Chapter 10

The only difference here compared to other places was that there was no dust. That meant this noblewoman… or woman who looked like one, standing before her had done all the cleaning.

“Who are you to be cleaning and staying here?”

The child who she’d thought would be surprised asked the question quite clearly instead. She wasn’t the hysterical girl type as expected, but rather a bold servant type.

She silently explored the surroundings and made expressions several times like she understood!

But no, I get it! But no… like nothing made sense.

Watching that was a bit fun too, but it seemed time to tell her now. Sehera leisurely settled on the edge of the bed and looked at the child.

The child with brown hair and sparkling dark brown eyes looked full of energy at first glance.

The story was that she’d been cleaning this entire wide Count’s estate alone, and she thought the child must be quite diligent. She’d been thinking maybe today half the first floor, tomorrow just the central stairs and railings, dividing and cleaning in sections like that.

The child seemed increasingly captivated by Sehera, who was staring at her with a smile.

Sehera also stared intently at the child who kept examining her, thinking she needed to figure out who she was.

Was she focused on recognizing her without knowing she was being stared at, or did she not feel the need to avoid someone staring at her so intently?

“First… you don’t seem like a commoner.”

She probably felt that at first glance.

She was noticeably wearing a noble’s dress, and though her just-woken-up appearance bothered her a bit, she’d tried to maintain an elegant attitude rather than carelessly running her mouth.

Sehera deliberately didn’t answer.

Actually, this child already seemed to have a hunch. Though she was staring intently like examining her, she seemed to be thinking “could it be?”

Even so, the time she spent continuing to stare without speaking seemed to be time spent wondering whether it was okay to speak or not.

“Do you know who I am?”

Sehera smiled. The gentle smile was so warm that the child rolled her eyes around wildly, then looked at her again and nodded.

“Lady Sehera… Planer.”

As expected, she was quite perceptive. Sehera looked at her with a very satisfied face as she called her name accurately.

“You recognized me right away? But why didn’t you ask?”

Sehera asked that as soon as she said her name. Her heart pounded a little, thinking maybe she wasn’t welcome.

No matter how much the family had fallen and a new Planer had become Countess, returning while bearing dishonor might not be wanted. Though divorce wasn’t such a sinful thing, it still wasn’t something to view favorably.

If such words came from that child’s mouth… her difficulties would start from there.

She couldn’t run away scared. This was a path she’d come to after barely, after long hesitation, making up her mind and taking action.

“Well… actually, staying here while cleaning… is bad in many ways. So I thought I shouldn’t speak carelessly.”

The child said that with a face full of worry. Her caution wasn’t about bringing up bad stories to her face, but… she felt it was from worrying about her.

Though she’d thought “no way,” the child before her eyes seemed like a girl after all. At most eighteen? She was probably a bit younger than that. So maybe she was a bit freer from things like marriage, divorce, and family.

Sehera unconsciously relaxed her tense shoulders. Her shoulders dropped down like she’d deliberately let them fall.

“Ah, um, well… my father always talks about the young lady who married into the ducal family. Even when Mother corrects him each time saying you’re the Duchess, he always calls you Lady Planer.”

“Ah… father?”

Her eyes sparkled at the mention of someone talking about her. From the child’s tone, it didn’t sound like bad talk at all.

“Yes yes! My father used to work at Dirk, you see? So he’d always go out saying he’s going to work at the Count’s estate! and thought it was so proud and all.”

She was truly an energetic child, just like she’d first felt. She realized how the time at the Count’s estate, which had been even quieter than the ducal estate she’d fled from because it was too quiet and lonely, changed in an instant.

The child began chattering away with a bright smile. Her dark brown eyes sparkled prettily.

Anyway, as soon as the name Dirk came up, apart from liking her, trust began building.

Perhaps there was such a reason why this child came to manage the estate.

“Your name?”

“So my father got excited all by himself… Ah! I’m sorry, miss! I didn’t introduce myself! I must be really stupid! I’m Sana, daughter of Traver who tends the field you can see right away looking down from the Count’s estate!”

“Sana?”

“Yep!”

The child’s brightly smiling face looked so harmless that her heart felt comfortable for the first time in a while. Not anxious, not unpleasantly pounding, not depressed…

“How did you come to manage the Count’s estate?”

