The Villainess's Exclusive Maid Is Too Good at Her Job - Chapter 28

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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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Chapter 28

#Chapter. Twins

Kendrick and Julietta Ludwig.
Their relationship had not always been strained.
Born under the same mother, twins delivered on the same day and hour.
Their mother passed away in early childhood, a time barely etched in memory, and their father was a rare sight indeed.
For the two of them, family consisted of only each other.
“Brother, let’s go together!”
“Follow carefully, Julietta.”
Until the age of nine, they went everywhere as an inseparable pair. Julietta followed her brother like a chick following its mother, chirping his name endlessly, while he played the role of a dignified adult, looking after his younger sister.
The problems began on their tenth birthday, during the day of the blessing prayer.
“I’m nervous. Aren’t you, brother?”
“I suppose. But don’t worry—I’m certain you’ll receive a magnificent verse as a gift.”
“Really? Will the Divine One truly bestow a verse upon me?”
“Of course. We are the Ludwig Family, after all.”
Kendrick would regret those words for years to come.
He should never have spoken with such certainty.
He should never have assumed the Ludwig Family would naturally receive blessings.
The prayers of both took place simultaneously in the Ludwig Family’s private prayer chamber.
It was a grand ceremony, with the family’s retainers, relatives, their father, the Grand Duchess, and all the siblings gathered together.
The Archbishop from the Western Temple had come to conduct the blessing prayer for them.
“…We humbly beseech thee.”
As the Archbishop’s prayer concluded, a pure white light materialized from nowhere and descended slowly upon the two of them.
“Ahhh!”
“As expected of the Ludwig Family’s direct line! It seems the Divine One is bestowing blessings upon them.”
The First Prince, Second Prince, and First Princess.
All three preceding them had been granted verses of blessing.
Therefore, everyone believed without question that Julietta and Kendrick would naturally receive blessings as well.
But.
“…What?”
“What is this….”
After the white light faded, the crowd’s reaction split sharply in two.
Astonishment on one side, disappointment mixed with bewilderment on the other.
The former was directed toward Kendrick; the latter toward Julietta.
Kendrick’s arm was densely inscribed with verses that filled the entire length of his forearm.
The light emanating from the characters made his entire arm seem to glow brilliantly.
Julietta’s arm, by contrast, remained bare.
Nowhere could I find even a glimmer of light or a mark resembling letters.
“Surely, a child born without the Ludwig Family’s blessing… it cannot be.”
“Had they not been twins, the bloodline itself would have been called into question.”
Murmurs of unease rippled through the assembled adults.
Julietta Ludwig clutched her unmarked arm tightly to her chest, tears streaming down her face.
“Julietta!”
Kendrick rose from his seat in alarm, desperate to comfort his sister.
“Ha! Look at this insolent brat! Did you truly think my son would receive a longer blessing than I?”
But the Grand Duke blocked his path, approaching with rare delight etched across his features. He lifted the young Kendrick high into the air with a booming laugh.
“From this day forward, strive to surpass me!”
Guffaw!
His thunderous laughter drowned out Julietta’s sobs. Everyone cheered and applauded, their attention fixed solely on the boy, ignoring the small child’s tears.
Only Kendrick’s gaze remained fixed upon his sister.
Julietta gazed up at him through endless tears.
The brilliant white light flooding his arm obscured his expression from view.
What face was he making?
How was he looking at me?
Was my brother smiling with joy too?
Like all those people?
As such thoughts accumulated, alongside the sorrow came another emotion, blooming like a dark flower.
Fear, dread, envy, jealousy. And resentment.
It was far too complex an emotion for a child to bear.
All I could comprehend was that this moment, surrounded by countless people, was suffocatingly, unbearably lonely.

