You Can't Catch the Wind - Chapter 16

“My lady, have you heard about the Oltbea Mansion?”

Jena, who had gone to buy the missing ingredients for dinner, spoke in an excited voice as soon as she returned, without even putting down her shopping basket.

“Hm? The Oltbea Mansion? You mean the one on the hill northeast of the capital?”

“Yes, yes, that’s the one.”

“The one that Ash Trading Company acquired?”

“That’s right! You knew about it too, my lady?”

Surprised by Jena’s voice, Ael remembered overhearing it on the day she went to the library and felt a pang in her chest.

Of course, it was something she had heard without being able to do anything about it, but that didn’t make eavesdropping on others’ conversations something to be proud of.

“But why? Did something happen there?”

“Just as you said, Ash Trading Company acquired it and finished repairing the old mansion! Several new ships came in today, and they say all of them were sent from the Empire to decorate that mansion. They say those ships were full of furniture not only from the Empire but also from the island countries in the far south of the continent. Just furniture! Other items will arrive on new ships later!”

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

She knew how massive the Ash Trading Company’s sailing ships entering the harbor were. And to think that several of those ships were filled with just furniture.

For a moment, she recalled the items Kaiel had left at the viscount’s residence two weeks ago.

She had thought she had received too much and still felt apologetic about it, but…

‘It really was nothing at all.’

Her worry that Kaiel and Nisha might be reprimanded for giving her too much now seemed completely unnecessary.

“It’s not just furniture. It’s such a big mansion, you know. So rumors have spread throughout the capital that they’re looking for servants to work there. The mansion is impressive, but the salary they’re offering is extraordinary, so everyone wants to apply there.”

“Ah, so that’s why…”

Ael had noticed some of the mansion’s servants gathering secretly among themselves to discuss something over the past few days.

They quickly disappeared whenever Ael, the viscount couple, or Elize appeared.

She had sensed they were hiding something, but it seems they too had heard those rumors.

Ael looked at the excited Jena.

“Do you want to go to that mansion?”

Jena jumped up and waved her hands frantically.

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

This place was the job Jena had found when she first came up from the countryside not long ago.

She had started with menial tasks but suddenly took over kitchen duties when the previous servants left abruptly.

If Jena were to quit now, the kitchen work would become difficult again, so there was no way the viscountess would write her a letter of recommendation.

‘She works so hard…’

Although it was a job she had taken on suddenly, Jena worked diligently and, with her cheerful and bright personality, was the only source of comfort for Ael in this house.

That’s why Ael sincerely wished for Jena to be able to work in a better place.

Of course, it would be more difficult for Ael if Jena left, but she couldn’t ask Jena to stay here forever.

The hope of those who come up from the countryside to become servants is to enter a better mansion and increase their value.

After that, they save money, return to their hometown, get a small house, and live peacefully after marriage.

Jena, too, was a girl who had come up with such hopes. But without proper training under a real chef and only doing kitchen work, she couldn’t get a good contract even if she went somewhere else.

‘That’s why I’ve been teaching her letters in my spare time, but…’

Ael had been teaching Jena reading, writing, and arithmetic whenever she had time.

Servants who could do these things could receive much higher wages.

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

Unaware of Ael’s regretful feelings, Jena continued talking while organizing the groceries she had bought.

“Still, I’m curious about the Oltbea Mansion. It must be a splendid mansion full of things from other countries, right? Since it’s owned by Ash Trading Company, it must be overflowing with goods, and there will probably be parties every day. It must be full of drinks and food we’ve never seen before.”

As Jena was speaking dreamily, a voice calling from upstairs was heard.

“I’ll go up.”

Jena quickly washed her hands and went upstairs. When she came back down a moment later, she was holding an elegant and beautiful invitation in her hand.

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

“No, it’s not that…”

Jena held it out to Ael.

“This invitation is for you, my lady.”

For a moment, Ael thought Jena was playing a joke. After all, there was no one who would send her an invitation.

In the past few years, apart from the mandatory banquet invitations sent to all nobles, Ael hadn’t received a single invitation.

She did receive an invitation from a woman in a similar situation whom she had befriended in the lounge during her debut year, but as soon as Ael’s reputation became problematic, that invitation became the first and last one Ael ever received.

“It’s true. Look here. Your name is written on it.”

When Ael smiled bitterly and made no move to take it, Jena held out the envelope, showing Ael the part where the recipient’s name was written.

“Ael… Frida… Luen… Aradis. See, it’s your name, my lady!”

Jena read the letters haltingly, as Ael had taught her, and shrugged her shoulders as if to say she wasn’t mistaken.

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

“Who sent this?”

Ael checked the sender’s name with curiosity. And immediately, her expression hardened.

“Why would this person send it to me?”

“Why? Who is it from?”

Noticing that Ael’s expression was not good, Jena glanced at the sender’s part.

Then she realized why she hadn’t been able to check the sender’s name while bringing the invitation, even though she could quickly read Ael’s name.

While the recipient’s name was written in the common language of the continent, the sender’s name was written in an ancient language.

Despite her ignorance of noble etiquette, Jena immediately realized.

The fact that the sender of this invitation was deliberately disrespecting Ael.

Ael couldn’t help but notice it too. They should have used the ancient language for both, but the intention was already visible in the fact that they deliberately used different languages. Moreover, the sender was…

‘The daughter of Marquis Lennox, Riena Argyle Lennox.’

She was the woman competing with Elize for the Grand Duke.

Ael couldn’t help but know her name.

Maya kept mentioning it with frustration, and Elize too had spoken that name several times with annoyance.

For such a person to send her an invitation.

And with an invitation that clearly showed contempt.

Ael opened the envelope and took out the invitation. Inside, it was written in ancient language that she was invited to a tea party.

“My lady, is this really ancient language? Not a drawing?”

Peering from the side, Jena frowned at the ancient writing inside the invitation.

It was understandable. The ancient writing in the invitation was, to put it kindly, a very classical style, and to put it unkindly, it was something that couldn’t even be called writing, focusing solely on beauty while abandoning readability.

‘It’s fortunate that I like ancient languages.’

When she was young, the cheap tutor hired by the viscount couple for only the most basic education had loved ancient languages.

That person was delighted to see Ael showing interest in ancient languages and taught her everything he knew.

Ael had desperately learned ancient languages to read the old books in the house library.

This was because all the books that Viscount Aradis had bought for show were such books.

Thanks to this, she could easily read even the old style of writing that even academy professors struggled with.

“What does it say? Is it really an invitation?”

“It is an invitation, but…”

The content wasn’t anything special. It was the usual stuff about holding a modest tea party in the marquis’s garden to welcome the coming summer, and hoping for her attendance to grace the occasion.

The only difference was that it mentioned they would send their family’s carriage for her.

Ael took off her apron. This invitation required consultation.

“I’m going upstairs for a moment.”

Ael stood in front of Elize’s room, took a deep breath, and then knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Elize’s indifferent reply came back, probably thinking it was her maid. Ael entered the room.

Unlike the old room on the 4th floor where she stayed, Elize’s room had silk wallpaper and clean carpets.

Moreover, instead of the damp smell of wood, it was filled with the fresh scent of flowers that had been cut and placed in vases that morning.

“What, it’s you.”

As Ael entered, Elize, who had been sitting in a rocking chair on the balcony, turned her head and looked at her with an incredulous expression.

It was understandable, as Ael had never entered her room like this before.

Instead of answering, Ael held out the invitation she had received.

Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.

The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…

Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.

Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.

The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”

When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…

The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced