NBTC 08

Chapter 08

It was July in Portsheim, a month so sweet it seemed honey might drip from the air.

The intense sunlight blazed down upon every corner of Heitzlind Manor, and the midday temperature rose fearsomely.

Fortunately, the shade was cool enough to dispel the heat, so during breaks the servants gathered in small groups beneath the manor’s shadows.

It was a languid summer day, when everyone passed their time in drowsy idleness.

Bailey thought Adel was growing as fast as a white bean sprout.

Already a month had passed since the child had come here. Adel was a presence at Heitzlind that was there yet not there, rarely drawing anyone’s attention.

She was a picture-like child who quietly read books beneath the shade of trees, helped in the kitchen with her small hands, or silently wandered through the woods behind the manor.

Among the servants, some gave Adel a bag of peppermint candies, a pretty hair ribbon, or a beautifully illustrated picture postcard.

Adel was an obedient child who did her own tasks, and she never interfered with the countless duties of the manor, so the servants who had children of Adel’s age doted on her.

Regardless of how she had come to be here, she was a twelve-year-old orphan girl whose parents were both gone from this world.

As time passed, they too gradually opened their hearts.

Of course, there were always those who did not.

Especially the servants who attended the Duke and Duchess closely regarded Adel as a thorn in their eyes.

The couple had never been on good terms, but it was certain that since Adel’s arrival, an even more dreadful chill had flowed between the two.

“I can barely breathe when those two have tea together!”

Said a maid who had gone in to serve tea during one of their usual tea times.

Since they were a Duke and Duchess who managed a great manor and ran large business enterprises, they inevitably had matters to discuss or converse about.

Whenever such unavoidable occasions arose, it was those who served them who suffered.

If Karl happened to join them, the atmosphere between the two would ease considerably, but Karl had many social engagements to attend in Portsheim, where he had come down after a long while, and he was also busy preparing for university.

The Duke and Duchess’s tea times were often solely their own.

After Adel’s arrival and Karl’s return, a stormy period had passed, and Heitzlind slowly began to regain its former appearance.

Using the summer heat as an excuse, the servants would gather in small groups in the kitchen, eating snacks and gossiping.

“But isn’t Miss Adel quite pretty? For such a young thing, she’s delicately featured—in a few years, she’ll be a renowned beauty in the area.”

“Why wouldn’t she be? Her mother was how beautiful? When Lady Renée first visited this place, everyone was abuzz with talk. The Duke was completely smitten with his fiancée. If the Eduard family hadn’t fallen into such ruin, surely the Duke and Lady Renée would have married as planned.”

“But even so, that’s a past affair now—the Duke is also too much. I can sometimes understand why the Madam gets so irritable and behaves tyrannically. Just imagine if my husband acted that way. I would have run away already.”

The maid who finished speaking scrunched up her face.

“If the late Duke hadn’t opposed it so strongly, he would have pushed forward with the marriage to Lady Renée. And at the time, the Clausen Ducal family’s textile factory was also in great turmoil. If the Madam’s maternal family hadn’t helped back then, who knows what would have become of this place. The Duchess wasn’t such a sharp person from the beginning. At first, she was a composed person who considered the circumstances of servants like us.”

“I’ve never seen this Lady Renée, so I don’t know, but isn’t our Duchess also just as pretty? Though she hasn’t shown that side of herself lately.”

“The beauty is of a different type. The Duchess is a tall, noble beauty, but Lady Renée was different. She was small and refined, just like Miss Adel now. The more you looked, the more your eyes were drawn to her.”

“Well, whatever the case, the Duke is certainly blessed in matters of women.”

At the last remark, everyone burst into loud laughter and delighted chatter. They nodded in agreement from all sides.

“…It seems you people have far too little work to do.”

In the midst of their cackling and loud talk, Norman had come to the kitchen to see what the commotion was about, and upon hearing their conversation, he grew thoroughly angry and spoke with his eyes wide.

Those who had been laughing and eating their snacks all fell silent at once, as if by prior agreement.

Only the cooled black tea, brown bread with cheese, and thinly sliced ham on the table showed what a pleasant afternoon tea time they had been having.

The servants seated at the table all turned pale as sheets.

Though he was normally a butler who did not raise his voice, when it came to matters concerning the Clausen Ducal family, he became more sensitive than anyone.

He was the one who had served the Clausen family the longest at Heitzlind Manor, starting from the late Duke, and he truly cherished this manor.

“As those who serve the Ducal family, to be so indiscreet with your tongues. It seems you truly have nothing to do, so go immediately to help clean the stables and the poultry yard. I had been thinking that with the summer heat, the chickens were becoming feeble and we ought to do a thorough cleaning, so this works out well. Since you have enough energy to chatter like this.”

The servants’ faces turned white as frost in October.

It was a terribly hot afternoon.

Adel too stayed listlessly cooped up in her room.

The rose garden visible through the shutters of her room was filled with low shrubs that did not provide much shade.

