The Maid, Catherine (1)
“Well, isn’t that something a nanny should be capable of?”
I didn’t actually know what kind of status a nanny held in the eyes of society.
But I had assumed that the nanny to an imperial prince would at least carry that much authority.
Judging by her reaction, it seems my guess wasn’t entirely wrong.
The head maid’s face flushed crimson as she glared at me.
“You have been in the imperial palace for less than a month.”
Her voice dripped with irritation as she spat the words out rapidly.
“I cannot entrust His Highness’s well-being to someone who has not yet been fully vetted. Do you understand?”
“That’s strange. It seems to me the ones who require vetting are the maids attending His Highness, not myself.”
“What did you just say?”
“After all, I doubt the head maid would have ordered them to bring His Highness cold washing water.”
The head maid’s mouth clamped shut as if she had been struck speechless.
She stared at me for a long moment, then twisted her features in displeasure.
“Haah, now I see. So that’s why a worthless adopted daughter from some backwater count’s family managed to slither in here on Lady Conrad’s recommendation.”
How kind of her to make sure I could hear every word of her little soliloquy.
Still, to think the original Rachel Brown really had been an adopted daughter of a count’s house.
What shocks me more is that there was a count’s family I knew nothing about.
Well, it wasn’t impossible. A family could have been granted a peerage while I was dead.
“If what Lady Brown says is true, then it is most regrettable.”
The head maid had already smoothed her expression back into perfect composure, as if nothing had happened. Her ability to control her face was truly impressive.
“Very well. Let us do this, then.”
She narrowed her eyes and added, “From now on, all matters concerning His Highness’s personal care will be left entirely to Nanny Brown. Is that satisfactory?”
It was clear she had no intention of apologizing, even if it killed her.
The head maid gave a derisive snort and left with an expression of utter disbelief.
At the time, I thought it was for the best.
That was before I learned exactly how much weight her words carried within these walls.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The very next day.
I came to understand the true meaning behind the head maid’s final remark with crystal clarity.
And from a very early hour, at that.
“The head maid said that everything regarding His Highness is now to be handled solely by you, Nanny.”
The maid looked at my face with an awkward expression.
“I’m sorry. I’m simply following the head maid’s orders…”
The maids who usually appeared at the prince’s waking time and mealtimes had been nowhere to be seen, so I had come to check. What greeted me was a bolt from the blue.
“So you’re saying I’m supposed to prepare His Highness’s meals myself as well?”
The maid’s face twisted with discomfort at my question.
“W-well, I have other duties, so if you’ll excuse me!”
She mumbled something vague and vanished before I could stop her.
“Ha. How annoying.”
I swept my hair back in irritation.
So that woman planned this from the start.
Watching the maids steal glances at me as they passed by, I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
It seemed the lofty imperial palace and the filthy back alleys weren’t so different after all.
Of course. To these maids, I’m nothing but an outsider who insulted their leader.
I had only been living in this body for two days, yet I could already feel it with painful clarity.
In this place, there wasn’t a single person on the side of the prince and princess—nor on the side of Rachel Brown.
What now?
No matter how bad the situation was, I couldn’t let the prince go hungry. That was out of the question for a nanny.
But I can’t feed him anything I make, either.
The only time I ever cooked was when I intended to poison someone.
I was turning to fetch some of the coarse black bread the servants ate when I heard voices coming from somewhere.
They drifted in through the open window.
Quite noisy. Has a fight broken out?
They say there’s no better entertainment than watching a good brawl.
I quietly poked my head out the window.
Below, several maids had surrounded one of their own.
“Do my words mean nothing to you? Did I or did I not tell you to wash all the curtains by this morning?”
“Why do I have to keep doing your work for you? I’m not your personal maid!”
“What did you say? How dare you speak to me like that, you insolent little—!”
Slap—!
The sharp sound of a palm striking a cheek rang out, and one of the maids crumpled to the ground.
The fallen maid had ivory-colored hair and pale hazel eyes.
Her thin, lanky frame made her look like a rather pretty scarecrow.
“A fake noble like you dares to challenge me, a count’s daughter?”
The maid who had introduced herself as a count’s daughter thrust her chin up arrogantly and shouted.
She ground the heel of her shoe into the hem of the fallen scarecrow-like maid’s skirt.
“I knew it! Lady Conrad has completely ruined the order of the imperial palace! How can the maids from the annex be this disrespectful!”
