress, and the woman who would soon take my place. Princess Rechel.

She had made her entrance.

‘A little later than she was supposed to, perhaps.’

In the original, she was meant to visit the estate around the two-week mark. She had said she came because she missed spending time with Dertosse, her friend since childhood, but her real reason for visiting was to make an impression on Rose, my mother-in-law and Dertosse’s mother.

‘Not long after the wedding, Rechel confesses her feelings to my husband, Dertosse.’

Knowing all of that future, I had been wondering. The day she was supposed to visit had come and gone without her. So I stood there frozen, staring at her.

Of course, my mother-in-law was not the type to leave me alone like that.

“What are you doing, Evian?”

Her voice came sharp and full of irritation.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“So slow! Get over here right now! Where did he even find someone like this!”

Anyone watching would think he had brought home a maid. I forced down the anger rising inside me and met her eyes with a forlorn expression.

“Was the meal late because of me, Mother?”

“Of course! Not a single thing about you is satisfactory.”

“I’m sorry…”

I was about to offer an apology and try to smooth things over when Rechel slipped naturally between us.

“Don’t be too hard on her.”

“Hmm?”

“That’s just how the uneducated are. There’s no need for you to get upset over it, Mother.”

As though to make clear she was nothing like me, Rechel continued slowly.

“I hear that woman doesn’t even know her own background. So in a way, her behavior makes sense.”

“Ha… if I had known she was of such low standing, I would have fought the marriage with everything I had, even if it put me in bed.”

“Please don’t. Why not show her, with the generous grace of a noble household, the proper etiquette that not just anyone can learn? One thing at a time, slowly.”

A soft laugh escaped her, and I could clearly feel Rechel’s gaze land on me.

“I see. She really is different, being as clever and wise as she is. What a broad-minded way of thinking.”

“Not at all. I’m sure that woman, too, would not have troubled you so, Mother, had she received a ‘proper’ upbringing. Though of course there are those who show no change even after a proper education.”

She let out a small laugh and moved her fork and knife again.

The meal stretched on for quite a while after that. Treated as though I were one of the household maids, I couldn’t even join them at the table and kept myself busy carrying food back and forth like the others. Rechel’s gaze stayed fixed on me for a long time, as though she found the whole thing entertaining.

‘I must look amusing to you.’

So I didn’t look away either. I met her gaze with a small smile.

“Is there something you need, guest?”

“Guest? Where does she get the nerve to use such an ignorant word!”

A guest is a guest, so what else should I call her, a freeloader? My mother-in-law, who simply wanted to pick a fight with everything I said, snapped and glared at me.

“Oh. Should I call her something else then, Mother.”

“Of course. This young lady is Princess Rechel.”

“Ah. So that’s who she is.”

I widened my eyes and nodded, feigning complete ignorance.

“That’s who she is? So you know of me.”

“Oh. Yes, a little.”

“What do you know?”

“Hmm. I only heard a little from Dert. Princess. I’ll go prepare the next course now.”

I smiled as pleasantly as I could and set the dishes down in front of her one by one. Just as I had expected, the single line “I heard it from Dert” hooked Princess Rechel, and unable to contain her curiosity, she kept glancing back and forth between me and Dertosse.

Dertosse, of course, only shrugged as though he had no idea what I was talking about.

That unsatisfying response was never going to put Rechel at ease. She was a woman who always needed everything to move the way she wanted, who always needed to know everything the way she wanted to know it.

Thanks to that, the longer the meal went on, the heavier the atmosphere grew. My mother-in-law, who caught shifts in mood faster than anyone, quickly waved a hand.

“Princess, never mind that and eat first. There’s no need to listen to pointless words from a pointless person.”

“…Yes. You’re right!”

“Now, what were we talking about earlier?”

“Oh. I was saying I brought along a sharp-witted handmaid. I thought she would be just what this household needs, so I personally saw to it.”

“A handmaid?”

Like oil and water, I didn’t blend in with them at all. They didn’t include me within the bounds of their family either, so even as their meal continued, I stayed busy like the maids.

Not a single person told me to join them at the table, or that I could stop serving. They treated me exactly like a maid.

Dertosse was the same. Every now and then when our eyes met, he would press his hands together in a show of apology. But even that seemed to embarrass him, and he ended up looking away entirely.

“I’ve been worried ever since the moment I heard about Dertosse’s marriage, Mother. They say a family line runs well when the right woman comes in, and the one who came in is just so unsatisfactory. She’s such a poor fit for this household.”

It was only natural that the end of that gaze landed on me. Every part of me wanted to say I was still better than someone who stole another woman’s husband, but since the time wasn’t right, I simply smiled pleasantly.

I kept reminding myself that what they were saying was nothing but nonsense, and that I was someone who didn’t hear nonsense.

“Exactly. I’m so embarrassed I could die, Princess. Haah… Dertosse should have married someone like you… I can’t believe he got himself tangled up with someone like that…”

“I know. If he had married me, there would be none of this trouble.”

Just then, as though he had been waiting for it, Dertosse set down his water glass and flashed a grin at Rechel.