ITDHC 04

Chapter 4

The next morning, Richard suddenly woke up with a strange sense of danger.

“……”

He found himself barely clinging to the edge of the large bed he had fallen asleep in. On top of that, the blanket was nowhere to be seen, and the air against his skin felt cold.

Did I toss and turn that much?

When he was six or seven, he remembered sometimes rolling over completely in his sleep, but ever since then, he had always been a sound sleeper who barely moved.

Puzzled by his unusual sleeping habits, Richard reached behind him for the blanket that had bunched up there. The fabric beneath his fingertips felt strangely soft.

The blanket is… soft?

Something was wrong.

Richard looked at what he was holding and suddenly opened his eyes wide in surprise.

It was a human arm.

He hurriedly turned around and saw Elissa sleeping with her body pressed tightly against his back.

“Huh?”

Now that he looked, the blanket had fallen onto the floor.

Looking utterly dumbfounded, Richard removed Elissa’s arm from around him.

The night before, Richard and Elissa had gone to sleep in the large bed, of course keeping a reasonable distance between them.

Yet when he woke up, Elissa had not only moved closer to him—she had practically pushed him toward the edge of the bed.

…Just how many times did she roll over?

With that much rolling around, she should have gotten dizzy.

“You said you were only going to hold my hand while we slept.”

Richard sighed as he shook Elissa off and got out of bed.

As his warmth disappeared, Elissa felt the cold and mumbled sleepily.

“Mmm… It’s cold…”

Her already tiny body curled up even more tightly.

Richard stared down at her for a moment before silently turning around and leaving the room.

But the door had barely closed before it opened again.

With an annoyed expression, Richard walked back to the bed and stood in front of Elissa.

Elissa was still mumbling about being cold as she curled herself up.

“…You really are troublesome.”

He had not realized that she tossed and turned this much during the few days they had slept separately. He should have just ignored her and left this morning too.

Even as he complained, Richard picked up the blanket from the floor and covered Elissa with it.

He did not bother to unfold the blanket properly. For Richard, simply covering her with it was already an extraordinary act of generosity.

Only then did Richard dust off his hands and turn away.

After her morning lessons, Elissa had nothing particular to do. She spent the rest of her time bringing books from the library and reading them.

As usual, Elissa was bored today, so she had borrowed several books and was reading them in her room.

Then something caught her attention.

She secretly watched a young maid busily moving back and forth beyond the bookshelf.

Her name was… Anne, right?

Anne was noticeably younger than the other maids. According to the butler, Albert had assigned her there because he had considered Elissa’s situation and wanted to look after her in his own way.

But there was something strange about her.

Normally, each maid was assigned one particular task that she was good at. It was much more efficient that way.

But today, Anne was doing everything by herself.

Making the bed, carrying laundry, serving meals, dusting, mopping—she was doing all of it.

Why has that girl been doing everything by herself?

As far as Elissa knew, until a few days ago, Anne had only been responsible for making the bed.

Something was definitely strange.

Elissa pretended to read while keeping an eye on Anne.

At first, she thought perhaps Anne was simply good at everything since she had taken on so many tasks, but that was not the case either.

She spilled the water she was using to wash the mop and nervously glanced at Elissa. She also nearly fell from the chair several times while trying to dust places she could not reach.

Elissa came to a conclusion.

She’s being bullied because she’s young!

Certain of it, Elissa closed her book and approached Anne.

“Anne, why are you mopping?”

“Huh? Yes?”

Anne, who had been mopping the floor, looked up at Elissa in surprise, as if she had been caught doing something wrong.

“I asked why you’re mopping. Aren’t you normally responsible for making the beds?”

“Ah… T-Today, I said I would mop too.”

“What about carrying the laundry and dusting?”

“Y-Yes!”

“Why did you volunteer to do all of those things? Lina is responsible for carrying the laundry, and Julia is responsible for dusting, aren’t they?”

“Ah, well…”

Anne hesitated, unable to answer right away.

Elissa stared at her, silently urging her to explain.

After nervously glancing at Elissa for a moment, Anne finally spoke in a tiny voice.

