The Villainess's Exclusive Maid Is Too Good at Her Job - Chapter 36

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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 36

Their unfocused gazes met in the empty air between them. After confirming that Oscar showed no signs of rising, a silent conversation passed between them through their eyes alone.
‘She seems sincere. What should we do?’
‘What do you mean, what should we do?!’
‘Her apology. Will you accept it?’
‘Janet.’
‘Yes.’
‘I really can’t stand that woman, you know?’
‘Yes, my lady.’
‘But….’
Julietta pressed her lips together firmly before releasing them, then exhaled a deep sigh as she muttered under her breath.
“Now the boy’s gone and heard me call her ‘sister.'”
With a curt murmur, Julietta fixed Joanna with a piercing glare.
“As Janet said earlier, I’m only going to let myself be deceived one more time.”
Tsk.
Julietta clicked her tongue and turned away.
“Let’s go, Janet.”
“Yes, my lady.”
With a respectful bow toward Joanna, Janet followed Julietta, leaving behind a gentle smile.
It was such a tender expression that one could scarcely believe this was the same person who had faced Joanna with such severity mere moments before.
Left alone, Joanna hesitated for a moment before slowly making her way back toward Jeron’s Annex.
Then she paused again.
She turned to look back.
Two figures receded into the distance side by side—the young lady whom everyone had once shunned as a villainess, and her maid.
Yet watching them walk together like that, they appeared as ordinary as any other girls.
Suddenly, words Oscar had spoken came to mind.

“Why not seek advice from Julietta’s maid later?”
“After all, she’s the maid who transformed Julietta. She might offer you some guidance.”

#Chapter. The Anxious Guardian and the Anxious Child

The next day.
Around the time work ended, a visitor came looking for Janet.
“Joanna?”
“Good afternoon, Miss Janet.”
Janet bowed in return and led her to the Reception Room.
Ordinary servants couldn’t use the Separate Residence’s Reception Room, but as a lady’s maid, Janet had the authority to do so.
“What brings you here? Oh, let me prepare some tea for you first.”
Janet bustled about as she showed Joanna to her seat.
Joanna sat quietly, observing her. Janet had mentioned she’d been a lady’s maid for only about two months now.
Perhaps because of that, her movements seemed rather clumsy. There was still a certain flustered quality to her actions.
Yet there was nothing disagreeable or irritating about her.
Though her technique was still rough, her eyes were clear and focused as she attended to her duties.
Soon enough, Janet returned with the tea and took a seat across from Joanna.
“Thank you.”
Joanna carefully took a sip of the tea.
It was a distinctive yet refreshing brew. Simply drinking it made her feel as though her mind had cleared.
“What kind of tea is this? I don’t think I’ve ever had it before.”
“It’s a tea the Steward recently gave me as a gift. He said it’s tea leaves from the Northern Region.”
“The Steward gave it to you?”
“Yes.”
Joanna was somewhat surprised.
The Steward stood at the very top of the Ludwig Family’s servants, didn’t he?
Because of that, even Joanna, who had worked here for a long time, still found him somewhat intimidating.
Yet such a person had gifted tea to Janet.
“It’s a tea I’m fond of, so I thought I’d share it, though I’m not sure if it suits your taste.”
“It suits me perfectly. The aroma is wonderful. And this refreshing quality is lovely too.”
“Isn’t it?”
Pleased at being appreciated, Janet’s lips curved upward in a round smile.
“But what brings you to visit me today?”
At Janet’s question, Joanna stiffened, still holding her teacup.
She hesitated, her fingers tracing the rim of the lukewarm cup, before finally speaking as though releasing a sigh.
“Actually, I’ve come seeking your advice.”
“My advice?”
I was bewildered.
What advice could I possibly offer?
Joanna was a seasoned governess, while I was merely a lady’s maid two months into employment.
Unlike her, who had received a refined education in an established household, I had spent my days doing housework in a humble family.
And I couldn’t even remember anything before I turned fifteen.
‘Ah, the governess wouldn’t know about that, though.’
Still, my bewilderment remained unchanged.
“You may have already guessed, but I am a person burdened with worry. More than burdened—consumed by it, one might say.”
“….”
Janet could not bring herself to deny it, even for the sake of courtesy.
Instead, all she could do was bite back the question: “You were aware of that?”
Joanna, reading the sentiment in her silence, let out a hearty laugh.
“The First Prince Oscar offered me counsel. He suggested I seek you out and unburden myself of my worries.”
“The First Prince?”
This too struck her as peculiar.
The two of them had met for the first time only yesterday. Yet he had immediately advised her to confide in Janet.
“Oscar has a keen eye for people.”
“Ah, I see….”
Her doubts remained unresolved, but she nodded along nonetheless.
“Though I’m not certain I can be of much help.”
“I harbor no such expectations. Rather, what I mean to say is….”
She paused, then continued with a bitter smile.
“I simply needed someone to confide in. Perhaps if I speak aloud what weighs upon me, I too might change.”
“You wish to change?”
“Yes. For Jeron’s sake, if nothing else.”
Yesterday, witnessing Jeron smile so brightly before Janet and Julietta had struck Joanna with considerable force.
There was a time when he smiled at her in that same manner.
But as his already fragile body grew ever weaker,
and his ailments multiplied,
Joanna’s concern had festered into obsession, and Jeron’s smile had gradually withered away.
Somewhere along the way, he had begun to wear an expression that mirrored her own.
Anxious, worried, and therefore bitter.
“If you would have me, please feel free to speak your heart. As you said, perhaps in the sharing of our burdens, we might find some answer.”
“…Yes. Thank you, miss.”
“You may call me Janet, if you wish.”
Yesterday they had bristled at each other. Today she smiled with such warmth.
‘Even when she accepted my apology outside the Annex yesterday, she was like this.’
What foolish venting had she unleashed upon such a kind soul?
Merely recalling her transgression set her cheeks ablaze.
Joanna cooled her face with the back of her hand, then spoke with measured calm.
Yes, this was where the story began.
“In truth, I once had a child.”

