Risou no Himo Seikatsu - Volume 11 - Chapter SS

Appendix — The Lord and Maids’ Long Separation

Zenjirou was both prince consort of Capua and—more recently—had gained his own title as Duke Bilbo.

Real power aside, he had the highest title after Aura and was the second-most highly ranked noble in the country. However, his lifestyle was relatively plain.

Of course, this was in relation to the general standard of nobility, but the fact remained that he didn’t have particularly luxurious tastes. Despite this, while he was unaware of it himself, there were several extreme luxuries he partook in.

One among them was fruit. He enjoyed eating fruits as they were. He didn’t dislike them being cooked into tarts or pies, but if he had to pick one over the other, he would fall on the side of the unprocessed fruits.

Because of that knowledge, there were often such fruits on his dining table, even though in Capua, it was a fairly luxurious thing.

It was not too surprising if you thought about it. The phrase “selective breeding” didn’t even exist in this world, so fruits that could be eaten without further preparation were extremely rare.

While it was an unconscious vice of his, Zenjirou was currently on a ship bound for the Northern Continent. Even if he later used teleportation to return, he would be absent for at least a hundred days—more than three months.

Despite the presence of a fridge in the inner palace, fruit inside it would not last for that long. If Aura had to pick, she preferred processed fruits. Her recent favorite was fruits pickled in Zenjirou’s distilled spirits.

Therefore, Zenjirou’s leftovers had been handed over to the maids.

It was the afternoon, and two of the maids were seated at a table in the corner of the kitchen. They ferried the various colored fruits to their mouths.

“Hmm, that’s great,” marveled a girl with short, curly hair—Faye—as she used a spoon to take a portion of a mango-like fruit.

“Sir Zenjirou’s fruits all taste different, even compared to the same ones normally,” said the maid with the largest chest in the inner palace—Letti—with an almost dopey smile as she ate a big fruit similar to a cherry.

Two other figures entered as the pair enjoyed the royal treats. One was a shorter girl, while the other was a girl of medium build. They were juniors to Faye and Letti. Their names were Nilda and Mirella.

The smaller girl’s hair was tied in a short ponytail. This was Nilda, and there was no wariness in her smile as she made her way over to the table.

“Faye, Letti, are you on a break?” she asked.

“Could we join you?” the girl with long, glossy black hair—Mirella—followed up. Her uniform couldn’t hide her upbringing.

Neither of the other two had a reason to refuse.

“That’s fine. Pull up a chair.”

“Try these. They’re Sir Zenjirou’s fruits. They’re amazing as well.”

The four of them gathered around the table, eating peacefully.

“You did your work this morning with just the two of you?” Mirella asked quietly. “Was it hard?”

Faye proudly puffed out her—slight—chest as she answered. “Not at all. Neither Sir Zenjirou nor Her Majesty were in the inner palace today, so it was easy.”

Zenjirou was aboard the Glasir’s Leaf and Aura took her lunch in the main palace. Therefore, the work in the kitchen was currently the much simpler task of preparing food for the other maids.

Dolores was also on the Glasir’s Leaf, so the three problem maids were down to just Faye and Letti. The lesser workload meant that it wasn’t much of an issue, though. Nilda and Mirella were in the same boat as far as one of their trio being away was concerned.

“What about you? You don’t have Louisa and you’re not as used to things as we are,” Faye commented, putting on an air of superiority.

Nilda answered, “We’ll ask for your help if we need it, but we are fine for now.”

Louisa—who was usually the third of their group—was currently acting as Aura’s personal maid. Margarette, the woman who usually filled that role, was also on the Glasir’s Leaf, so Louisa was filling in for her.

Obviously, Margarette was not Aura’s only personal maid. Using one of Zenjirou’s maids to fill the gap seemed slightly odd, but it was nothing the maids would involve themselves in, so they just ignored it for now.

“I am not as good as Nilda or Louisa, so I am rather nervous. I don’t want to cause Nilda any bother.”

Mirella’s shapely eyebrows drew in slightly as she spoke. Indeed, one could not call her performance good by any means. Her position as a branch family member who had lost her parents and therefore been brought up effectively as a member of the main family meant that—for better or worse—she had been brought up as a young lady much more likely to have the services of a maid rather than provide them. It was therefore hardly a shock that she was not skilled at doing the work.

Of course, the inner palace was unique in that it was not uncommon for such women to take posts as maids.

“Honestly, I would prefer more help,” she complained.

