The inside of the detached residence was a disaster, but the outside wasn’t any better.
If she had to clean everything by herself, even several months wouldn’t be enough.
But Grace wasn’t an ordinary maid.
She was a max-level maid with ten lifetimes of experience.
When this was the kind of work she woke up to every day, it was only natural that it had become second nature.
Even while looking at the filthy hallway, Grace confidently got to work.
She swept away the dust, wiped everything down, carried useless junk outside, and tackled the mess one step at a time.
“Cough, cough!”
Every time she touched something, clouds of dust filled the air until she was covered from head to toe, but she kept moving.
She even scrubbed away the muddy footprints stained across the hallway floor.
After working for several hours, the hallway finally gleamed.
“Perfect.”
Straightening her aching back, Grace grinned in satisfaction.
When she looked outside, the sun was already beginning to set, so she went to wash up and brush the dust off herself.
The problem was that no matter how long she waited, the maid responsible for delivering meals never came.
She had been waiting for over thirty minutes.
Nothing.
“Hah… I expected this, but it still sucks.”
Among nobles, the law of the jungle ruled everything.
Even among the servants, Rivanu might still carry the Foret name, but everyone already saw him as someone at the very bottom.
They knew better than anyone that there would be no consequences for neglecting him.
“No wonder he threw them away without a second thought after being treated like this.”
Years later, Rivanu had left House Foret without the slightest trace of regret, refusing to have anything more to do with them.
Grace couldn’t help understanding why.
Muttering to herself, she realized waiting any longer was pointless and headed to the kitchen herself.
The kitchen was quite a distance from the detached residence.
By the time she hurried over, they were already cleaning up, as meal service had nearly finished.
“Hello!”
Grace greeted them cheerfully.
“Who are you?”
Ignoring the maids and servants cleaning up, she walked straight to the head chef.
The chef looked at her curiously.
“I’m a new maid.”
“Oh? Then what brings you to the kitchen?”
“The meal for the person I serve hasn’t arrived yet.”
“That can’t be right. Which residence?”
“The western detached residence!”
“…That’s…”
The chef paused, trying to remember.
Then his expression changed when he realized it was where Rivanu lived.
“It’s my first day today.”
Grace smiled brightly as though she knew nothing.
The chef nodded in understanding.
Looking at her with pity, he packed up some of the leftover food.
“Thank you. But… are meals not delivered to the detached residence?”
“Well… they are.”
“But no one came.”
“So you really don’t know?”
“Huh? What am I supposed to know?”
“Well… that’s where Young Master Rivanu lives.”
The chef spoke as though it explained everything.
Since Rivanu lived there, no one bothered delivering the meals.
“They’re technically assigned there, but no one actually brings them. Nobody cares whether he gets them or not, and the previous maids never seemed interested either. You’re the first one who’s come here yourself.”
This really was the worst.
Even the way everyone stared at Grace made her seem like some kind of oddity.
Even so, she kept smiling and thanked the chef sincerely.
Just as she was about to leave with the food, the chef spoke again.
“You’d better quit while you can.”
“Huh?”
“For some reason, they’ve kept assigning maids there lately, but none of them has lasted longer than a month. And afterward… every one of them ended up quitting for one reason or another.”
“…They quit?”
“That’s right. You seem like a bright, hardworking girl, so I’m giving you some advice.”
Before he even finished speaking, another maid hurried over and practically shoved Grace out of the kitchen.
As Grace stumbled outside, the maid shouted after her.
“Don’t ever come into the kitchen again!”
“Huh?”
“You’ll spread that skin disease! Stay away!”
“N-No…”
Grace tried to explain something, but the maid merely brushed her hands together as though shaking off something filthy and told her to leave.
Grace had been about to say she’d come pick up the meals herself again if they weren’t delivered next time.
Now it looked like she’d simply be thrown out again.
Standing there with the basket in her hands, Grace let out a helpless laugh.
She had known things were terrible from the moment she entered the detached residence.
But she had never imagined they were this bad.
Serving Rivanu might actually be harder than serving any master she’d ever had.
At least palace politics and behind-the-scenes scheming had rules.
This was simply being ostracized by every servant in the enormous ducal estate.
For the first time, she could understand why the previous maid had even offered extra money just to escape this assignment.
***
In any case, she had managed to get food.
She also stopped by the physician’s office and picked up Rivanu’s medicine before returning.
Since the physician was assigned to Rivanu, getting the medicine wasn’t difficult.
Though it didn’t seem like he cared much about Rivanu’s condition beyond handing over the medicine.
“Lord Rivanu! I’m back!”
“Cough, cough.”
Grace entered with a bright smile.
Wrapped tightly in a thin blanket, Rivanu was coughing.
“Are you cold?”
The moment she asked, Rivanu quickly clamped his mouth shut as if he’d never coughed at all and looked at her warily.
“Should I light the fireplace?”
“…The fireplace?”
One of Rivanu’s eyebrows twitched.
Even at a glance, it was obvious it hadn’t been used in a long time.
Dust covered every inch of it.
Touching it would probably send dust flying everywhere.
“I guess I’ll have to clean it first.”
Grace laughed awkwardly.
She would probably have to ask Rivanu to leave the room for a while if she wanted to clean both the fireplace and the chimney.
“Clean it?”
“More importantly, please eat this first.”
“…What is it?”
“What else? Dinner and your medicine.”
“…Dinner came?”
“Of course!”
Grace held out the basket.
Since it was made from leftovers, it only contained some nicely baked bread and a simple fruit juice.
Even so, Rivanu’s eyes widened.
It was only bread.
The fact that he looked this surprised showed how poorly he’d been eating.
Just what had he been living on all this time?
Grace was the one who felt shocked.
“Should I put it on the table? Or would you rather eat there?”
“…I’ll eat here.”
Rivanu hesitated to move his legs, so Grace nodded and quickly arranged everything on the bed.
Though it had cooled slightly, the bread was still faintly warm as it tore apart.
Gulp.
Grace clearly heard him swallow.
Suppressing a smile, she poured the juice into a cup and handed it to him first.
It was freshly blended fruit juice.
After one sip, Rivanu seemed to like the taste.
He gulped it down before quickly tearing into the bread.
He must have been starving.
Crunch.
Gulp.
He ate with such desperation that no one would ever guess he was the son of a duke.
“Urgh… cough!”
He choked while eating, and Grace quickly patted his back.
Even then, he kept stuffing bread into his mouth.
“Young Master, no one’s going to take it away. Please slow down.”
That was when it happened.
Rivanu gagged.
A moment later, he threw everything back up.
“…Mm… S-Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ll clean it up.”
“…I wasn’t trying to eat that fast, but…”
Seeing Rivanu looking so lost made Grace’s heart ache.
It wasn’t that he lacked table manners.
It was simply that it had been so long since he’d eaten real food that he’d lost all self-control.
The moment something finally reached his stomach, his body rejected it.
He must have gone far too long on an empty stomach.
Watching him like this was heartbreaking.
Grace silently resolved that, at the very least, she would make sure he always had proper meals.
****
After cleaning everything up, Grace even gave Rivanu the portion she had brought for herself.
Of course, she told him it was simply extra.
Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have accepted it.
“I’m glad there was some left over. Take your time.”
Thankfully, he ate much more slowly this time.
Nothing like before happened again.
When he finished eating, Rivanu seemed a little embarrassed.
Holding the tray tightly, his eyes darted around awkwardly.
His appearance might frighten most people, but the way he acted was unexpectedly adorable.
Grace couldn’t help smiling.
“Here, let me take that.”
“…Okay.”
“And here’s your medicine.”
“Okay.”
Since it was medicine he took every day, he accepted it far more naturally than the food, swallowing it down without hesitation.
Medicine couldn’t possibly taste good.
Yet his expression remained perfectly calm.
“And this too.”
Grace reached into her pocket and popped a small hard candy into his mouth.
It wasn’t made from the expensive sugar nobles enjoyed.
It was just a cheap candy made from hardened syrup.
Still, it would be sweet enough to take away the bitterness of the medicine.
Something suddenly rolling into his mouth startled Rivanu, making him jerk his head back.
But as the sweetness spread across his tongue, he froze.
Then he simply stared blankly at Grace.
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