Erwel, from the Ruteck family, which had produced many famous scholars.
Krisina, from the Ferny family, renowned as a lineage of artists.
Rishi liked both of them.
Erwel was around the same age as Rishi, a young lady with red hair, green eyes, and cute freckles across the bridge of her nose.
Krisina was a married woman with a child, possessing jet-black hair and deep blue eyes.
Erwel said she was fine with staying at the Green estate, while Krisina mentioned she would need to return home two or three times a week because of her child.
“I am grateful that young ladies from such prestigious families have come to help me.”
“Not at all, Countess. It is I who am honored to see the ‘Flower of the Wittlow Duchy’ in person and to have the privilege of serving by your side.”
At Krisina’s words, Erwel’s eyes went round.
“The Flower of the Wittlow Duchy? Gasp, was it really that Iris?”
Krisina nudged Erwel’s side with her elbow.
“El.”
“Ah! My apologies, Countess. I was so surprised that I committed a faux pas.”
Erwel bowed her head quickly. Her voice had become much calmer than when she had asked if it was really that Iris.
“It seems you two already knew each other.”
“Yes, we have a long-standing connection with the Ruteck family, so we have been interacting since this child was young.”
Erwel kept her mouth shut, and Krisina answered on her behalf.
“Erwel is rather quiet, so I would appreciate your understanding if I occasionally answer for her instead, Countess.”
The remark Krisina added felt strange to Rishi.
Quiet?
In Rishi’s eyes, Erwel looked like someone who was itching to ask all sorts of things but couldn’t. However, she did not bother to point that out.
As it was the first day, they exchanged simple greetings and left the drawing room. Jamie, who had been waiting outside, approached Rishi quickly and whispered.
“Miss Gillette is waiting in Iris’s room.”
Rishi gave a light nod and instructed for the two new maids to be shown to their rooms. As she walked toward her own chamber, her eyes grew cold and settled.
+++
After showing Erwel and Krisina to their rooms, Jamie told them they were free to rest until they received further instructions from Rishi.
The moment Jamie left, Erwel looked at Krisina and spoke up.
“Whoa, daebak. That was insane. Wow, Sini. Daebak.”
“El…”
“No, seriously, it was insane. Wow. Iris, the Flower of the Wittlow Duchy. I thought the rumors were exaggerated… but wow, she was seriously beautiful. I was so surprised. Did you see her smile at me? Wow, seriously. I almost melted. My heart almost stopped.”
Krisina sighed.
“El, please change the way you talk. You’re already a twenty-five-year-old woman; what kind of tone is that? That’s why no man wants to take you.”
“Ah, forget it. I don’t need a man to take me. I’d rather die than live acting like some refined noblewoman.”
As Erwel flopped onto the sofa and propped her feet up on the table, a deep wrinkle formed between Krisina’s brows.
To think she would behave like that despite wearing a beautiful dress. If the elegant Countess were to see Erwel like this, she might faint.
“Erwel, I don’t ask for much, but I have one request.”
“What is it?” Erwel asked, scratching her head.
“Please, throw away those hideous concealed weapons you’ve hidden inside that dress!”
+++
As soon as Rishi entered her room, she found Gillette sitting comfortably on the sofa.
Gillette looked as if she were the owner of the room.
Even though she must have heard Rishi walk in, Gillette did not rise. She only turned her head to stare coldly at Rishi.
Rishi walked over without a word, sat down opposite the sofa, and gazed steadily at Gillette.
Lush brown hair, pale skin, large eyes with green irises. Her small face featured delicate, harmonious, and beautiful features. She was pretty enough to rival Britney, so Rishi couldn’t tell what gave Gillette the confidence to behave so arrogantly.
Gillette had initially received Rishi’s gaze with a sneer, but as Rishi remained silent, she seemed unable to bear the tension and began fidgeting with her fingers.
In the end, it was Gillette who broke the silence.
“Why did you call for me?”
“It seems the Merdi family has no money, so they had a beggar from the market handle your upbringing.”
“What?” Gillette raised an eyebrow.
Gillette realized a moment later that it was an insult, and her face flushed red.
Rishi watched her without saying a word.
Gillette seemed to want to retort to Rishi’s remark, but she likely couldn’t find the right words. It was true, after all, that she had been rude to the lady of the estate.
Gillette bit her lower lip and clenched both fists tightly. Her hands, which had been resting leisurely on her lap, grew white from the pressure.
*‘She must want to hit me.’*
Rishi had already finished analyzing Gillette.
If Gillette were a wise person, she would have shown proper etiquette to the lady of the house while secretly seducing Kay behind her back. But Gillette was wearing all her emotions on her sleeve. Dealing with such an opponent was easy.
“If you only called me to say things like that, I’m leaving!”
Gillette stood up abruptly.
Rishi kept her gaze fixed straight ahead and said, in a low but firm voice:
“Sit down, Gillette Merdi.”
Gillette flinched.
Rishi still didn’t look up at Gillette, keeping her posture poised and her gaze locked forward. Even if Gillette acted like the world belonged to her, Rishi was the Countess Green. As long as she was in this estate under the status of a ‘maid,’ she could not simply ignore Rishi’s orders.
