8 — Touring the Manor!

I went so far as to let loose a very out-of-character onslaught of pleading to make the maids let me eat with them. “But we do not have as much as you to eat, Madam...” Dahlia said, feeling ashamed, to which I responded with a huge smile, “Please don’t feel bad, I’m the one who asked for this.”

Onward to the servants’ dining room! I don’t mind if it’s earlier or later, so long as I’m not alone!

Now, I’ll tell you a little about the servants at the Fisalis house.

The butler, Rohtas, was at the top of the totem pole, along with the head maid, head gardener, and head cook. Below the head maid were the personal maids and the common housemaids that tended to the cleaning and laundry.

I was still unclear about this, but, since personal maids were always with their mistress, it was their job to make the beds in the private rooms. The housemaids were in charge of cleaning the rooms.

There were fifteen maids in total. The head maid—Dahlia—and Mimosa served me exclusively, and I believe Mr. Fisalis had six. Of those six, a group of three looked after Mr. Fisalis and his girlfriend, Calendula, in the cottage. The servants rotated every other day. The remaining seven were for when guests came by and for the children I guess we’d have (not via me, of course). When the maids weren’t working, they helped the housemaids with the cleaning and laundry.

It would be difficult for all of the servants to eat at once, so they were split into three groups to eat in alternating shifts. The shifts changed daily and were determined by Rohtas and Dahlia.

That’s what I heard from Dahlia.

Even though I didn’t eat what they would consider proper meals, Mr. Fisalis and Calendula did, so the servants’ meals had some pretty stellar ingredients. Things I’d never even seen at my old house. Like, they got luxury meals, too! Even the servants’ meals would wreck my digestion!

My soup was the same as what they served Mr. Fisalis (making food in large batches makes it tastier, right?) so, it was no surprise that it was outstanding. The same goes for the bread.

The salads, too: the tenderest bits might have been eaten beforehand, but what was left was nothing to complain about. And then today all of us would have scrambled eggs atop sliced bacon.

I’m really gonna enjoy eating this with the maids! Oh, this will be the best! The food will be even more delicious than it already is!

”Good morning, everyone. From now on, please treat me like one of your own. There’s no need to worry about me—please just do what you normally do.”

After I entered the servants’ quarters, I stepped into a spacious servants’ dining room beyond the kitchen and introduced myself before I sat down.

“Understood, Madam!” they all responded, standing at attention in a completely not normal way.

I guess that was to be expected, though. After all, I had just barged into their resting area right after I’d suddenly become their mistress.

“I’m sorry. I’m ruining your precious relaxation time. Please don’t pay any attention to me, and if you can, don’t call me ‘Madam.’”

Just as I began to feel rather awful, as if I had done something inexcusable, one of Mr. Fisalis’ personal maids spoke up and said in a rush, “It’s not like that at all! We’re glad to have you with us, Madam!”

“She’s right! We never thought in our wildest dreams that you would be here, so we’re just surprised, is all!”

“We’re just still tense from yesterday,” the other maids said.

When I looked at the maids, it didn’t seem as though any of them thought poorly of me, so I figured they were telling the truth.

They’re all so good-natured.

“I’m so glad to hear you say that, thank you. Let’s eat, then!”

They all nodded.

I wonder if I’ll be able to be more candid with them soon, I thought to myself.

I’d even want my kids to call me Vi, but that conversation’s never going to happen, is it?

The maids were all young, so they’d been candid with each other from the start. I knew how to hold a conversation, but they were all still older than me.

I finished breakfast and went back to my room. Nothing to do today, either.

The next thing on my schedule is lunch. How much free time can one person have? And here I finished the thank-you cards yesterday.

“Hmm, what should I do today?”

Am I gonna start lacework today!? I thought to myself, crossing my arms and assuming a tough-guy pose.

“Today I will be giving you a tour of the manor,” Dahlia said as she made my tea.

“Oh, I’m so glad! It’s such a wonderful, spacious manor!”

I’m going on a real house tour!? I’m sure my eyes were sparkling in excitement to peek around someone else’s house. I mean, it’s my house, too, but I have zero self-awareness!

This splendid manor was shaped like a backwards ‘c’ and was constructed of stone.

Dahlia went on and on about what style this was, and what style that was as she showed me every nook and cranny. This blah blah was built by the blah blah blah master, she explained, but her words were like a magic spell that rendered me utterly bored out of my mind, and I totally ignored everything she said.

I had carefully studied the history of the Fisalis family during my long engagement, but I didn’t study very much of the building’s history due to lack of interest.

Sorry, Dahlia.

