🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 2
The Duke of Weekend’s mansion was busy from early morning.
Today was none other than the birthday of the Duke of Weekend.
Normally, an important family event like this would be managed by the lady of the house, but the Duchess of Weekend had left for a distant estate five years ago for recuperation, so there was no suitable person to take her place.
Naturally, the young duke, Clef, took over the role.
It would have been proper to send invitations to nobles and vassals and hold a grand banquet, but the Duke of Weekend disliked such gatherings, so it was replaced with a simple family breakfast.
“Father.”
The moment Clef entered the dining room, he greeted the Duke of Weekend, who sat at the head of the table.
The duke, who had been reading documents, gave a small nod.
“I heard you must head to the Imperial Palace immediately afterward.”
“Mm.”
“A gift arrived from the temple. What should we do with it?”
“Holy water?”
“Yes.”
Holy water was, as the name suggested, water capable of purifying the corrupted black lands, and it was distributed and sold only by the temple.
Since there was a limit to how much holy water the temple could produce, its price was unimaginably high.
For the Duke of Weekend, who regularly went on expeditions to raise the Empire’s morale and display loyalty to the Imperial Family, holy water was an essential item.
If it came from the temple, it was surely high-quality holy water, making it a fitting gift.
“I will write a letter to the Pope in your place.”
After sitting down and wiping his hands, Clef signaled one of his subordinates with his eyes.
The subordinate, who had been silently following behind him like a shadow, carefully approached and placed something beside the stack of documents the duke had prepared.
The Duke of Weekend finally lifted his eyes from the papers.
“A gift.”
Clef’s present was the ownership rights to an emerald mine.
It was a gift fitting for him, and the Duke of Weekend showed a faint smile.
“Thank you.”
Anything rare that Clef could obtain was something the Duke of Weekend could already possess himself, so there was a limit to material gifts.
That was why, starting from last year, Clef began giving financial gifts for the duke’s birthday.
“Father!”
The door suddenly burst open, and the Duke of Weekend’s second son, Ellen, appeared.
Covered in dirt, Ellen grinned widely as he approached.
A faint smell of blood drifted from him.
“You went hunting.”
“Yes. I went early in the morning. Colin! Bring it in!”
At Ellen’s shout, one of his subordinates dragged something inside.
It was an enormous white deer.
The white deer was tightly bound and breathing roughly.
Perhaps because it knew death was near, its large eyes were filled with fear.
“I worked really hard to capture it alive. I’ll tell them to cut off only the head and preserve it.”
“Hmm. It must have taken quite some effort to catch it without damaging the hide. Thank you.”
Seeing that the Duke of Weekend seemed pleased, Ellen smiled proudly and waved his hand toward his subordinate.
The subordinate dragged the white deer back out.
As Ellen roughly brushed back his sweat- and dirt-soaked hair and sat down, he suddenly looked around.
“Huh? Where’s the parasite?”
Ellen looked puzzled when Orte, who was always seated first no matter what, was nowhere to be seen.
There had once been a time when he intentionally did not send a maid to wake her up, then refused to open the dining room door because she arrived late.
It had happened years ago, but after that, Orte always came down to the dining room twenty minutes early.
And today was none other than the Duke of Weekend’s birthday—a day Orte devoted herself to more than anything else.
“Father, the parasite didn’t come?”
The Duke of Weekend put down his papers.
“I don’t think that word is appropriate.”
He was not correcting Ellen for calling Orte a parasite.
He was simply scolding a member of the Duke’s family for using such vulgar language.
“Yes, yes.”
Ellen answered carelessly and dropped into his chair.
“Brother, the parasite didn’t come?”
“She didn’t.”
“That’s strange. There’s no way she overslept on a day like this.”
And it wasn’t as if he had ordered the maids to do anything either.
“Did you tell the maids something, Brother?”
At those words, Clef’s eyebrow twitched.
“You don’t think I’m like you, do you? You’re the only one who would do something like that.”
“Ah, true enough.”