***

For several years after their marriage, Joanna and her husband remained childless.
At first, they thought they could simply wait, but as time stretched on, their hearts grew increasingly impatient.
To focus on having a child, she even relinquished the hard-won position of Academy professor.
When she worked as a private tutor, teaching students, her longing for a child only intensified.
Yet no child came, and eventually Joanna resigned herself to the thought of abandoning that dream.
But what cruel jest of fate was this?
The moment she surrendered that hope, a child arrived.
Joanna was overjoyed. No matter what trials came, she vowed to make this child happy.
She endured the grueling pregnancy and safely navigated a childbirth fraught with danger due to her advanced age.
The newborn was a boy who bore a striking resemblance to her.
Oh, how utterly precious he was!
Every day brimmed with happiness. She never doubted that this joy would continue forever.
If I breathed too hard, would it vanish? If I held too tightly, would it shatter?
I poured my entire heart and love into him—and even then it felt insufficient. My love for that child knew no bounds.
So who could have foreseen it?
That a mere common cold would swallow my child whole.
The boy did not live to see his fourth birthday. The face that once broke into a radiant smile at the sight of his parents grew cold and rigid, unmoved.
I clutched my dead child and wailed until I collapsed, only to wake and collapse again in an endless cycle.

‘If only I had cared for him better…!’
‘I should have tended to him more carefully when he caught that cold…!’
‘I should have fed him healthier food…!’
‘Even when he refused to dress after his bath, I should never have given in…!’

The regret was endless.
I felt as though I myself had killed my child.
It was me. All of it was my fault. My child died because of me!
I was suffocating beneath the relentless tide of despair, until Jeron saved me.
At first, I had no desire to take on the role of nursemaid. I never intended to.
But then.

“Could not the grief of losing a child be healed by the joy of raising one?”
“Then perhaps I should at least see the child’s face first… just once, and then decide.”
“Indeed.”

Those words shook my resolve.

‘Just one look. Only once, just this once.’

Upon arriving at Ludwig, Joanna carefully lifted Jeron into her arms.
He was small and light.
Just as when I held my own child.
Jeron’s biological mother was a widow from a noble house.
The already frail woman had descended to the Rural Estate for recuperation, leaving the child alone at Ludwig.
Waaaaaah!
As the child burst into tears, Joanna startled and gently patted his back. Shh, shh.
With each soothing pat, his cries gradually subsided.
The baby in her arms was warm.
That warmth was so intense that Joanna could not stop her tears from falling.
And so she became the nursemaid of Jeron Ludwig.

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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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