The house certainly didn’t seem like it had been built whatever number of generations ago (let’s just say over one hundred years ago). It had been very well looked after. We looked after my old house, but it was still one step away from being a shack due to the lack of money.

Hmm, there’s no comparing them, even.

We were walking down a long corridor.

“The first floor is essentially a public area.”

“Oh, really?”

In the center of the manor was the reception hall, the main dining room, and the salon. They sprawled over the entire first floor. I’m sure in the days of a more lavish owner, there were many events and tea parties held here. Sorry for wasting all this space, I mentally apologized to the past owners.

The kitchen and servants’ dining room were in the east wing. The storage rooms and laundry area were in the west wing.

In the entrance area at the center of the house was a stairway that led up to the second floor. You really got the sense the second floor was private as you climbed it.

The second floor contained the master bedroom (my room), and next to it, Mr. Fisalis’ study. On the other side of that lay the room that Mr. Fisalis used to use. There were also a library and guest rooms for people staying over on the second floor. Rohtas’ room was across from the study.

Dahlia explained that the third floor transitioned into servants’ quarters as you walked to the end of the hallway heading toward the wing.

“How do you get to the third floor?”

The main stairway we had used to go to the second floor led to that floor only.

“At the end of each wing, there are stairs just for the servants to use. You would use those.”

“So you don’t use the stairs we just took from the entrance?”

“You are correct.”

“I see, I see.”

She explained everything in my house from the first to the third floor and everything in between as she led me around.

There was a garden surrounding the manor that was also shaped like a backwards ‘c.’ Descending the stairs that led there, the gardens spread out before my eyes.

There was a fountain in the courtyard which was surrounded by a promenade; nearby, there were flower beds filled with blossoms in full bloom, all vying for attention.

“The garden is huge!” I exclaimed from where I took in the view just outside the courtyard.

The seasonal flowers and trees were overflowing with blossoms, the grass was a lush green... the scene before me was a pleasure to take in.”Yes, it is the jewel of the family.”

Dahlia’s chest swelled in apparent pride.

“It doesn’t even seem like we’re in the middle of the capital. You really feel like the manor is away from it all and that it’s the only thing around.”

The garden, or rather, the manor grounds, were so vast that I couldn’t see the neighboring buildings. I assumed, of course, that the neighbors were also nobles with estates. There was no noise from traffic, either.

“Yes, our head gardener is quite skilled.”

They sure did do a good job! Or rather, I should say that all of the servants, not just the head gardener, are very professional!

The vast, gorgeous manor sparkled from every angle, a testament to the servants’ hard work.

“It has made me so happy, this lovely manor. But I can’t help but feel that someone in it is lonely...”

As I relaxed in my room after being shown around the manor, a sense of isolation descended over me. The house had been beautifully preserved without a single flaw anywhere, but it was so sparkling clean that it didn’t feel lived in. I mean, no one was even living on the second floor until now.

“Ah... is that how you feel, Madam?” Dahlia said, first looking slightly surprised, then casting her eyes downward with a frown.

“Oh! No, I, er, um, it’s very pretty and I can tell everyone worked very hard to keep it beautiful!” I responded in a panic over Dahlia’s sudden transformation.

I was just feeling a little lonely, is all! I swear I wasn’t criticizing anyone! I swear!

Dahlia explained as her eyes started to water, “It’s the truth, what we said about you being here. We haven’t had a mistress in a long time, we were lacking something beautiful in our lives. A house is only a home if someone is living in it, after all. Since the master, to say nothing of a mistress, has been living in the cottage these past few years, we’ve all been lonely,” Dahlia said, with a deep sigh. She was right, a masterless house loses its spirit.

I, at least, will be living here from now on, and although I wouldn’t call myself something as ridiculous as the mistress of the house, I hope I can bring some life to this place.

If Dahlia feels like that, I assume the other servants do, too. I won’t let Dahlia and the others look so glum!

“It’ll be alright! I’ll bring this estate back to life!”

“Oh, Madam!”

My firm declaration seemed to dispel the dark cloud over Dahlia. I held her gaze and said briefly, “I’m certain I’ll have a wonderful time helping everyone to clean up and decorate.”

She then bowed deeply and replied, confused, “...eh? Cleaning...? You’re going to... clean, Madam?”

Her earnest smile vanished and her eyes grew wide.

Huh? Did she not follow what I said?

“That’s right! The cleaning, laundry, and decorating!”

“Th-That’s unheard of...” stammered Dahlia, suddenly confused.

Huh, why? But I want to clean! Or better yet, I want to learn the skills these servants have. Is something wrong with that? I tilted my head in confusion.

“W-Well, alright. Here’s what you can do...” Dahlia finally said, abruptly closing her eyes with a look of resignation.