~Chapter 14~
I Only Need the Duke’s Child Episode 14. The Burden of the Ducal House
She was one of the maids serving Blair in the ducal household.
Blair tilted her head.
The maids of the ducal house disliked her almost as much as they admired their master Heredin, so delivering messages to her was usually Rina’s role.
Blair hurriedly finished her tea time with Agnes, left the greenhouse, and returned to the mansion.
Baroness Sionel, who had been waiting in her bedroom, greeted Blair in her characteristically high-pitched voice.
“Oh my!
You’ve become even more beautiful after getting married, Your Highness.
Ah, no, I should call you Duchess now.”
“I wanted to thank you about the wedding dress, but things were so hectic afterward that I couldn’t contact you.”
“If the most beautiful lady in the empire wore it, I should be the one offering thanks.
And it’s also an honor to make the first dress for you after your marriage.”
Blair listened to Baroness Sionel’s flattering words while glancing around the room.
Rina was not here either.
“As His Grace mentioned earlier, I carefully prepared fabrics that are light yet good for keeping warm.
It seems he was worried you might catch a cold.”
Baroness Sionel’s chatter passed through Blair’s mind without leaving a trace.
What mattered to her was that Rina was not in the room.
Even while Blair looked through the dresses Baroness Sionel had brought and decided on the design for a new one, Rina never appeared.
After Baroness Sionel left, Blair asked a nearby maid what had been bothering her the whole time.
“Where did Rina go?”
The maid hesitated, then answered while avoiding Blair’s gaze.
“W-well.
I’m not sure…
Should I go look for her?”
“No.
Just leave it.”
Blair rose from her seat and put on the fur robe she had taken off earlier.
“Are you going for a walk?”
“Yes.”
The maid prepared to follow behind Blair.
Blair stopped her.
“I’ll go alone.”
“Ah, yes.”
Leaving the maid behind, Blair left the room.
The maids waiting outside the door bowed to her.
Blair passed them, went down to the first floor, and then quietly returned upstairs.
Through the slightly open door of a room, she heard the maids whispering.
“Where did that Rina girl go?
She didn’t run off somewhere crying just because she got splashed with some dirty water, did she?”
“Crying? Not at all.
She didn’t even blink and just went to wash up.
How boring.”
“She’s tough, anyway.
Just like her mistress.
Still, it’ll take some effort to get rid of that smell.”
“But hey, she wouldn’t go and report us to the Duchess, would she?”
“If she were going to, it would’ve caused trouble already.
She knows too.
No matter how noble her mistress is as an imperial princess, in this ducal house she’s nothing but a burden.”
Hearing their conversation, Blair clutched the hem of her dress.
Her bright red lips trembled.
Her suspicion had been correct.
No matter how much they hated her, she was still the emperor’s only sister.
Instead of touching Blair, whom they could not harm, the maids had been tormenting her maid, Rina.
But one question arose.
Considering Rina’s usual personality, she would never have endured it.
Why had she endured it?
Only then did Blair realize.
Rina had endured it because she feared Blair’s already poor reputation in the ducal house would worsen.
‘She probably did the same in my previous life.
I was just too absorbed in my own situation to notice…’
Realizing that, Blair bit down hard on her lower lip.
“My lady?”
Startled by the voice behind her, Blair turned around and saw Rina.
Though she wore a clean new maid uniform, her still-damp hair showed she had just washed up.
Blair grabbed the hand of the still-unaware Rina and entered the room.
The maids who had been gossiping together were startled by Blair’s sudden return and bowed their heads.
Approaching them, Blair said,
“Apologize.”
A cold chill filled Blair’s eyes.
The maids flinched when their gazes met hers.
To them, Blair had been a mistress they had to treat cautiously, but not someone particularly frightening.
She had always existed quietly like a doll or a painting, with a calm expression, never once raising her voice.
But now, confronted with the cold anger in her eyes, they were so flustered they could not say a word.
Blair spoke again gently to the frozen maids.
“I told you to apologize to Rina.”
“W-we don’t understand what you mean, my lady.
What did we do wrong…”
Before anyone could stop her, Blair slapped the maid.
Not only the maid who was struck, but also the other maids and Rina watching were shocked.
Blair looked down at the maid who had fallen after being hit.
Her palm throbbed as though she had been the one struck.
It felt as though she had become Katrina.
It was an unpleasant and frightening feeling.
Her heart pounded, and her stomach churned as though she might vomit.
But if she wanted to protect Rina, she could not retreat now.
