Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 39

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 39
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“……Could they have been kidnapped or something?”
I muttered the thought aloud, my voice turning grave.
It had been a full week. Seven days since Brigitte, Erih, and Gavin had failed to return.
The maids had grown visibly anxious.
If Sherkan hadn’t left a few other knights at the manor, I suspected we’d all be trembling in the grip of not knowing what had happened to them.
The knights the Emperor was supposed to send hadn’t arrived either—not a word from them.
‘Maybe he forgot. I should’ve known better than to trust anyone in this world.’
“I don’t think so, Grand Duchess. Whatever’s happened to the others, who would kidnap Sir Gavin?”
“The Cattle Market stays open for exactly a week, so they’re probably checking everything carefully through today.”
“There are plenty of inns, and lodging enough for everyone.”
What I and the maids didn’t know then was this:
Brigitte held my money as precious as life itself, and so she’d slept in the carriage while the other two made do with a hand cart.
On the eighth day, to the hour.
As always, I woke early at dawn.
After breakfast, I paced the halls waiting for Brigitte’s party to return, as I had been all week.
Then came the distant sound of cattle lowing—a mournful bleat that echoed across the grounds.
“Brigitte!”
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“Your Grace, I am deeply sorry for keeping you waiting so long.”
Brigitte sank into a curtsy with impeccable grace—not a single fold of her skirt disturbed by the movement.
“Rise, Brigitte.”
I helped her to her feet, then glanced to the side. There were Gavin and Erih, dark circles sagging all the way down to their jaws, moving the calves like zombies.
“Why did it take so long?”
“Forgive the delay, Your Grace. Allow me to explain: over these seven days, we labored to identify and select the finest calves at the Cattle Market, which is why we have arrived somewhat late.”
“You did well. But why do those two look so exhausted?”
Erih was even grimy on top of it all.
Gavin looked terribly worn as well, while only Brigitte seemed fresh as morning dew.
Brigitte offered a perfectly pleasant smile.
“I merely economized on lodging a little. Those two, being younger, struggled somewhat more with the hardship.”
I muttered inwardly.
‘As if there’s much age between them and her……’
It was almost amusing—Gavin and Erih, who had followed Sherkan across battlefields and should’ve been hardened to sleeping rough, couldn’t outdo Brigitte.
I let out a dry laugh, though my strained smile was quickly swallowed up by shrieks from the maids who’d come running to look.
“Good heavens, ten calves! Honest-to-goodness ten of them!”
“How on earth did you manage to bring back so many?”
“Oh! I see now! The advisor and Sir Gavin must have done day labor to earn the coin for them, isn’t that right?”
The maids took one look at the calves and fell instantly in love.
“Look at those eyes! Their lashes are longer than mine!”
“We’ll have to gather eggs steadily to feed all these little ones.”
Watching the whole manor flip upside down as if dignitaries had arrived left me oddly unsettled.
“Your Grace. You seem weighed down by something. Is there a worry troubling you?”
Brigitte approached my side and asked.
I absently touched my cheek.
“Not quite worry. Just a thought that struck me.”
“What thought might that be?”
“Just wondering what Grand Duchy maids are doing getting so excited over a handful of calves. That sort of thing.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
“But there’s a reason those creatures are so scrawny.”
When groups of debt collectors came swarming, the maids couldn’t hold them back properly—and much of that failure stemmed from how undernourished they were.
One well-fed young noblewoman could easily outmatch all ten of our maids and have strength to spare.
The only reason those girls hadn’t collapsed yet seemed to be that they had just one mistress to serve—me.
“We’re still having the laundry done outside the manor, yes?”
Brigitte’s expression grew apologetic.
“Yes, we are, but…… I fear it may now be time to reopen the Underground Chamber. The gifts His Majesty bestowed upon us are worn and slept in, and should anything be lost or damaged among those precious things, it would be a grave matter indeed.”
“You’re not wrong, but……”
I turned to look at the maids.
‘Are they going to drop dead doing laundry in there?’
No one would ever know.
The maids fret over whether the chickens and chicks will die, but I spend my days fretting over whether the maids themselves will perish.
“Since we’re at this point, and it’s winter anyway, I should find someone to formally hire for the laundry.”
All the other nobles do it that way.
“As you wish, Your Grace.”
“Wait—don’t take that money from the public funds. Use this instead.”
I fished gold coins from my pocket one by one.
Twenty of them. Twenty Livres—roughly twenty million won in modern currency.
“Find us someone with this. The maids have to tend the dairy cows and the chickens anyway. They’re already stretched thin without taking on laundry too.”
“……!”
We’d been expanding the Poultry Farm in earnest.
Half the eggs produced by the Breeding Order were set to hatch rather than sold, and out came chick after chick—all of them enormous and brilliant yellow. Anyone glancing at them would swear they were goslings.
‘Where does the power of the Breeding Order even end?’
That was when it happened.
Brigitte suddenly turned, her expression grave.
“Brigitte? Where are you going?”
“Your Grace, the Grand Duchess. I shall gather the children and have them all perform three thousand bows!”
“Three thousand bows? Why on earth?”
“You’ve taken personal funds from your own purse for us, Your Grace. Everyone ought rightly to bow their heads in gratitude for such benevolence.”
Those were from Sherkan, though.
Strictly speaking, everyone should be thanking him.
Still, Brigitte was the sort of woman who would happily carry through with three thousand bows, so I moved to calm her down.
“Your Grace, the Grand Duchess. This Brigitte has one more thing she humbly wishes to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Might a few of the knights assist with laundry for the time being? Of course, I would arrange separate wages for them.”
I tilted my head in confusion.
“……Really? Can we ask that? They’re knights, after all.”
Brigitte’s expression suggested she saw no issue whatsoever.
“I shall inquire of Sir Gavin’s wishes.”
At Brigitte’s words, a sudden image flashed through my mind—Gavin hauling logs alone at the Poultry Farm.
Surely it won’t come to that again.
Still, he’s the captain of the Knight Order, after all.
“All right, then do as you see fit…….”
I gave a reluctant nod.
“But Brigitte, go rest for now. The laundry can be handled at your own pace.”
“I am overwhelmed by your grace and mercy, Your Grace.”
Brigitte bowed formally and withdrew.
Even after spending a full week outdoors, not a single step faltered.
‘Is that stamina, or just sheer force of will?’
In her presence, I couldn’t shake the thought that I too must remain elegant forever.
Once I confirmed she had gone inside, I approached the fence and met the eyes of the calves.
Black eyes blinked, bewildered.
The expensive ones were beyond my budget, so all I had were scrawny creatures.
Which meant I had to feed them better and care for them more diligently.
But still.
From today on, you’re going to grow like a storm.
“Squeak!”
Just then, Ratku appeared out of nowhere right before my face and cried out.
“Growth Order? Growth Order?”
“Yes. Growth Order.”
I’m going to build a milk factory, plain and simple.
I murmured softly, then broke into a greedy smile and stroked the calves.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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