<Chapter 81>

“…What did you just say?”

“She’s about three months pregnant now…”

“W-what? Y-you, you insane fool!”

As expected, no matter how precious the son, getting an unmarried young lady pregnant was unforgivable.

The Marchioness, deeply shocked, placed a hand on the back of her neck before fainting. The Marquis quickly stepped forward to catch his wife as she fell.

While the Marquis was busy tending to his wife, the eldest daughter of the household grabbed her younger brother by the collar and shook him violently.

“Are you out of your mind? Have you completely lost it? No matter how blinded by love you are, there are limits to what you can and cannot do!”

“S-sis, I’m fine, really. So, please…”

“Fine? What’s fine about this? Fiona! You too, come here and kneel down!”

“Sister! Fiona is pregnant! What if kneeling on the cold floor causes harm to the baby…”

“Then you kneel in her place and raise your hands up as punishment!”

Alvin obediently knelt down and raised his hands high. Next to him, Fiona sniffled softly.

Despite the somber situation, his posture, with hands raised high like a child being punished, was so oddly precise it was almost comical.

‘Pregnancy isn’t some childish prank.’

Those two definitely need a good scolding.

As I watched the Marquis’ household wrestle with this problem, I decided it was best to excuse myself.

‘It’s a family matter, after all. They probably won’t feel comfortable discussing it with me around.’

Quietly, I slipped out of the drawing room.

The moment I gently closed the door behind me and stepped into the hallway, I came face to face with the head maid, who was hurrying up the stairs.

“Madam, the other guest has woken up.”

“Really? Has she eaten? Did she drink anything?”

“Yes, she had a bowl of soup just now, but she made a rather… peculiar request…”

“A peculiar request?”

The head maid hesitated, her face tinged with unease, before finally speaking. Her words left me utterly speechless.

‘Wait, isn’t she supposed to be a baron’s daughter?!’

Without further delay, I headed straight to the guest room, the head maid following close behind.

Knock, knock.

“It’s the lady of the house. May I come in for a moment?”

“A-ah, just a second! Please wait a bit!”

From behind the closed door came a voice that sounded slightly flustered. Pressing my ear closer to the door, I could hear the rustling of fabric.

I turned to the head maid.

“Don’t tell me you already brought it to her?”

“You instructed us to fulfill any requests from the guest…”

“Ugh, some requests have limits though…”

At that moment, footsteps approached from the other side. Quickly stepping back from the door, I straightened up just as it opened.

Standing there was a young lady, beaming at me with a radiant smile.

“Blondie Mirban greets the Duchess.”

Her elegant curtsy, spreading her skirt wide as she gracefully lowered herself, was the epitome of poise.

Unlike me, who had barely managed to learn the basics of etiquette through a crash course lasting a month, she exuded the natural air of someone born and raised as a noblewoman.

…But what good is elegance when she’s dressed as a maid?

“Um… Miss Mirban.”

“Oh, please don’t call me that! It feels so formal. Just call me Dee, Duchess.”

Blondie’s fair cheeks turned pink as she smiled shyly.

As the saying goes, a warm sunbeam can make a traveler take off their coat more effectively than a harsh wind.

I found myself momentarily at a loss for words, simply nodding in response. In every sense, she was formidable.

“Oh dear, I’ve kept the Duchess standing for too long. Please, have a seat.”

“Ah, I wasn’t standing that long, really…”

“Head maid, could you bring the tea set? I would like to personally serve tea to my savior, the Duchess.”

“Ah, yes.”

The head maid, ever diligent in following my earlier command to accommodate the guest’s wishes, moved swiftly.

As Blondie gently nudged me toward a chair, I snapped back to my senses.

“Why do you keep trying to do things a maid would normally handle? You’re a guest in this house, a baron’s daughter no less. If you didn’t like the clothes provided, the merchants from the Kotis Guild are here now, so we could—”

“Dee, please. And I wore this because I wanted to, not because I disliked the clothes you provided. Please don’t misunderstand my intentions.”

