The Maid With a Child - Chapter 51

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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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51. The Human Butcher
It was her second visit to the Royal Palace.
But she was several times more nervous than the first time.
Adlen drew a long breath and looked down at her chest.
She’d tucked the necklace back in place while looking at the mirror, but it slipped out again as she walked. This time, she pushed it deeper still, burying it firmly beneath the folds of her dress.
“Is that necklace important?”
“Oh, this? ……Yes. Does it show too much?”
“No.”
She’d been worried he might ask her to remove it since it clashed with the elegance of the dress, but fortunately the subject passed.
Adlen fingered the fabric covering the necklace and offered her reason.
“Actually, I’ve had this since I was born.”
“Since you were born?”
“Yes, it passed through so many hands, I don’t know who found me or who abandoned me……. But this necklace was my only clue. They say I was already wearing it when I was found, and it’s all the hope I have.”
She didn’t know whether it was true.
It might be a story she’d fabricated out of pity for Adlen’s bitter weeping when he saw the necklace she wore; it might have been placed around her neck by someone along the way; or it might have been a necklace that happened to fall beside her abandoned form by pure chance.
But because there had been circumstances that left no choice but to abandon her, the happiest way to think about it was that whoever it was had deliberately left behind a clue so she might find them someday, somehow. That was how Adlen had chosen to believe and live.
For something meant to be a clue, it was a necklace made from thread that could be found anywhere. Never having removed it from her body, she’d knotted it back together whenever it frayed and broke, and when it became too short to loop around her neck, she’d even bought other thread to extend it—clinging to it stubbornly all the while.
Removing that necklace would be like tearing away all her hope.
“I’ve never taken it off once in my entire life, and if I removed it and lost it…….”
She couldn’t bear to imagine what came next.
Adlen shook her head with a shudder.
“Then you’ll keep it safe.”
“Thank you. But if it starts showing at the party, please tell me right away.”
Adlen checked again, fingers brushing the back of her neck.
The tension she’d momentarily forgotten while telling that old story returned. Her fingertips trembled slightly.
“And if I make any mistakes at all, please tell me immediately……. Or better yet, just step on my foot or jab my side. I’ll stop right away.”
Adlen was grim with resolve.
Today, there would be no mistakes from her.
I am Sigellion!
Like the other servants, Adlen too had been thoroughly dyed with that pride.
There would be no incident that brought dishonor to Sigellion because of her. And she would see to it that The Baby’s brilliant nanny earned the King’s blessing that everything would go well.
Adlen steeled herself with wide, determined eyes.
“You don’t need to be that nervous.”
“But, still, The Baby’s future, and you—I mean, Racalte’s honor, Sigellion’s honor, the King’s expectations, and my own dignity are all on the line.”
Yet resolve did nothing to stop the trembling. If anything, it piled on greater burden.
Now that she’d spoken it aloud, the weight of four people’s expectations bore down on her shoulders. It was terribly heavy.
Adlen nearly bit her lip in anxiety but caught herself—the makeup artist had warned her sternly never to bite her lips no matter what.
“No matter what you do at that party, those four things will remain largely unchanged.”
“Of course, whatever a lowly maid like me accomplishes won’t be anything extraordinary……?”
The calm she’d found from Racalte’s words lasted only briefly.
Anxiety flared like a fire in a furnace—quiet one moment, suddenly roaring the next.
“B-but wouldn’t that mean I have even more reason not to make mistakes because I’m so insignificant…….”
“My point was not that you’re insignificant, but that the power of me and the King standing behind you surpasses most people in that hall.”
“……Oh.”
At Racalte’s words, Adlen’s nervous excitement subsided like water draining away.
Tepplan’s greatest warrior and the King’s sword, a rising noble who’d begun his ascent in the previous reign yet rivaled the ancient noble houses in wealth and influence—Racalte, Earl of Sigellion, walked beside her. What more steadfast backing could there be?
“For what it’s worth, even if you half-kill someone there, you could probably avoid execution.”
“……What?”
That’s an awfully extreme example.
Adlen, who had never struck anyone in her life, much less killed them, stood bewildered.
“Don’t believe me? It’s something I’ve experienced firsthand. And back then, I wasn’t even acting under the King’s orders.”
“What on earth did you experience……?”
“Well, when I was ten years old.”
“Ten years old……?”
That was far too young to use as an example of half-killing someone.
At that age, whatever happened would have been childish roughhousing anyway—they would naturally have let it slide without incident.
“My father had only recently been granted the title of count and was trying to establish himself as a noble, so he pushed me into service as a Royal Companion to the man who was then a prince—His Majesty.”
“Ah.”
So that was why they were so familiarly close, like brothers.
Now she understood the King’s overly informal manner toward him, however loyal a subject he was. Growing up side by side from age ten until now would certainly warrant that.
“From birth, His Majesty’s body was frail, so my robust health seemed remarkable and pleasing to him. He always kept me at his side and showed me affection. But there were plenty who resented that. As a Rising Noble without proper standing, they dismissed me.”
Adlen’s nose wrinkled.
The steward was the same way. He’d say that our master was so perfect, so accomplished, but unpopular because of how the nobility looked down on Rising Nobles.
Cliquishness exists wherever people gather, but it was harsh even toward a child of ten.
“They showed their resentment to our master when he was barely ten years old? Wicked people…….”
“The children followed their parents’ lead. They mimicked what their parents said and repeated it word for word. The other Royal Companions in particular were brutal.”
“Good heavens, and so young too……. Is that why you fought them?”
“One of them struck first. So I struck back.”
“You did the right thing!”
Adlen clenched both fists and beamed with approval. Yes, better to land blows than to keep getting hit.
But Racalte still hadn’t mentioned just how badly he’d beaten them.
“His Majesty said the same thing. He said they’d annoyed him too—the way they’d mock his frail body under the guise of concern. The way they’d boast about being Royal Companions and strut around the other children. He hated the sight of it.”
“But if they were Royal Companions, they’d all have been around the same age. Good heavens—how could they even……. If even His Majesty felt that way, you can imagine how viciously they treated you. So you taught them a proper lesson?”
“I nearly killed one. One of them is still bedridden.”
“You did the right…… What?”
Adlen’s mouth opened to say that as long as our master had won, it was all fine—but the words died.
He’d won. He had won……
That was a good thing, wasn’t it?
“Wait—what exactly did they say to you?”
Adlen made an effort to understand Racalte.
There had to be a reason. He must have heard something that warranted it.
“Various things. All sorts of garbage. But the one I heard most often was ‘young Human Butcher.'”
Fair enough.
“You should have killed them outright.”
A grown man hearing such words whispered behind his back because of his own deeds—that was inevitable. But what had a ten-year-old child done to deserve it?
Even if the previous earl had risen through rough means, it wasn’t a shameful thing.
“I tried to. But it came to light too quickly and I failed.”
“……Oh, so you were trying to?”
“Yes. I even gave you a chance first to try.”
That wasn’t an opportunity—that was a provocation.
But no matter how young, one must take responsibility for one’s words, he’d said. Adlen’s arms bent inward without question.
Still—could a ten-year-old normally fight that fiercely?
“……You were…… ten years old then, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Ha ha, ha……. I see. A different breed from birth, truly…….”
Adlen activated her “My Child is the Greatest” mode and applied it enthusiastically to Racalte’s childhood.

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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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