Chapter 15. A Sudden Invitation  

* * *

“Miss, have you heard about the Oltvea mansion?”

Jenna, who had gone to buy missing ingredients for dinner, spoke in an excited voice as soon as she returned, not even setting down her shopping basket.

“Huh? Oltvea mansion? The one on the northeastern hill of the capital?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“The one the Ash Merchant Guild acquired?”

“That’s right! Did you know about it too, Miss?”

Ael felt a pang of guilt as she recalled overhearing it on the day she went to the library. Although it was something she heard without having a chance to avoid it, it wasn’t something to be proud of, having eavesdropped on someone else’s conversation.

“But why? Is there something going on?”

“As you said, the Ash Merchant Guild acquired it and has finished renovating the old mansion! Today, several new ships arrived, and they were all sent from the Empire to decorate that mansion! They say the ships were filled with furniture from the Empire and even from the distant southern island nations of the continent. Only furniture! Other goods are said to arrive on new ships!”

At Jenna’s words, Ael’s busy hands paused. She knew well how enormous the Ash Merchant Guild’s sailing ships were. Yet, to fill several of those ships solely with furniture…

She suddenly recalled the items Kyle had left at the Viscount’s place two weeks ago. She had thought it was too much and felt guilty about it until now…

‘It really must have been nothing.’

She worried about what would happen if Kyle and Nisha were reprimanded for giving her so much, but it felt like a needless concern.

“It’s not just furniture. It’s a really large mansion. Rumor has it that they’re looking for staff to work there, and the salary they’re offering is so incredible that everyone wants to apply.”

“Oh, so that’s why…”

Ael had noticed some of the mansion’s staff secretly gathering and talking among themselves in recent days. They would quickly disappear whenever Ael, the Viscount couple, or Elise appeared.

It seemed they had also heard the rumors.

Ael looked at the excited Jenna.

“Do you want to go to that mansion?”

Jenna waved her hands in denial, jumping up.

“What are you talking about? I can’t even get a recommendation letter!”

Jenna had found this job shortly after coming up from the countryside. She became a maid in charge of kitchen duties after the previous staff suddenly left while she was doing odd jobs.

If Jenna were to leave now, the kitchen work would become difficult again, and the Viscountess would never write her a recommendation letter.

‘She works so hard…’

Even though she was suddenly given the responsibility, she worked diligently, and with her cheerful and bright personality, she was the only source of comfort for Ael in this house.

So Ael sincerely hoped Jenna could work in a better place. Of course, it would be harder for Ael if Jenna left, but she couldn’t ask Jenna to stay here forever.

The hope of those who come up from the countryside to become staff is to enter a better mansion and raise their value. Then, they save money, return to their hometown, buy a small house, and live peacefully after marriage.

Jenna was also a girl who came up with such hopes. However, without learning under a proper chef, she couldn’t secure a good contract elsewhere, even if she moved.

‘I taught her to read and write whenever I could…’

Ael taught Jenna reading and arithmetic whenever she had the chance. Staff who could do those things could earn much higher wages.

‘I wish I could write her a recommendation letter.’

Jenna, unaware of Ael’s regretful thoughts, continued talking as she organized the groceries.

“Still, I’m curious about the Oltvea mansion. It must be a splendid mansion filled with things from other countries, right? Since it’s owned by the Ash Merchant Guild, there’ll be plenty of goods, and parties will be held every day. There’ll be lots of drinks and foods I’ve never seen before.”

As Jenna spoke dreamily, a voice called from upstairs.

“I’ll go see who it is.”

Jenna wiped her hands and quickly went upstairs. Shortly after, she returned with an elegant and beautiful invitation in her hand.

“Why did you bring that down? Take it to Elise’s room.”

“No, it’s not that…”

Jenna handed it to Ael.

“This is an invitation for you, Miss.”

For a moment, Ael thought Jenna was joking. It was because no one would send her an invitation.

For the past few years, Ael hadn’t received any invitations except for obligatory ones sent to all nobles. Even in her debut year, she received an invitation from a woman in a similar situation she had befriended in the lounge, but as soon as Ael’s reputation became problematic, that invitation became her first and last.

“It’s true. Look here. Your name is written on it.”

Seeing Ael’s skeptical smile and reluctance to take it, Jenna insisted, showing the part with the recipient’s name to Ael.

“To Miss Ael…frieda… Leunim… Aradis. See, it’s your name, Miss!”

Jenna, reading the letters as Ael had taught her, shrugged her shoulders as if to say she wasn’t mistaken.

Only then did Ael take the invitation from Jenna. Indeed, the name written on the invitation was hers.

“Who sent this?”

Ael checked the sender with curiosity. Her expression soon stiffened.

“Why would she send this to me?”

“Why? Who is it from?”

Noticing Ael’s unusual expression, Jenna glanced at the sender’s part.

Then she realized why she hadn’t checked the sender’s name when she brought the invitation, even though she had quickly read Ael’s name.

The recipient’s name was written in the continental common language, but the sender’s name was in an ancient language.

Even though Jenna was ignorant of noble etiquette, she immediately understood.

That the sender of this invitation was deliberately disrespecting Ael.

Ael couldn’t not know either. If both had been written in the ancient language, it would have been different, but sending it in different languages clearly showed intent. Moreover, the sender was…

‘The daughter of Marquis Lennox, Riena Argyle Lennox.’

She was the woman competing with Elise over the Grand Duke.

Ael couldn’t not know her name.

Maya often mentioned it with resentment, and Elise had complained about it several times.

Such a person sent her an invitation.

And an invitation that clearly showed disdain.

Ael opened the envelope and took out the invitation. Inside, in what was written in the ancient language, was inviting her to a tea party.

“Miss, is this really the ancient language? It’s not just a drawing, right?”

Jenna, peeking from the side, frowned at the sight of the ancient language inside the invitation.

It was understandable. The ancient script inside the invitation was, to put it nicely, very archaic, and to put it bluntly, it prioritized beauty over legibility, barely recognizable as letters.

‘It’s a good thing I like the ancient language.’

When she was young, a low-paid governess hired for basic education loved the ancient language.

That person was delighted by Ael’s interest in the ancient language and taught her everything she knew.

Ael desperately learned the ancient language, even if only to read the old books in the house’s library.

Viscount Aradis had bought those books for show, and they were all such books.

Thanks to that, she could easily read even the old script that academy professors struggled with.

“What does it say? Is it really an invitation?”

“It is an invitation, but…”

The content wasn’t anything special. It was a typical invitation asking her to grace a small tea party in the Marquis’s garden to welcome the coming summer.

The only difference was that it mentioned sending a carriage from her family.

Ael took off her apron. This was an invitation that required consultation.

“I’ll be back after going upstairs for a bit.”

* * *

Ael stood in front of Elise’s room, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Elise’s indifferent response came, likely thinking it was her maid. Ael entered the room.

Unlike her old room on the fourth floor, Elise’s room had silk wallpaper and clean carpets.

Moreover, instead of the damp smell of wood, it was filled with the fresh scent of flowers cut and arranged in the morning.

“What is it, you?”

As Ael entered, Elise, who was sitting on a rocking chair on the balcony, turned her head and looked at her with a bewildered expression. It was understandable since Ael had never entered her room like this before.

Instead of answering, Ael held out the invitation she had received.