You Can't Catch the Wind (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 15

  1. Home
  2. You Can't Catch the Wind (Completed Main Story)
  3. Chapter 15
Prev
Next

“Miss, have you heard about the Altvea mansion?”

Jena, who had just returned from buying missing ingredients for dinner, spoke excitedly without even setting down her basket.

“Huh? The Altvea mansion? You mean the one on the hill northeast of the capital?”

“Yes, yes, that one.”

“The place Ash & Co. acquired?”

“Exactly! Did you already know, Miss?”

At Jena’s surprised tone, Ael recalled overhearing that conversation during her visit to the library and felt a pang of guilt in her chest.

Of course, she hadn’t intentionally eavesdropped—it had simply reached her ears—but secretly listening to someone else’s conversation wasn’t exactly something to be proud of.

“But why that place? Has something happened?”

“As you said, Miss—Ash & Co. has fully renovated the old mansion! Several new ships arrived today, all sent from the Empire specifically to furnish the mansion. They say those ships were packed not just with furniture from the Empire, but even from the distant southern island nations of the continent—furniture only! Other items will arrive on separate ships!”

Ael’s hands, which had been moving busily, stopped at Jena’s words.

She knew well how enormous Ash & Co.’s galleons were—but filling several of them solely with furniture?

For a moment, she remembered the items Kyle had left at the viscount’s estate two weeks ago.

She’d felt guilty all this time for accepting such excessive gifts…

‘So it really meant nothing at all.’

Her worry that Kyle and Nisha might face reprimand for giving her so much now felt utterly pointless.

“It’s not just furniture. It’s such a huge mansion, after all! Word’s spread all over the capital that they’re hiring servants for it. Not only the mansion itself, but the wages they’re offering are so generous that everyone’s lining up to apply.”

“Oh, so that’s why…”

Ael recalled seeing several of the mansion’s servants secretly gathering and whispering among themselves over the past few days.

Whenever they spotted Ael, the viscount and viscountess, or Elise, they’d quickly vanish.

She’d suspected they were hiding something—and apparently, they’d heard the rumors too.

Ael looked at the excited Jena.

“Do you want to go work there?”

Jena immediately jumped and waved her hands dismissively.

“What are you talking about? I can’t even get a letter of recommendation!”

Jena had come up from the countryside not long ago and found work here.

She’d started as a scullery maid, but when the previous kitchen staff abruptly left, she’d suddenly been put in charge of kitchen duties.

If Jena were to leave now, the kitchen would be in trouble again, so Viscountess Aradis would never write her a recommendation letter.

‘She works so hard, though…’

Though the kitchen duties had been thrust upon her unexpectedly, Jena tackled them diligently, and her cheerful, amiable nature made her the only person in this house who offered Ael any comfort.

Thus, Ael sincerely wished for Jena to find a better place to work.

Of course, things would become harder for Ael without Jena—but that didn’t mean she could ask Jena to stay here forever.

For those who came up from the countryside to become servants, their dream was always to move to a better household and raise their own worth.

After that, they’d save money, return to their hometowns, buy a small house, marry, and live peacefully.

Jena was one such girl who’d come with those hopes. But without proper training under a real head chef, she’d never secure a good contract elsewhere if she only did kitchen chores.

‘That’s why I’ve been teaching her to read and write whenever I can…’

Ael had been teaching Jena literacy and arithmetic whenever she had a spare moment.

Servants who could do those tasks earned significantly higher wages.

‘It’s a shame I can’t write her a recommendation letter.’

Unaware of Ael’s regret, Jena continued speaking while putting away the groceries she’d bought.

“Still, I’m curious about the Altvea mansion. It must be a dazzling place, filled with things from other countries! Since it belongs to Ash & Co., it’ll overflow with goods, and there’ll probably be feasts every day. There’ll be all sorts of unfamiliar wines and foods too.”

As Jena spoke dreamily, a voice called from upstairs.

“I’ll go see what it is.”

Jena wiped her hands and hurried upstairs. Moments later, she came back down holding a single, elegant and beautiful invitation.

“Why did you bring that down? Hurry and take it to Elise’s room.”

“No, it’s not that…”

Jena held the invitation out to Ael.

