FBWOW 11

Chapter 11…

A few days later, Kevin visited Julia to ask how things had gone at Mrs. Michely’s home.

Julia’s expression was bright.
Had he ever seen her smile like this before?
He wasn’t sure he had.

“Lady Michely was such a wonderful person. I respect her—I admire her. I feel like I met a truly calm, mature woman for the first time in my life. It feels like my narrow world has opened up.”

That was good to hear.
But “for the first time”? What kind of women had she been surrounded by until now?

Well, it was true that her classmates used to call her dull or gloomy.
Kevin had always thought she was simply a quiet girl, but maybe men and women saw things differently.

Even so, Kevin preferred a quiet woman to one who gossiped about others.

Still, perhaps such women were not easily appreciated.
If you couldn’t clearly voice your own opinions, people would just look down on you.

That was probably why her ex-husband had loved the baron’s daughter even before their marriage.
And because that baron’s daughter was confident in being loved, she acted superior to Julia—
which in turn led their classmates to gossip about Julia behind her back,
causing her to withdraw even further—a vicious cycle.

“How’s the housework going?”

“She’s taught me all kinds of tricks. Even with laundry and cleaning, there’s a proper order to things. I think I’ve been wasting a lot of time before. I’m getting faster day by day, but it still takes me about five times longer than the maids. Everyone’s so kind, though—they say, ‘You’ll get used to it, don’t worry.’”

Despite being a count’s daughter who now had to do the work of maids, Julia was taking it positively.

Most young ladies in her position probably couldn’t face reality.
They’d likely cry out, “Why should I have to do this?!”

Compared to that, teaching Julia household chores must be an easy task for the maids.

“They also told me about good restaurants in town and cafés with delicious sweets. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Things like that were probably common experiences for other students, but Julia likely never did any of them.
Even when she went on dates with her former fiancé, Oliver Kirkes, he probably never took her anywhere—
just tea at each other’s homes before parting ways. That was likely what their engagement days were like.

“You’re learning to cook too, right?”

“Yes, that’s the plan, but they told me to wait until I can do the other chores more efficiently first. Lord Kevin, truly, thank you. I thought I could manage everything on my own, but now I see I overestimated myself.”

“That’s how it is. You see people doing things easily and think you can too—but in practice, it doesn’t go so well. It’s only natural there’s a big gap between professionals and amateurs.”

Julia didn’t need to reach a maid’s level—just enough to satisfy herself would be fine.

Still, it amazed him how much brighter she’d become just from visiting Michely’s home.
At both her family home and her husband’s house, even the servants must have looked down on her. She probably never had anyone truly on her side.