A Mad Lady’s Confession - Chapter 44

In the afternoon, as sunlight slanted in through the large arched windows, the maids in black dresses with white aprons moved about busily.

Some dusted the fireplace and the gaps in the windows with long feather dusters, while others scooped wax onto small silver trays and polished the silver candlesticks until they gleamed.

The hands that knelt to brush the edges of the carpet one by one were highly skilled.

It was a languid midday, with no one specifically supervising, yet each person was focused on their assigned task. Just as a light sheen of sweat began to form on their foreheads—

“Everyone, stop what you’re doing and gather in the basement!”

At the shout, the maids who had been in the middle of cleaning the drawing room all turned their heads toward the doorway at once.

As the maid who delivered the message disappeared, her ribbon fluttering, the others who had been exchanging puzzled looks soon set down their work and followed after her.

In the servants’ hall located between the kitchen and the laundry room, nearly all the staff of the estate had gathered, with only a few exceptions.

It was highly unusual. Thinking that something serious might have happened, they murmured among themselves with tense expressions.

“Silence, everyone!”

As soon as Mrs. Nella entered through the hall doors, the entire space fell quiet in an instant. Behind her, several footmen followed, placing the boxes they carried onto the floor.

“The reason you were called here so suddenly is that the madam has items to bestow, and they will be distributed here.”

At the combination of the words “madam” and “bestow,” a low buzz of murmuring spread through the hall.

“Quiet down, all of you. …Madam has taken note of your hard work and has decided to grant you small gifts.”

Mrs. Nella quieted the room and continued, “The maids will each receive soap and a handkerchief, and the male servants will receive a pair of socks and gloves. Additionally, a glass of wine will be specially added to tonight’s dinner. As for the apprentice maids, sugar sweets will be given separately, so take your allotted portion accordingly.”

With no particular occasion, the unexpected shower of gifts brought a flush to everyone’s faces.

The madam had been like a paper doll in the estate, hardly noticeable. They had simply done their duties, and since they had never done anything in particular to earn a reward from the new Madam, the gifts were all the more surprising. Excited whispers spread here and there.

“Ahh, new soap!”

“What kind of windfall is this all of a sudden?! Is it some special day?”

“I knew it! I told you the madam seemed quite kind!”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? She’s probably just trying to win favor by spending money.”

Of course, there were indifferent reactions as well. There were those within the estate who looked upon Eleanor unfavorably.

It was because there were maids who harbored a quiet resentment that someone like ‘that woman’ occupied the position of the ‘Duchess of Nielsen,’ a place that should lack nothing in lineage or dignity.

“Even so, the master doesn’t treat her like much, does he?”

After the quiet scoff, the butler’s voice rang out loudly as he entered the servants’ hall.

“Listen well. Upon hearing that the new madam is bestowing gifts, the master has ordered that, in celebration of the marriage, each of you is to receive one krone. This is a gesture of sharing in the joy of the occasion, so take it to heart and accept it with gratitude.”

In celebration of the marriage, one krone each.

With a monthly wage of three kroner, it was nothing short of a windfall.

The hall grew noisy with exclamations of delight.

“Everyone is deeply grateful.”

Scratch, scratch, the sound of a fountain pen moving across paper mixed with the butler’s low report.

Without stopping the movement of his pen, Matthias gave a perfunctory nod. Giving something and hearing praise for it wasn’t particularly important to him.

Then, at a sudden thought, his hand, which had been continuing to sign, came to a stop.

“What about my wife?”

“What is there to say. Everyone seemed very moved. The madam is quite generous.”

Matthias let out a short, breathy laugh and resumed moving his pen. Yes, very generous indeed, our noble lady.

The first thing she did upon receiving the budget allocated to the mistress of the house was to bestow gifts upon the servants.

It wasn’t uncommon for a mistress with a weak standing to spend money to buy dignity and status. However, Matthias could say with certainty that Eleanor hadn’t used the money with that kind of intent.

If she were the type of woman capable of such shallow cunning, she wouldn’t have lived for months in this estate without a single coin to her name in the first place.