Ellen scratched his head.
Then he spoke to a servant standing against the wall with his head lowered.
“Hey, did the parasite wake up?”
It was extremely rare for Ellen to look for Orte first, so the servant became flustered and shook his head.
“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
“What, is she seriously late on Father’s birthday?”
Clicking his tongue, Ellen checked the time.
“Brother, let’s just lock the door.”
“She’ll make a fuss.”
“That’s true. I don’t want to hear her crying outside the door after coming late…”
Frowning as he thought it over, Ellen turned toward the Duke of Weekend.
“What do you think, Father?”
“There’s no need to create unnecessary noise.”
“Well, since it’s Father’s birthday, I’ll generously let it slide this once.”
Ellen decided not to close the door and hummed to himself.
When Orte finally came down, he planned to mock her thoroughly and maybe pull her hair too.
Soon, dishes were brought in one after another and placed in front of each person.
Food was also placed before Orte’s empty seat.
Even as the meal began and they discussed small business matters, the tightly shut door showed no sign of opening.
Ellen kept glancing at the door. Then he looked between his completely empty plate and Orte’s still-empty seat, narrowing his eyes.
“This bitch has seriously gone crazy.”
Twisting his face in annoyance, Ellen looked toward the Duke of Weekend and Clef.
“Father, Brother. Does this even make sense? Who does she think she is, oversleeping on Father’s birthday?”
“Ellen. Watch your language.”
Elegantly moving his utensils, Clef pointed out Ellen’s rude speech.
Grumbling, Ellen stabbed at his salad with a fork.
“Colin! Wake that parasite up and drag her here!”
“Ellen. There’s no need to go that far.”
Clef let out a faint sigh at Ellen’s reckless behavior and lightly wiped his mouth with a handkerchief.
“What? Why? What did I do wrong? Who’s the one living comfortably thanks to Father?”
“That’s enough, both of you.”
The Duke of Weekend, who had only given short responses until now, stopped their argument as he finished his meal.
Not long after, the door opened and Colin entered.
Ellen, whose mood had been sour, happily turned his head, thinking about tormenting Orte—but unlike what he expected, Colin stood there alone.
“What? Why didn’t you bring the parasite?”
“W-Well, that is…”
Colin’s expression was strange.
He looked both embarrassed and confused.
“Why can’t you speak properly?”
Colin carefully watched the Duke of Weekend’s reaction.
The duke noticed this and flicked his hand slightly. Only then did Colin bow and answer.
“She… the young miss refused.”
“What?”
Colin tightly shut his eyes and repeated himself.
“She said she wouldn’t come out!”
Orte had refused.
“Miss, what in the world are you doing?!”
The maid hurried toward Orte with a pale face.
“Sir Colin is Young Master Ellen’s personal subordinate! What are you thinking, sending him away like that?!”
Orte had sent Colin back after he came to fetch her.
‘Thank goodness he wasn’t Eldest Brother’s subordinate.’
They said subordinates resembled their masters, and because he served Ellen, it had been possible to send him away.
“Miss!”
“Anna.”
Orte softly called the name of the maid who had been shouting nonstop since the moment she woke up.
Anna flinched in surprise when Orte suddenly called her name.
Anna had been Orte’s personal maid for several years. She did not particularly like Orte.
Even though she was just a maid, Anna took great pride in her job simply because she worked for the powerful Duke of Weekend family.
To her, Orte was the duke’s only stain and mistake.
That was why Anna deliberately brought cold water for washing, purposely delayed her laundry, and yelled at her over trivial matters.
Separate from hating Orte, she was also an extremely easy master to serve.
No matter what was done to her, Orte would always lower her head and say nothing.
On top of that, Orte would even smile timidly at her, trying to please her and watch her mood, so Anna gradually began to look down on her more and more.
Anna admired the Duke of Weekend, but at the same time, whenever a mere commoner like herself looked down on a noble like Orte, she felt a strange thrill.
That was why the way Orte was staring directly at her now felt incredibly unfamiliar.