“The older girls asked me to take over their work for just one day a few days ago, but I didn’t do it very well, so they said they got scolded by the head maid. So… I felt sorry, and I agreed to do their work for them again today. But…”

Anne suddenly stopped speaking and began to shed tears.

“What if they get scolded again tomorrow because of me?”

Elissa was dumbfounded.

They dumped their own work on a little kid, claimed they got scolded because of her, and now they’re making her do even more? Wait, did the head maid even scold them in the first place? Maybe they just made the whole thing up.

From the looks of it, they intended to dump their work on Anne again tomorrow, claiming they had been scolded.

Elissa took the mop from Anne’s hands and led her to the table, where she made her sit down. Then she gave Anne half of the sandwich she had been eating.

“That’s enough work for now. Eat this.”

Leaving the bewildered Anne behind, Elissa walked out of the room and headed toward Albert’s study.

There was a determined weight to her steps.

Elissa took a deep breath and knocked on the study door.

“Come in.”

Permission came immediately.

Elissa opened the door and entered the study.

Albert raised one eyebrow, looking surprised by her unexpected visit.

“What is it?”

“I have a favor to ask of you, Your Grace.”

“A favor?”

Elissa made her request politely, but her eyes were firm.

“Please replace my personal maid.”

At those words, Albert narrowed his eyes.

“Replace your personal maid… Why?”

“Could you replace her with a maid who is good at everything? Making the bed, serving meals, handling the laundry, mopping… My current maid is only good at making the bed.”

“Shouldn’t there be a separate maid assigned to each task?”

“Is that so? But… today, I saw one person doing everything by herself. That made everything slower, and things weren’t being properly taken care of either.”

Albert stared thoughtfully at Elissa as she clearly listed her complaints, then called his assistant, Aaron, who was standing nearby.

“Aaron. Go find out what happened.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Aaron immediately left the study.

Albert’s gaze, which had followed him toward the door, returned to Elissa.

“There should be nothing inconvenient about the life of the young duchess.”

“……”

“I’ll handle this myself. You may return now.”

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

Elissa smiled brightly, turned around, and left the study.

The duke needs me. He could throw me away at any time, but I’m still too useful to discard without having a replacement ready.

So she intended to make the most of her position.

Elissa hid herself in the hallway near the study and waited for Aaron to return.

A short while later, Aaron came back and reported the situation to Albert.

“Your Grace, the maids in question apparently went out to the plaza to go shopping.”

“They went shopping in the plaza instead of working during their assigned hours?”

“What shall I do?”

“Bring me the butler.”

Elissa, who had overheard the conversation, smiled in satisfaction.

They had gone out during their assigned working hours without even finishing their work. There was no way the duke would simply let that slide.

Elissa headed back toward her room with a light step.

The Rubellin ducal family was wealthy.

Albert never cared how much money Elissa took or what she spent it on.

Thanks to that, Elissa was able to comfortably study the customs and rules of this world while making plans for her life after the divorce.

In particular, she decided to try out all the business ideas that came to mind while she still had the status of a member of the ducal family.

While studying and reading books by herself, Elissa asked if she could take financial lessons instead of lessons on becoming a proper wife.

Albert was not particularly pleased with the idea, but persuading him was surprisingly easy.

“I’d like to become closer to Lord Richard by taking financial lessons with him while I have the chance.”

At that, Albert immediately gave his permission.

Richard had only recently begun taking financial lessons himself, so having her join him would not cause much trouble.

If I learn this now, it should help when I start a business with the settlement money after the divorce.

With a new notebook and an abacus held in her arms, Elissa arrived at the room where the financial lessons were held, her steps light.

Richard, who had arrived first, looked suspiciously at Elissa as she entered the room with confidence.

“Why are you here?”

“Even if I’m only the duchess in name, shouldn’t I at least know how the family finances work?”

Elissa pulled over an extra chair from the side of the room and sat down beside Richard.

She had been subtly speaking casually to him for the past few days, but Richard did not seem particularly bothered by it.

“And if I learn about the finances, I can take at least one thing off your hands.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door.