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That all changed when she was watching from the side as the young miss chatted with the visiting sir Lucas. Sir Lucas was a person of high rank, and he visited the baroness from time to time, as the madam of the mansion used to be his tutor.

When Monika first saw him, she found him so adorable that she thought he was an angel, but in the past year or so, he had grown to have the grace and dignity to be called a proper young nobleman.

Monika was four years older than him, and their position couldn’t be any different, but Sir Lucas was such a wonderful boy that her heart ached just looking at him. That was Monika’s honest feelings towards Sir Lucas.

It was no love. It was longing and envy, much like sighing at the sight of a rainbow or starry sky, far out of reach.

And that Sir Lucas was gazing at young lady Julia with the eyes of a lovestruck man.
The very moment she entered the drawing room to prepare the aromatic tea, Monika caught on it.

She doubted it at first. But the moment she was sure it was love in his eyes, her mind went blank. Why would Sir Lucas fancy such an ordinary, random girl? Confused, Monika observed young lady Julia closer and, after a while, suddenly —as if a spell had been broken— young lady Julia’s appearance transformed.

No, transformed was not the correct word.

Monika had been seeing her since yesterday, and her appearance today was no different. And yet, how could she possibly be thinking that such an otherworldly beauty was someone ordinary?!

Even in the presence of Sir Lucas, she was by no means inferior… in fact, she surpassed him in various facets. She was the picture of a closeted maiden, carefully raised in a well-off family.

It seemed like Monika had been out of her mind. The young lady was indeed a daughter worthy of Baroness Brandmüller, and no one could possibly argue for her position as a match for Sir Lucas.

Secretly, Monica sighed and agreed.

Hearing Monica’s impression, Royce nodded, looking somewhat satisfied.

“I see now. I was right to choose you, after all.”
“Okay…?”

Then, suddenly withdrawing his smile, Royce gave an order sharply.

“However, you must never speak of your impression… of the appearance of the young lady to anyone, vassal or otherwise, except to the madam herself. I will not allow any questions. This is an order.”

At the same time Royce uttered those words, the coldness of a blade caressed Monika’s back. Monika nodded repeatedly in silence, and once Royce saw the look on her face, he returned to his soft expression and continued in a light tone of voice.

“However, this is not all bad for you. For starters, your salary will triple from today.”
“—hah?!”

Seeing the usually nonchalant girl break her expression and exclaim wildly, Royce shrugged his shoulders, a bit bemusingly. “I’m not trying to pull your legs. You are no longer a parlor maid from today on, but rather the young lady’s exclusive maid. Hence the raise.”

Easy for him to say, but being the young lady’s exclusive maid at this stage practically meant she was, in essence, a lady attendant. That was a promotion 5 ranks up from parlor maid… or rather, it was a blatant violation of rules, the textbook example of power abuse. In terms of position, Monika would be higher than Roland, the cook who had been her boss until now.

“It will be hard, but I trust you will be able to handle it. I’m sure you and young lady Julia can get along surprisingly well.”

Monika answered Royce’s carefree words with a grunt.

She was suddenly a lady attendant in her first year serving as a maid. It would be lying to say her future days didn’t look worrisome, but… well, the work itself would be just an extension of what she had been doing. From what she observed, the young lady also gave the impression of being quite friendly and loose— or, a bit of an airhead, if she dared to say it honestly. She shouldn’t be as unapproachable as most beautiful women, and perhaps Royce was right, maybe it could go surprisingly well.

The problem, however, was that Roland and the other servants would be seething with jealousy.

Fortunately, there was no insidious bullying or class discrimination in the baroness Brandmuller’s household (although she did hear it was horrendous in other households), but it should be there, just to a less extreme degree. After all, a simple maid who slept in the same group room up until yesterday was suddenly given a private room next door as a lady attendant… naturally, not many would feel good about it.

(Haah…) Monika, for one, could not be honestly happy about her promotion, considering the friction she would have with the servants from now on.

“Well, you can talk to me or Beatrice, the head housekeeper, about supervision. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. Also, we will be selecting more exclusive maids, in addition to you, in the near future.’

“Understood,” Monika answered Royce’s words, but after processing what she just heard, she asked.

“Excuse me, will one of the current servants be chosen as the young lady’s exclusive maid?”
“If by that question you meant to ask the ones remaining in the mansion, then no. I don’t see anyone who qualifies like you, so we should first finish our move to the mansion in Consul before we see if someone fits the bill. Although… I fear that there might not be one. If so, then I should also consider inviting someone from another household… but that is not ideal. Choosing a candidate can be quite frustrating.”
“Okay…”

Halfway through, Royce started to monologue instead, so Monika only let out a half-a̲s̲s̲e̲d̲ reply.

“Well, in case we do get a new exclusive maid for the young lady in the future, I just know that it will be someone much more extraordinary. Just the thought of it left me scratching my head.”

Royce spoke quite bemusingly before he returned his gaze forward. Monika also straightened her posture, judging that it was the signal that the conversation was apparently over.

Eventually, they both stopped in front of the doors at the end of the hallway. Royce knocked lightly, spoke “Excuse me,” then walked into the room. Following him, Monika walked up to the entrance of the room, then bowed.

“I am sorry to keep you waiting. I am Monika, I will guide you around the city. Pleased to be of service.”

Monika introduced herself, then once again bowed to the boy and girl in the room.

Author’s note:

I wanted to make this chapter about their trip to the market, I just didn’t expect it would be this long, so I decided I’d just tell it from Monika’s POV only.

By the way, maids’ uniforms are not provided by their employer. Those who cannot afford their own uniform cannot work full-time. They have to labor daily to buy a uniform, and only then they can look for a formal job (See “路地裏の大英帝国” for references).

Translator’s note:

So it turns out the author got most of their references from a Japanese book detailing the underside of the British empire. I am poor, so I cannot buy that book.