Why Are You So Obsessed With Rejecting Affection? - Chapter 40

Before, I let Franc pass this time, but looking back at it, I am still angry and thought she should be punished. She must have been really scared.

I felt a little uncomfortable as I saw her almost crying face. No, how on earth did you think of talking behind my back!

‘Are you jealous of me?’

I am only six years old, but in fact, Franc also seemed to have just grown up.

As I had expected, there was a good chance she’s jealous of an orphan who had her life turned around.

“The ribbon was just a mistake. That’s not what I’m trying to say.”

“Then, then why… .”

I actually needed another personal maid….

Franc’s eyes flashed as she listened to me. Obviously, she smelled an opportunity.

These employees were good at picking up their intentions from the boss’ words.

“I liked that you made a mistake and came to talk to me right away. I like honest people.”

“Are you really, really making me a personal maid?”

“Hmm. I want to….”

“Thank you! Thank you very much!”

From a maid in the laundry room who does difficult chores to becoming a personal maid of the estate owner’s family is a kind of rise in status.

There is always a hierarchy amongst the employees of the mansion.

Like Nina, who always keeps herself clean, there was no need for her to do any wet and dirty chores.

Sometimes, she can bring snacks for the lady, help with meals, make friends, and so on, and she doesn’t have to take on the hard work.

Nina said she was able to become my maid as she was like Lucy’s immediate successor.

So, according to the rules, Franc, a maid in the laundry room, couldn’t be my personal maid.

‘It will feel like a reversal in her life.’

If you do manage to get promoted from a maid in the laundry room, you won’t even be able to become a mid ranking maid or a personal maid.

“Young lady, are you saying that she is going to be a personal maid like me?”

Nina, startled, asked with a frown. She had bad feelings about Franc so of course, she wouldn’t like it.

Surprised and afraid that I would change my decision with Nina’s hateful remark reaction, Franc shot her a spiteful look.

“Yes, an honest and sincere person like Franc would suit me well!”

I shouted with a bright smile.

It wasn’t too strange to have two direct maids working under someone like the Grand Princess. Of course, the transfer of their assigned work would be quick after asking Lucy about it.

“Wow! Thank you, lady!”

As soon as Franc realized that her treatment had been confirmed, she stomped her feet with a big smile. She didn’t notice she’s already in the palm of my hand.

***

Regardless of the concerns of Lucy and Nina, Franc became my personal maid.

It was the first time that I said I wanted to have a specific person next to me, so I got permission right away.

While Nina went to bed, Franc was drying and finely combing my wet hair.

“Please tell me if the brushing hurts.”

Franc said in a polite voice.

“Hmm…. Don’t pull too much.”

Usually, I would be generous to a child like her ‘It’s okay!’, but I didn’t intend to take advantage of Franc’s convenience.

Franc didn’t really learn how to serve so directly, so she’s more uncomfortable than Nina, who is able to work smoothly like flowing water.

I kept looking at the mirror to see if she realized it.

I love the current situation so much, and I am the only one who can overturn it.

After Franc became a personal maid, she became the hot topic in the mansion.

Her status changed from a maid in the laundry room to a maid directly under the Grand Princess, and that she had caught my attention because of her mistake.

Thanks to that, everyone was celebrating Franc’s luck and thinking it was great, while at the same time, being jealous.

Maybe even more than what she had felt against me.

‘I was an outsider of the mansion, I was young, and I was already a princess.’

However, Franc was a fellow in a similar situation with everyone until only yesterday, but like a fairy tale, she climbed the ladder of the mansion’s social classes in an instant.

‘She’s a better target for people in the mansion to empathize with.’

People who were jealous of me would turn their jealousy towards Franc instead.

And knowing that I could be their hope, they would try to look good for me somehow.

The evidence was the people hanging around nearby during my walk this evening.

I could pick you up as a personal maid, so if I ask for the moon, you’re going to climb the tree right away.

(T/N: Ask for the moon means asking someone to do something that is very difficult or impossible to get. The second line ‘going to climb the tree right away’ means that the maids wanting to be Shuelina’s direct maid would do anything as long as she asked for it, even if it is the ‘moon’.)

“There is something.”

“Yes. Tell me, lady!”

Franc replied immediately when she first talked to me, who was only making a mildly concerned expression.

It’s no big deal, though she does seem a little nervous.

Franc soon made a sound like a lightning bolt.

“I heard something a little sad. Franc gossiped about me….”

“Yes?”

As I looked at her with sad eyes while muttering, Franc was surprised and her eyes opened widely.

“No, absolutely not, lady! Who had set that up?!”

She immediately shook her hands and denied it.

If it wasn’t for Nina telling me, her face really looked like she was experiencing something unfair, and that she thought it was only a misunderstanding.

“Is it really not? I heard it from someone I trust… .”

“Ha…… Perhaps, the professor….”

Franc bit her lips and bowed her head.

Apparently, she was mainly gossiping about me to Teacher Rima. And as soon as I said I heard it from someone I trust, she said a specific person.

“Really, that’s not really what I was trying to do… .”

“Are you saying that Franc is innocent? Should we ask at the gathering hall?”

“I’m, I’m sorry, my lady. I will stop saying crazy things about you….”

Damaging the owner’s valuables is a very valid reason to be expelled from the Grand Duke’s estate, furthermore, reemployment is impossible as she was caught talking about it behind her master’s back.

Moreover, since she cursed me, the Grand Princess, and if it reaches the Grand Duke’s ears, she will have to suffer even more severe punishment.

