“Heidi! Heidi!”

As I entered the room, ready for an amazing break after lunch, I stopped abruptly at the voice desperately calling for me from the end of the hallway.

“Did you just call me?”

A nameless maid, catching her breath and panting, hurriedly delivered the message.

“The Madam is looking for you.”

“The Madam? Why?”

The Madam means the Duchess, but why is she looking for me?

I shrugged my shoulders and replied lightly.

“I’m not sure either. Anyway, we need to go quickly. So she doesn’t have to wait.”

The maid’s loyalty was remarkable.

She urged me on, as if she couldn’t bear the thought of the Duchess waiting for long.

Since I was called, I couldn’t refuse, so I sighed and began to follow the maid.

The people in this mansion never let anyone rest.

I was muttering quietly so the maid walking ahead couldn’t hear, when suddenly she turned her head.

“The head maid said you’re a new recruit?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

For some reason, the maid seemed displeased with me, but I nodded kindly in response.

I didn’t particularly want to be respected, so it didn’t matter much.

Besides, I wasn’t curious about who this maid was, nor did I want to know.

However, the maid seemed to think a little differently.

She let out a snort of laughter, as if exasperated, and sneered.

“And yet you’ve already caught the Madam’s eye? You’re quite something.”

Caught the Madam’s eye?

Me?

What nonsense is this now.

I recalled my first meeting with the Duchess and felt bewildered.

The maid seemed displeased that I, a new recruit, was being called by the Madam, the real power in the Delgado ducal family.

I despised conversations that only spewed nonsense.

I wanted to arrive at the Duchess’s room quickly, before a meaningless argument that would continue until one of us collapsed from exhaustion could begin.

“If you want to survive in this mansion, you’ll have to shed some tears. It’s not a place that’s merciful to new maids.”

By this point, I was starting to get curious.

‘I thought I’d been quite quiet in the mansion, so why is everyone so desperate to get at me?’

I felt foolish for believing that I could become the best maid just by doing my job properly.

Of course, I did slack off occasionally.

“By the way, maid.”

“It’s not ‘maid’, it’s Clara.”

“Right, Clara. Are you the Madam’s closest maid?”

She seemed quite pleased with the term ‘closest maid’, as her expression softened a bit and she proudly straightened her shoulders.

“Yes, I’m the closest among the maids. The Madam always calls for me when she needs a maid.”

“I see. Then you must know everything that goes on in the mansion?”

“Of course.”

As I quietly watched Clara puff up her chest proudly, I asked the question I’d been curious about all along.

“Then do the people in this mansion really like me?”

“What nonsense is that!”

Clara, losing her temper, put her hand to her forehead and opened her eyes wide.

Clara’s orange eyes held a look that seemed to say, ‘What kind of weirdo is this?’

But isn’t it curious?

Why do these things only happen to me?

“Then how do you know I’m a new maid? I didn’t go around advertising it.”

“Are you stupid? Just because you didn’t tell anyone, you think no one knows about you? This is the Delgado mansion. While you were acting like an idiot, countless pieces of information were exchanged!”

“I’d like to hear that information too.”

“Oh? Well, you’ll need to wait until you have more seniority… No, wait!”

What a shame. I tried to naturally slide it in, but Clara’s mental fortitude was impressive.

Leaving Clara, who was now starting to fume, behind, I began to walk ahead.

Since we were almost there, it wasn’t difficult to know where the Duchess’s room was.

‘It’s worlds apart from the room Dietrich uses.’

Unlike the area near Dietrich’s room where you couldn’t even see the back of a knight or maid, let alone a servant, the area around the Duchess’s room was swarming with mansion staff.

And in front of a door with slightly more elaborate patterns than the other rooms, which anyone could tell belonged to the Duchess, stood guard knights.

“We’re here, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Thanks for guiding me.”

Even though she had been quite chatty, I still needed to thank her for showing me the way to the room.

Clara, who had paused for a moment, lightly tugged at my sleeve.

Her eyes were still full of wariness and jealousy.

“Everyone knows the rumor that you seem to be on friendly terms with Young Master Dietrich. So be careful. I’m watching everyone who threatens our Madam.”

It was truly remarkable loyalty.

I slowly backed away with a disgusted look on my face.

I didn’t want to talk anymore. I didn’t particularly want to know how dangerous such fanatical loyalty could become.

When I approached the guard knight at the door and told him who I was, the door opened easily.

“Hello, it’s Heidi.”

The interior of the room was indescribably luxurious, just like its exterior.

The white-toned room was gilded in places, and the sunlight reflecting off it was almost blinding.

