The Maid With a Child - Chapter 76

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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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76. Main Palace Lady
Everything was prepared well in advance. Havel’s eyes were already drooping, fluttering open and closed with drowsy slowness. All that remained was to lay her down, lie down herself, and sleep. Yet somehow, Adlen’s feet refused to carry her toward the bed.
Adlen sat on the sofa cradling Havel, staring at the bed while releasing one long sigh after another.
“Why aren’t you asleep?”
What was supposed to be a quick errand had stretched into late hours.
Racalte, though the hour for sleep had long since passed, gestured from where he sat on the sofa—a jut of his chin directing Adlen toward the bed. Go lie down. Now.
Without such a nudge, this maid, bound tight by her sense of duty, would never move.
“Ah, yes, I should sleep. I really should…….”
“If your legs won’t cooperate, I could always carry you.”
Adlen sprang to her feet without hesitation and bolted for the bed.
“Sleep well, sir!”
Anything finished quickly feels less frightening.
Adlen squeezed her eyes shut and threw herself onto the mattress.
She pulled the quilt up over her head and positioned Havel in the center.
‘Hm?’
And then a strange sense of security settled over her, as if she’d built her own fortress.
The bed was so vast it barely felt like they were in the same one at all.
‘This isn’t so bad after all!’
So that was why people always said not to run away in fear before even trying something.
Even as Adlen heard Racalte lift one edge of the quilt and settle into the space beside her—deliberately keeping distance—she found she could remain calm.
The Royal Palace beds were indeed extraordinary.
Whether thanks to the quality of the mattress or simply the change of location, sleep came easily despite her surroundings, and she slipped into rest without nightmares.
That was the problem.
* * *
When she opened her eyes, there was his profile again, right beside her.
The firm yet yielding sensation felt at her neck made no room for doubt. Somewhere between his shoulder and forearm.
It wasn’t cold at all. The quilt pooled at her feet was proof she’d kicked it away in her sleep.
‘Not again!’
There he lay, dignified and composed, staring at the ceiling—while she clung to him like a clinging vine.
She hadn’t had nightmares because she’d felt his presence even as she slept.
She should have been grateful, but would he think this acceptable? ……Perhaps it was better he didn’t know?
If she could slip back to her original position before he woke, this would be as if it never happened.
Adlen rolled away quickly.
“Mm…….”
“Shh, sleep a bit longer. Sleep now…….”
“Uh…….”
She soothed Havel back to sleep as well.
Adlen pressed herself against the wall and closed her eyes.
This time, warmed by Havel’s body heat, sleep pulled at her again despite her wakefulness, and her eyes drifted shut of their own accord.
It was only when Adlen’s breathing had settled into a steady rhythm that Racalte opened his eyes.
Lying still, he drew a slow, measured breath, then rose silently without a sound.
There was no trace of sleep in his gaze or his movements.
Before leaving the bed, he turned to look at Adlen once more.
People made small mistakes in their sleep all the time. Clinging to him a little as she rested was hardly a capital offense worthy of her freezing in mortification. But he doubted that words would thaw the frost that had already set in, so he chose the path of pretense instead.
Before fully leaving the bed, Racalte carefully gathered the quilt that had slipped away and pulled it up to Adlen’s shoulders. It would be a disaster if this irreplaceable member of his household caught a cold.
Just before stepping away entirely, Racalte paused to look back at Adlen once more.
“Mm…….”
In her deep sleep, Adlen stirred restlessly, making soft sounds like a child.
As if searching for warmth even in slumber, her body rolled here and there with busy determination.
She drew near to where he had been lying, rubbing against the sheet, then relocated the pillow—his pillow—beneath her head.
“Hhm…….”
Adlen buried her face in the pillow and breathed deeply. Then, without so much as a twitch, she sank back into profound sleep.
Even during her work as a maid, she never rested for a moment, moving with steady diligence. She was equally industrious even in sleep.
Yet it was a relief to see her sleeping form look at ease.
He had hesitated to leave the bed, worried that she might cry through the night again as she had the previous evening.
Racalte gathered the quilt that had fallen away as she tossed and turned, and carefully tucked it over her once more.
