Chapter 39
Chief Butler Vestian was deep in thought.
It was a concern about Cedric's treatment.
‘Was it really all right to leave him like this?’
Cedric's work ability was not the problem.
No, if anything, he was so capable it was almost excessive.
Laundry, garden care, cooking, cleaning, and all the other miscellaneous physical chores.
No matter what task he was given, Cedric's work was close to perfect.
But in one respect alone—respecting his master—Cedric was far from perfect.
To be exact, he was close to failing.
What kind of servant would use a contract as leverage to nitpick his master, answer back point by point, and even make fun of him?
If Claudia and Cedric's relationship spread through Virka's noble society, Claudia would surely be reduced to a laughingstock in no time.
Even so, Vestian couldn't easily come to the conclusion of dismissing Cedric.
“Cedric! Where are you! Get out here this instant!?”
Claudia's shrill cry rang through the manor as always.
However, the servants who heard it didn't seem especially surprised or worried; they calmly kept their focus on their work.
Compared to just a few weeks ago, when most of the servants would freeze in fear or even suffer fits the moment Claudia's voice was heard, it was truly an astonishing change.
The reason was simple.
From the servants' point of view, "Claudia's attention" itself had always been a calamity.
Being singled out by her and coming away unscathed was as rare as lightning striking from a clear sky.
But lately, Cedric had been monopolizing all of Claudia's attention, and as a result peace and stability had instead come to the other servants.
There were even servants who prayed to the goddess, begging that these peaceful days would continue.
Honestly, Vestian's feelings, having always struggled with staffing because of Claudia's bratty behavior, weren't all that different from the other servants'.
‘Hmm, come to think of it, since the young lady herself has already finalized a three-month employment contract, there's no way I, as head butler, can change it however I want. Indeed.’
Absolutely, absolutely, he had not traded the peace of his stomach and hair for the young lady's suffering.
Having finished that rationalization, Vestian indulged in the small luxury of leisurely straightening his mustache.
Thanks to Cedric's aggro-tanking, the servants were enjoying a rare stretch of peaceful days.
***
Claudia thought.
‘Did I perhaps mess with someone I shouldn't have messed with?’
Fifteen days. One hundred thirty-eight times.
Those were the miserable records of defeat Claudia had racked up every time she challenged Cedric to get back at him.
She had tried nearly every kind of abuse of power and prank she could within the manor, and she lost without fail every time.
These days, Cedric even seemed to secretly enjoy her challenges.
No, he definitely did. When he ran out of material and recycled something he'd already used before, he made no attempt to hide his disappointment.
No matter how much malice and mischief she showed, Cedric took it all like a spring breeze, and her pride had already been crushed beyond repair.
“Miss, your Omurice & Hamburg Steak Set is ready.”
As always, Claudia shot Cedric a dissatisfied glare as he served the food with flawless precision, but she soon turned her gaze to the table in front of her.
The one who made the food might have been guilty, but the food itself was innocent.
The juicy minced meat, the fluffy egg, and the fluffy rice.
And the bold sauce that covered it all.
She usually grew tired of most foods very quickly and often threw tantrums at the head chef, demanding something new every time, but she never got tired of this dish Cedric made. Especially that sweet-and-sour flavor was excellent.
After finishing her meal at the outdoor table set up in the garden, she spent some time enjoying black tea chosen, according to her taste, for its sweetness and easy-drinking temperature rather than for its aroma.
Suddenly, Claudia realized Cedric was silently watching her with a strange expression.
“What, are you falling for my beauty all over again?”
“Hahaha! The young lady's looks are indeed splendid!”
“Hup! Cough! Cough!”
Having choked on it, Claudia coughed harshly over and over.
After wiping her mouth with the handkerchief Cedric handed her, she stared at him with eyes full of caution and suspicion rather than delight.
“What, what is it? What are you trying to pull this time?”
“You've been the one pulling tricks every time, miss. I don't remember ever pulling one first.”
“Don't call what the master does a trick!”
“I'll let the small stuff slide.”
“Don't let it slide!”
This man was now just blatantly ignoring his master's words.
Claudia glared at Cedric, but after looking at his shameless face, she let out a deep sigh.
“So what is it really? Do you have something to say?”
“It's nothing major, but I just got curious about what your goal is, miss!”
“Goal?”
“I mean, something you want to try, something you want to achieve, or the kind of person you want to become. That sort of goal.”
A bitter sneer surfaced on Claudia's lips.
“My biggest goal right now is to smack that insolent servant's cheek to my heart's content.”
For Claudia, that was her own best attempt at sarcasm, but Cedric's reaction was unexpected.
“Then shouldn't you be putting in the corresponding effort for that as well!”
Ignoring Claudia's dumbfounded reaction, Cedric continued calmly.
“The easiest way would be to train your stamina. With stamina so poor that you'd be gasping like you were about to collapse after only ten minutes or so of full-speed running, you'd never be able to catch me!”
“There is also the path of learning magic. Certain spells, such as 『Magic to Grow Vines』 and 『Magic to Drop Iron Bars』, are extremely effective for restraining someone!”
“It would also be good to train the blood beasts you keep, miss. A capable hunting dog greatly eases the hunter's burden!”
