The Maid With a Child - Chapter 40

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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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40. Gift
A pleasant room, delicious meals, adequate wages—I’d already been granted every happiness available in ordinary life. To want more would simply be greed.
“Well then? If that’s how you feel, here.”
Though something in the process seemed to be missing, the Butler set aside his disappointment and produced what he’d prepared, holding it out to me.
“What is this?”
“I’ve watched you all this time, and you’re a good, conscientious girl. Even when the others shirk unpleasant tasks, you never complain. I always thought you were working hard, but I never found the words to say it—so I’m giving you this gift instead. Please accept it.”
The Butler scratched the bridge of his nose, embarrassed.
“A gift?”
“It’s your birthday. Of course you should receive a birthday gift.”
“I… I’m really allowed to accept it?”
“I agonized over choosing this. It would hurt my feelings if you refused.”
Adren stood speechless, her mouth frozen open.
She’d never imagined he would give her a gift. Good things had been coming one after another. A birthday really was a wonderful day.
Adren accepted the box with trembling hands.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
“Happy birthday, Adren!”
“Here, my gift!”
“Mine too! My wife and I really agonized over choosing it!”
The moment the Butler finished presenting his gift, the Knights produced their own presents as if they’d been waiting for that very signal.
Her hands weren’t enough to hold everything being thrust at her.
It was her first birthday, but this was also her first time being surrounded by so many gifts. Actually, receiving gifts at all was a first.
Yet the assault of presents wasn’t finished.
Ricardt, who had been watching from a distance, rose and approached Adren, extending a box to her.
“Master…?”
Adren was so flustered she couldn’t even bring herself to be happy.
A birthday gift from the Master.
The birthday party itself was already a gift from him. All the money spent on the preparations came from the Master’s treasury.
“You won’t accept mine?”
As Adren stood frozen, unable to even think of accepting, Ricardt thrust the present box at her once more.
“I… I’m really allowed to accept it?”
“Is there any reason why you can’t accept mine?”
“No, no, of course not!”
Adren quickly gathered the present box into her arms. Her whole body trembled so violently that her hands alone weren’t enough to hold it steady.
“Th-thank you, Master. It’s too much… I don’t deserve…”
“Do you know what’s inside before you say it’s too much?”
“It doesn’t matter what’s in it, Master. The gift itself is already more than I deserve.”
Her mouth corners pulled up with joy, then her eyebrows fell with worry, then her lips trembled with nervousness. Adren’s face was very busy.
Watching this display, Ricardt clicked his tongue openly, showing displeasure.
“Just accept it without question.”
She really didn’t listen.
“Y-yes! I’ll do my best!”
Adren answered with exaggerated determination.
Then she stood rigidly still.
“Open it. That’s the only way you’ll know if it’s too much.”
“Ah, yes, yes!”
Adren, pushed along by Ricardt’s urging, began to unwrap the packaging.
The gift from Ricardt was enormous—a box so massive it could fit a baby inside.
Everyone fell silent at once, watching Adren unwrap it.
The scene was so charged with suspense that even the Baby stood with mouth agape, utterly absorbed.
Adren carefully removed the wrapping paper and opened the box’s lid.
“Oh…”
Everyone’s gaze snapped to attention simultaneously.
Inside the box was…
Another box.
“The box isn’t the gift… is it?”
“Keep opening.”
“Yes.”
Adren opened the next box.
And it was another box.
“…?”
Why on earth had they wrapped it in so many layers?
If, after all this unwrapping, the gift turned out to be something like ‘my heart’…
Well, that might actually be lovely.
The thought alone nearly forced a smile through her lips.
Adren pressed her lips firmly together, suppressing the laugh as best she could, and unwrapped what remained.
The boxes seemed to nest endlessly.
Some contained petals spritzed with perfume; others were wrapped in delicate silk.
By the time she’d opened what felt like the hundredth box, exhaustion was beginning to set in.
Expecting yet another box, she tore it open boldly—and froze at the sight of what lay inside.
“What is it? What?”
“Can’t see—show us!”
“You have to show us!”
The Knights craned their necks, trying to peer into the box.
Adren heard nothing of their clamoring. Her mouth hung open; she couldn’t close it.
“This… this is… my lord….”
Everyone who glimpsed what lay inside fell into the exact same state as Adren.
“My… my lord, this is….”
“I….”
It was a gift that robbed one of words.
In the silence that followed, Adren was the first to recover.
Her lord had said something to her earlier.
That she wouldn’t know whether it was a burden unless she opened it.
“It’s far too much.”
So she gave a proper answer.
Inside the box lay a Hair Ornament—an artwork of sorts, with clusters of jeweled flowers dangling from it.
“This?”
Ricardt didn’t understand her assessment.
“I… I’m hardly in a position to accept something so generous. This isn’t… it’s not something a servant like me should possess.”
It was truly excessive. She’d be less burdened receiving an engagement ring from a close friend.
This was simply unbearable.
She couldn’t even imagine what possessed her lord to give her such a gift.
“I’m more than satisfied knowing my lord thought of me. As for this… I’d like to return it. Since I unwrapped it so carefully, if we rewrap it nicely, surely it can be refunded?”
Adren bowed her head so low it nearly touched the ground, extending the box forward.
“Too much for you to accept? What kind of nonsense is that?”
Ricardt’s voice turned sharp and clipped.
“If I keep something that doesn’t suit my station, others might gossip… and it does make me anxious… and after the party, I have nowhere to wear it, so I’d only worry about losing it….”
She had plenty of reasons. With each one Adren listed, another crease deepened between Ricardt’s brows.
They were angles he hadn’t considered.
“So you’re rejecting it because you’re afraid of what others will say, you find it burdensome, and you’re worried about losing it. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“What exactly makes it burdensome for you?”
“Well… it’s far too ornate for someone like me?”
Sensing he wouldn’t accept her refusal unless given a reason, Adren racked her brain for an explanation.
Ricardt stared at her intently.
The Flower Crown currently adorning her head was already quite elaborate—apparently she’d conspired with the gardener, who’d cut the finest blooms from the garden to make it.
It was a crown that looked more suited to a bride than a birthday girl. So ornate that without an equally elaborate dress and makeup, one’s face would disappear entirely into it—yet Adren’s face shone through vividly.
If she could carry off a crown like that, she could certainly wear his gift in everyday life.
“Try it on.”
“But… I said it was burdensome….”
“You’ll understand once you try it. Seeing something and wearing it are different things.”
“Ah….”
“Try it, and if your face says it’s too much, I’ll take it back.”
“But….”
Won’t unwrapping it—let alone wearing it—make a return impossible?
Yet her lord’s expression was stern enough that she dared not point this out.
She sent a pleading glance toward the Butler, but his loyalties lay with her lord.
“Come now, Adren. Your lord has taken care to prepare this with sincerity. It’s discourteous to refuse without even trying it. Come, let me help you put it on.”
“….”
Adren quietly handed the Hair Ornament to the Butler.
Lacking any skill with women’s hair, the Butler simply pulled her braid up and secured it awkwardly.
With every movement, the Hair Ornament trembled as if it might fall away, and Adren’s heart wavered with the same restless anxiety.
“Um, um, what is it, sir……?”
“Dadda, uppy!”
But it was the Baby who cried out first, before the Master could speak.

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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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