The Maid With a Child - Chapter 43

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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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43. The Young Lady’s Transformation
I’d made the right choice asking Maeltina for help.
If I’d simply prepared without knowing any better, I would have made my employer look like a pauper and pinched every coin, and I’d have diminished the Baby’s standing besides.
“And besides, this is exactly the kind of opportunity to pocket a nice bonus. Why would you turn that down?”
“No, no need to give me any allowance, truly——”
“Aside from the money, the dress is custom-made anyway, so it’s yours to keep even after you’re done caring for the Baby. If you strip off all the decorations and sell them later, you’d make a decent sum. You’d really turn that down?”
“Oh…… You can really sell it like that?”
“Of course. Whenever I happen to enter the palace with the handmaidens I know, they’re all eyeing that the whole time, eyes gleaming.”
It was truly a world I’d never known.
So that was why everyone competed so fiercely to become a young lady’s or a mistress’s handmaiden.
No one had told me about these sweet secrets. They’d been too busy securing their own share to bother.
“Since we’re already doing this, I’m thinking I’ll look into the best tailors—the ones who are too expensive for most people to hire. That should be fine, yes?”
“Do as you think best.”
At Lacart’s generous approval, Maeltina hummed and raised one eyebrow, then tested him with another question.
“No limit on how much I spend?”
“Spend freely.”
This time too, permission came unhesitatingly.
Only then did Maeltina laugh aloud.
“Thank you! I’ll spend to my heart’s content then! There’s nothing more fun than spending someone else’s money. Well, isn’t this convenient, Adlen.”
“Eh? Yes, yes…… yes……”
Adlen benefited along the way.
Since there was no loss for her, she simply nodded gratefully.
But I couldn’t understand why my employer, who stood to lose so much, was also nodding along with us.
* * *
Maeltina’s competence was remarkable.
She summoned to the house merchants who, like Maeltina herself, couldn’t even get a consultation unless they’d made reservations months or even a year in advance.
“I didn’t have time to compare and contrast everything, so I just called the highest-ranked merchants I could reach.”
The merchants who came through Maeltina’s introduction were a textile merchant, a findings merchant, a notions merchant, a leather merchant, a dressmaker, a shoemaker, and so on.
Watching merchants queue up and file through the door, Adlen couldn’t close her mouth.
Whatever it was, something tremendous was happening.
“Well then, shall we start in order?”
Maeltina’s command began.
If Lacart was a battlefield command specialist, Maeltina was a social sphere command specialist.
Every process unfolded without a hitch. The merchants themselves had such flawless judgment that there was no room for doubt.
“Adlen has naturally pale coloring overall, so she takes any color well. Let’s choose based on texture rather than color.”
“In that case, how about this one, this one, and this one?”
“That works. Adlen, come here.”
Adlen was completely captivated by Maeltina’s meticulous direction and simply nodded yes, yes.
“This would be better. Let’s go with this.”
Maeltina, holding the fabric directly to Adlen’s body and testing it this way and that, made her decision without hesitation.
“And for the design……”
Normally, measurements would be taken before construction, but since time was pressing this time, she said they would take the design directly on Adlen’s body as they worked.
Lacart had no choice but to leave his own room, even as the situation seemed absurdly rude. Yet when Maeltina gave her commands with that beaming smile, a miracle occurred—it didn’t feel rude at all.
After Lacart left, only Adlen, the Baby, a female designer and her assistant, and Maeltina remained in the room.
Among women, Adlen stood without restraint in just a slip, and people clustered around her, closing in.
“No, no. Make that waistline tighter there. Yes, that’s it. The shoulder line is lovely—I think we could show it off more. Yes, that’s good.”
Maeltina stood one step back, observing the workers and directing them this way and that.
Adlen felt like a doll, watching herself in the mirror.
Only now, looking at herself in the mirror, did Adlen truly understand why a dress needed to fit properly.
It was a different world from when she’d borrowed one before.
Even though it wasn’t finished yet, just haphazardly patched together with fabric and ornaments, it was several times more radiant. She couldn’t tear her eyes from the mirror.
“Wow…… beautiful.”
It seemed others saw the same thing.
Even Maeltina, who had been watching coolly, gasped.
“Adlen, you really are lovely.”
“The dress…… it’s the dress…… Thank you.”
Adlen had always thought herself reasonably pretty, but not beautiful.
Yet now her own eyes saw beauty, and she’d even received a compliment from someone truly, genuinely beautiful. She felt dizzy, as if she’d swallowed pure juice all at once.
“So, we’ll decide on the outfit and accessories like this. What about jewelry and the Baby’s clothes?”
“Yes, we have the Baby’s clothing fabric in the carriage. I’ll fetch it.”
“Of course.”
The designer left with her assistant.
In the meantime, Maeltina carefully examined the jewelry display, determined not to waste a single moment.
“Shall I try this one? And this one?”
Unlike her swift selections and decisive choices thus far, she spent considerable time deliberating over the accessories.
To Adlen’s eyes, everything glittered with such dazzling beauty that her hands trembled as she accepted each piece, nervous about wearing something so precious against her own skin.
“Why are you shaking like that?”
“I… I’m worried I might scratch it.”
Adlen knew all too well that a single jewel cost more than her entire body’s worth. In a lifetime of labor, she would never earn enough to purchase even a fragment of it.
Maeltina laughed brightly at Adlen’s needless worry, then picked up a necklace herself and moved behind her.
“Lift your hair up. I’ll do it for you.”
“Th-thank you very much.”
With Maeltina’s help, Adlen’s anxiety eased somewhat.
Adlen gathered her hair with both hands as instructed and waited quietly. But Maeltina didn’t move.
Adlen, who had been gazing down modestly, looked up in confusion.
Her eyes met Maeltina’s in the mirror. Maeltina was staring intently at her face.
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you’re truly lovely.”
Adlen’s breath caught.
Was gilding one’s face part of what had to be done for a party, along with the dress and jewels?
As Maeltina lavished praise upon her with such thick, generous compliments, gratitude and embarrassment flooded through Adlen, and her face burned scarlet.
“And adorable, too.”
“Ugh…”
Maeltina showed no sign of stopping her barrage of praise, leaving Adlen nowhere to hide.
Adlen’s face flushed so deeply she thought it might burst. She had never received such frank, unguarded compliments in her life.
Maeltina smiled at the sight of her blushing and fastened the necklace around her neck, then added the earrings.
Then she stepped back a pace and admired her handiwork.
“So beautiful and adorable, and capable at your duties too—no wonder Lacart treasures you so.”
“Pardon?”
Adlen could barely process a single word. Especially the last bit—’Lacart treasures you’—something about it felt off.
“Treasures… oh, yes. He’s a good master. He takes care of my allowance, supports me well…”
“Is that all?”
“Um… well, he… he helps me quite a lot with caring for the Baby.”
“My goodness. He even helps with the child.”
“?”
The conversation seemed to be twisting in an increasingly strange direction.
Adlen shook her head, sensing that wasn’t quite what was meant.
“No, he doesn’t exactly help… it’s just that he plays with her sometimes…”
“Still, how many masters would volunteer to help with a servant’s work? I think my suspicion is correct.”
“What suspicion are you talking about…?”
It was ominous, but she had to ask.
“You and he aren’t… involved romantically?”
“Wh-what?!”
Maeltina, that angelic beauty with her refined features, distinguished family, exceptional talent, and remarkable imagination.
That last quality—her imagination—might be her only flaw.

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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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