There was a distinctly know-it-all look on Faye’s face as she answered. “That would probably be difficult. They employ people with trustworthiness first to keep the inner palace safe, so simply employing more people is not easy. Except for things like laundry, which can be delegated outside.” She was simply repeating what Amanda had previously told her, but it was apparently enough to convince Mirella.

“I see. Cleaning the bedroom and living quarters along with taking care of food would certainly need trustworthiness above anything else.”

If an inner palace maid was against her lord, then she was close enough to cause real harm. It was therefore inevitable that increasing the number of maids was done carefully.

“Still,” Letti said, happily bringing more fruit up to eat, “there are definitely more of us. After all, there are more people we have to serve.”

“That’s true. Prince Carlos and Princess Juana’s care cannot solely be shouldered by the wet nurses.”

When Freya entered the inner palace as a concubine, she could bring several maids of her own, so it was impossible to say for sure, but Capua would also increase the number of maids here to deal with that.

While the four made small talk about the serious matters waiting in their futures, the door thudded open again to reveal another two figures. Both of them were middle-aged. One was somewhat stout, while the other was tall but even more refined.

They were Vanessa, the maid in charge of cooking, and Amanda, head maid of the inner palace.

The four started and went to stand from their chairs, but Vanessa waved them off. “Stay as you are. You are still on a break.”

“Vanessa is right. We are not here to scold you. We do have a message, though, so listen well.”

The four younger maids settled back into their seats. Naturally, the mood was not as light as it had been. Amanda might have effectively told them to be at ease, but only Nilda truly was.

The older women likely felt some level of guilt about ruining their break, because the head maid kept things concise.

“From what we have seen this morning, working in pairs is too much. While Her Majesty being in the royal palace means it is not an issue, you will be shorthanded on days when she returns. Therefore, the four of you will be working two posts as a group of four.”

One group of four working over two posts was more adaptable than two groups of two working a single post each. It was a last resort due to the lack of personnel.

“Her Majesty is currently in the midst of selecting more people,” Amanda added. “There will be more staff shortly, but endure it until then.”

“I feel like I’ve heard that a lot lately,” Faye murmured.

“Did you have something to say, Faye?” Amanda asked with a pointed glare.

Faye put both hands over her mouth and shook her head. “Nothing, Head Maid,” she replied.

“Very good. That is how you will be working.”

“Understood,” the four chorused.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

After the unexpected combination of their pairs, the four—Faye, Letti, Nilda, and Mirella—made their way to the prince’s and princess’s sleeping areas.

Carlos Zenkichi had been born around a year and a half ago, while Juana Yoshino was not even a month old. They had separate rooms near each other. When the blazing season arrived, they would be put in the same room to conserve ice for cooling purposes, but that was not yet the case.

The reason was exceedingly simple. If one cried, the other would soon follow. It would double the workload of the wet nurses and reduce their sleep, so the two children were separated enough that they wouldn’t hear each other crying.

The group quietly made their way into one of the rooms. Faye led the way, shifting the door quietly without knocking. She poked her head around the side once it was halfway open.

There was a plump woman sitting next to a child’s bed—Carlos’s wet nurse, Cassandra. The woman put a finger to her lips and then beckoned them in. With permission granted, the four quietly entered the room.

Aiding the wet nurse was not their role here. They were here to fulfill a special duty entrusted to them by Zenjirou, who would not be able to see his children for over three months. Ever so carefully, to avoid waking Carlos from his nap, Faye approached the bed and removed an object from her apron, holding it in both hands.

It was a handheld game console. However, it was currently set to work as a camera. With practiced movements, she took a picture of the prince sleeping in the small bed. She took one with a snap, then another. Then, just to be sure, a third.

When she was done, she put the console back to sleep and slipped it back into her apron. To avoid even the slightest chance of waking the sleeping prince, she gestured in apology for the disturbance to Cassandra. The other woman replied in kind that it wasn’t an issue but that the four should leave.

They gave a group bow and then left as light-footed and slowly as they had arrived. They then carried out the same sequence of events in the room where Juana was sleeping before heading back to the living room and breathing a sigh of relief.

“Phew, mission accomplished. Princess Juana is almost always asleep, but the prince was as well this time. I was twice as tense as normal,” Faye said.

“Right. Well done, though, Faye,” Letti congratulated her. “You managed to get pictures of both of them without waking either of them up.”

Faye gave a proud chuckle. “It’s nothing. After all, I am most familiar with the things Sir Zenjirou brought here.”