Blair clenched her trembling hand tightly.
“You know better than I do what I mean.”
“Y-your Highness.
I’m really fine.
Truly.”
Rina, finally regaining her senses, grabbed Blair.
In this situation where the people of the ducal house already disliked Blair, nothing good would come from making the matter bigger.
And if Heredin were to see this…
“…I’m not fine.”
Blair added with eyes full of anger, her face twisted as though she might burst into tears.
“I’m not fine with you suffering like this because of me.”
“What is going on here?”
Heredin appeared in the doorway.
Judging by his outdoor clothes and the leather gloves in his hand, he must have heard the commotion on his way out.
“Y-Your Grace.”
The maids and Rina turned pale and bowed their heads at his sudden appearance.
Heredin put on the gloves he was holding and quickly assessed the situation in the room.
The maid holding her reddened cheek and Blair whose hand trembled slightly.
It did not take long to understand what had happened.
While everyone remained silent, only the maid who had been struck stepped forward toward Heredin.
“She failed to properly carry out the task I gave her and behaved arrogantly, so I punished her a little. But the Duchess seems to have misunderstood—”
“I did not ask you.”
It was a simple but clear rebuke.
The maid shut her mouth and lowered her head.
Heredin’s gaze turned to Blair.
He was waiting for her words.
The maids also looked at Blair.
They intended to blame the situation on Rina and end it that way.
No matter how much Heredin disliked Blair, she was still the Duchess and an imperial princess, and they wished to avoid directly opposing her.
And they assumed Blair would also not want to escalate the matter and would simply agree with their explanation.
But Blair completely defied their expectations.
“These girls were isolating and bullying the girl I brought with me, so they were punishing her.”
The maids were surprised by Blair’s response but did not worry much.
Heredin would never take the side of Blair, the daughter of his enemy.
Blair herself did not expect Heredin to believe her words.
Even so, she did not want to end this by placing all the blame on Rina.
But then…
“It is my fault for failing to properly discipline those beneath me.
These girls will be dealt with shortly.”
Without further questioning, he believed Blair.
At those words, the maids’ faces turned pale.
Blair also looked at him in surprise.
Rina, who had been watching the situation, hurriedly spoke.
“Y-Your Grace.
I’m fine.
They teased me a little, but it’s part of getting familiar with each other.”
Of course, the maids who had bullied her did not look kind to her.
But being in a similar position, she knew better than anyone the hardships they would face if they were dismissed.
Understanding Rina’s uncomfortable feelings, Blair agreed with her.
“Heredin.
That… seems like too harsh a punishment.
A sincere apology and half of this month’s wages deducted should be enough.”
The maids who had been fidgeting also fell to their knees.
“We’re sorry, Your Grace!
We were foolish and committed such a disgraceful act.
Please forgive us just this once.”
“You should apologize not to me, but to the Duchess and this maid.”
After replying coldly, Heredin gave an order to Mason, who had arrived late after hearing the news.
“Mason, deduct two months of their wages.”
“Heredin.”
“I believe this is an appropriate punishment.”
Blair called his name to protest the punishment, but Heredin cut her off as though he already knew what she was going to say.
“Your Grace.”
Rus, checking his wristwatch, called out to Heredin.
It meant it was time.
“I’ll be back.”
Heredin lightly pulled Blair’s shoulder and kissed her smooth forehead.
Startled by his unusual behavior, Blair only understood his intention when she saw the maids beside her.
It was a warning.
That this woman was his wife.
And that such a thing must never happen again.
Blair stared blankly at his back as he left the bedroom.
He had believed her.
Yet instead of gratitude, why did she feel a greater sense of emptiness?
A problem that had tormented Rina for three years before her return had been resolved by just a few words from him.
* * *
That night, Rina headed toward Blair’s bedroom carrying a silver tray with cold water and a towel.
‘If we leave it like this, our lady will definitely have bruises on those delicate hands.’
Hitting someone required strength.
Those soft, delicate hands, which had never even done rough work, let alone strike someone, would not withstand such a shock.
‘I’m sorry, Rina.
I realized too late. I’m really sorry…’
Our tender-hearted princess who even apologizes after rescuing someone.
Thinking about the maid’s hard cheek that had struck those gentle hands made Rina furious.
“My lady, it’s me.
I’ll come in for a moment.”
Using her elbow to open the door instead of the hand holding the tray, Rina entered Blair’s room.
At the same time, the silver tray she had carefully brought dropped from her hands.
“M-my lady?!”
