MFTR 46

Chapter 46

 Surely the rumor about his face becoming hideous isn’t true?

‘Surely, he won’t be eating alone in his room again.’

Anette guessed that, until now, whenever he entered the dining room, the servants would probably excuse themselves, and that was how he’d been having his meals.

And if she happened to run into him in the dining room today, she intended to have a serious talk about sharing meals together.

While Larisa darted off like a flying squirrel to alert the kitchen and then went to draw her a bath, Anette stood by the window for a moment, wondering how to bring it up.

A short while later, in the dining room—

“……”

Anette sat alone at the far end of a long table, lavishly set with dishes prepared by the grand duke’s chef with all his skill.

She was just managing to accept the fact that Cardin wasn’t there when Larisa, standing nearby, asked brightly,

“My lady, I hear today’s veal turned out especially well. Shall I carve some for you?”

“Please do.”

As if she had been waiting for Anette’s answer, Larisa deftly began separating the tender meat from the bone.

“If there’s anything else you’d like from the other dishes, just say the word. I’ll bring it all to you.”

Anette had already grown accustomed to the devoted attentions of the young maid.

It was thanks to the time she’d spent earlier that day, in the bathhouse, adjusting to Larisa’s fiery enthusiasm.

Anette smiled faintly, lifted the glass before her, and took a cool gulp of cherry juice.

Then, from the moment she had entered the dining room to now—when the main course had arrived and the meal had properly begun—she finally asked the question she’d been holding back.

“Um… where is His Grace, the Grand Duke?”

“The master? I think he’s having something light in his office.”

Larisa continued her carving without pause, explaining matter-of-factly that she’d seen Hubert, the head butler, carrying food to the office a short while ago.

Anette was silent for a moment before asking again,

“How does His Grace usually take his meals?”

“Usually?”

Only then did Larisa stop what she was doing and tilt her head, as if she didn’t understand the reason for the question.

“Well, normally he eats here in the dining room, but if he’s busy, there are days like today when he just eats in his office…”

Ah. So that was it.

Anette pondered whether this meant that today he truly had no choice but to eat lightly in his office due to work piling up, or whether he had deliberately chosen not to be present.

Then she remembered the earnest expressions of his retainers earlier and concluded that he must simply have been busy with a backlog of duties.

After all, if she thought he was intentionally avoiding her… that would hurt.

‘…Pathetic.’

She still couldn’t completely trust or accept his words and actions.

In fact, deep down, she suspected him, telling herself she wouldn’t be deceived.

Anette had always felt a conflicted pull between wanting to know what kind of person Cardin really was, and not wanting to know at all—but it was time to make a decision.

Which inevitably led her to recall the dark rumors about the Grand Duke once again.

‘So the whole “blood-crazed butcher” thing… it must just be hearsay.’

Ever since she had first encountered the Grand Duke’s knights at the imperial palace, she had observed them closely.

Perhaps that was why she had found their gazes even more oppressive on the journey here.

In any case, they all feared the Grand Duke—but it was not the kind of fear born of terror.

‘It was reverence and admiration for the strong. And loyalty.’

Of course, Anette thought, that was to be expected from knights. They would have bonds forged through fighting side by side on the battlefield.

‘That’s why I thought I could tell whether the rumors were true by watching how the Grand Duke’s servants behaved…’

But here, the servants seemed even less afraid of him than the knights. She saw only respect and loyalty.

And that’s when she noticed something peculiar.

When the subject of the Grand Duke dining separately had come up at the palace, there had been a brief silence and a dip in the atmosphere.

But here, there was no such awkwardness at all.

Granted, Larisa’s sunny disposition explained her reaction—but even Mrs. Hilda, who was nervously watching to make sure Larisa did well; the maids standing quietly against the wall; and even the chef, peeking through the door to see whether Anette enjoyed the meal—

Not one of them froze up or hesitated when she asked about the Grand Duke’s meals.

‘Am I missing something…?’

Or could it be—

‘Surely the rumor about his face becoming hideous isn’t true?’

Anette stifled a laugh at her own thought.

No matter how false the other dark rumors surrounding the Grand Duke might be, that one at least couldn’t be entirely untrue.

After all, he insisted on wearing a mask at all times, and he didn’t even dine with his own family.