Zenjirou had given Faye and Letti a mission to take periodic pictures of both Carlos and Juana while he was away. It was all he could do, considering he wouldn’t be able to see them in person for at least three months.

Juana in particular would change to a shocking degree over that time span, having been born just before his departure. He knew that from his experience with Carlos, and he regretted not being able to watch the same progression with his daughter. Looking over pictures after the fact was the best he could do to help with that.

The girl in question was correct; it was a duty he could only leave to her due to her familiarity with the console. Strictly speaking, Dolores was just as familiar with it, but she was accompanying him on the ship. Dolores had been entrusted with the mobile phone and music player to record what Zenjirou would be unable to of the Northern Continent.

Surprisingly, that order had not come from Zenjirou, but from Aura. It was a difficult task, but Dolores was courageous and had a good head on her shoulders, so Aura felt she could do it.

Either way, Faye brought the console back out as she sat on the sofa, checking the pictures she’d taken. There were three of Carlos and another three of Juana. The other three gathered around her so they could join in on the checks.

“Yup, they’re all good.” Faye nodded in satisfaction. The two newer maids marveled at her side.

“Wow! It’s like a slice of the scene,” Nilda said.

“So this is a magic tool from Sir Zenjirou’s homeland...” Mirella mused. “It is incredible.”

While they were used to the fridge and lights, the console was a new surprise for them. How shocked would they be to hear that it could not only take still images but also videos with sound?

“Looking at them so close together really shows how much Prince Carlos has grown,” Letti remarked softly. “Princess Juana is so small and cute.”

“He has. Though according to Doctor Michel, Prince Carlos was bigger when he was born,” Faye told her.

“Oh, really? Because he’s a boy, maybe?”

The final step would be to hook the console up to Zenjirou’s computer with the USB cable and back the images up. However, not even Faye or Dolores could do that. Actually, they might be able to, but his computer held the tax breakdowns of the nobility and the software to calculate them. It could become a weapon for the royal family, so only royalty were allowed to touch it. While the inner palace was as relaxed as possible to accommodate his tastes, there were limits and strict rules in place for some things, particularly enforced by Amanda and Aura.

Mirella had a sudden thought as they enjoyed perusing the photos.

“Sir Zenjirou really does love both Prince Carlos and Princess Juana,” she remarked in admiration.

Nilda gave her roommate a blank look. “What? They’re his children; of course he does?” she half-asked.

They were related, so of course he loved them. It wasn’t something she was saying as a front or something she was telling herself. She truly believed that it was obvious.

Mirella couldn’t help a look of longing at the idea. “That is not necessarily the case for royalty and nobility,” she said.

The illegitimate child of a margrave had to know that kind of thing. Taking her upbringing into account, though, there were rather few people who would have as little an idea of the pitfalls of noble society.

“Really?” she asked.

Nilda still didn’t seem convinced. Mirella couldn’t fathom what kind of upbringing her roommate must have had. Mirella’s parents had died in the war, so she had been adopted and raised by the main Márquez family.

They had raised her well and with care, but she would have to deny that there was any familial love there.

The exception was the count’s second wife. Octavia offered affection to all, though, so she was simply unique in that way. Mirella would someday be obligated to take a husband at the count’s discretion to revive the branch family. Her presence here was to aid him in picking out a suitable man. If by some chance Mirella could no longer do so either physically or through some other circumstances, she was entirely sure the count would cut her off.

“It is,” she said simply.

“Hmm...”

Nilda was still unconvinced and Mirella seemed uneasy. Faye and Letti both joined the conversation, feeling the same as Mirella.

“It isn’t pleasant,” Faye said. “Mirella is right, though.”

“Right. You seem so defenseless, it makes me worried as well.”

Nilda realized she had made her roommate and seniors concerned about her, but that still didn’t change the fact that she disagreed. She told them as much.

“Everyone said similar things to me when I came to the capital. The head maid was the kindest, but everyone else said the same. It was all things like, ‘Noble society is dangerous, so be careful,’ or ‘If you’re not cautious, you’ll find yourself in an irrevocable situation.’”

“And wasn’t that enough?” Mirella asked. Her expression showed just how obvious she found such concerns.

Nilda ducked her head and then looked up through her eyebrows at them. “Right. But everyone said it. Everyone.”

“That’s why we’re so worried about you being so defenseless.”

“Right. But it was everyone.”

The three looked at her quizzically, noticing something was odd as the smallest of them voiced a question that had been bothering her since her arrival.