“…Misunderstand your intentions?”

“Duchess, from the moment I defied the Emperor’s orders and fled, I knew I wouldn’t live long. I realized it, and when I was eventually captured by imperial knights, I became certain.”

Alvin and Fiona had only just come of age this year, while Blondie was two years older than them.

Perhaps that explained her composure. The way she calmly recounted her story was far more mature than those two, though it was, of course, a matter of relative comparison.

“I only regret the goals I couldn’t achieve… If I was going to die anyway, I wanted to go cleanly, without tarnishing my honor. But then, just as I was about to give up my life, salvation came to me!”

At that moment, the head maid returned, pushing a trolley. Blondie immediately stood and took the handle from her.

The head maid looked uncertain, but my subtle nod reassured her. She stepped back quietly.

“I arrived at this estate two days ago, didn’t I? Until then, I was still on edge. After all, I’m a traitor to the Empire, defying imperial orders. I thought I’d be captured and dragged away again any moment. But lo and behold! This is the Winstein townhouse!”

Her demeanor and speech were noble to the core, and yet her skill at brewing tea was undeniably professional.

As I watched her curiously, Blondie performed a small flourish, lifting the teapot high to create a graceful arc as she poured.

I couldn’t help but clap my hands.

“Wow, that’s impressive!”

“Thank you, Duchess. To tell you the truth, I’m actually an illegitimate child of Baron Mirban.”

“What?”

“My mother was a maid at the Mirban estate. She gave birth to me and passed away shortly after.”

Blondie recounted her story in a singsong tone, as if humming a lullaby or reading a bedtime story to a child in the dark.

The child born from a fleeting accident was never acknowledged as Baron Mirban’s daughter. Instead, she was raised by another maid—her birth mother’s close friend.

However, when that maid married another man, Blondie was left adrift. Her foster mother’s husband refused to accept her.

This led Blondie to learn the secret of her birth.

Her father refused to recognize her. Her mother had passed away. Her foster mother left with her “real” family, abandoning the baron’s estate.

Blondie couldn’t bring herself to beg her foster mother to take her along.

Instead, she chose to survive. At an age as young as seven, she began working as a maid in the baron’s household.

Ten years later, at the age of seventeen…

Although Baron Mirban still refused to acknowledge her as his daughter, Blondie had grown to resemble him, blossoming into a beauty.

The baron, who had only one legitimate son, saw her and thought, This is someone I can profit from.

“From then on, I became the long-lost daughter Baron Mirban had found again. Ridiculous, isn’t it? My mother gave birth to me in that estate, and I’d never left it even once in my life.”

“What a despicable excuse for a father! Why didn’t you just run away? With ten years of experience as a maid, you could have made a living anywhere!”

“Well… honestly, it’s embarrassing to admit, but my hobby was reading. They let me stay in the library after finishing my tasks for the day. I couldn’t bear to give that up.”

Blondie managed to learn the etiquette and poise that noble ladies spent their entire lives mastering—all in just three years. Her passion for books had fueled her determination.

Thanks to her efforts, Blondie made her social debut at twenty, the year she came of age.

But no one took her seriously. Everyone in the social circles knew she was the baron’s illegitimate child.

And truthfully, the Mirban family’s situation didn’t help matters.

Long ago, they had been renowned for their contributions to academia. But over time, that glory had faded.

A hundred years prior, the head of the family had been accused of heresy. Their title was demoted from count to baron, and they rapidly fell into decline.

The only remnants of the family’s former prestige were shelves filled with old books in a decrepit library—books that no one wanted to buy. Anything of value had been sold off long ago.

It was no surprise that the baron, desperate for something to sell, would fixate on Blondie, propping her up as his daughter with the sole intent of auctioning her off to the highest bidder.

<To be continued>

Join the GS Discord to stay updated on the latest chapter releases:

https://discord.gg/PRZEAJZE3J