The Maid With a Child - Chapter 68

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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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68. A Name to Remember Forever
After the Marquess Jilent’s birthday party, Adlen’s heart underwent a considerable shift.
‘Why should I cling to family?’
What she saw with her own eyes—her family’s true nature—was so different from what she’d imagined that she’d given up the notion entirely.
And the sense of belonging Racalte had given her was another force that had shaken her resolve.
‘Truthfully, even if I married well, could I ever find a man who’d swagger around like he’d bought me an entire shop?’
Material things, of course, didn’t matter.
Yet before money, people became subtle in their selfishness, petty in their calculations.
A person with a hundred giving ten was far easier than a person with ten giving ten—that was several hundred times harder.
It meant pushing through that many hardships and obstacles.
‘But even if I do push through, what good is it if I don’t know who the other person is?’
The unhealed wound from her failed introduction earlier had its share of blame.
So Adlen resolved to live like water flowing—for now, without clinging to men, or family, or any of it.
Perhaps as she lived, she’d meet good people. And if fate allowed her a harmonious family someday, she’d build it then.
With that thought, she decided to focus only on what lay before her now.
When Habel made her debut in High Society, it became one of the reasons Adlen’s life changed so dramatically.
Habel’s popularity soared with each passing day. Any child who’d caught even a glimpse of Habel would throw a tantrum wanting to see her again.
Invitations poured in—asking for just a moment of her face, please come.
As a result, Adlen began going out frequently.
It was a world away from being cooped up in her master’s room.
Dressing beautifully each time, visiting dazzling and ornate places—no matter what friction arose in High Society, it lifted her spirits.
“Since this is a garden party, we’ll want her comfortable so she can run and play freely. I should dress her in something easier to move in.”
Adlen hummed as she prepared for tomorrow’s party.
How many people would crowd around her little one tomorrow?
“Adlen.”
“Yes? Master.”
Adlen hurried to the desk at Racalte’s call.
Racalte was in the middle of writing a reply to an invitation.
“Does the Stencaer Family have a child?”
“The Stencaer Family? Sten… caer…?”
By now, Adlen had memorized the names of nearly every family with children.
But the Stencaer Family didn’t ring a bell.
“I’m not sure. Did they invite the Crown Prince?”
“Not the Crown Prince. You.”
“Me…?”
Even though Adlen had firmly established herself as Habel’s governess, she’d never received an invitation addressed to herself before.
While receiving an invitation didn’t necessarily require one to be noble, it was unheard of for a noble to invite a commoner to their party.
Such a special circumstance was not something Adlen could have forgotten.
Racalte felt the same way. He too had come to know most families with children by now. But the Stencaer Family was a name entirely unfamiliar to him.
“Who sent the invitation? Did the family send it themselves?”
“The name is… Ewin?”
“Ewin?”
The name stirred no recognition.
Adlen tilted her head, repeating the name over and over. “Ewin? Ewin?”
“Ah…!”
Then, finally, it came to her.
“That was the woman who came with her cousin!”
“Her cousin…?”
One of Racalte’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“Yes, the child she brought—she said it was her sister’s child, so not from the Stencaer Family.”
“Then the Stencaer Family definitely has no children.”
“No, probably not…”
If a child had been born into the family, it would have been stated on the invitation.
Adlen picked up the invitation envelope, peering at it though she couldn’t read it.
“Is this the letter for Stencaer?”
Curiosity struck, and she pointed at one character on the envelope, asking.
“That’s Sigelion.”
“…Oh.”
Mortification flooded through her.
She should have never pretended to know.
Until now, not being able to read had posed no obstacle to her life. After all, servants and maids who couldn’t read were all the same.
But the constant exposure to an environment where reading was simply expected had begun to prick her with shame.
“Sigellion… Sigellion.”
Adlen stared intently at the letters on the invitation, committing their shapes to memory with her eyes.
More than anything, she wanted to memorize that word. So that wherever she saw Sigellion, she could act as though she recognized it.
That was when Racalte picked up a pen and quickly scrawled something across a blank sheet, then handed it to her.
“Here.”
“This is… Sigellion!”
The character she had just memorized jumped out at her.
Adlen cried out in delight, pointing to it.
“That’s right.”
A electric thrill of joy surged through her at having the answer correct.
“Then what are these others?”
“This one is Adlen.”
“Oh…! That’s my name.”
It was her own name, yet it felt foreign. But from now on, she would grow accustomed to it. Adlen gazed at the letters again and again, determined never to forget them.
“And this one?”
“Teplan, Racalte, Habel.”
“Teplan, Racalte, Habel….”
Names that would never leave her side, names she would carry to her grave.
Adlen traced her fingertip over the contours of each letter, murmuring the names again in turn.
“Sigellion, Adlen, Teplan, Racalte, Habel.”
The characters her master had written were far more fluid and elegant than those on the invitation. They were beautiful simply to behold—like a work of art.
“Thank you, sir. I promise I’ll remember these letters.”
Adlen carefully folded the paper and tucked it into her breast. Each time she thought of it in days to come, she would unfold it and trace the letters with her fingertips. Perhaps one day she would be able to write them herself.
“Later, when Habel’s tutor arrives, you’ll learn alongside him.”
“Me? Is that… truly allowed?”
She had heard that a tutor would be provided soon, though not yet. His Majesty had also consented readily enough—there was no reason to deliberately keep her illiterate.
“Teaching one pupil or two makes little difference, so long as they keep pace.”
Racalte spoke of it as though it were nothing.
But to Adlen, it was an opportunity she had never dreamed would come in all her life.
“Thank you so much, sir!”
Always—always, her master offered her things she had never possessed, tossing them to her as though they were trifles.
Mere gratitude was not enough to express it.
And so the words left unspoken would linger in her chest as a warm glow, lingering long after.
“Ah, what shall we do about that invitation?”
Racalte twisted one corner of his mouth upward in amusement, regarding her.
“It came to you—why ask me?”
“I… beg your pardon?”
That was how it worked?
The invitation was placed in Adlen’s trembling hands. The invitation was hers.
“But… but still. How… how should I…?”
Adlen’s hands shook as she held the invitation.
Until now, she had simply followed her master’s instructions. But suddenly having the choice thrust upon her left her adrift, as though abandoned in the heart of a desert.
“Do as you wish.”
“As I… wish.”
Adlen looked down at the invitation she could not read.
“But what kind of invitation is this?”
Racalte rose from his desk and moved to her side.
Adlen quickly tore open the envelope and extracted its contents, offering them up.
“Here it is.”
Rather than taking the invitation from her hands, Racalte settled himself on the edge of the desk beside hers. Then he leaned over her shoulder to look down at it.
Their bodies drew close—closer than usual. Adlen felt a flicker of tension and bit her lip, though she gave no outward sign.
Instead, she unfolded the invitation and held it before him at an easy angle for reading.
“Dear Miss Adlen.”
Racalte began reading the invitation in a soft voice.
His tone was such that she might have been listening to poetry rather than prose, and Adlen found herself drifting into a light, dreamy state as she listened.
“…and therefore, a boating excursion shall be held at the Nearby Lake. We would be delighted if you might find the time, despite your many obligations, to join us. Thus it says.”
“A boating excursion…!”
The opening lines of the invitation had been merely ornamental flourishes.
Adlen, who had been half-listening to the content while savoring the sound of Racalte’s voice, suddenly perked up at the word boating.

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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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