“It didn’t matter who it was, everyone told me about the scary people in noble society, telling me to watch out for the bad people. Everyone. Every noble I have met in Capua. So why? If all of the nobles I met are kind and tell me that, where are those bad people they are talking about?”

“Huh?”

“Ah ha ha...”

“W-Well...”

Nilda seemed rejuvenated after having finally gotten her thoughts across while the other three were lost for words. The lion told the rabbit that lions eat rabbits, so to be careful. A single lion telling the rabbit would cause the rabbit to remain wary of lions. But if the rabbit met a hundred lions and each of them told it the same? Would the rabbit be scared of lions in general?

Defenseless, innocent, and ignorant. Nilda had each of the three fatal flaws of noble society, and they multiplied each other, somehow making those she spoke with well-disposed to her and creating an odd sort of defense in and of itself.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

There was one person whose fate had been unexpectedly yet greatly changed by Zenjirou boarding the Glasir’s Leaf: Nicolai.

He was a sailor on the ship and also an ardent rearer of goats, having been lent to Capua to care for the goats Zenjirou had been given. He was a farmer’s son and therefore familiar with making butter, cheese, and other such products from the milk the goats produced. That was perfect for Zenjirou.

Originally, Nicolai was meant to be aboard the Glasir’s Leaf when it left to return to the Northern Continent. That was only natural. After all, that was his homeland. While the crew may have been prepared to die traversing between the two continents, none would actively choose not to return should they survive the journey.

While he had yet to finish teaching the Capuans the full breadth of what went into caring for the goats as well as how to make the derived products, the departure of the ship would normally have been his only chance to return home, so he would not have been able to stay in Capua.

However, Zenjirou—a man capable of casting teleportation—was now on the ship instead. That changed things. If they arrived safely, the journey between their two countries could become instantaneous.

Aura and Zenjirou had offered him free transport home in exchange for further instruction. Even his direct superior had been unwilling to force the matter, but had asked him to accept if he was willing. Being nothing but a lowly sailor, it was practically a done deal.

With his stay lengthened, the milk, butter, and cream were delivered to the inner palace once again. Those three dairy products made the majority of the recipes Zenjirou had brought from Earth reproducible. While being unused to rearing mammals meant the Capuans were generally not fond of milk itself, the younger generation was rather fond of snacks made using butter and cream.

The four maids were now spending the night tasting the butter cookies that Vanessa—the head chef—had made. The looks of bliss on their faces said it all.

“Delicious,” was Faye’s one-word review.

“Well, Lady Vanessa baked them. That’s why they aren’t burnt despite how thin they are,” Letti said. While Faye was just happy to be eating delicious food, Letti was more impressed by the skill that had gone into them.

“It is a matter of intuition and experience. From your reactions, though, we should be able to spread these around rather than just leaving them for Sir Zenjirou.” Vanessa grinned.

Zenjirou’s impressions of the food were not particularly useful. It went without saying that his tastes were different from the nobility of both another country and a whole other world than his own. That meant that many of his recipes wouldn’t be accepted by Capua as a whole, even if they were reproduced.

These butter cookies seemed to be an exception, though. They were made with large amounts of butter and sugar, so they were rather high in calories, but Capua’s large production of sugar meant that they already knew that eating too many sweet things would make you fat. Butter cookies spreading throughout the country would be unlikely to change people’s figures dramatically.

Of course, Nilda seemed wholly unconcerned with her figure and was munching away on a cookie she was holding in both hands like a squirrel. “This is really tasty,” she breathed.

Mirella looked both surprised and serious when she saw the expression on her roommate’s face, which seemed to brighten the room as a whole. Slowly, she took one for herself. “Well then...”

“Hm? What is it, Mirella?” Vanessa asked her.

The younger woman politely finished what she had in her mouth and then spoke after a beat. “Would you be willing to teach us how to make these cookies as well, Lady Vanessa?” she asked.

“Of course. I can’t make everything myself, so you four will need to learn how,” she said offhandedly.

Mirella questioned her a bit more intensely. “Then is the recipe to stay here? I suppose that is a matter for after we leave.”

“Ah, I see. No, there would be no problem with you taking it. Many of Sir Zenjirou’s recipes use butter or cheese, though, so ingredients will be hard to come by. I suppose there won’t be much point in that case,” Vanessa mused.

Mirella actually seemed happier to hear that, though. “That would be all the better, in fact. Thank you.”