“This invitation is for you, Miss.”

For a moment, Ael thought Jena was joking—after all, there was no one who would send her an invitation.

For the past few years, aside from the obligatory noble balls to which every aristocrat received an invitation, Ael hadn’t received a single personal invitation.

Trending

The only exception had been during her debut year, when she’d grown close to another young woman in similar circumstances and received an invitation from her—but as soon as rumors about Ael’s reputation surfaced, that invitation became both the first and last she’d ever received.

“It’s true! Look here—your name is written right on it.”

Seeing Ael hesitate with a wry smile, Jena thrust the envelope toward her, pointing insistently at the recipient’s name.

“Ael… Frida… Luennim… Aradis. See? It’s definitely your name, Miss!”

Reading the name haltingly, just as Ael had taught her, Jena shrugged her shoulders as if to say she couldn’t possibly be wrong.

Only then did Ael take the invitation from Jena. Indeed, the name written on it was hers.

“Who sent this?”

Ael checked the sender’s name, puzzled—and her expression instantly hardened.

“Why would this person send it to me?”

“What’s wrong? Who is it?”

Noticing Ael’s troubled expression, Jena quickly glanced at the sender’s section.

Then she realized why she hadn’t checked the sender’s name earlier when she’d brought the invitation down—though she’d easily read Ael’s name, the sender’s name had been written in Ancient Script.

While the recipient’s name was written in the common continental language, the sender’s name used the ancient tongue.

Ignorant as she might be of noble etiquette, Jena immediately understood.

The sender had deliberately intended to slight Ael.

Ael couldn’t miss it either. If anything, using two different languages like this—instead of writing both names in Ancient Script—made the sender’s intent glaringly obvious. And the sender was…

‘Marquis Renox’s daughter, Riena Agail Renox.’

The very woman competing with Elise for the Grand Duke’s favor.

Ael couldn’t possibly not know her name.

Maya often mentioned her bitterly, and Elise herself had grumbled about her name multiple times in frustration.

And now that woman had sent an invitation to Ael.

Moreover, an invitation that clearly showed disdain.

Ael opened the envelope and pulled out the invitation. Inside, written in Ancient Script, was an invitation to a tea party.

“Miss, is this really Ancient Script? It doesn’t look like pictures, does it?”

Jena, peering over curiously, frowned at the ancient writing inside the invitation.

And understandably so—the script, to put it kindly, was extremely archaic; to put it bluntly, it sacrificed all readability for sheer ornamental beauty, barely qualifying as legible writing.

‘It’s lucky I like Ancient Script.’

When she was young, the cheap tutor the viscount and viscountess had hired solely for basic education happened to adore Ancient Script.

Delighted to see Ael’s interest in it, the tutor had eagerly taught her everything they knew.

Ael had desperately studied Ancient Script just to read the old books in the family library.

After all, Viscount Aradis had bought those books purely for show—and they were all written in that script.

Thanks to that, she could now read even the old calligraphy styles that gave academy professors considerable trouble.

“What does it say? It is an invitation, right?”

“It is an invitation, but…”

The content was nothing special—just the usual polite phrasing: to celebrate the approaching summer, a modest garden gathering would be held at the marquis’s estate, and her presence would honor the occasion.

The only slightly unusual detail was the note that a carriage from the sender’s household would be sent for her.

Ael took off her apron. This was an invitation that required formal consultation.

“I’ll go upstairs for a bit.”

Ael stood before Elise’s door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

“Come in.”

Elise’s indifferent reply suggested she assumed it was her maid. Ael stepped inside.

Unlike Ael’s shabby room on the fourth floor, Elise’s chamber was adorned with silk wallpaper and clean carpets.

Moreover, the air was filled not with the damp smell of wood, but with the fresh fragrance of flowers freshly cut that morning.

“What is it, you?”

Seeing Ael enter, Elise, seated in a rocking chair on the balcony, turned her head and looked at her with an incredulous expression.

After all, Ael had never entered her room like this before.

Instead of answering, Ael simply held out the invitation she’d received.

Most Commented This Week
Prev
Next

YOUR COMMENT

1. Please write comments in English.
2. Inline comments are now available. Tap the end of any line in a chapter to share your thoughts instantly.