Secret Wardrobe of the Duchess

Chapter 20

Jenny was now happy. Usually, helping a lady take a bath was a tiring and tricky job. She had decided to work for the Claymores because the family paid much more than other families to its maids, but actually, she also liked that there was no duchess.

She had never enjoyed her work, and she had always been afraid. When she recommended cosmetics, her previous mistresses would say something like, “You think I should use such cheap stuff on my skin? No way. Just bring me the most expensive cream in Shop Canary.”

They would scold her, tell her not to forget that she was only a maid, and they always blamed her when their skin got worse.

S

he thought it was unfair. She was sure that she knew more than anyone else about cosmetics, but there had been no one who acknowledged that. People just scolded her, saying knowing a lot about cosmetics wasn’t anything special.

However, Rubica was different. She complimented Jenny’s skills, listened to her, and complimented her knowledge.

‘Has this been always so enjoyable?’

Rubbing on cream so that it would be absorbed well into the skin was a job harder than you might think. It doesn’t require a lot of strength, but you must use the right amount of strength with your fingers and often use your wrists. But for some reason, Jenny found massaging Rubica not hard at all.

“It feels so good.”

Rubica relaxed as Jenny rubbed the cream on her body, and she almost fell asleep. The only reason she didn’t fall asleep was because of a sound she heard.

“Oh, right. You haven’t eaten anything yet.”

Rubica felt ashamed while her face turned red and said, “Oh, it’s fine. I will eat when others eat.”

“But you look very hungry, miss.”

“No, I can’t make them stop the carriage because of me…”

The maid looked a little confused at this for a while. But soon, she nodded and explained, “It is impossible to eat inside a normal carriage as it shakes, but mana carriages are different. His Grace must have eaten a simple breakfast prepared in his carriage, too. He extremely hates it when someone comes in when he is working.”

She added the last sentence because she didn’t want Rubica to think the duke didn’t like to be with her. However, Rubica was glad that he wasn’t summoning her.

“Okay, it would be better than stopping the carriages to eat together. It would be a waste of time.”

“Then I will prepare a simple meal.”

Rubica nodded. Jenny soon removed the basin of water and set food on a small table. Soft and white bread, fruits from the south, milk, and fresh juice. They were dishes that pretended to be frugal.

While she ate, Jenny went to the next room and brought about a dozen of pretty dresses.

Rubica was surprised to see them as she hadn’t known that even clothes had been prepared for her.

‘Well, I guess my usual dresses wouldn’t be good enough for the noble duke.’

Rubica smiled bitterly. She was trying to interpret Edgar’s action in the worst possible way, and she found herself funny.

“As we had to prepare quickly, we had no choice but to fix and bring dresses left by the duke’s grandmother. They’re out of fashion, aren’t they? The housekeeper has asked me to apologize to you instead.”