The fact that the recipe used such specific ingredients meant that making it more widely available still ran very little risk of it being “stolen.” Mirella’s thoughts went that Zenjirou was fond of these dairy products, which were practically unattainable on the Southern Continent. He had therefore had a goat hut created in the palace and was having more goats bred. Due to the presence of an expert, that breeding was going well.

If things continued in this vein, the palace would have access to more dairy products. Their preciousness would continue for several years, at which point, Mirella would be leaving the inner palace.

There would be more butter and cream available than Zenjirou could use, but from a national perspective, the ingredients would probably remain immensely valuable. Her adoptive father’s influence and riches would make purchasing them relatively simple. Mirella’s knowledge of recipes extending to this recipe would change the family into one capable of providing special dishes that were normally only served in the palace.

It would be a good way to show a healthy relationship between the Márquez family and the royal family, and assisting in it would also improve Mirella’s standing within the family.

“I will do my best, Lady Vanessa. Please, show me how.”

“Got it. I’ll be working you hard,” the older woman replied. The gleam in the girl’s eyes made her chuckle wryly to herself at the relative rarity of these hidden ambitions in the younger woman.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Once their work and mandatory bathing were done, the maids all headed back to their rooms to sleep.

Faye and Letti returned to their three-bed room and changed into their nightclothes before throwing themselves onto their beds. Ordinarily, the only thing to do after the sunset was sleep, but Zenjirou had lent them his game console.

With familiar motions, Faye lay back on her bed and woke the console from sleep mode before playing. The two were silent, and the almost muted game music was the only sound in the room.

Eventually, Faye put the console back to sleep.

“Are you tired?” Letti asked her.

Faye shook her head in the now pitch-black room. “No, I just can’t concentrate.”

Normally, the length of time that Faye held on to the console would lead to Dolores accusing her of monopolizing it and insisting on having her turn. The push and pull over whose turn it was, along with their occasional friendly agreements, were now part and parcel of playing the games for Faye.

“Are you sleeping yet?” she asked Letti.

“Not yet.”

The three roommates had the bad habit of bringing the console out at bedtime, so they were not yet sleepy. Faye rolled over in the darkness and spoke softly, almost to herself.

“I wonder what Dolores is doing now.”

“Sleeping, probably? Oh, but rooms on a ship are really small, so she might not be able to.”

“Maybe. I don’t think she’s that sensitive, though,” Faye replied, rolling over yet again, unable to get comfortable.

Letti heard the noise and smiled softly before speaking in her usual kind voice. “You’re worried, aren’t you?”

“No. Dolores would be fine even if the ship sank. That giant would be able to reach the bottom.”

They had been roommates for a long time now, so Letti could tell the claim was just a front. “I’m worried,” she admitted. “An accident at sea would be bad enough, but I’m worried about her once they arrive as well. The people there are all like Margarette, aren’t they? We’d stand out there, so maybe she’ll be bullied.”

“That won’t be a problem. Sir Zenjirou is there.”

That wasn’t her putting on a front. Faye was from the nobility as well, so she knew how powerful the country was, and she also knew how responsible Zenjirou felt. Being under his protection as a member of the Capuan royal family meant that no one would scorn her—at least in public.

Of course, the difference in culture could make that a moot point and was one of the concerning things about being on a completely different continent. Still, Faye wasn’t aware of the details.

It was Letti’s turn to roll over now. It made her bountiful chest sway, but unfortunately, the room was dark and Faye was the only other person present, so there was no one to enjoy it.

“What kind of place is the Northern Continent I wonder?” she mused.

“Apparently, really cold,” Faye answered.

“Okay.”

The word “cold” didn’t help Faye or Letti to imagine anything about it. Even in the coldest part of the year—the active season—the temperature in Capua didn’t drop below ten degrees at night. It would be just as hard for them to imagine the cold of Uppasala as it was for Freya to have imagined the heat of Capua before she arrived.

“Also, they don’t have drakes like we do.”

“They don’t have drakes?” Letti asked. “So they just have birds and mice and stuff?”

“Well, there are other animals instead. Like those goats Sir Zenjirou bought.”

“Oh, that makes sense. That’s interesting. There are probably lots of food and ingredients like cheese and butter I’ve never even imagined.”

“Maybe Dolores will bring something back as a souvenir.”

“That’d be nice.”

The conversation stalled out, replaced with a long silence. They looked around and groped for something bright and cheery, but the darkness of the room led their thoughts down equally dark paths.

“I’m worried about her,” Letti said.

“Me too,” Faye replied in apparent defeat, almost silently.