“They know, too. They’re just pretending not to. It’s not exactly something to be proud of, so I’d appreciate it if you pretended not to know as well.”
I replied indifferently.
“The money was spent on my engagement five years ago. It was arranged behind the scenes, so they deliberately kept the details vague.”
Rangsi nearly toppled out of his chair.
Disbelief flashed across his face.
“W-What? Your engagement, my lady?”
“That’s what I said.”
“But... what kind of nonsense is that? Who gets engaged at seven years old?”
He groaned in disbelief.
“And spending that much money on it? Good heavens, what sort of lunatic would even—”
“My mother was the one who arranged it.”
Realizing he had accidentally spoken the truth, Rangsi smacked himself across the mouth.
“For a moment, Wendy possessed me.”
He had clearly fallen into a state of complete panic.
I decided to shock him even further.
“The engagement was broken off anyway. I handled it myself, so you don't need to worry about it. The request for annulment arrived on the very day Alphius became the marquis.”
Rangsi grabbed the back of his head.
“Don't tell me they wanted to break it off immediately because you were no longer the heir to the Sears family? That's absurd!”
“The conditions no longer matched. Staying engaged would have made even less sense.”
“But who in the world calculates every little advantage and disadvantage before getting married?!”
“My parents.”
I explained calmly.
“My mother was a princess of a fallen kingdom with no dowry. She had no choice but to marry a divorced man ten years older than herself. And my father, as you know, constantly announced that he wanted to pass the marquisate to his missing eldest son. No respectable noblewoman of the Empire would willingly marry under those circumstances.”
It had been a political marriage formed from equally undesirable conditions.
“A perfect match, really. Two people with prestigious names but little practical value. Looking purely at the terms, neither side held any advantage over the other.”
“B-But still...”
“Besides...”
I muttered bitterly.
“My fiancé never seemed particularly happy about being engaged to me in the first place. The balance of power was already tilted heavily in his favor. I never expected it would actually lead to marriage.”
Rangsi drew in a sharp breath before carefully asking,
“M-My lady... are you... alright?”
I frowned slightly.
The question felt strangely unfamiliar.
Only after a moment did I realize no one had ever asked me that before.
The maids never would. They wouldn't dare.
And my parents...
“Everyone dislikes a whining child, Rangsi.”
I answered quietly.
“When a child isn't alright, adults usually find it bothersome.”
Truthfully, I hadn't been alright on the day of the engagement ceremony either.
I simply hadn't been able to tell anyone.
“Let's end this topic here. What was it you wanted to ask me?”
“Suddenly, I don't feel like asking anymore. I do have some sense, y'know.”
“Then surely you've sensed that if you don't ask now, I'll feel pitied—and that will annoy me enough not to let you off the hook.”
“B-But if I ask after hearing all that, part of me's going to feel terrible...”
“Which means another part of you won't feel at ease unless you ask. So hurry up.”
Unable to argue further, Rangsi sighed and spoke carefully.
“In that case... my lady, I apologize deeply, but... would it be possible for you to educate the maids a little?”
It was obvious he was choosing every word with extreme caution.
“The maids of the marquisate have been looking down far too much on Lord Alphius—and on the rest of us who serve him.”
The very fact that he was bringing this matter to me meant he had begun to acknowledge my authority.
“We understand now that being pushed aside overnight after serving the former heir can't be pleasant. But from our perspective, it's difficult to think kindly of maids who keep talking like they know everything while the estate is drowning in debt.”
Rangsi paused and carefully watched my reaction.
I slowly raised two fingers.
“There are two things I want to say about that.
First, my maids are ignorant of worldly matters.”
“You already know that?! Good heavens!”
His eyes widened.
I replied coldly.
“But that's precisely why they're still here. You checked the budget yourself, didn't you? You know how many months their wages are overdue.”
Rangsi looked as though he'd been struck across the face.
“The maids who understood reality already left. The only ones remaining are those who value the honor and pride of serving the last bloodline of the Liente royal family more than their paychecks.”
The Kingdom of Liente had fallen to the Kingdom of Sebon before I was born.
Just before its destruction, the king had hurriedly sent his youngest daughter—the Fifth Princess—to the Empire and married her into the powerful House Sears.
He had simply wanted at least one of his daughters to survive.
Even my mother was now gone.
Officially speaking, I was the last direct descendant of the Liente royal family.
“Liente's history is older than the Empire's. But for centuries, the kingdom valued luxury, ceremony, and appearances while neglecting practical scholarship.”
“R-Really? But that's a terrible way to run a country, isn't it?”
“That's why it collapsed.”
I exposed my maternal family's shame without hesitation.
“Even so, my every action is part of the honor they believe they're protecting. I understand why you might find that ridiculous.”
To them, I was their pride.
Something worth more than the wages I could no longer pay.
That was why they had stayed.
Why they had never abandoned me.
They had come from Liente with my mother.
“Still, I don't think it's wise to mock someone's sincere beliefs.
Which brings me to the second thing.”
Meeting Rangsi's stunned gaze, I continued.
“When you're able to pay all their overdue wages, tell me. Then I'll properly educate them, just as you've requested.”
In other words:
If he wanted to tell them what to do, he needed to bring money first.
“A single coin placed in their hands is worth more than an unwrinkled skirt on their mistress.”
“...No, it isn't.”
Rangsi's answer came immediately.
“For all of us, your unwrinkled skirt is still far more precious.”
And just like that, Rangsi decided to join the maids in sharing the same collective soul.
“Good.”
I graciously accepted his change of heart.
“Then I'll be going now.”
Since there seemed to be nothing left to discuss, I quietly rose from my seat.
Rangsi was too stunned to even feel angry anymore.
This clever little girl understood exactly what the fine clothes on her back cost.
She wasn't merely the leader of a group of foolish maids.
She was earning her keep in the way the marquisate's crushing debt demanded.
Without those maids, who would run this estate?
“I-I'll escort you, my lady.”
Rangsi hurried after Brisa.
But the moment the door opened, they encountered a maid waiting outside.
The maid glanced at Brisa's expression and immediately whispered to Rangsi.
“Milady looks a little gloomy. Did she talk about the broken engagement?”
Rangsi blinked.
How did she know?
Before he could answer, the maid continued proudly.
“Don't pity our lady. She didn't only receive a letter of annulment.”
The maid lifted her chin.
“An anonymous bouquet arrived at the same time.”
Rangsi's jaw dropped.
“It won't be long before she receives a proposal from that young lord.”
The maid sounded absolutely confident.
“She could end up marrying into a family with even greater status!”
Surely that wasn't supposed to be comforting.
Rangsi sighed inwardly.
He could more or less picture what had happened in this household.
While the oblivious maids showered Brisa with misguided affection, the child herself had quietly matured far too early.
If Alphius learned this, he would probably cry for three days and three nights.
After all, Alphius had been forced to grow up too quickly as well.
“Brisa must have missed having family.”
Before leaving for the capital, Alphius had proudly shown Rangsi a dried-up sprig of herbs.
“She gave this to me.”
Then he had smiled warmly.
“Today's circumstances were upsetting, but I'm sure she's actually a kind and gentle child—just like me. I want to see her again soon. Maybe I'll play with her in the garden and blow up balloons for her. Do you think she'd like it if I brought back bubble toys from the capital as a surprise?”
As he departed, Alphius's greatest worry had been that Brisa might grow up too fast.
“I don't want my little sister to become an adult too soon...”
But sadly, one thing was now certain.
My lord, you'll probably have to pop those bubbles by yourself.
Even if the two of them stood together in that garden someday, it was far more likely that Brisa would be the one entertaining Alphius than the other way around.