Claudia fell silent.
Cedric had been in this manor for some time now.
That meant Cedric already understood exactly how Claudia's daily schedule unfolded.
To commoners, a noble young lady's life might look like carefree amusement above the clouds, but in truth they had their own troubles.
They had to receive education in all sorts of basic liberal arts such as language, literature, and religion, as well as arts like music, dance, and painting.
They also went to all kinds of social gatherings, carried out political activities, and, as the mistress of the manor, handled large and small matters themselves.
However, Claudia didn't fall into any of those categories.
There were no tutors coming to the manor to teach her, Claudia never went out for religious activities, and she didn't socialize with other young ladies either.
Aside from basic things like eating and sleeping, all she did was wander around the manor to bully servants or play with blood beasts in the garden.
Even if she was Redbel's precious jewel—or rather, precisely because she was Redbel's precious jewel—it was an incomprehensible sight.
Knowing that, Cedric was probably asking exactly that.
‘Why do you do nothing and simply idle away your time?’
Irritation flared in Claudia's eyes as she stayed silent, her expression complicated.
She snapped at Cedric.
“What do you know, talking as you please? You think you can solve my worries just because you're nothing more than a servant?”
The grin disappeared from Cedric's face.
He looked at Claudia seriously and said.
“As you said, miss, I may not be able to solve it.”
“…….”
“However, I can try my best to solve it. At the very least, I can put our heads together and think it through with you. Even if only for a little while, I am your servant, and you are my master.”
“…….”
“So please tell me, miss. What is it that torments you so much?”
Claudia's lips twitched.
By noble standards, Cedric's logic was not even worth listening to.
How could she possibly pour out her heart to an outsider whose departure was uncertain? And how could she know that outsider wouldn't go around spreading strange rumors?
But to Claudia, who had already half given up on her outside reputation, those words sounded rather plausible.
A man who was capable yet strange, eccentric yet delicate.
If he was the type of man she'd never met before, maybe he really did know some answer.
In the end, Claudia opened her mouth with a resigned whatever-happens attitude.
***
Marquis Redbel had a total of two wives.
His first wife was Julieta Plain.
She was the daughter of Viscount House Plain, the woman he married before he revived the Redbel family to its present state.
However, after the Redbel family achieved its current prosperity, she lost her life in an "unfortunate accident," and the Marquis of Redbel immediately took a new wife.
That was his second wife, Roberia Virka, Claudia's mother.
As her name suggested, the marquis dearly cherished his second wife, who had been a princess of the Virka royal family.
That was not simply affection between a man and a woman.
The marriage alliance with the royal family was proof that he had revived the fallen Redbel, and it was also a means by which he could dream of even greater ambitions.
If a boy were born to the marquis and Roberia, that child would be given the right to inherit Virka's throne.
The succession right itself wasn't that great, but considering the current chaotic state of the Virka royal family and the marquis's political power, it was enough to make taking the kingdom itself a serious possibility.
But Roberia had a weak constitution, and bearing a child was a huge burden for her.
The marquis poured out a huge amount of private wealth to secure ways to bolster Roberia's health, and the effort paid off, because the couple somehow managed to have their first child.
The problem was that the first child was a daughter.
Under the laws of the Virka Kingdom, royal women could bear children with succession rights, but they themselves could not possess them.
The marquis was disappointed, but he was not foolish enough to make that disappointment obvious.
Thinking that all he needed was to somehow have a second child, he showed devotion in front of his wife and affection toward the first child as well.
Unaware that she was a child he had never wanted, the girl grew up receiving love from her mother and father.
But the girl's happiness did not last long.
Whether due to the strain of trying too hard for a second child, the mother could not withstand childbirth and died together with the child in her womb.
The girl fell into sorrow, but the only family left to her turned away from her.
No matter how much she clung to her father or tried to win his praise, he treated the girl as if she were invisible.
“—Ah, to be exact, it wasn't that he treated me as completely nonexistent. Just once. My father did worry about me once.”
“It was when I got hurt after falling badly and cut my face. For once he lifted me up and, with a very serious expression, told me, 'Be careful not to get hurt.'”
“I thought, ah, so Father does care about me after all. He only got strange for a little while because he had lost Mother; in his heart, he still loved me.”
“So I decided to become a 'good child.' A child who doesn't complain, doesn't act spoiled, and studies hard.”
“Then do you know what my father said to me later?”
A cold sneer surfaced on Claudia's lips.
She turned the contempt and self-mockery she could barely hide into sharp thorns and continued.
“Well done. You know very well how to raise your own market value. Thanks to that, things have become easier for me.”
“There are many nobles who want to take you as their bride. Do your best to sweet-talk them. Ideally, an old man on his last legs, or a man easy to keep under your thumb, would be best.”
That's right.
The marquis had not been worried about his daughter's body.
He had been worried that the value of his daughter as a "product" would fall.
The moment she learned that, all the effort she had made up until then felt utterly pointless.
“There, I've told you my worries just as you wanted. So now tell me—do I still need to act 'diligently'? To raise my market value so Father can sell me at a high price?”
“Now, I’ve told you my worries just as you wanted. So tell me—do I still need to act ‘diligently’? To raise my market value so Father can sell me off at a high price?”