🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 11
It was a courteous request one would never make to a subordinate.
Because Grey was the second young master who was taciturn and quiet, there was never anything said about him among the servants or maids.
In fact, it was Jamie who, by being overly playful and chatty, was more often the subject of gossip among the servants, despite being a member of a ducal family. Compared to him, Grey had almost no presence.
“Has the designer not already visited?”
When Anne asked again, Grey scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Well… yes, but I still wanted someone to check how I look.”
“Sis—”
From afar, Jamie approached Grey and called out to Anne.
“Please check the young master’s outfit. I really can’t tell. There are three identical ties, and also three shirts. As for jackets, there’s one with gold thread embroidery, one with silver thread, and another with patterned embroidery. Wait, what else was it? Anyway, there’s a lot!”
Jamie pulled Anne by the arm without hesitation. Grey cleared the way, preventing her refusal.
“Wasn’t the designer supposed to recommend combinations?”
Shirts, trousers, jackets, ties, belts, cufflinks with various jewels, brooches, socks, and shoes matched to each set—there were at least three full outfits of each category.
The men standing behind them shrugged as they looked at the clothes scattered across the bed.
“The designer said we could wear whatever suited our taste.”
That wasn’t wrong, but still—this was the son of the Benton Duke family, preparing for his first social debut. Was he really going to just pick randomly?
Anne, feeling troubled, picked up a jacket and trousers and matched colors and styles in her mind.
Grey had spent most of his life as a commoner, and Jamie wasn’t any different in that regard. Anne looked at the two of them and asked while holding up an outfit.
“How does this look?”
Grey nodded enthusiastically, his face full of satisfaction.
“Looks good.”
“I’ll follow the lady’s choice too!”
Even Jamie chimed in brightly. Anne frowned slightly.
The outfit consisted of a black jacket with elaborate embroidery along both arms, a white shirt with ruffles on the cuffs and chest, and navy velvet trousers with subtle patterns.
No matter how she looked at it, it didn’t match at all.
After staring at the scattered clothes for a moment, Anne quickly reorganized them into a coordinated set based on color and fabric.
“Wear it like this. The tie and shoes too—only what matches this set. Don’t mix them.”
“Okay!”
Jamie answered energetically on Grey’s behalf.
Anne clicked her tongue softly, gave a brief bow, and left the room.
“Anne.”
Just as she was about to turn the corner, Grey called out to her—he had somehow followed her out.
“Thank you.”
His flushed cheeks and reddened ears were impossible to hide. Anne tilted her head slightly.
“I only did what I was asked to do.”
“Still, you helped me. Everyone else just ignores me or avoids me, but you didn’t.”
In just over a year, Grey had grown tall enough to almost match her eye level.
He was no longer the child who used to fear sleeping alone and sit crouched at the end of the hallway, holding onto her skirt.
His gentle and warm, almost desperate gaze carried a depth that didn’t belong to someone his age.
Probably because he had suffered so much since childhood.
“In this house, you’re the only one who truly sees me. Anne. I’m really— really grateful.”
Anne looked at him expressionlessly as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Jamie is sincerely loyal to you. He will make a far more useful servant than I ever could.”
Anne, too, had her own circumstances tying her to Jamie, so she could not be entirely cold.
But she also couldn’t treat him as she once had.
No matter how lonely and pitiful the Duke’s illegitimate son might have been, Anne wasn’t exactly in a better position herself.
He at least had a noble father, didn’t he?
Thinking she had been arrogant enough to pity him in the first place felt like a mistake.
For a maid to feel pity for a noble—how absurd.
Perhaps that was why the Duchess had hated her so much.
Anne didn’t even look at Grey, lowering her gaze.
She saw his fingers fidgeting for a moment before stopping—but she turned away before they could reach her.
“I have work to attend to. I’ll take my leave.”
“Anne.”
She ignored the voice calling her and shut her ears to it.
