TMWL 06

Chapter 6

As if he could read Pesha’s bewildered feelings, the butler apologized and spoke.

“I’m sorry. Since the territory is rather small, it has been difficult to find enough workers for the construction…”

At that moment, Owen’s eyebrow twitched.

Although I hadn’t known Owen for very long, I thought I could tell which part of the butler’s words had caught his attention.

‘How dare he blame the small size of the territory in front of the head of the family? It’s practically the same as embarrassing him.’

It was clearly rude, but Owen did not make an issue of it.

“Fine.”

Perhaps because he did not want to keep hearing embarrassing things in front of his new bride, he seemed more eager to cover up the matter quickly.

“Take care of that part yourself.”

“Yes. I will urge them as much as possible. But, until then, I’m afraid it will be somewhat difficult for the two of you to share a bedroom. Will that be all right?”

“Wait…”

Just as Pesha was about to interrupt because she did not feel comfortable letting the situation pass like this,

Owen spoke first.

“Yes. Since it will only be until the construction is completed, there’s nothing we can do.”

Hearing his answer, Pesha’s eyes widened.

Seeing this, Owen asked with his usual blunt expression.

“Or does my wife want to share a room even if it is somewhere else?”

“Th-that’s not it!”

If she agreed to that, wouldn’t it look as though she was the one-sidedly interested in that man?!

Even after hearing Pesha’s refusal, Owen showed no reaction and ordered the butler.

“Good. Albert. Proceed as planned.”

“Yes, my lord.”

After saying that, Owen simply walked straight into the mansion.

‘Is he kidding me?’

Pesha stared dumbfoundedly at his back as he disappeared into the mansion.

‘It’s ridiculous enough that a newlywed couple can’t share a room because of the condition of the mansion, but he wants to wait for construction that has already been going on for a whole year?’

Of course, it wasn’t as if she wanted to share a blanket with that frightening man.

But there were other people to consider.

Even though that man was embarrassed when he heard that his territory was small, he did not seem to realize that having a newlywed couple sleep in separate rooms would become gossip among the servants and eventually spread through high society.

‘When on earth is that construction going to be finished?’

There were so many things she wanted to ask.

But if she asked, she felt like she would hear another question like the one from earlier.

‘“Are you saying this because you want to sleep with me?”’

‘No! I don’t! But this really isn’t right, is it?’

While Pesha stood there blankly in her frustration, a maid approached her.

“My lady. May I show you to your room now?”

“Ah, yes… By the way, what’s your name?”

“My name is Philia. Please feel free to call me that.”

The maid’s manner was more polite than Pesha had expected.

Still confused about how things worked here, Pesha followed Philia.

As soon as they entered the castle, the Great Hall was the first thing they saw. Its architectural style was old-fashioned, as if it had been built about a hundred years ago.

That was understandable. Swap was in the far eastern borderlands, so she couldn’t expect it to be like the capital.

“This way, please.”

But the farther they went from the Great Hall and into the mansion, the more question marks appeared in Pesha’s mind.

‘Is this really a count’s castle? No, do the servants even maintain this place…?’

There was a reason for her doubts.

The wooden parts of the mansion had rotted so badly that some structures looked as if they might fall at any moment. Cold wind blew through the gaps between the bricks in the stone walls, making her hunch her shoulders even though the weather itself was not particularly cold.

Looking at the state of the mansion, which was so strange that it was almost shocking, Pesha could not help blaming the Emperor.

‘No, even in the original novel, it said that the castle was in bad condition, but this is too much!’

The maids from the Duke of Rydel’s household who followed behind Pesha said nothing, but she could tell that they were also quite shocked.

Meanwhile, Philia, who was walking at the very front to guide them, began giving Pesha a brief explanation about herself and the castle.

After quietly listening to her, Pesha asked,

“Um, Philia.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Are you assigned as my personal maid?”

Philia stared blankly at Pesha before shaking her head.

“No. I’m the head maid.”

“The head maid?”

This young girl was the head maid?

Noticing Pesha’s confusion, Philia smiled as though she was used to this reaction.

“Ah, you must be surprised. I was chosen as the head maid because I have the most experience in this mansion. I originally worked for a marquis family in the south for five years.”

“Five years?”

“Yes.”

Even Mini, the least experienced maid standing behind Pesha, had already been a maid for four years.

And this mansion’s head maid had only five years of total experience, not even five years in this mansion?

“…I see.”

It seemed impossible to imagine how she was supposed to manage things here.

After walking for a while, they arrived at the Countess’s room.

The bedroom was not far from there.

After showing Pesha the room she would mainly use, Philia also opened the door to the bedroom.

‘This place is at least a little better…’

Perhaps it had been cleaned beforehand. It was old, but at least it was neat.

Just as Pesha’s expression began to brighten, Philia spoke.

“We currently don’t have any extra staff to assign as your personal maid, so we will hire someone and assign one to you afterward.”

“Ah, yes.”

“But you already have three maids, so I don’t think you will have any trouble with your daily life.”

“Hmm… All right.”

Just how tightly were they operating their staff that they didn’t even have a maid to give the wife of the head of the family?

At this point, Pesha was no longer surprised.

“Then I’ll be going now. Please rest comfortably.”

Philia bowed deeply before closing the door and leaving.

After a brief silence, the maids began whispering among themselves one by one.

“My lady. I think this place is a little strange.”

“Did you hear that? Someone with only five years of experience is the head maid.”

“When we were coming here, I saw that there were still spiderwebs on the landings!”

Pesha calmed the maids down as they each poured out the things that had shocked them.

“I-I know there are some surprising things here, but people live here too. Let’s not be too harsh.”

“But…”

“Girls, there are ears here too. If you whisper too much, what you say might get distorted and spread around. And don’t forget that this is the castle His Majesty granted to Count Namois.”

“Yes… my lady.”

The maids quickly realized that their behavior could damage their mistress Pesha’s reputation and reflected on their actions.

Pesha smiled at them and patted their shoulders.

“Anyway, you all worked hard today. It’s late, so let’s rest now. Just help me get ready for bed, and then you should go rest too.”

“We will, my lady.”

After getting ready for bed with the maids’ help, Pesha lay down on the bed and thought about what she should do from now on.

‘First of all, more than anything else, I need to build a bridge between Owen and Io. If I keep delaying and end up becoming a real obstacle, my life might be in danger just like in the original story.’

If it were Io, she might understand the situation in this territory and feel sorry for them, then offer to help.

Pesha only needed to take advantage of that opportunity to create some time for the two of them to be together.

She believed that even without trying too hard, once the two protagonists met each other, they would fall in love just as they had in the original story.

“Then I should wait for the right opportunity and bring up the subject of divorce.”

After all, this had been an unwanted marriage for him as well. Once the situation in the territory and his political position improved a little, she did not think divorce would be impossible if she persuaded him properly.

“Yes. For now, I’m just going to sleep.”

Pesha pulled the blanket over herself and spent the first night of her marriage alone.

She had always slept alone, so it was not particularly strange.

Still, perhaps because she was sleeping in an unfamiliar place, the large bed felt strangely empty.