Chapter 60
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Roan's voice was not the least bit regretful as he delivered a taunt.
The Count of Fabron was an old nobleman with vast estates of farmland and mines. There was no need to calculate who would benefit more from selling a mere woman.
But such math didn't work for Roan.
To him, she was not "just" a woman, and probably not worth much more than that.
Because value didn’t mean what other people think it meant.
But he wasn't going to be kind enough to teach Marcel what it meant.
"Instead, if I get a chance, I'll tell her that she had a 'customer' who offered a lot of money to buy her. I’m sure she’ll be very happy."
Having given the dejected man one last dose of despair, Roan left the parlor with a flourish.
Left alone, Marcel shook his head helplessly, like a gambler who has lost his entire fortune on a losing hand of cards.
***
The carriage ride from the capital to Blois took three days.
Most of the servants remained in the capital's mansions, so there were not many people traveling.
Roan and the butler. A servant and coachman. And Delnia.
And one more unexpected addition.
"I think we're in Blois now."
Margaret squealed excitedly, her nose pressed against the carriage window. Her round, freckled cheeks were flushed with excitement.
Roan didn't know exactly what had prompted Margaret to accompany him, but he could at least guess that it was Delnia.
So Delnia, who had been forced to carry her discomfort with her for the entire journey, finally arrived at the new residence and took advantage of the bustle of unloading luggage to ask Margaret in a voice barely audible to her.
"Margaret, have you gotten yourself into any trouble by coming to Blois?"
If she did, she would do whatever it took to get her back to the capital.
But Margaret shrugged her shoulders lightly, seemingly oblivious to Delnia's distress.
"No, not at all. Minette wasn't my hometown anyway, and besides, I got a big raise."
Born on a farm in the middle of nowhere, Margaret came to the capital at a young age, as many poor daughters did, to earn money.
Her familiarity with crops and ingredients, as well as her dexterity with her hands, helped her land a job at the Barthez mansion, where everyone wanted to work, but no matter how well they treated their servants, there was a limit to how much a new maid could be paid.
So she couldn't turn down this opportunity. If she could bring home more money, her younger siblings would no longer have to help on the farm and could attend school.
Even if it wasn't Margaret's ability to do that, but someone was needed to take care of Delnia.
In the broader scheme of things, though, it meant that the Colonel trusted her enough to let her stay with the woman he cared about so much, which was a skill if ever there was one.
It was rewarding to be recognized at work. If that's what the Colonel wanted her to do, to take care of Delnia, she wanted to do it better than anyone else.
"Plus, I've never been to the beach before. That's part of what made me look forward to living here."
But as Margaret looked around, a faint hint of disappointment flickered across her face.
"Well, it's not quite what I had in mind..................."
Delnia couldn't help but agree. Colonel Barthez's official residence looked nothing like she had vaguely imagined.
The two-story mansion, with its dull ash-colored exterior walls and greenish-gray roof, gave the impression of being old and boring, but in a way, it was all the more military and austere for it, so there was nothing wrong with that.
The problem was the surroundings.
It was the official residence of a naval officer, and surprisingly, all you could see was trees and grass. Not the ocean.
Only the salty smell of the ocean carried on the breeze was a bare indication that there was an ocean somewhere. At first glance, it was hard to tell if this was the ocean or the mountains.
"Oh, finally!"
Just then, a shrieking cheer erupted from the direction of the mansion.
Delnia and Margaret's heads whipped around. A woman in a maid's uniform was running out, arms wide open in glee.
"Milan, welcome home."
"It's been a long time, Leticia."
"Really, even for you, I've missed you so much after being away for so long, my God."
The woman called Leticia shared a somewhat over-the-top hug with the butler. Her chubby arms, sleeves haphazardly rolled up, patted the butler on the back.
Delnia and Margaret, standing at a distance behind them, exchanged a wordless glance. The intimacy of the Barthez mansion was unaccustomed to.