She continued in a voice thick with disgust.
“Not only does she bring in some wench from who-knows-where as the prince’s nanny—!”
Hm. I was the only nanny in the Third Prince’s Palace.
Was she referring to me as that “wench from who-knows-where”?
She had quite the sharp intuition, this one.
Still, as the prince’s nanny, it would be problematic if even the maids look down on me.
Respect for the prince’s nanny was the same as respect for the prince himself.
Besides, I’ll be staying here for a while. I should at least establish some order before I leave.
After a brief hesitation, I decided to intervene in their fight.
I swear to the heavens it wasn’t because they were gossiping about me or because they were the head maid’s lackeys.
It was purely to uphold the discipline of the prince’s palace—a rare, admirable thought that had occurred to me.
“Are you speaking about me?”
I leaned my elbow on the windowsill and called down to them.
All the maids’ heads snapped toward me at once.
Their faces drained of color in an instant.
“N-Nanny?”
“If you’re talking about me, I’d like to join the conversation.”
“T-that is…”
The moment they saw me, the maids froze where they stood.
Whether it was because the subject of their gossip had suddenly appeared, because I had leaped down from the rather high windowsill in a single bound, or because the story of me dumping cold washing water on a maid had already spread as a rumor, I couldn’t tell.
“It doesn’t look like you’re very busy. Standing around chatting like this.”
When I deliberately spoke in a mocking tone, the maids’ expressions hardened.
“So? Are you saying you intend to punish us?”
However, the maid standing in the center didn’t even flinch. She answered boldly.
“Do you really think you have the right to do that, Nanny?”
“Of course not. Who am I to judge your rights and wrongs?”
At my answer, the maids exchanged triumphant glances among themselves.
“However, I do have the right to hold you accountable for slandering me—someone who wasn’t even present—while disparaging my origins.”
When I continued with an icy expression, the maids’ shoulders twitched.
“Why the long faces? Do you find it unpleasant to hear such words from a wench who crawled out of who-knows-where?”
“N-no, that’s not—”
Strictly by rank, my position as the prince’s nanny was higher than that of the maids present.
They knew this better than anyone, which was why they didn’t dare talk back carelessly.
But it seemed I had underestimated the shamelessness and petty pride of the nobility.
One of the maids who claimed to be from a count’s family stepped forward with a sneer curling her lips.
“Honestly, this is why you shouldn’t be kind to lowly creatures. Give them an inch and they think they’re something special.”
Tap—
“Who do you think you are?”
She jabbed my forehead with her finger.
“Huh? Who the hell do you think you are?! A thing that couldn’t even raise her head in front of me outside the palace dares to lecture me? An adopted daughter from a count’s family who doesn’t know her place…”
I grabbed the arm she was pointing with and twisted it behind her back.
“Kyaaaah—!”
The count’s daughter let out a shrill scream.
When I applied more pressure, her face turned deathly pale.
“It seems your count’s family never taught you that pointing at someone is extremely rude.”
“W-what did you say?”
I deliberately pressed close to her and whispered so only she could hear.
“Young lady, you should consider yourself lucky that I don’t know your family’s name.”
“W-what?”
I whispered into her ear in the mischievous voice of a wicked fairy playing a cruel prank.
“If I did, it’s entirely possible that tonight your entire family—including every last servant—might all drink poison and die.”
“H-horseshit! You think I’d fall for such a pathetic threat—”
“Young lady, one shouldn’t carelessly insult people who crawled out of who-knows-where.”
“L-let go! Let go and speak properly!”
“You never know.”
I let out a low laugh beside her ear.
“I might have crawled out of a place far more dangerous than you could ever imagine.”
The maid trembled violently, struggling with all her might.
It was, of course, useless.
Her face had gone completely white, and she staggered as if she might collapse.
Oh dear. Had I taken the joke too far with this young noble lady?
I quickly relaxed my expression and smiled brightly.
“In the future, you’ll find yourself in trouble if you’re caught engaging in ‘pointless gossip.’ Do you understand?”
This time I spoke loudly enough for the maids standing behind her to hear as well.
They nodded frantically in understanding.
When I released my grip, the count’s daughter fled immediately.
The two maids who had been with her looked flustered and quickly followed after her.
Honestly, even the smallest things make them act like they own the place.
I watched their retreating backs for a moment before turning away.
The maid who had been slapped was still sitting where she had fallen, staring up at me in a daze.