* * *
The first night was difficult, but by the second and third, it became routine.
Waking beside him in a shared bed became familiar far more quickly than adapting to the master suite at Sigelion Mansion had been.
Adapting to the master suite had been a journey from zero to ninety, but a shared bed was merely climbing from ninety to one hundred—hardly a difficult ascent at all.
Adapting to the environment had proven easy; it was familiarity with humans that posed the greater challenge.
Several days had now passed since arriving at the Royal Palace.
So far, nothing remarkable had occurred.
Her days consisted of eating, sleeping, and playing—nothing more.
She couldn’t continue indefinitely this way, of course, but the Royal Palace held plenty to see and explore, offering no shortage of amusement.
With no need to fear an attack while wandering about, the pleasure of sightseeing felt particularly keen.
“I wish it could go on like this forever,” she murmured.
Adlen swayed gently back and forth, The Baby cradled in her arms.
Sunlight poured through the window onto the bench where they sat, warming her back. It was perfect weather for a stroll.
Yet Adlen only glanced out at the courtyard beyond, lacking the courage to venture outside.
Over the past few days of wandering about, an unexpected response had taken hold.
‘That woman? The Main Palace Lady?’
A nickname had taken root.
The Main Palace Lady.
She’d later learned that receiving a chamber within the Royal Palace held prestige equivalent to receiving a surname.
Moreover, a hierarchy existed even within the palace itself.
The closer one’s assigned quarters lay to the Main Palace where the king dwelt, the higher one’s standing in his favor rose.
And Adlen’s room was in the Main Palace itself.
That she was merely a dependent living off Racalte, or a servant of the Sigelion Family, or Havel’s nursemaid—such details seemed oddly unimportant to the palace inhabitants.
‘That Hair Ornament she wears every day is so beautiful. I tried everything to save up for one, but they’re all sold out. Even with a reorder, I’d have to wait over a year.’
‘She doesn’t even dress particularly lavishly, yet somehow I can’t help but watch her. Without that Hair Ornament, I wouldn’t even know what else to imitate.’
Eyes tracked her from all directions, and whispers trailed her constantly.
Merely by virtue of occupying a chamber in the Main Palace, people lifted Adlen herself onto a pedestal without knowing her at all.
The evaluation bore so little resemblance to her true self that she took no joy in it.
At first she’d thought nothing of it, but the repetition grew unbearable, and she’d retreated to her quarters. That was how she’d come to hide away.
“Forgive the intrusion. I’ve come to inform you of an engagement you must attend tomorrow.”
Yet she could not remain secluded forever.
The time had come to fulfill the purpose for which she’d entered the Royal Palace.
Her first official engagement had been set.
And of all things, it was…
“A Fairy Tale Reading Circle.”
“A reading circle?”
“Yes. In the morning, you’ll read through one book together. At lunch, you’ll share refreshments. In the afternoon, there will be a craft session where you’ll create items featured in the fairy tales.”
“Do I have to read as well?”
“Of course.”
The king’s favor meant nothing.
This was simply an occasion to remind her of her station.
“Should you wish to purchase any books, please inform me and I shall procure them. Alternatively, you may use the Library.”
This was troublesome.
For all her party-going, she’d never truly needed to read.
Most of what occurred in the Party Hall involved eating, drinking, and idle conversation—and Racalte had handled all the invitations anyway.
“Must I do the reading aloud?”
“It’s not compulsory. If you’d prefer not to, you need not.”
“Ah… well then.”
“However, it would certainly damage one’s dignity.”
“My dignity…”
“Havel’s.”
“…”
Even babies had their dignity, no less than any adult. Sometimes they cared even more.
They coldly compared who wore the finest clothes, who displayed the most striking ornaments, whose plate held the most food, even the appearance of their nursemaids.
Without anyone teaching them, they instinctively established hierarchies.
A baby left behind in such a ranking would spend the entire day downcast and withdrawn, or crying endlessly.
‘Our Havel’s dignity!’
Her own pride and dignity had never mattered to her. Caring for such things only made life harder.
But Havel was different. For him, a loss of pride and dignity made life unbearable.
It had to be protected, no matter what.
A flash of fierce determination entered Adlen’s eyes.

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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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