Which left only one conclusion—

The servants of the Grand Duke’s household were so loyal that they didn’t consider their masked master to be any kind of monster.

And that meant…

‘It must mean he’s a good man.’

At least good enough not to treat people like cheap toys and deceive them for sport.

Anette wondered if she was losing her objectivity and drawing the conclusion she wanted to believe. But even so, she felt a faint sense of relief.

Of course, she would still have to find out, in time, what Cardin really thought of her and why he had chosen her as his bride…

But for now, she thought, she could trust him.

‘Come to think of it, I already knew that.’

Perhaps she’d been pretending not to believe it because it felt too good to be true—and because she was afraid.

She’d thought a lot of things just now, but the truth was that she had already half-opened the door to her heart the moment she’d met his family at the palace.

And besides—

〈My lord is my savior!〉

Before coming to the dining room—

After hurrying to finish the bath preparations, breathing hard from the effort, Larisa had naturally volunteered to attend her during the bath.

Anette had been ready to refuse, but surrendered when faced with the girl’s eager pleading.

It seemed she was weak against people who met her eyes directly and pressed in with all their heart.

She simply couldn’t turn down Larisa’s wide-eyed, earnest request.

And in the end, the only awkward part had been at the very start when she undressed; the rest had turned out to be an excellent choice.

〈My lady, how’s the water temperature?〉

It was phrased as a question, but her tone carried pure confidence.

Indeed, Larisa was every bit the champion of the “bathing attendant” contest the Grand Duke’s household had apparently held.

The temperature was just right—warm enough to melt away her fatigue—and Anette, her body going soft in the water, silently gave a thumbs-up. Larisa squealed and began to massage her neck and shoulders.

She could feel the travel-worn fatigue melting away entirely—fatigue she hadn’t even realized she was carrying.

〈Larisa… you’re truly the best…〉

Anette didn’t quite understand why the household had gone so far as to hold a tournament to choose her personal maid, but she was sincerely satisfied.

And then, visibly pleased at having her name spoken in such a fond tone, Larisa said—

〈If my name’s too long, my lady, you can call me anything—Lala, Liri—whatever’s easiest!〉

〈How could I just change your name like that? It’s the precious name your parents gave you.〉

Anette treasured her own name—the one given by the late Empress—so she showed clear reluctance.

Then Larisa scratched her head and confessed her past.

Her name, she said, had been given to her by her father—a gambler who had wandered from one betting den to another until he’d tried to sell her into slavery.

And what came next was astonishing.

Five years ago, when her father tried to sell her, it was none other than the Grand Duke of Harzent who had saved her.

〈Five years ago… that would be just before the war with Bayendor.〉

〈Yes! Not long after I was rescued, the war broke out.〉

Anette, her eight-year-old features set in a serious expression, fell into thought.

It was now just a distant memory, but in truth, abductions and illegal human trafficking had long been a problem in the Alcan Empire.

Even after Emperor Lucius took the throne and worked tirelessly to resolve it, the situation only worsened with each passing year.

Even as a foreign princess, Anette had once stumbled across an enslaved boy in chains during a suppression campaign—proof of how widespread the problem had been even a decade ago.

And five years ago, when evidence was discovered that all the kidnappings and trafficking in Alcan had been orchestrated by the Bayendor Empire, war had broken out.

The Bayendor Emperor, Siebel, was aggressive by nature, always eyeing foreign lands despite his nation’s border being blocked by the Marsh of Beasts—so even without that issue, conflict had been inevitable sooner or later.

After two years of fierce battle, it was the Alcan Empire that raised the cup of victory.

Slavery was eradicated, and this became Lucius’s greatest achievement.

Cardin, who had fought in that war, became a war hero.

Rescued just before the outbreak, Larisa was hired as a maid in the Grand Duke’s household, which allowed her to support her mother. Her father was punished.

And when her mother later fell gravely ill, the Grand Duke’s benevolent policy of looking after his retainers’ families saved her life.

Now fully recovered, her mother was working in the Grand Duke’s kitchens. Larisa’s eyes reddened as she told it.

〈I owe His Grace a debt I could never repay, not even in death. I swore I would serve and serve him again, until the day I die. My lord is my savior.〉

…Savior.

Hearing that word, Anette found herself thinking—

If Cardin had saved Larisa from the mire, perhaps he could also save someone like her, who had wallowed in darkness and filth.