Gillette sat back down. Once again, Rishi said nothing, merely watching her quietly.
“If you have something to say, make it quick.”
“Gillette. From today on, you are my maid.”
Gillette’s eyes widened.
“What…? I am the Count’s exclusive maid!”
“Not anymore. From today, you are my exclusive maid.”
“Ha! That’s ridiculous. I didn’t come to this estate to attend to you. Do you think I—that the Merdi family—is a family meant to attend to the Countess?”
“In that case, is it a family meant to attend to the Count?”
“That’s different!”
“It is not different. They say a husband and wife are one.”
“But…! It’s a political marriage. I know everything.”
A faint smile touched Rishi’s lips.
“I thought you were old enough to know that a marriage is a marriage, whether it’s for convenience or love…”
Gillette gritted her teeth and said, “The Count won’t allow it.”
“Well, I think otherwise.”
Gillette stood up and stormed out of the room. Rishi did not stop her this time, letting her go.
Gillette walked down the hallway, seething. Her chest was so filled with fury she wanted to scream.
*‘So annoying!’*
She hated the way Rishi’s eyes looked down on her as if she were a commoner. She hated her unflappable, calm attitude, her monotone way of speaking, and that beautiful face—too beautiful, to the point where even the title of “Flower of the Wittlow Duchy” felt insufficient.
*‘The Count would never send me to that woman as a maid.’*
Gillette was Kay’s only personal maid. She was the only woman in the estate permitted to enter Kay’s study.
Kay had told her she was welcome to enter the study and read books whenever he wasn’t there. Even when she burst through the door pretending not to know he was inside, Kay had never gotten angry.
*‘The Count is only lenient with me. That woman is just someone he had a political marriage with—I’m different.’*
Gillette had no doubt that Kay would never send her to be Rishi’s personal maid.
She couldn’t just burst through the door this time without a pretext. She had come to inform Kay of Rishi’s high-handedness.
Gillette arranged her expression, took a deep breath, and knocked on the study door.
“Who is it?”
“Count, it’s me, Gillette.”
“I am working.”
“I have something urgent to tell you…”
“I said I am working.”
Faced with Kay’s firm rejection, Gillette couldn’t bring herself to open the door and remained standing there, dazed.
At that moment, Rishi stood beside Gillette, though she hadn’t noticed when she had followed her.
1. Chapter 1
“Kay.”
“The Count is currently working.”
As Gillette pointed this out, the study door swung open.
Kay, who had refused Gillette by saying he was working, had opened the door himself at the sound of Rishi’s single call.
Gillette, unable to believe the situation, opened her eyes wide and looked up at Kay.
Kay’s ash-gray eyes were fixed solely on Rishi, as if Gillette were not even in the room.
A faint smile hovered on Kay’s lips. It was a smile he had never once shown Gillette.
“Did you come to show off your dress, Rishi?”
Kay’s voice, flowing from between his red lips, was calm and sweet. This, too, was something Gillette had never heard before.
“Does it look that way?”
“If it looks that splendid, I thought you would want to boast.”
Kay reached out and gently wound the tip of Rishi’s hair around his finger before releasing it.
“Wearing a green dress, you look just like an elf standing in the middle of a forest.”
“Do elves really exist?”
“I just told you. One is right before my eyes.”
Kay and Rishi looked at each other and laughed as if there were no joke more amusing than that.
Gillette felt like she might faint at the sight of the two exchanging banter as if they were alone, even though she was standing right beside them. But the atmosphere was such that she couldn’t possibly intervene, so she could only bite her lower lip.
‘Who is this man?’
Kay did not seem like the Cavebrand Green that Gillette knew.
Kay was a cold man who rarely expressed emotion, much like an ice castle in the Arctic. He would occasionally laugh when with his subordinates, but usually, he was taciturn and had almost no changes in expression.
It was impossible to believe that such a man was acting like a puppy in a spring breeze toward Rishi.
“But what is the matter, Rishi?”
“I am very pleased with the maids Jamie brought. Erwel from the Ruteck family and Krisina from the Ferny family… I never would have imagined it.”
Gillette also knew of the Ruteck and Ferny families.
They were families that had produced countless scholars and artists, ones that even the Viscount Merdi family could not treat lightly.
“However, two maids are not enough.”
“I see. If you give me some time, I will find young ladies from families as good as Ruteck and Ferny.”
“No. I do not need young ladies from families that high-ranking.”
Finally, Rishi’s eyes turned toward Gillette.
Only then did Kay look back at Gillette, as if he had just noticed her existence.
“This much will do.”
If she hadn’t been in front of Kay, Gillette would have screamed.
Rishi had simultaneously demoted the Merdi family to a level below the Ruteck and Ferny families, while also reducing Gillette to someone of lower standing than the two maids.
Kay’s answer was Gillette’s last straw.
Desperately hoping for Kay to refuse, Gillette stared only at his lips.
Kay, having glanced briefly at Gillette, replied indifferently.
“Do as you please, Rishi.”