That was her rightful share, something she could have demanded without even considering his feelings, and he had even told her that for the year she bore his surname, she would be able to enjoy what belonged to Nielsen.

‘If she were the kind of woman who could play such tricks, she wouldn’t be irritating me like this now.’

The image of the woman’s clear, unguarded face, who would have continued living that way for quite some time if he hadn’t been informed about matters related to her budget, unsettled his nerves more than enough.

After hearing the head maid’s report that the Duchess had inquired about the bestowal, giving money to the servants under the uncharacteristic pretext of sharing the joy of the marriage had been a kind of impulse.

Half of it was guilt, an unfamiliar feeling to him, and then….

“I will make you happy.”

The vow beneath the lush greenery echoed in his ears once more.

A woman with not a single coin, no solid support from her family, no backing of a husband, nothing at all, saying she would make him happy. How contradictory it was, what could she possibly have?

And yet that moment was etched clearly into him.

Like a scene a painter had captured and sealed forever on a canvas, he remembered every moment of the woman speaking.

The strength of the wind and the coolness of the shade, the brightness of the sunlight falling behind her, the scent coming from her, the shape of her lips, even the hue of her unwavering light green eyes. Everything was vivid.

It was nothing short of ironic. In his mind, which remembered only the words written on sealed documents, all those sensations remained so distinct.

So half of his impulse was made up of things even he couldn’t interpret. He couldn’t even reach a conclusion as to why he kept recalling that day, those words, over and over again.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

At the sudden question, he lifted his gaze to see the butler’s worried face. Only then did he realize he had been unconsciously pressing a hand to the left side of his chest.

Lately, it had been like this often. Whenever he thought of the woman, he felt a tightness around his ribs.

At times it felt like a dull ache, at others an indescribable tickling sensation. And at such moments, he would feel a strange emotion he couldn’t understand.

“Shall I call the physician, my lord?”

Since he’d collapsed once before, the butler had been watching him as if ready to summon the physician even over the smallest matter.

Matthias shook his head. It was only temporary. Like how headaches would occasionally flare up, his chest sometimes felt tight, that was all.

Organizing the sensations he had been feeling lately into familiar phrasing, he opened his mouth.

“My wife….”

He paused briefly.

“…Have Mrs. Nella look into whether she needs anything in detail. It seems she doesn’t know herself.”

It seemed that she herself didn’t know what she needed or didn’t. At least for the remaining time, taking care of that much was a husband’s duty, Matthias attached a formal justification to the words he had just spoken.

Knock, knock. With a hurried knock, a servant soon entered and announced the arrival of a guest.

At his permission, Editor-in-Chief Albern hurried in, removing his top hat. Judging by his flushed face, it was clear there was no time even to offer him a cup of tea.

“What is it?”

Editor-in-Chief Albern pulled out a folded piece of paper from inside his jacket and spread it on the desk.

“This was inserted among today’s printed copies.”

Matthias’s cold gaze fell on the headline printed on the familiar textured paper.

『Lewd Deviations of a Violet Summer, What Happened Again in That Garden?』

“We definitely had people monitoring before distributing the morning edition, but it was slipped in again. It seems they’ve resumed activity.”

It had only been a few weeks since they had published gossip that displeased the Emperor. And once again, brazenly, they had used his newspaper’s distribution to do it.

Matthias scanned the article with an indifferent expression.

“The tone is a bit different this time?”

“Yes. I was just about to mention that. Until now, it only published gossip about events that had already passed.”

Given the nature of gossip, which dealt with the shameful secrets of others, it usually spread stories about things that had already happened. That someone had given birth to a bastard child, that someone had been caught cheating, that someone’s child wasn’t actually their own, and so on. Most of it was retrospective. But this time—

“It’s ongoing.”

Matthias’s finger brushed over the printed letters on the thin paper.

His eyes passed over words like the nobles’ secret night amusements, lewd and extravagant, depraved and perverse.

“….”

After a brief moment of thought, Matthias spoke, not to Editor-in-Chief Albern, but to the butler.

“Did an invitation from Madam Carnival arrive again this year?”

At the name, both the butler and Editor-in-Chief Albern’s eyes shook as if struck by an earthquake.