Cleaning was usually done by maids, but from the looks of it, she seemed to be managing it entirely alone. What circumstances led to her cleaning this empty estate?

“As I mentioned earlier, my father has tremendous attachment to the Count’s family. So I came into the empty estate once out of curiosity… and seeing it filled with dust in that short time, I felt so sorry…”

Sana’s voice, which had been continuing her answer excitedly, gradually became intimidated.

What must it have felt like facing the empty, dusty estate?

Sana spoke gloomily, her eyes rippling like recalling that time.

Seeing the child’s face change so drastically, Sehera’s mood actually lifted.

“I ran straight to Father and asked if I could clean. Then Father was so happy and said I was admirable, you know? Ah, um… but…”

The child who’d been speaking brightly like she was proud, like bragging to her, drooped her shoulders and shrank again as those words ended.

Following the constantly changing child’s words in a daze, she felt like even if she heard the child had stolen something, she’d just laugh it off saying “well, yeah.”

“Actually, I need to apologize to you, miss… At first I had sympathetic feelings, and I said I’d do it thinking I could look around every corner of the Count’s estate while cleaning. I’m sorry for having impure thoughts.”

Sana bowed her waist. Watching the chunk(!) of hair that fell down then flipped over following her movements, Sehera burst into laughter.

“Then, Sana must know the structure of the Count’s estate quite well?”

“Of course! I think I’ve even discovered one or two secret passages!”

Sana was just radiating pride without grasping the intent of the question or why Sehera was asking such a thing.

“Really? I see. Then… have you ever done maid work?”

The child who’d been throwing answers within almost one to three seconds for every question was the only one she couldn’t immediately answer among all her questions.

“Ah… m-m-maid… work?”

She suddenly stiffened completely, seemingly knowing why she’d brought up maids.

“What you’re worried about did happen to me. That’s why I’ve returned to Planer for good. But… the Count’s estate is as you see it. So won’t you become my maid, Sana? Even if not right away, I’ll definitely take care of your wages.”

Sehera’s face became a bit troubled when talking about wages, but Sana’s face was actually getting brighter and brighter.

With an even brighter smile than when she’d introduced herself earlier, she nodded her head right away.

“Please let me, maid! I’ll do well!”

Having someone who could take care of household affairs made her feel much more settled.

This wasn’t the time to look at the past.

She’d decided to start over, accepting the one flaw of being a divorced Count’s daughter. She could only survive if she gathered strength.

Legally there’d be no problem inheriting the family name, but she had to prepare for whether her uncle and aunt, currently acting as proxies, would readily return it.

And she had to gather Father’s small merchant company again too.

Actually, Sehera had been planning to inherit that company’s operations since childhood.

Though it wasn’t large enough to bring goods from other kingdoms or duchies across the sea to sell, it was steadily making profits as a middleman merchant, so what Father did had looked very cool when she was young.

She didn’t know if she herself could become a merchant, but it seemed she absolutely had to find it.

“I wonder if Uncle even received Dirk.”

Dirk was the name of the merchant company Count Planer had operated during his lifetime.

It wasn’t like an exploitative employer, and she knew the employees had good solidarity since it had been operated to keep goods circulating well within the empire.

“I should have gotten close with the company people back then.”

Being introverted, Sehera now felt very regretful that she hadn’t gotten close with those people.

“Company people? The previous Count let village people here work at the company too, so do village people become company people? Ah… I keep stupidly talking about the Count.”

Sana, who’d been bringing cookies she’d baked as a snack for her, added words brightly to her own muttering, then quickly became gloomy again.

This child was truly innocent, but perhaps because she was still young, she seemed to have a tendency to speak first and think later.

Sehera grinned again this time too.

That child was apparently coming to manage the Count’s estate and living in the Count’s territory, so even though she was a young child, she knew stories about the Count’s family well.

So she quite often brought up past stories unconsciously.

“It’s okay. Tell me. It’s not like you’re saying bad things. I haven’t seen them in two years, so I miss them a lot.”

Her dignified smile apparently looked pitiful to the child, and Sana became tearful again.

Watching the child honest in expressing emotions actually felt worry-free.

She’d lived watching the Duke’s mood, and after being told not to come near him, she’d watched the employees’ moods too, so being able to interact without watching anyone’s mood was very good.