Chapter 18
Albert looked at Elisha, who was fearlessly hitting his sore spot, with an expression of disapproval and said,
“You’re really something.”
However, contrary to his words, his anger subsided a lot.
He was offended but he acknowledged inwardly that Elisha had a point. Nevertheless, his threatening voice was as cold as ever.
“This will be the last time I overlook your insolence.”
“……”
“I don’t care what you will do with the classes, just don’t let it happen ever again.”
It meant that if this happened one more time, she would not be allowed to take the classes anymore. Elisha lowered her eyes and answered with a calm voice.
“Yes.”
“Get out.”
Elisha turned around and left the office. As soon as she closed the door, she sighed.
‘As expected, it’s really hard to live in someone else’s house.’
After Richard’s departure, other than Ann, the attitude of Albert and everyone else toward Elisha had become cold.
In the first place, she entered the duke’s mansion as Richard’s wife. Without him, she was just a stranger.
‘To strengthen my position, I need to be someone with more worth, not only as Richard’s wife.’
That was the reason why Elisha attended the financial classes diligently, studied hard, and often went in and out of the library to read books.
Today as well, Elisha headed to the library like usual. She could read books in her bedroom, but she would feel slothful whenever she saw her bed, so she preferred reading in the library.
However, she encountered a problem today.
‘I think I should read this book along with the other book I left in my room.’
Elisha returned to her room with a book to read and opened the door. Since the door was not closed tightly, it didn’t make any sound. At that time, the voices of the maids were heard through the slight ajar.
“Hurry up, put this in your pocket.”
“Oh, can we really do this?”
“Young master Richard is only fifteen years old. How can a 15-year-old boy survive the war?”
“But….”
“His Majesty must’ve intended it to happen in the first place when His Majesty sent him to the battlefield.”
“……”
“Brace yourself. If that happens, Rubelin will be handed over to someone else and we’ll be replaced. Before that happens, we need to find another way to make a living.”
“That’s true, but……”
“Come on, hurry up.”
Near the dressing table, Elisha saw her specially crafted golden brooch in the maid’s hand. As soon as she saw it, she could naturally guess where the hairband Ann was looking for last time would be.
Elisha opened the door and strode into the room.
“It was you guys who took it, right?”
“Mi-milady?”
The maid, who was hesitant to steal the brooch, looked at Elisha in fright.
Elisha strode toward them and snatched the brooch from the maid’s hand.
“I left it there all the time, and I was wondering where it went since it doesn’t have feet for it to be able to move by itself.”
Trembling, the maid turned pale as she hastily knelt and bowed her head.
“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I have sinned worthy of death!”
Then, the other maid, who had been encouraging her friend to steal, also knelt.
“We are sorry, milady.”
Then she continued with tears in her eyes.
“But these accessories are just insignificant things that milady can lose without any worries. However, for us, they are worth a few years of food.”
“……”
“Please have mercy upon us.”
“…….”
“If this family falls, maids like us will have nowhere to go.”
The maid, however, had the audacity to ask Elisha to be gracious toward them, rather than sincerely begging for her forgiveness.
Elisha looked down at the maid who was looking at her with earnest eyes. She opened her mouth.
“Do you think this family is going to fall?”
“….”
“The Rubelin?”
Rubelin meant nothing to Elisha, but the maid’s statement about the Rubelin’s fall meant that she expected Richard’s death. Her words sounded as if she wished for Richard’s death.
When the maid noticed that Elisha’s expression darkened, she groveled.
“We-well, that was just an assumption.”
“Well, yeah. I can’t help it if you guys unfortunately think like that. I can’t influence how you think.”
Elisha’s gentle words made the maid expect her to show mercy.
‘Because she’s only a 12-years-old girl.’
If she appealed for Elisha’s sympathy, she would get over this quietly.
Furthermore, Elisha might even offer the brooches to them out of pity because she was always taking care of that stupid and poor Ann as if she was her own younger sister.
However, Elisha’s words that followed were completely different from what she expected.
“But you shouldn’t have tried to justify your sins and trampled on other people’s hopes.”
“Th-that’s…!”
“Since you think so, it won’t matter whether you leave now or later. This family is going to fall anyway.”
“Mi-milady?”
Only then did the maid realize that Elisha would not show any mercy.
