The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A Request for Employment

Between bites, she tried the ale she'd had them buy in a small cask, but at its distinctive sourness, with a faint moldy smell mixed in, she set the tankard down after a single sip. It wasn't that there was actually mold in it; it was probably the fermentation smell of the yeast, but her aversion came first regardless.

Even Rad, Cliff, Ed, and Cedric were drinking it without a flicker of concern, so the ale wasn't of poor quality; this was simply normal in this world.

By the sensibilities of Melfina, who had her past-life memories, she wondered whether it was all right for servants and a bodyguard knight to be drinking in the middle of the day, but in a world where the safety of water was not assured, drinking ale to stay hydrated was normal. Since it was fermented in wooden casks, its alcohol content was low, and because people drank it as a matter of course from childhood, they apparently never got drunk.

"Madam, shall I prepare some hot water?"

Marie spoke to her reservedly. Apparently it had been obvious that she thought it tasted bad.

"After the meal is fine. I'm just not used to ale, and it surprised me a little."

Ale was a drink widely enjoyed by commoners; nobles mainly drank tea or wine. And the wine often turned out to be terribly sour, though that was only because now that she remembered her past life, the quality seemed poor to her.

—Come to think of it, my previous life was an awfully luxurious environment.

Tap water that flowed in unlimited supply, drinkable straight from the faucet; food you didn't have to open to find out whether it had spoiled. Soft beds, and plenty of tools to stay cool in summer and warm in winter.

She felt nostalgic for all that, but wishing for it didn't mean there was any way back. She would simply have to adapt to this environment, take it in stride, and carry on.

"Um, Madam. You said you'd be looking for new servants here..."

When they had finished eating and relaxed a little, Rad asked hesitantly.

"Yes. I'll need a maid-of-all-work to clean and cook, and a male servant to look after the garden and the carriage."

If she were living alone, a small house would be enough, but to live in a lord's manor, even a relatively modest one, she needed servants to manage the house. She couldn't make Marie, her handmaiden, do a maid's work, and likewise she couldn't make Cedric, her bodyguard knight, do a male servant's work.

This was not a question of whether they could or could not. It was the employer's duty to honor the terms under which someone was hired, and the more specialized the work, the more pride the person took in their role.

If she commanded them firmly as their mistress, they probably wouldn't disobey. But that would mean disregarding their pride.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you hire us here?"

"We can handle not only driving the carriage but also caring for the horses, maintaining the garden, and standing gate duty!"

"Besides carrying loads, we can do most kinds of heavy work, and we can run messages and do simple roof and wall repairs, too. Leave it to us!"

They said it so eagerly that she found herself taken aback. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Cedric raise his brows and open his mouth, so she hurriedly clapped her hands.

"I'm delighted! But are you sure? Don't the three of you have homes or families in the ducal capital?"

"The three of us all came from the same part of the countryside, and we have no families in the ducal capital. We can move out very quickly."

Listening to them, she learned that porter work was plentiful only at this time of year in early spring, and that in winter in particular, when the snow got deep, they had to do many other grueling odd jobs, so they had been thinking of changing jobs for some time.

"But for second and third sons from farming families like us who came to the ducal capital from the countryside, there are very few jobs we can do."

Many people had moved from farming villages as they had. They came to the city only to be made to do harsh labor for low pay, and sometimes there was even abuse from their employers. Ed was only twelve and so held back from saying much, but he had apparently also been forced to do things that were not good.

"Madam is a good person, so if you'll hire us, we'll work hard!"

"Please!"

During the five days of travel she had not talked much with them out of restraint, so in truth she had interacted with them for only about half a day today. But it was clear enough that they were hard workers. They had offered to help of their own accord, and they took on whatever she asked without a sour face. Above all, someone who eats food while saying it's delicious turns out to be a surprisingly important factor. All three came across as simple and good-natured, and since servants were absolutely necessary, this offer might be a boat arriving at just the right time.

"Um, I came here as the lord, so I'll be moving around a lot and you'll have to work hard. Of course I won't make you do anything unreasonable and I'll make sure you get proper days off, but there may be busy times."