Franc, who was pushed to the verge of dying after facing a reversal in life, fell on the floor crying.

“I have sinned enough to die!”

“I was really sad. How can Franc and the teacher do that… .”

“Ah, young lady… … .!”

“Do you hate me, Franc?”

I looked at Franc with sad eyes.

Then, Franc’s eyes became complicated. I felt uncomfortable because she is jealous of a six-year-old kid like me.

“I tried to be really good to you Franc. However, I can’t have someone as my personal maid who hates me.”

“No, no!”

When it occurred to her that her position as my personal maid might be taken away, Franc anxiously screamed and rubbed her hands in a begging motion.

She didn’t do chores, was promised a salary equal to several times her previous salary, and was assigned a comfortable personal maid’s room next to mine.

She seemed to be devastated when she thought that she hadn’t fully enjoyed these things after only a few days.

“That, that… me disliking the lady! It is not like that! The professor kept talking to me, and I confessed some of the things inside my upset heart… .!”

“Teacher tricked Franc?”

This part will not be a lie. Obviously, a low ranking maid would not be able to go up to Teacher Rima and tell her all the gossip about me for no reason.

“Then Teacher Rima does not like me….”

I sighed and muttered. It wasn’t because I didn’t know.

Franc’s heart, which went back and forth between heaven and hell, is now more steady than ever.

In this case, if I gave her something to bite, she would certainly drop all her anger.

“Yes, it is! It’s really ridiculous to talk about a student like the young lady!”

“….”

She really went around sneakily talking about the young lady!”

So, this was what Franc said.

She said that whenever the maid in charge went to Teacher Rima’s room, they would gossip about me.

Ambiguous stories that can sound good if you look at them in a good way and bad if you look at them in a bad way.

And when someone interpreted it in a slightly negative way, she started approaching those who showed interest.

They built friendships by introducing other people with grievances.

‘If it wasn’t for Franc, it would have been difficult to find out who all those people were.’

The reason they hated me was, after all, jealousy.

So, when you offer a reward that’s big enough to overcome that jealousy, Franc quickly switched sides like this.

Anyway, if Franc hadn’t made a mistake, and Nina hadn’t been lucky, I almost would have had no idea what was going on inside the mansion.

‘Anyway, it really was intentional that the Teacher was gathering people.’

It was obvious she was also aiming at me.

“Can you do what I tell you?”

“Please tell me what to do! I will do as you directed!”

At this point, I decided to give Franc a rope.

Franc is a disgrace, but she will be used as my hidden card anyway.

The attack hand chosen by the Teacher eventually became my own chosen method of attack.

“As you say, is Teacher Rima a really, really bad person? You said she’s doing it on purpose.”

“Of course!”

“Then…… can you do this when Ms. Rima approaches?”

I explained my plan to Franc. Then Franc’s mouth gradually opened up.

She was looking at me in shock as if she was hearing something crazy while muttering, ‘Are you really a six-year-old kid…?’

When I coughed deliberately, Franc realized she had rudely stared at the Grand Princess subconsciously.

“If I just do this, you’ll really keep me as your direct maid……?”

“Well, although Franc cursed me….”

“I didn’t curse! I just said I was upset!”

“Franc, if you want to continue working as a maid, you should stop talking about the estate owners.”

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Okay, it’s Franc’s fault, but I’ll acknowledge your achievements for your sake.”

Franc’s complexion brightened up at my words. I smiled happily, gently flipping my hair.

“Then brush it again now.”

“Yes!”

Okay, this much will make Teacher Rima unable to avoid it, right? She’ll fall for her own traps.

*** 

The Grand Duke stopped by my room when I finished having my hair brushed and went into my bed.

“Shuelina.”

Immediately after ten o’clock in the evening when I went to bed, the time of the Grand Duke was all mine.

He will lie next to me, reading me a book until I fall asleep.

“Appa! Let’s lie down here!”

The Grand Duke came to the bed, picking up a small book with a red jewel on the cover. It was the book he read last night.

I was very curious about the contents of the book, but I had to endure it because I was reading it with the Grand Duke.

“Thank you, kkulkkul.” (onomatopoeic word for oink)

“Ahaha!”

The Grand Duke imitated the tone of the book’s protagonist, Little Pig.

I laughed lightly. I could see the Grand Dukes smiling softly.

Is it because I think he’s a family now, or because I am slowly assimilating into this kid’s body?

Well, whatever the reason, I seem to laugh at nothing in front of the Grand Duke.

“Piaf continued to sniff and follow the traces of the herbs.”

The main character of the book he’s reading now is Piaf, the little pig who smells well.

When the twin of the little pig got sick one day, it tells the story of how the little pig sniffs out the different herbs to find a cure for its twin.

“Piaf smelled the sweet scent from the mountains in the distance. Aho! This time it will be medicinal herbs, honey!”

“Did you find it? Did you find it?”

“When he got close to the smell, it wasn’t medicinal herbs, it was sweet chocolate. Piaf regretted getting it wrong, then he ate the chocolate and headed back on the road.”

“Aey….”

The little pig couldn’t find it again! I felt a little sad as I measured the remaining thickness of the book with my eyes.

The next two adventures were likely all that is left.

“Blood hurts finally….”

The Grand Duke continued to read the fairy tale, then frowned slightly and looked at the door.

I didn’t know because I was focusing too much on the story, but someone was knocking on the door.

“Your Grace, there’s something urgent and I think I’ll have to report it directly to you.”