"And the Colonel?"
"He left earlier, stopping by the Admiralty headquarters."
"Ugh, he's such a workaholic."
Leticia sighed heavily, cupping her cheek with one hand. Then her eyes widened as she spotted Delnia and Margaret standing on the side like a pack of luggage.
"Oh my, I don't recognize these faces, Milan, please introduce them."
"Uh, sure. Let's say hello."
Leticia's momentum carried Milan, who gestured for the girls to come closer. Delnia and Margaret moved to stand beside him.
"This is the head maid."
"Oh, no, not the head maid. Just Leticia."
Leticia clapped her hands and laughed heartily.
She was a very healthy-looking woman with light brown hair reminiscent of a wheat field about to be harvested and lightly tanned skin. She had a warm, welcoming vibe that made people feel like they could relax around her.
"Say hello. This is Margaret, the maid who’ll be staying with us from now on."
"Hello. Please take care of me.”
"Welcome, Margaret."
Letitia greeted Margaret with a bright smile, then looked at Delnia.
"So this is her?"
Leticia seemed to already know who she was.
Delnia ducked her head, seemingly unconcerned, though she had a vague idea of what was coming.
"I'm Delnia."
Leticia's gaze had somehow softened toward her, though whatever it was about her, it couldn't have been good.
"Well. What a beautiful name. No wonder the Colonel asked for her from the Emperor."
Even Leticia managed to sound admiring. The favorable attitude was unexpected, but the vagueness of the explanation certainly seemed problematic.
Delnia half-froze, unsure of how to react.
"Look at my mind. I should be showing you around the mansion, not standing here."
Leticia clapped her hands, and before they knew it, she had grabbed Margaret and Delnia by the waist and was pulling them toward her.
"Milan, I'll take these two with me!"
Milan shrugged his shoulders lightly, as if there was no way he could argue with that, and turned toward the servants carrying the luggage.
Delnia and Margaret, swept along by the enthusiastic head maid, entered the mansion side by side.
Inside, the mansion was as neat and uncluttered as the impression from the outside. It was smaller than the Barthez mansion in the capital, and as such, it didn't seem to have many occupants.
Instead, the faces of the people who came and went and greeted Leticia were all bright and cheerful, in many ways the opposite of the mansion in the capital.
"Uh, Leticia, are you from here?"
Margaret, who had been busily moving her eyes, was the first to muster up the courage to ask, and was immediately met with a cheerful reply.
"Yes. I have never left Blois in my life, and so is everyone who works here."
"I see. I've never been to a beach before."
"Oh, my God, I'm going to have to show you what the ocean has to offer. Tomorrow we're going to take a walk around town. You'll want to stay in Blois forever."
Leticia's enthusiasm and pride in her hometown was palpable.
"But first, I think we should take a look at your room."
Leticia quickly ascended the stairs and entered a winding second-floor hallway. Identical doors lined the hallway like soldiers in formation.
Pushing one of them open, Leticia looked back at Delnia.
"This is Delnia's room."
"Wow! You can see the ocean from the second floor? I thought we were in the middle of a mountain!”
The exclamation came from Delnia's side. Margaret's attention was drawn to the large window out front.
Unlike the first floor, which was surrounded by trees, the second floor windows overlooked the harbor and the ocean.
"What did they say, security or something, that you can't be in plain sight? I thought they were afraid of the high places, hiding in the mountains with such a beautiful ocean right in front of them."
"Ah, so that's why we couldn't see the sea."
"Funny thing is, the branches around the window would be cut down immediately even if they grew a little. I don't know what to make of the navy officers. They’re so fickle, they would make a young lady blush."
Leticia shook her head, but then smiled broadly again.
"But at least we have an unobstructed view of the ocean from the second floor. I don't think there's a better room in the residence for the view."
She wasn't exaggerating. The view out the window of the cool blue ocean and the boats bobbing on the water was picturesque.
"Besides..................."
***
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