The Maid's Contract Marriage - Chapter 45

“……?”

Weekly pay of 30 gold?

It wasn’t even surprising due to how unrealistic it sounded.

Offering a year’s salary as weekly pay.

Is he just testing me……?

Reina laughed, thinking it was obviously a joke.

Where would Sir Arthur get that kind of money from.

However, Arthur did not laugh along.

“……?”

Arthur frowned one eyebrow and looked at Reina with a sullen face, resting his chin on his hand.

Arthur opened his mouth.

“……I am the heir to the Julius family. Right now I only have authority over the family, and Julius’s private assets are not mine yet.”

“……?”

Arthur’s words continued.

“I have the right to inherit half of Viscount Julius’s estate under a marriage contract guaranteed by the Imperial family. I’ve also been promised rewards from the Imperial family.”

Reina stared at him in a daze.

Heir to the Julius family……?

That’s right. Of course Reina knew that too.

It was something she already knew, but…….

Although Reina had devoured all sorts of newsletters and newspaper articles talking about him.

Neither the world, nor the newsletters, nor Reina knew the specific contents of the marriage contract between ‘Arthur’ and the ‘Julius family’.

Arthur smiled bitterly and continued speaking.

“As compensation for participating in the war, I am to receive an annual pension of 10,000 gold from Viscount Julius for the next 10 years. I’ve already received 100,000 gold as a lump sum.”

“……”

Reina’s mouth fell open blankly.

Arthur gave a faint bitter smile.

“……It seems you know too little about me.”

[This is the timeline separator]

After entering the bathroom.

Arthur leaned his back against the closed door, tightly closed his eyes and frowned.

“……”

……How unsightly.

Reciting a list of assets as if boasting.

“……”

What if she thought I was trying to buy her off and disliked it.

Arthur, who had been silently lost in thought,

Soon sighed and turned on the cold water.

[This is the timeline separator]

Viscount’s mansion, Matilda Julius’s room.

As soon as only schedules that didn’t require the mistress of the house to accompany remained, Matilda ended her schedule for the day on her own and went up to her room.

And she immediately entered her office and spread out the floor plan of the mansion on her desk.

With a rustling sound!

As she placed paperweights on the corners of the unfurling floor plan, Matilda began examining the empty rooms in the mansion one by one.

A considerable portion was marked in blue ink as unusable, meaning ‘spaces given to Arthur’, but nevertheless, the excited face of the Viscountess was filled with pleasant motivation and vitality for the first time in a long while.

This was because she suddenly had a very good idea after hearing her daughter’s admirable words about helping with the mansion’s affairs as the future mistress of the house.

A new bridal chamber.

I should prepare a new bridal chamber for my daughter.

Instead of the room Reina is using, a bigger and better room.

Filling it with more expensive and better furniture.

‘Why did I keep fuming when I could have done this from the start!’

The Viscountess’s mood improved.

Although a lot of money had gone into furnishing that room and over a month of effort was put in, the Viscountess cleanly let go of any lingering attachment.

I can’t let Christina use things that a mere maid touched first.

Especially if it’s the bridal chamber and bed.

Matilda was newly reminded of a fact from her spirited daughter’s words.

Christina will become the mistress of this mansion anyway.

Then the room she uses will be the master bedroom.

There was no need to fume and get angry at all about a maid occupying the precious bridal chamber.

That room could just be discarded.

Matilda scanned the large unused rooms on the mansion floor plan with sparkling eyes.

Let’s see…..

Come to think of it, there were quite a few usable items among the gifts pouring into the Viscount’s mansion, right?

Since there were so many good items, if they were utilized, a room could be created that would be so splendid that the previously furnished room wouldn’t be missed at all.

Having decided to spend at least twice as much money as what went into decorating the previous bridal chamber,

Matilda smiled, thinking she wouldn’t be able to spend as much as she wanted even if she tried.

She called the head butler.

“Jim. You have the ledger recording the list of gifts that came in, right? Bring those here.”

“Yes, madam.”

If we use them for Christina’s bridal chamber, it would be a great honor for the people who sent the gifts too.

As head butler Jim left, the head maid entered as if changing shifts.

The Viscountess called her happily.

“Ah, Olga! Come here and look at this with me. What was this room being used for?”

Olga approached and asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to change into comfortable clothes first?”

The Viscountess, her heart soaring, urged her.

“This first. I’m trying to choose a room to redecorate as the mistress’s bedroom for Christina to use.”

Olga came to her side and examined the floor plan together.

Although the usable space had been quite reduced after losing a third of the mansion to Arthur, the Viscount’s mansion was very large to begin with.

The Viscountess still had over a hundred rooms left.

There was plenty of space to utilize.

The Viscountess chose a few of the largest, best located, and most usable spaces among them.

“Olga. How about this room? It’s not being used, right?”

The head maid looked and answered.

“That’s where the Grand Madam keeps her cherished items, but should I ask by letter if it can be cleared out? She rarely uses it even when she returns to the mansion.”

Ah, so Mother uses that place.

The Viscountess immediately gave up.

“No, that’s fine then. How about here? It’s quite spacious and in a good location. What was this room being used for?”

A large room that was just barely not included in the space Arthur was to use caught her eye.

The head maid examined it and answered.

“It’s the room where jewels and luxury items are collected. These days many paintings have come in, so expensive paintings are being hung there as well.”

She remembered.

It was a spacious room sometimes used to show off to visitors.

The room where jewels were collected.

“……”

Perfect. It suited Christina.

“The sunlight must be good there too, right?”