‘The interior design sense is the worst.’

It was clear that a pathetic interior designer who thought that adding gold made everything look fancy and grand had done the work.

In the center of the room, which could be described as having money slathered all over it rather than any sense of dignity, sat a beautiful woman.

The woman with golden hair as dazzling as the wall decorations, neatly tied up in a bun, smiled at me warmly.

“Oh, Heidi! You’re here!”

I gave an awkward smile to the Duchess, who was waving her hand and beaming at me.

“Come over here and sit down. I’ve prepared some delicious snacks.”

I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at the array of high-class confections spread out on the round table.

Would you believe me if I said even snacks could look noble?

The snacks before my eyes all looked like premium handmade confections.

“These are all high-class snacks. They’re all delicious, so please eat.”

As expected. I thought they looked different, and they were all expensive snacks.

I sat awkwardly on the chair and looked at the Duchess.

There must be a purpose for calling me here.

The Duchess just smiled like a mother, watching me as I munched on the snacks, without saying anything in particular.

Just as I was starting to think that the Duchess had really called me just to feed me these incredibly delicious premium snacks, it happened.

“Is it delicious?”

Her voice, asking kindly with a smile if it was tasty, was subtle.

‘Looks like she wants something.’

I wasn’t particularly quick-witted, but the Duchess was being too obvious about it.

“Yes. It’s delicious.”

“I’m glad. Please eat a lot. Um, by the way, Heidi. It might seem out of the blue, but there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

Now we’re getting to the main point.

The Duchess finally got to the point after 10 minutes of me being in the room. Her cautious nature was evident.

If it were me, I would have said what I wanted to say as soon as I saw her face.

I nodded vigorously while chewing on a strawberry jam cookie.

“I’m not only the mistress of the Delgado ducal family, but also the mother of two sons. The funny thing is, my children don’t always do as I wish. Yurian is still young, so he at least pretends to listen, but Dietrich is a bit different.”

Her red eyes wavered as she lowered them sorrowfully.

“Dietrich always maintains a certain distance, perhaps because I’m not his birth mother. Although he can be cold and harsh at times, Dietrich is my child. After my husband left us and passed away, I promised him that I would protect Dietrich and Yurian for the rest of my life.”

I crunched on the cookie while appreciating the performance of Leriana, the great actress nominated for this year’s Best Acting Award.

I couldn’t help but be amazed by the vivid acting I was witnessing from the front row. Above all, what deserved applause was how politely and kindly she was speaking to me. To me, a mere maid.

This must be the method she chose because she couldn’t win against the noble and accomplished former duchess. Well, I could understand why the servants would fall for it if such an accomplished duchess treated them this way.

“Heidi. I heard that Dietrich asked for a dedicated maid for the first time. And that it was you.”

It seems Clara was right; there are no secrets in this mansion.

Thinking that I had made the right decision in refusing, I replied nonchalantly.

“That’s right. But I’m still just a maid.”

A maid who diligently does whatever tasks she’s assigned.

Just an ordinary maid who was finally starting to get used to life in the Delgado mansion.

However, the Duchess had a different idea.

After watching me quietly for a while, she casually made a suggestion.

“It seems you’ve become acquainted with Dietrich. If it’s alright with you, would you tell me about Dietrich’s daily routine?”

“Young Master Dietrich’s routine?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’d like to know what Dietrich did today, his daily activities. He never tells me if he’s having any difficulties, so I’m always worried about what he’s up to.”

I began to fear her as she lied without a single change in her expression, as if wearing a mask.

‘I knew she was a frightening person, but she’s even more terrifying than I thought.’

She’s not curious about what Dietrich is doing; she wants to monitor his every move.

To me, who knew the original story, it was an obvious lie.

If I refused outright, I would become a target of the Duchess along with Dietrich.

‘That won’t do.’

I absolutely detest having my life threatened.

I wanted a peaceful and stable life in the Delgado mansion.

Not that it’s particularly peaceful now either.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to go along with the Duchess’s request to a certain extent?

Pretending to ponder for a moment, I tilted my head before brightly smiling and answering loudly.

“Of course! Leave it to me!”

“Oh my, I knew it. Thank you so much. I won’t forget this favor.”

Leriana, seemingly genuinely grateful, grabbed my hands covered in cookie crumbs and shook them up and down.

I’m only doing this because it would be more troublesome to be suspected, that’s all.

Since I’ve started lying anyway, I thought it would be better if I didn’t get caught, so I exclaimed even more enthusiastically.

“Everything about Young Master Dietrich! I’ll tell you all about it!”