From that day forward, each of them gained their own governess.
The governess who had previously cared for both children now devoted herself entirely to Kendrick, while Julietta Ludwig was assigned a young governess of maidservant origins.
Nova Morgan.
Though she had no children of her own, she possessed confidence in childcare from raising many younger siblings, and she quickly won over Julietta Ludwig’s heart.
Each gained their own governess, each gained their own tutor.
As their individual time gradually increased, the bond between Julietta Ludwig and Kendrick naturally grew distant.
Moreover, as time progressed, Julietta Ludwig’s temperament began to change.
Though she had always been somewhat sensitive and particular by nature, she was not a child who spoke harshly to others without hesitation.
One day, after their thirteenth birthday.
“You useless thing!”
Startled by her sudden outburst at a young maidservant, Kendrick grabbed Julietta Ludwig and held her in place.
“Julietta Ludwig!”
“…Kendrick.”
“What was that just now?! How could you say such a thing?!”
“…What do you mean? Why are you raising your voice at me?!”
Julietta Ludwig glared at Kendrick with an expression of betrayal.
“You have to appear strong so you won’t be disrespected, you fool!”
Julietta Ludwig cried out indignantly, then added curtly.
“Besides, you wouldn’t understand since you don’t need to.”
“What?”
“You were born with everything, unlike me.”
“Julietta Ludwig. That’s not true. You also clearly-.”
“It is?! I have nothing! Unlike you with all your greatness, I have nothing at all!”
At her bitter outpouring, Kendrick found himself unable to speak.
Soon tears streamed down her large eyes.
“It’s because of you. You took everything from me.”
“Wait, Julietta Ludwig. Just calm down first-.”
“Why?! Why do you get to have everything?!”
Once, being twins had been a joy.
Born on the same day, at the same hour, from the same mother—my absolute confidant.
But.
“We were born together, so why were only you blessed while I received nothing?!”
As they grew older, comparisons from others began, and everything changed.

“Born on the same day, at the same hour, from the same mother—why are those two so different?”

Kendrick, so talented. Julietta Ludwig, so ordinary.
Never being expected by anyone—it was truly a dreadful feeling.
The sensation of my own existence gradually fading away.
“…No. That’s not it.”
“No? It’s you. You took it from me! Because of you, my life became like this! Because of you… I’m this unhappy!”
Julietta Ludwig knew in her mind that it wasn’t Kendrick’s fault.
Yet she could not bear the resentment that visited her from time to time.
Even the adults would often jokingly say, “Didn’t Kendrick steal all of Julietta’s talent in the womb before being born?”
That stupid joke kept accumulating in her heart. What if it were true?
What if the reason I’m being ignored like this is because we’re twins—
“I wish you’d disappear. I wish you’d never existed. I really… hate you.”
Gasp.
Julietta Ludwig covered her mouth in shock at her own words.
With an expression as though wounded by what she herself had spoken, Julietta Ludwig turned her back and fled the scene.

***

After that, Kendrick worried about what face he should show Julietta Ludwig.
He had never imagined she harbored such thoughts.
He knew she found him inconvenient, but he had never anticipated she felt this way.
‘I need to approach her somehow and tell her it’s not like that….’
Yet he feared that doing so would only wound Julietta Ludwig further, and so he could not bring himself to draw near.
‘What if my existence makes my sister suffer even more?’
I wished for my sister to be hurt no longer.
If I were the cause, then not approaching her seemed like the right answer.

Julietta Ludwig faced the same predicament.
Though she felt compelled to apologize whenever the thought crossed her mind, the moment she saw Kendrick, all the accumulated sorrow would overwhelm her, and she would flee.
Through the widening chasm of their estrangement, an irreversible river was being carved.
And finally, the year they both turned fifteen.
“Julietta Ludwig. I’ve been enlisted to participate in the Ashleyde War.”
“…!”
His father, Maverick, had distinguished himself in his first war at the age of sixteen, so the narrative had evolved such that Kendrick needed to participate at an even younger age and prove his worth.
It was a burden that Kendrick, blessed with an even longer lineage of glory and raised under the expectations of all, had to bear.
“Take care of yourself, Julietta Ludwig.”
To his brief farewell, Julietta Ludwig could not muster a response.
She gazed at him with trembling eyes, then simply turned her head away without uttering a word.
That was their final conversation.
The Ashleyde War raged for three years.
After the Empire’s victory brought the war to an end, Kendrick returned alive and unharmed.
Yet Julietta Ludwig could not greet his return with a smile.
The Kendrick who had returned from the battlefield was transformed.
His hollow eyes held terrible solitude and anguish, and he seemed to be barely breathing, as though living itself had become unbearable.
His body lived on, but his spirit had died.
‘…Was it because of me?’
Because I told him to leave.
Because I told him to disappear.
Is that why Kendrick became like this?
Though the honor of ‘youngest war hero’ followed in his wake, he abandoned all accolades and secluded himself in his Separate Residence.
And so another three years passed.
The river between them had become a sea.
A sea neither could find the courage to cross.

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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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