“Yes. We’ve put up blackout curtains now so the paintings don’t get damaged, but the windows are wide and south-facing, so it will be bright if the curtains are removed.”

Good. This room looks fine.

She looked at a few more rooms, but none were as good as that one.

It was conveniently located adjacent to the area Arthur was using, and she liked that its position between ‘Arthur’ and ‘Julius’ could also be symbolic.

The head maid agreed with Matilda’s opinion as well.

“Can the items here be cleared out?”

“Yes. If you give us about three days.”

The Viscountess ordered in a rare good mood.

“Alright. I’ll redecorate this room, so help me. As the new mistress’s bedroom. I’ll spend at least 1000 gold, so don’t spare any expense.”

It was a gift for Christina.

[This is the timeline separator]

After Arthur left saying he’d be back shortly.

Reina, left alone, stood blankly in front of the fireplace before crouching down.

“……”

That I don’t know Sir Arthur.

Reina was unexpectedly shocked by those words.

Of course….. It was true that I knew too little about him to have mistaken Sir Arthur, the heir to Julius and the victorious general of the century who was even promised rewards from the Imperial family, for someone with no money and no knowledge of the world, but…..

But I really do know a lot about you otherwise.

She felt somewhat hurt.

What strategy Sir Arthur used in the Battle of Flambert Plains.

How Sir Arthur rescued Crown Prince Kyle.

How intense that battle was…….

What cigar he smoked after the final battle ended.

Although I only learned it all through newsletters, I have it all memorized…..

“……”

Reina became sulky.

I guess…..

No matter how hard you collect and memorize newsletters, you can’t know everything about a person…..

That Sir Arthur doesn’t eat mushrooms.

That he looks incredibly handsome when smoking cigars.

That he has a very broad-minded personality.

That his voice is extremely nice.

None of those were things that could be known from newspaper articles.

“……”

Reina felt a little depressed.

It hit home anew that Sir Arthur was ultimately a person beyond the newspapers to her.

Reina stared blankly at the burning logs inside the fireplace, lost in thought.

’30 gold as weekly pay…..’

The significance of giving as weekly pay an amount that would take a year to earn went beyond it simply being a large sum of money, it meant being able to save money quickly without living expenses going out.

Even earning 30 gold a year with an exceptional salary, after spending on living expenses for two people, the amount that could be saved was barely around 10 gold a year.

When 60 gold was what could be barely saved working a lifetime, being given 30 gold a week was unbelievable and brought on indescribable feelings,

But while her head was skeptically wondering if Sir Arthur’s offer was really possible, it was steadily doing calculations.

If I accept Sir Arthur’s offer and things go as he says, 120 gold in a month…..

Then even if I give up the generous salary from the Julius viscounty, I could immediately buy a quite nice house for independence.

A much better house than the small one I originally aimed for.

As long as I don’t desire too luxurious a house, I could even leave some living expenses to get by without working for a while…..

“……”

No….

Reina rubbed her face dry and buried her face in her palms, lowering her head.

Living expenses….. I have to think about living expenses.

I shouldn’t be tempted by a large amount in the moment.

Just having a house doesn’t mean you can live for free.

To begin with, Sir Arthur said he’d give 30 gold as weekly pay, but he didn’t guarantee how many weeks he’d let me work.

If the Viscount finishes talking well with Sir Arthur, young lady Christina would immediately return to her place so I could be fired as early as tomorrow.

So this wasn’t a job I could do for life.

And Reina only needed 50 silver as long as she could take care of her grandmother.

The reason she needed money all this time was solely for a house to live independently with her grandmother, but now that Julius had agreed to provide a doctor for her grandmother, Reina no longer desperately needed dangerous money.

Anyway, even if given 30 gold every week, she wouldn’t know where to spend it besides on a house and her grandmother.

She didn’t want to take on big risks either.

Moreover, Taylor was already with her grandmother.

She was supposed to meet Taylor next week to hear what he had to say.

In this situation, if she was caught betraying Julius by falling for the 30 gold weekly pay Sir Arthur talked about,

And less than a month later Sir Arthur and Viscount Julius peacefully reconciled while I lost both my lifelong job and Taylor…..

That would truly be the stupidest thing to do.

Anyway, I won’t be able to stay in this position for long…..

Reina covered her eyes with both hands and cradled her face.

“……”

I’ll regret it.

……Right?

If grandmother passes away, I…..

……So at least until she’s alive.

“……”

As that thought came to her, her throat choked up as always.

Reina tightly pressed her lips together.

While grandmother is alive…..

She didn’t want to take any risks.

I still haven’t repaid even one bit of the love and grace

I received from grandmother.

Grandmother won’t be by my side forever.

I had to repay when I could.

“……”

The money didn’t matter at all.

Grandmother was the most important to Reina.

Already proven care.

And, gambling that had to be chosen by giving that up.

There was nothing to think about.

Moreover, Sir Arthur has to leave for the capital soon for his victory ceremony.

If I rashly betray Julius in this situation.

In the Julius domain without Sir Arthur,

Who would protect grandmother for months.

“……”

Reina stared blankly at the mirror.

The pale face with makeup removed looked raw.

“……”

……What if I speak honestly and ask for help?

That grandmother needs a doctor.

If you could possibly promise that too…..

And the money you mentioned….. even if I can’t work by your side for long….. if you could guarantee some amount.

So that I can safely….. spend a few years of the remaining life together with grandmother.

If so…..

Then I.

“……”

Reina stared blankly at the burning logs in the fireplace.

Next week…..

Next week.

The day to meet Taylor was approaching.