Chapter 7

As Tanya watched over Iris, her head buried in a pile of documents on her study desk, she reflected on the past.

It’s been one surprise after another.

First of all, it was a miracle that she was even here right now, serving the duke’s family. Tanya had no surname. No one had one in the slum where she was raised. There had been no time to care about names when things like food—or even seeing the next day—were never guaranteed.

How had she ended up as a servant to the leading noble family in the country, then? It had been purely Iris’s whim. She’d saved Tanya from dying on the side of the road, and that would have been more than anyone need do. Yet she also called Tanya “important” and treated her like a friend. For this reason, Tanya had resolved to serve Iris with all her heart. Iris had given someone so meaningless to the world a reason to live.

It had been almost ten years since Tanya had entered Iris’s service. Ten years of happiness, she was proud to say. But that happiness had almost been destroyed by Iris’s ex-fiancé, Edward. The second prince, despite being spoken for, had fallen head over heels for some baron’s daughter. Tanya had been forced to watch as, day by day, Iris’s expression darkened and her smile disappeared.

That said, it came as a shock when Iris gave in to the fires of jealousy and lambasted the baron’s daughter in public. It had been beyond frustrating to see her like that and be unable to intercede. At the same time, rage toward the second prince had filled Tanya’s body. How could such a scoundrel be a man of the royal family? How could he be so blind to Iris’s virtues? How dare he besmirch her honor by falling for some lesser noble’s daughter? He had even humiliated her by restraining her in public. It was unbelievable. There would be no forgiving him.

Yet Iris, upon returning to the duchy’s estate, looked refreshed.

What? But she was so in love before. What happened? Tanya had thought, but she decided against asking so as not to dredge up any old wounds. What was more important was Iris’s future. This was what Tanya wanted to focus on.

Of course, no matter where Iris was sent, Tanya would follow. And ultimately, though Iris’s sentence was an extremely light one, the condition that came with it had made it impossible for Tanya to relax.

My lady, the governor? What is the master thinking? She could still barely believe it.

Iris had received an education befitting her noble status, but if you had asked Tanya whether that education was practically useful, well, that was a different matter. While Iris’s brother had learned governance and finance, Iris’s studies had centered on etiquette until her time at the academy. There, she had studied arithmetic, poetry, and language, and had also been given a general education in history and geography. What exactly could she accomplish with that?

But right now, Iris’s eyes flowed over the cluttered documents of difficult numbers with such speed that she truly seemed to be reading them. Every now and again, she’d jot something down on a piece of paper, further evidence of her ability to digest them.

My lady truly is beyond my understanding, Tanya thought. At the same time, she couldn’t help but smile at the unending surprises. Forget ten years—a year ago, she couldn’t have imagined Iris serving in such a position.