Chapter 14

 “My baby!”

 The baby was in the wet nurse’s arms. The wet nurse was a woman with bright brown hair and even darker chestnut eyes, with a kind face. She was said to be the daughter of some northern family and wife to another family, but Ella couldn’t remember. Only her personal circumstance of having lost her young daughter a few years ago and refusing all food and drink remained clear.

 “Have you been well?”

 The wet nurse passed the baby to Ella with a small smile. The baby had grown much while she hadn’t seen him. No, not too much. He hadn’t grown so much that she wouldn’t recognize him. True to Duke Durac’s seed, his arms and legs had grown unusually long for his age, but he was still an adorable baby.

 “Wash up before holding him.”

 The wet nurse carefully suggested. Being a woman from a jockey family meant she was nobility. A woman of status incomparable to a lowly servant girl. Ella turned around to look at her. The wet nurse was wearing a silk dress of better quality than her own. Apricot color with more crimson than skin tone. The sleeves covering her shoulders were moderately puffed. Though not luxurious, it was an attire that revealed rank and status. Ella bowed at the waist to her while holding the child.

 She was a woman who had never spoken informally to Ella since entering San Parvale and beginning to raise the child. Though it was said there was no need to show respect to someone of low birth even if she bore the Duke’s child, the woman didn’t follow that. Ella wondered if it was Larque’s instruction but couldn’t ask.

 “The baby hasn’t forgotten me, has he?”

 “How could he? Look now. He loves his mother this much. The young master remembers his mother.”

 The woman smiled gently. Ella couldn’t smile back. It was sorrowful. She feared being forgotten by her child. Though she was the birth mother, there might come a day when she couldn’t claim to be the birth mother. Ella was always afraid such a time would come. The child had been everything to her since his conception. But someday, she wouldn’t be everything to the child.

 However, people said that was a good outcome. They said it was right that it should be so for the child, that it was better for even Eselmund to be treated preciously as the Duke’s eldest son than to be despised together. Still…… I want to run away.

 “You don’t need to worry.”

 “Did you read the letter?”

 “If you mean His Highness’s letter, I haven’t read it. But Hermel told me the contents of the letter.”

 The wet nurse gently took Ella’s shoulder and guided her to the bathroom. The two headed toward the west wing where the servants resided, going down the stairs. When Ella entered the bathroom, the maids who were filling the tub with hot water turned around. They showed their respects. Of course, that respect was directed at the noble wet nurse.

 “I’ll look after the young master.”

 “Ah……”

 The wet nurse’s hands, swift as a water swallow, snatched away the child. Ella watched the child with disappointed eyes before looking at the steaming bathtub. The maids’ eyes were dry. Ella blinked and looked around the bathroom for a moment. Typically, the west side of the castle contained residences for nobles, barracks for knight-servants, corridors, banquet halls, and prayer rooms, while the east side had spaces for servants and maids, stable keepers, and the lord’s slaves.

 If categorized, a servant girl was a slave and thus distinguished even from the maids’ status. Eating, washing, and dressing should be done next to the shacks used by the maids. Next to the maids’ quarters, there were occasionally small spaces attached for slaves and servant girls. Of course, some castles didn’t have such spaces, but the knights of San Parvale generally cherished and loved their servant girls.

 Ella stayed there until Larque came looking for the shack. She washed there and slept there. Until Larque came to find her and carried her away, Ella’s place in the castle was at the very bottom.

 “Come here.”

 A maid who was pouring water into the bathtub said while wiping her forehead. Ella hesitantly looked around. In one corner of the bathroom, a woman as big as a sack was drawing water with one hand, avoiding the maids’ fierce gazes.

 Ella knew that woman. In her childhood, she wasn’t as gentle-spoken as Eselmund’s wet nurse. Like her rough appearance, her temperament was equally rough and fierce. Ella had grown up under that woman’s hands. The woman matched the temperature in the tub with a bucket at the maids’ orders. Ella quietly lowered her eyes. She was afraid to meet her gaze. It wasn’t that she was afraid of being beaten like in her childhood.

The woman could no longer slap her face. The hand that had slapped Ella was cut off by Larque. She looked down at the wet floor. She was someone who hated her. From a very young age until now. Before she became Ella’s maid with a severed hand and a gouged eye, it was probably for reasons similar to others.

 She must be cursing herself, lamenting her fate of now living as a maid to a lowly servant girl, all because that mere servant had better food and clothes than her.

 “Thank you.”

 Ella whispered to the woman. She pretended not to hear and continued with her share of work. Ella swallowed dryly. If it weren’t for Larque’s will, she might still be treated worse than livestock in the castle. And she would have lived as that woman’s punching bag. However……

 “Martha. Ella……”

 It was Butler Hermel’s voice. Ella looked at Hermel while covering her exposed shoulders and arms.

 “Ah. Here you are, Ella.”

 Hermel turned around and addressed her. The maid gave instructions to Victoire with her eyes. Victoire, who had been adjusting the water temperature, helped Ella put on her outer garment. Hermel cleared his throat.

 “You may turn around now, Hermel.”

 The maid said. Hermel turned to face Ella. His face was full of an embarrassed smile.

 “Is something the matter?”

 “His Highness has returned from his journey. It seems he wants to see you before the young master.”

 After being together all this time…… Hermel swallowed the last words and smiled. Having been together for three months, yet coming to find his son’s birth mother immediately after meeting the king. He thought it quite remarkable devotion.

 ***

 San Parvale. Duke Durac’s castle boasted a scale as massive as the royal palace of Kylaq. The tall spire to the east. The central castle where corridors occupied half the space. The battlements and magnificent towers. The fortress was a magnificent result born from a strategist’s mind. The castle that had been like a monster’s gleaming eyes even when Durac was called the great lord of the north. Ella thought of Duke Durac beyond the corridor. Though a duke, he was still a noble. A servant’s position that couldn’t stand equal to the royal family.

 But this was Durac. Durac was different. In fact, Durac was the hand of the northern kingdom of Adenor. Indeed, if one could overwhelm with family history alone, none in the kingdom could match Durac. When the royal family of Kylaq was just a tiny branch of the continent. Even when the founding king was merely a beggar of the old empire, Durac was the crouching beast of the north.

 The real power of the north. The one who raised some peasant woman worth less than mistletoe to become queen. The one who commanded the great iron fortress of the northern continent and dozens of cavalry houses. Perhaps Durac might become royal. Wouldn’t it be better to be a droplet flowing against the current than to be a fish swimming in the stagnant waters of the royal family?

 “Ella.”

 The old butler’s voice tapped her. She raised her head. A man appeared at the end of the long corridor. Half of the central castle was corridors. One had to pass through this corridor to move from the west wing to the east wing. She recalled taking small steps through this corridor in her childhood. The man was looking at her from the end of the corridor, just like in those days. His gray eyes were dark like an old engraving.

 “You called for me?”

 There was no answer. He moved back behind the corridor again. Ella followed him while biting her lips tightly. Up the stairs was space that the duke could use privately. Since the entire floor was the duke’s private space, her birthing room and his bedroom were adjacent. The place Larque arrived at was the duke’s private bathroom. Ella stared at his back for a moment before carefully calling out to him.

 “Master.”

 Servant girls had various ways of addressing their masters. My lord. Sir. Master. Your Highness. Your Grace…… Though there wasn’t a strict distinction, Ella often called him Master. On the battlefield he was ‘my lord or sir,’ but inside the castle he was ‘Master.’ That wouldn’t change even after bearing his child. Even if a child was born between them, Ella was still his servant girl.

 Ella glanced at the wet nurse who had been following him. The baby in her arms kept looking at Ella. When their eyes met, the child immediately began to whimper. When the baby showed signs of wanting to go to its birth mother by reaching out its arms, the wet nurse moved to hand the baby to Ella.

 “I shall take my leave now.”

 Despite the rigid atmosphere, the wet nurse’s expression was bright. Her worry-free face showed a comfortable smile as she disappeared outside. Larque’s gaze was fixed on his woman holding the child. As the knight commander who had led the garrison, he was returning from an audience with the king. Since he was in armor unsuitable for formal dress, Ella soon found her duty. However, she was holding the baby in her arms.

 “I need to bathe.”

 “I’m holding the baby in my arms.”