“I’d like to get this back on track. If you can arrange it now, please provide food and drinks like you did when Grandfather was here.”
“Yes, Young Lady, that will be arranged.”
As she responded, a satisfied smile seemed to flash across Laiza’s lips.
“You wanted me to say that, so you went to the trouble of writing here about how you haven’t offered it in eight years. Right?”
Ekaterina smiled.
Then a cup of tea was offered to her.
“Young Lady, you need to rest a bit. You’re working too hard.”
“Thank you, Mina.”
I accepted it, took a sip, and was surprised to realise how thirsty I was.
“Here.”
“…Thank you.”
Mina offers Laiza the cup as well. Laiza took it with some surprise.
Regina moved a little further away and lay down to sleep for a while. She seemed to be sleeping soundly.
“I see that the housekeeper’s job had a wider scope over here. In the imperial mansion, this sort of thing was the job of the butler.”
“Novarus-san is getting older, so we’re gradually taking this burden off his shoulders. Do the butlers of the Imperial City Mansion discuss with the Young Lady this kind of behind-the-scenes stuff?”
“It’s the role of the mistress. I also don’t mind working behind the scenes.
I like knowing how many people work behind the scenes of a glamorous party and how much planning goes into each detail.”
As a woman who was a history lover in her previous life, I felt as if I was able to learn the backstage of the parties of the royalty and nobility in Western history, and I really enjoyed it. This was a field I was unfamiliar with because there were few records of such events.
I remembered a Japanese history scholar who discovered a family account book of a certain samurai family mentioning an introduction about this, and he was so excited when he was writing the book. It was rare and extremely valuable! I was so proud of myself for finding it! He was like, “How did you find it?” Later, when the book was made into a movie, the actor who starred in the movie said, “The introduction is an incessant bragging.”
Laiza smiled.
“What Graham-san said in his letter was true. The Young Lady somehow resembles Prince Sergei.”
Ekaterina’s eyes widened at these words.
It was possible that Graham, the butler of the imperial residence, and Laiza, the housekeeper of the duke’s main residence, may have exchanged letters. But I doubt they’d write about how Ekaterina resembles her grandfather if the letters were strictly professional.
In other words, would the two be close enough to keep in touch personally?
“I wonder if Laiza has any interaction with Graham.”
“I have known Graham-san since he was a servant of Prince Sergei. Besides, my background is similar to Graham’s. I heard that Graham-san told the Young Lady about his background. That he was a traveling entertainer.”
“…Yes.”
“I was a laundry woman. I was a low-level servant at the bottom of the food chain.”
Laiza was only eight years old when she began working at Yurinova Castle.
Her parents were killed when magical beasts attacked the village where she lived.That year there was a dreadful winter in the dukedom, but it was also the year of the country’s heaviest blizzard. She would normally have been taken in by a relative or placed in an orphanage. However, relatives in the same village could not afford to do so, and even the orphanage had no vacancies.
To provide a place for the children who could not be taken in by the orphanage, wealthy families in the capital were required to provide them with a place to live and work. Naturally, the Duke of Yurinova took the initiative. Laiza was fortunate enough to be chosen.
Laiza had to work at a very young age, but even then, she knew she was lucky. She knew that if she lost this opportunity, she would starve, freeze, and die.
So, she worked as hard as she could with her small body.