At that moment, the golden brooch that she tried to steal a while ago fell onto her skirt. It was thrown by Elisha.
After taking a glance at the golden brooch, the maid looked up and saw Elisha looking at her with indifferent eyes.
Elisha spoke in a calm, yet determined voice.
“Leave.”
The maid’s eyes shook tremendously at Elisha’s sudden notice of dismissal.
“Mi-milady! I made a mistake. Please forgive me just this once!”
The maid hurriedly bowed her head and begged, but Elisha ignored her and pulled the bell pull to call the other maids.
She spoke to the maids who were bewildered by the scene they arrived to upon entering the room.
“This child touched my jewelry and talked presumptuously about the death of the duke’s heir and the fall of this family. These acts are unbecoming for a maid of this mansion.”
“…!”
“These crimes deserve severe punishment, so kick her out of the duke’s mansion right now.”
“Milady!”
“Yes, milady.”
The other maids looked alternately at Elisha and their crying colleague then raised her. Even though Elisha was young, she was still their mistress unless Richard divorced her.
They took the thieving maid out according to Elisha’s order. The other maid, who was urged to steal, was forgiven by Elisha and returned to her work.
‘Now that the maids have seen the incident today, they won’t dare to think of doing such an impudent act again.’
She had to make them know what kind of person the next duchess would be. Elisha sighed tiredly as she looked at the quiet room.
‘It’s a relief.’
They should’ve learned a lesson from today’s incident.
However, she still felt uneasy.
‘The duke is like that too. Everyone says that Richard is going to lose the war, so I cannot help but feel anxious as well…….’
She knew that Richard wouldn’t die. However, she didn’t know whether Richard would lose or win the war.
In any case, she needed to stay as a part of Rubelin until she became an adult, so she couldn’t help but pay attention to this family’s status.
‘No, let’s not think about bad things.’
Elisha shook off the uneasy thoughts she had for a moment. Instead, she decided to think about how she could strengthen Rubelin’s status while Richard is away.
‘This isn’t a very nice place to live for me, but for Richard, this is his home.’
If she managed Rubelin well until he returned, it would become her honorary contribution as the mistress, so she would have the right to ask for big alimony for the divorce.
As Elisha was about to open a book and study about land management, Ann barged in unannounced.
“Milady, milady!”
It was rude for a maid to burst open the door without knocking, but Elisha readily overlooked the rudeness the moment she heard Ann’s next words.
“The young master won the first battle!”
A bright smile spread over Elisha’s face after a long time. It was the news that everyone in Rubelin, including Elisha, had been waiting for so long.
*****
A few days later, the emperor’s birthday arrived. Elisha was groomed to attend the banquet that will be held in the evening.
“Milady, how about this dress?”
“Yeah, I’ll wear this one.”
The maids were quite excited to see Elisha dressing up.
Thanks to Richard’s victory, not only the maids, but the Duke of Rubelin’s expression was also strangely brighter than ever.
As such, the victory news, which came before the emperor’s birthday banquet, brought happiness not only to Rubelin’s people but to all the citizens of the empire.
Except for the emperor and his aides.
‘The emperor would have wanted Richard to lose the battle. By the time the tide is completely down, he’ll send more reinforcements to lead us to victory.’
There was no better way to bring down Rubelin’s reputation than that.
The emperor had been delaying from sending his troops because they were unprepared to go to war. If he really wanted to end the war as soon as possible, he would’ve sent the reinforcements earlier.
‘If it’s delayed any longer…… then he really wants Richard to die.’
Elisha’s expression hardened when she figured out the emperor’s intention.
‘It doesn’t matter whether someone else’s son dies or not, only my son is precious.’
About a week after Richard’s departure, Christian, who had been sick, recovered at a rapid pace, as if he had been waiting. And he is supposed to attend the banquet today.
The thought of seeing his obnoxious face made her insides twist.
‘My kid’s probably rolling around in that tough place while Christian must be rolling around in bed eating cookies.’
Elisha, who was grinding her teeth while thinking about the emperor and Christian, suddenly thought of a trick. An excellent trick to make that father and son duo pay for their actions with high cost.
“I’ll be back.”
A satisfied smile hung around Elisha’s mouth when she left the maids who were attending to her in the room.