"That's fine, as long as we're not punched hard enough to break our teeth or doused with water and made to stand outside in the dead of winter."

"I'd never do that!"

From that single remark from Cliff, she could tell they had been through far more hardship than she'd imagined. Cedric looked as if he wanted to say something, but he seemed to judge that it was for her, the employer, to decide, and settled for watching how things went in silence.

"Madam, I also support hiring them."

"Marie?"

"They were dispatched as porters through the guild on request, so they have no ties to His Grace."

"Marie!"

At Cedric's sharp cry, Marie only cast him one cold glance and immediately looked back at Melfina.

"I have no right to say this, but I believe that you, having left the ducal manor, need allies who are yours alone, Madam."

She was surprised that Marie would say such a thing. And she thought it worth considering.

Whether or not they had ties to Alexis was not a big problem for her, but there would surely be times it felt suffocating. If they were to live together, it would be better to have people with no ulterior motives.

"Mm... then I'll ask you in return. I'll put the terms of the job in writing for you to check, and then we'll sign an employment contract."

"Thank you, Madam!"

"Thank you!"

"And please call me Melfina, not Madam. Marie too, and Cedric as well, if possible."

"Understood, Lady Melfina."

"We look forward to working with you, Lady Melfina!"

"I... find it difficult."

"You needn't force yourself."

Cedric was not Melfina's servant but belonged to the Oldrand Ducal Knights, so it was only natural that his resistance was even stronger than Marie's. Even if Melfina and Cedric were fine with it, if the wrong people heard, Cedric's position could be endangered.

"I'm so glad good people have come."

She said it from the bottom of her heart, and the three shrugged bashfully. Their gestures were so alike that bright laughter burst out of her.

Rad and the others said they would give up the rooms they were living in in the ducal capital and come back, and they left Enkar Village before evening. They would travel to the next village before nightfall and take lodgings there.

She asked them to make a few purchases on their return and handed over a generous amount in silver coins. She told them to keep the change toward their moving expenses, and they bowed deeply.

In this world, as a rule, when it got dark people ate dinner, spent a little time with their families, and went straight to sleep. Nobles and wealthy merchants could spend their nights in brightness with magic stone lamps, but candles, though cheaper, were not free either, and the overwhelming majority of commoners could not afford such luxury.

At the small desk and chair that had been carried into the bedroom, she opened a decorative book to use as a notebook.

Paper books were extremely expensive and a fortune in themselves, but book-shaped imitations, with elaborate bindings made to be displayed on a noble's shelf and blank pages inside, were comparatively cheap. Comparatively, but still quite expensive.

The notebook she had on hand had a thick cover with metal fittings and a lock. It was the kind she had chosen on purpose.

It felt a little too dark to write by, so she turned up the light of the magic stone lamp. Unlike an ordinary lamp or a candle, its even light was close to a battery-powered lantern from her previous life.

"I got to the village safely. The heroine appears in two years, and a famine will come within this year, so first I have to get a food production system in place."

So far she had written in this book each memory of her previous life as it came back to her. Since she also had Melfina's memories, her memories of the game were sixteen years old, but because she had recalled them so recently, she remembered the contents comparatively vividly.

She had recovered her memories of her previous life one week before the wedding. By then, a week had already passed since she had set out from the royal capital for the Oldrand ducal territory for the wedding.

At first she had worried she was losing her mind, but in the end, as she remembered, things had not gone well from the start with Alexis, who became her husband.

In the original game, Melfina would have moved straight to the townhouse in the royal capital, lived in luxury to fill her loneliness, and then, two years later, when the heroine who appeared in this world fell in love with Alexis, she would have stood in the heroine's way as the villainess.

No thank you. That was Melfina's honest feeling.

She had no wish to seek the love of Alexis, who had rejected her without making any effort to get to know his bride, and no intention of living a life of being mean to people and being condemned for it.

—Family who wouldn't love me, a husband I have no wish to love, I'm done with all of you.

If you're going to do as you please, then I'll do as I please too, and I'll make myself happy.