I Want To Be Your First – R19 - Chapter 78

Vieta was born in Pahar, as the eldest daughter of the Acyl family that lived in Pahar for four generations.

Under the brilliant southern sunshine, Vieta grew up to be braver and livelier than anyone else. Due to her poor circumstances, and adding her brothers and sisters that were in abundance, her family was like a battlefield every day, but none of those caused a bad effect on Vieta’s temper.

Before coming to work in the Count’s mansion, Vieta was an ordinary and kind girl that devoted herself to delivering milk and caring for her younger siblings every day. Since it was a small store that sold milk from seven cows, the only customers that she met were commoners like her.

Therefore, like other commoners, Vieta lived with the vague thought that nobles were existences that lived above the clouds.

While working as a maid, that idea didn’t change much. As the only nobleman and owner of the mansion, just from his handsome appearance, Count Janssel was different from ordinary people.

Adding to that, the fact that his every gesture was elegant and his speech was dignified, really cemented the stereotype that ‘nobles are really different’.

The guests that visited the mansion were mostly similar.

Sleek attire and beautifully groomed faces.

An unfeeling gaze that viewed servants as if they were weeds by the roadside.

Aristocrats that could wear lace gloves once and throw them away, a month’s worth of her wages was probably only enough to buy a pair, right?

Scary and awe-inspiring, she was jealous but her jealousy was pointless. Whether it was Vieta or the other servants, all of the aristocrats’ views were mostly similar.

Therefore, when the daughter of the Duke of Aegis, a noble amongst nobles, became the hostess of the mansion, it was inevitable that all the servants were engulfed in tension.

The servant’s unusually cold attitude towards Ariel stemmed from such animosity. In fact, even Vieta was afraid to face Ariel at first.

A noble lineage that even their Lord had to speak to with honorifics. Adding the fact that Ariel was blind, with the superstition that being in contact with a disabled person would cause them to be cursed, Ariel herself was a source of fear to the servants.

“Would you like some too, Vieta? This is very sweet.”

The woman who was the embodiment of fear presented a ripe, bright yellow mango to Vieta.

Vieta couldn’t tell whether she was sucking on the mango or using her face to eat the mango, as her white cheeks were completely stained with yellow mango juice. Vieta accepted the mango with a reluctant face.

“Oh gosh, my Lady. Your face is a mess. I should have cut them if I knew that this would happen.”

“Is that so? No wonder it feels sticky around my mouth. As the ends didn’t come out well, so I tore it and licked it…”

As Ariel continued to lick her lips, she tiptoed and stretched her hand out towards the mango tree.

Vieta mumbled to herself, “Does it taste that good?” and took out a handkerchief to wipe the corners of Ariel’s mouth for her. The way she remained obediently in place while her eyes darted around in embarrassment reminded Vieta of the youngest brother she left at home.

“It’s nice here, right? There’s no such thing in that mansion.”

“…It’s because most of the trees at the Count’s mansion are flowering trees.”

It has only been three days since she ran away, and the Count’s mansion has already become ‘that mansion’. Vieta looked up at the mansion where she was currently staying in with a bitter feeling.

This small and elegant mansion was extremely neat and luxurious, making it hard to believe that it was hurriedly found. Should it be said that Ariel’s preparation was thorough, or that the Young Duke’s response was very fast?

No… It’s possible that both were true.

Vieta, who followed the Madam half out of worry, the other half with a ‘whatever’ mindset. But after actually following through with it, her feelings were only of regret.

Ah… At that time.

‘Even if the Madam didn’t cry.’

“Vieta, what’s wrong?”

Sensing the purple ripples, Ariel carefully glanced at her maid’s mood. When she saw her gaze saying, ‘could it be that she’s in a bad mood,’ Vieta flinched and swallowed her saliva.

While the Madam seemed bright and lively, she was usually quick at detecting odd moods at times.

“It’s just, I still can’t believe it. That you’re really going to leave the mansion…”

Ten days ago, with swollen eyes, the Madam held Vieta’s hand tightly, saying, “I want to send a letter to the Young Duke, so please write it for me.”

Vieta accepted her request without hesitation and wrote a letter… The contents of which were quite a sight.

[I want to get a divorce from the Count. I’d like to ask for your help in arranging a place to stay temporarily and with the settlement, can you help me?]

It was actually to get a divorce…

How was she supposed to write such a letter with her own hands? Vieta was terrified and couldn’t continue writing. When she refused, Ariel cried, saying, “It can’t be helped, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Even when Vieta tried to ask for details on what happened that led to this so that she could console her, Ariel kept crying, and curled up like a mole on the floor.

“How am I going to leave when I can’t even write a letter on my own?”

While feeling like she was being driven into the dead end, Vieta hugged Ariel’s back tightly.

“I– Is that so, Madam. If it is alright with you, I’ll help you!”

At Vieta’s resolute scream, Ariel stared at her maid with tears and snot running down her face.

It was a scene that could be mistaken by others as the main characters of a tragic love story. Now that she was recalling about it, while it was a memory embarrassing enough for her to kick her blankets, she had no other choice in order to console the Madam.