The beautiful roses had all withered, and now the garden was filled only with the scorching sun and the heat radiating from the solid dirt paths below.

Twice a day, without fail, the gardener watered the rose bushes and thoroughly sprinkled the dirt paths, but the July sun dried up the puddles with terrifying intensity.

Adel threw open the shutters, curled up on the tiled floor, and sat gazing calmly, alternating her gaze between the view outside the door and the book on her knees.

The book on her lap was ‘Erwin’s Ornithology,’ a field guide containing illustrations of various pretty birds and their habitats.

A few days earlier, she had seen a bird she had never seen before in the vast forest behind Heitzlind Manor, so she had impulsively picked up this book.

Adel loved drawing as much as she loved reading.

That day too, she had gone to the forest with a small sketchbook and pencil.

She drew the grasses, wildflowers, birds, and small animals she saw, and thought that the forest of Heitzlind was truly a beautiful place.

She preferred the free and lushly overgrown forest to the symmetrically trimmed ornamental trees of the garden.

Moreover, the forest of Heitzlind conveniently concealed what Adel was doing and where she was, which put her even more at ease.

“It’s really hot today, isn’t it?”

“Isn’t it? It’s so hot I can’t even focus on my book.”

“On a scorching day like this, we have to clean the stables and the poultry yard—I have no idea what happened. Here, apple juice.”

Drinking the apple juice Bailey handed her made her feel somewhat revived.

It even had precious ice, so water droplets formed on the outside of the glass and dripped to the floor. With sweet-and-sour pickled apples and soda water, it was refreshing enough to make the midsummer heat vanish.

“Thank you, Bailey. It’s so delicious. Did you have some too, Bailey?”

“At my age, everything I drink—except wine—must be warm. While I was making yours, the young servants were going on about how cool and delicious it was, but I simply don’t understand the taste.”

Bailey grimaced as she recalled the young maids who made the kitchen noisy.

Those girls, who laughed and chattered at the slightest thing, would blush and squeal whenever they saw Karl.

“Once you’ve finished, get ready to go out. They say it will rain tomorrow, so today let’s go get your uniform fitted and buy your textbooks.”

“Great! If we have time, could we stop by an art supply store?”

Adel asked Bailey, her eyes sparkling.

A few days earlier, while taking a walk in the garden, she had encountered the Duke returning home early.

Upon seeing Adel out for a walk, the Duke had stopped his carriage.

“It’s been a while. Have you grown accustomed to this place now?”

Adel was glad to see the Duke after so long.

She had seen him from a distance a few times, but it didn’t seem proper to approach and greet him, so it had been nearly a month since she had properly faced him.

Above all, it was the Duke of Clausen who had rescued her from that hellish charity school, so to Adel he was her benefactor.

“Your Grace, hello… Thanks to your kindness, I am doing well. I am grateful.”

Adel said brightly to the Duke in her small voice.

The Duke gazed intently into Adel’s green eyes.

For a long while, wordlessly.

“…That is a relief. You look much better than when you first came here.”

He looked at Adel, opened his inner pocket, and took out five gold coins, handing them to her.

“If you need anything, feel free to tell Bailey or Norman at any time. This is my allowance to you, so buy whatever you wish.”

Gold coins were precious money that exceeded ordinary currency value.

Though Adel had never actually exchanged money to buy things, she knew that five gold coins was a considerable sum.

It was an amount too large for a twelve-year-old girl to have.

“I am already being treated more than well enough. I’m fine, Your Grace.”

“Don’t feel burdened.”

As Adel received the money with trembling hands, flustered, the Duke climbed back into his waiting carriage.

Before she could even respond, the carriage had moved toward the manor’s entrance, and Adel watched the dust-raising carriage and bowed deeply.

She had received the money, but she had no idea what to spend it on.

When she was little, her nanny had told her that whenever she got money, she should save it carefully in a secret place she knew.

But Adel’s only secret place was that tiny room, and she had nowhere to hide it, nor any reason to, so she simply put the gold coins in her apron pocket and forgot about them.

That is, until today, when Bailey said they would go to the shopping district.

“Very well. Today we need to buy some necessary items, so let’s go to Plade Street. Plade Street is the busiest place in all of Portsheim. They say if you can’t find something on Plade Street, you can’t find it anywhere. The school Adel will attend starting in September is also nearby, so you’ll need to learn the way there and back. By the way, have you ever ridden a streetcar?”

Adel’s eyes sparkled.

“No! I’ve never ridden one. Mother said they were dangerous and wouldn’t let me. We usually traveled by carriage. And Mother didn’t like Father’s automobile either!”

Bailey smiled bitterly.

“From now on, you’ll need to learn how to ride the streetcar. Most noble residences, including Heitzlind Manor here, are quite far from Portsheim’s city center. They generally dislike crowded places. You have to walk a fair distance from the manor to the streetcar stop, and then take the streetcar to school as well.”

Adel nodded vigorously.

Her heart felt as though it might burst with anticipation, and she could even hear the thumping of her own heartbeat in her ears.