“Ughhh—”
Cassie stretched her arms wide. Anne, sitting beside her, rolled her shoulders a few times before leaning back into the chair.
“My shoulders already hurt.”
“At this point, we might as well consider ourselves dead for the day.”
Their fingertips stung, and their ankles felt cold. They had been running around so much they were completely exhausted.
The party had begun, and they were given a short break before starting to serve food in earnest.
“There are probably ladies upstairs wearing dresses more expensive than our yearly wages.”
“And they’ll wear them only once and throw them away.”
“I wish they’d throw them to me.”
“What for? It’s not like we could wear them.”
“Ughhh— we’d just sell them!”
Complaints and sighs filled the servants’ rest area.
Then other maids entered, also on break, loudly cursing.
“That damn old man!”
“What? What happened?”
The resting maids turned to the newcomers.
“That Clade old bastard—didn’t they say he’d be in his coffin in a couple of years?”
“That disgusting old man, he tries to grope any woman he sees. He even asked me to marry him.”
The Clade family had long ruled Tegeanes, a major western city.
Located far from the imperial capital, Edith Tara in the southeast, news from there rarely reached the capital.
Even during Anne’s time as a duchess, rumors about that region had always been vague and speculative.
The general perception of Tegeanes was:
A backward, barbaric land where people still believed in witches.
A place where missionaries and priests constantly tried to convert the population, while ambitious nobles from the capital attempted to seize power.
A militarized frontier city that frequently defied the Emperor’s will.
The most famous figure of the Clade family was Arthur Clade.
He was the head of the family, yet spent most of his time in the capital attending parties, visiting the west only about once a year.
He lost all dignity and manners when drunk, and often disparaged his own homeland.
Because of him, prejudice against the west in high society had only deepened.
He was especially infamous for his obsession with women. Among servants, he was secretly called the “Bluebeard Count.”
“If you want to become a noble, never become that old man’s wife.”
“You’d die for sure. He’s already gone through five wives—all commoners.”
“They say he locks them in storage rooms and starves them.”
“I heard that too. He whips them at night, and if they don’t count the strikes correctly, he never stops. Ugh, I’d rather be a maid forever!”
The maids shuddered and complained.
Then one of them raised a finger excitedly.
“But! In the Clade family, there’s still the young lord!”
At that, everyone’s eyes lit up.
The Clade family was known for its striking looks.
Especially their mysterious violet eyes said to bewitch even witches, and silver hair that shone like the night sky.
So it was easy to assume that the young lord, Hannibal Clade, must be extremely handsome as well.
But beyond that, he was shrouded in mystery.
He had taken over as lord at just 14, they said. He had subdued desert beasts and border tribes with overwhelming skill.
He was rumored to be the most respected and supported lord in the western region in history.
And yet, he had never once appeared in imperial high society.
Because of that, nobles in the capital were more curious about him than even the infamous libertine counts.
“He must be even more handsome than his father, since he inherited more of the Clade bloodline. I want to see him!”
The maids squealed, letting imagination ease their fatigue.
“Isn’t that just rumor? Look at his father.”
One maid broke the mood.
“No, apparently he was quite the catch when he was young, despite his current behavior.”
His features still retained traces of his youth—enough to imagine what he once looked like.
But the servants quickly dismissed the thought because of his reputation.
“No wonder he gets cursed at—he flirts with girls while forgetting his own age.”
“Exactly.”
Soon after, the head maid arrived, and everyone scattered like startled mice. There was still much work to do.
Anne, walking with Cassie and carrying plates of food, muttered,
“Wouldn’t there be very few maids in the west?”
“Considering how often monsters appear there, it’s not just maids—they probably lack manpower everywhere.”
Tegeanes, surrounded by massive walls and constant danger outside them…
Even riding nonstop from the Benton Duke estate in the capital would take a full month.
How distant and unfamiliar that place must be.
Still… if it was that far away, she probably wouldn’t have any further entanglement with Grey.
