Home/The villainess's personal maid is very good at her job/ch 27

Episode 27

Maverick Ludwig.

He was famously known as a man who had no interest in his children, or even in his family.

Aside from the fact that he was socially regarded as a hero, he was undoubtedly the worst husband and father a family could have.

So she had thought he wouldn't react much to Julietta's drug case either.

"Miss Janet. His Grace the Grand Duke requests the presence of the handmaiden and Lady Julietta."

"His Grace the Grand Duke?"

"Yes."

So when a maid from the main building came to summon her, Janet was quite taken aback.

Julietta, too, seemed caught off guard, widening her eyes and asking back, "Father?"

The Maverick she faced was a man of immense presence.

Though a middle-aged man with six children, his body was solidly built with muscle, and his face showed not a single deep wrinkle.

He looked young enough to pass for a youth at first glance.

Seated with his legs crossed, he greeted the two and casually asked after Julietta.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, Father. Fortunately, nothing is seriously damaged."

"Hm. That's good."

"Thank you for your concern."

"Yes."

His indifference made one wonder if he truly was worried.

Yet Julietta still blushed and seemed happy at that half-hearted concern.

"You there. What is your name?"

"I am called Janet Graham."

Janet answered with a bow to the Grand Duke's question.

"Graham?"

"A viscount's house, one of the Western nobles. The previous viscount served as a vassal to the Earl of Nerium."

The Grand Duchess, who had been sitting quietly beside the Grand Duke, explained in a low voice.

Like the indifferent Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess's face also showed little expression. In a way, they were a truly well-matched couple.

After finishing her supplementary explanation, she closed her mouth once more.

"Ah. I see."

The Grand Duke responded casually and tapped the armrest.

"Janet Graham. I hear you were the first to notice that Julietta's tea leaves had been drugged."

"I only did what a handmaiden ought to do."

"Handmaiden? Ah, yes. I did hear she took one on this time, didn't she?"

Glancing at his daughter, the Grand Duke murmured to himself.

He seemed to have even forgotten that he himself had been the one to suggest Julietta hire a handmaiden.

"In any case, your contributions are considerable. I never imagined there would be someone bold enough to lay hands on my bloodline within my own house. If not for you, that detestable wretch would have continued to make a fool of me."

Only then did Janet realize why the Grand Duke had called them.

He hadn't been worried about his daughter—he simply couldn't stand that someone within his household had dared to touch 'his bloodline.'

It wasn't affection, but possessiveness.

Anger at someone who had tampered with his property.

"In recognition of your service, I shall grant you a reward."

"A reward……?"

"Tell me one thing you desire."

Tell him what she desired?

Caught off guard, Janet held her breath. She recognized this as a precious opportunity, but it was so sudden that her mind went blank.

What should she ask for to gain the most valuable thing?

After a moment of thought, she raised her head and met the Grand Duke's gaze directly.

"Your Grace."

"Yes."

"I am aware that this is an incredibly precious opportunity. However, I am still lacking in many ways, so I am not confident I can give a good answer right away."

Hm. The Grand Duke raised an eyebrow as if to say "go on."

"If you would permit me, may I postpone my answer? Please help me not waste this precious opportunity."

As Janet finished speaking, silence fell over the room.

Julietta, too, was wide-eyed, repeatedly glancing at her.

'Is she out of her mind?'

That sentiment was written all over her face.

But the next moment—

"Bahahahaha!"

The silence was broken by the Grand Duke's hearty laughter.

Julietta's eyes widened even further. Even the Grand Duchess, who had worn a hollow expression throughout, looked back at him in slight surprise.

"How audacious! Utterly, unspeakably audacious!"

Despite his words, his face was full of laughter.

"Very well! Wasting a precious opportunity is a foolish thing to do. Come find me whenever you wish and tell me your wish. I look forward to seeing what kind of grand wish you'll make."

Laughing once more, the Grand Duke turned to Julietta.

"You've found an entertaining one to keep by your side. You chose well."

At the rare compliment, Julietta flinched.

Rolling her eyes, she answered dazedly.

"Th-thank you, Father."

---

On the way back to the villa.

"That's the first time I've seen Father laugh like that."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's a man who's hard to even see face-to-face, and whenever I do, he always wears the same expression. The look of someone who has no interest in anything."

Julietta said with a hint of mockery, then narrowed her eyes and murmured.

"No. There was one time he laughed similarly."

"When was that?"

"When Kendrick received a longer Blessed Phrase than Father's."

Coincidentally, they were passing in front of Kendrick's villa.

Stopping in her tracks, Julietta looked up at Kendrick's villa and fidgeted with her wrist.

"While another child was crying, unblessed, he didn't seem to care at all. He only praised the child who had surpassed him."

Kendrick and Julietta were twins.

Born on the same day, the same age.

Which meant the two had offered their blessing prayers on the same day.

So the 'child who was crying, unblessed' she referred to must have been Julietta herself.

In truth, all of Ludwig's children had been granted Blessed Phrases.

Only Julietta had not received a response to her prayer.

The grief she must have felt at that time was beyond words.

"My Lady……"

"Oh dear. Since Father did something he never does, I ended up saying something I never would too."

Hmph.

Shrugging self-deprecatingly, she flicked her hair ostentatiously and glared at Kendrick's unkempt villa.

"So what if he's so talented? In the end, he became a coward hiding inside his house."

"It sounds like you wish Lord Kendrick would come out, my Lady?"

"Well—"

Julietta, who had almost answered without thinking, stopped short.

"You!"

Her flushed face whipped toward Janet.

"As I thought, you're definitely afraid of nothing."

"Pardon? I'm not sure what you mean."

Seeing Janet tilt her head as if she didn't understand, Julietta clicked her tongue.

"I'm going ahead. Don't follow me. No—follow me slowly!"

"Oh come on, my Lady. Let's go together."

Janet trotted after Julietta, who was walking ahead in a huff.

As the two slowly moved away—

Swoosh.

The darkly drawn curtain was slightly pulled aside, and golden eyes revealed themselves through the gap.

"I told you. Peeping is a gloomy thing to do."

"I wasn't peeping. I just happened to witness it."

"Good heavens. What a cowardly excuse."

"Didn't you say you were busy with experiments? If you have time, I'll give you other work."

Owen, the head of magical tool production at 'Illinia,' had his laboratory in the basement of Kendrick's villa.

He lived almost entirely underground, and every time he came upstairs, he never failed to tease Kendrick.

"Yes, sir. Then I'll be off to make a new protective artifact for Miss Janet."

Having blocked Kendrick's route for nagging by deliberately mentioning Janet, Owen sipped his cocoa and headed downstairs.

Left alone above ground, Kendrick clicked his tongue and stared at Julietta's villa.

He had exceptionally sharp ears.

Not just his ears—all five of his senses were more developed than ordinary people.

Perhaps it was related to the blessing he had received.

「Keeper of justice, victory shall follow your steps. Advance with faith on your back, and the 'Radiance of Hope' shall accompany that path.」

The inscription, long enough to cover one arm, had coiled deep within Kendrick and settled there.

Afterward, he gained a slightly stronger body and sharper senses than others.

Thanks to that, he had been able to overhear the conversation between Julietta and Janet in front of the villa.

"So what if he's so talented? In the end, he became a coward hiding inside his house."

"It sounds like you wish Lord Kendrick would come out, my Lady?"

"Well—"

What would have followed that unfinished sentence?

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