“I thought you were just asking for a favour, but I didn’t expect the Young Duke to come over personally like this.”

“Right. I didn’t expect that Gwen would come over either. I was so surprised.”

Despite her intention of only asking for her help, Gwen personally came down to the South in order to help Ariel to run away.

When the Young Duke that was pale from seasickness due to riding a speedboat over got the news of her intending to divorce, the gloomy expression was instantly replaced with a bright smile. Afterwards, she started looking for the fastest ship in order to return to the North together.

“Madam. Are you really going back to the North?”

Ariel hummed and stayed silent for a moment before laughing unnaturally.

“It’s because I don’t have to remain in Pahar anymore after the divorce. First of all, we have to go back to the Duke’s castle.”

“You came here leaving only a note asking for a divorce without a reason. Will the Count quietly divorce you?”

“…Maybe. The Count would gladly accept it.”

Vieta let out a sigh and handed the soft mango over to Ariel again. Facing her slightly brightened face, Vieta asked in a dissuading tone.

“The reason for divorcing… Are you really not going to tell me?”

Ariel, who had been tearing up her mango, quickly turned her gaze away. At her attitude of not wanting to talk about it, Vieta lifted the white flag quietly.

“Alright, I’ll stop asking you from now on. You know that we’re leaving in three days, right?

“Yes. You said before that it’s a ship from Rach to Graylond, right?”

“Yes. Since there will be servants of the Ducal family that will meet you at Graylond, I’ll just return to the South from there.”

Heok, Ariel looked at Vieta with widened eyes.

“Uh, what? Vieta, you can’t go…”

“Although I do want to continue serving Madam, my hometown and family are here, and Madam’s family will be in the castle…”

Tuuk!

The mango that fell rolled on the grass. When Vieta looked upwards, the face of the Madam crying, with her forehead raised came into sight.

Ariel seemed to be trying to suppress her feelings desperately, from the way her mouth was closed tightly while her chest was rising and falling rapidly. Vieta continued speaking while waving her hands flusteredly.

“If, if you need me, if I can be of help, I would be happy to follow!”

“No… that’s right. I can’t force you. Just as Vieta had said, you don’t even have family in the North and it’s an unfamiliar place for you… It is cold and bleak.”

“No, that’s…!”

“It’s really hard to live in a foreign land… I felt sorry when I got married, so I left all of the maids behind. I’m sorry for being selfish…”

Vieta’s conscience stung at the sight of her apologising twice. Why did she feel like she was trash, when she had only spoken ordinarily? Vieta waved her hands hurriedly and shouted hastily.

“I– I’m really fine. I like the Madam the most! And anyways, if I could save my weekly salary and get married, anywhere–”

“Weekly salary! Don’t worry about that!”

In a blink of an eye, Ariel sat on the grass. After pulling Vieta to sit beside her, she fumbled with her hands and started to line several small stones up on the grass, saying, “Look at this.”

“Here, look. This is the North. The territory of Aegis is made up of 9 provinces. There are 31 sub provinces in the 9 provinces.”

“31 sub provinces… That’s a lot. I heard that in the South, there are only 16 in total.”

“It’s because the North has vast land, but there isn’t much usable land. In any case…”

Ariel roughly laid out nine stones and tapped the two easternmost stones.

“Here, Noche and Bolshik. As these two provinces are my lands, Vieta will be given a generous amount for her weekly salary! If you’re willing, I can give your dowry on your behalf.”

Noche and Bolshik are her lands…

Vieta was prepared to laugh, and raised her head to look at Ariel. But at the sight of her serious face, Vieta was confused whether to smile or not. Wasn’t it a joke?

“A–all of the northeastern land belongs to the Madam? If it’s Noche, isn’t that the province where the central port of Graylond, where we’re headed to, is located?”

“Yes.”

“How, no, why? How? It’s the Madam’s land? It’s definitely a very important piece of land, even in the Duchy…”

“My father handed it to me with the dowry when I got married. He told me to take this useless land because sooner or later, a new port will be built there.”

“There are barely any industries that make money, but it has a high real estate value,” added Ariel with a laugh.

Vieta opened her mouth and let out a despondent breath.

No matter how much Vieta was in the dark about the situation, she was aware of Noche’s value. The place where the central port was located, was where all trade ships and warships in the North were gathered at. Currently, the place with equivalent value to the port of Rach in the South was none other than Graylond in Noche.

“…Madam, gosh. It seems that you’re receiving a lot of love from your family.”

Ariel tilted her head like she was asking what she meant. Discouraged from explaining, Vieta shook her hand, saying, “It’s nothing.”

Soon after, she suddenly realised why the Duke had handed Noche and Bolsik to his eldest daughter.

From Ariel’s words, even if the Duke was always mean to her, he still loved his daughter quite a lot.

He probably conferred her as the Young Lord so that she could conveniently go back and forth between the South and the North whenever she wanted. That’s because if she was the owner of Graylond, she wouldn’t need identification, no matter which ship she boarded.

It was indeed a gift that was like the Duke of Aegis. If he was going to give it to her, he should have explained it amiably, but why was he so blunt? The more she looked at it, the more unique the relationship between the father and daughter was.