Secret Wardrobe of the Duchess

Chapter 60

‘Ann, thank you. You are a genius!’

Ann had worked as a housekeeper for a long time, so she had to know well how to get rid of such tormenting visitors. She couldn’t have asked to bring refreshments for no reason. Rubica nodded and Ann went away.

Now only Rubica and Mrs. Shaynie were left in the reception room. As the room was for the Claymores to talk in private, other maids couldn’t come in most of the times. Mrs. Shaynie frowned much less when Ann was gone. She still had wrinkles on her face, but it was like four wrinkle lines instead of five on her forehead.

“Your Grace, do you know that it is an insult to you for the housekeeper to leave in the middle of a meeting?”

“What?”

“How can the housekeeper dare to leave her mistress?”

“But I just gave her permission to…”

“And she hasn’t hired maids for you yet, how can she ignore you like that?”

Rubica hadn’t known Shaynie would criticize Ann so severely and was surprised to hear that. She hadn’t liked Shaynie that much, but now she looked like the evil hag of fairy tales. Rubica was so shocked that she didn’t know what to say. Ann hadn’t hired maids yet not because she was ignoring Rubica. It wasn’t like that at all. As Rubica was from a baronet family, she hadn’t been able to bring any maids herself. However, she couldn’t just hire the daughters and wives of the nearby retainers. Then they would busily spread words on what happened in the household every day.

Those words could come back to harm Rubica. She had already been given a list of potential maids from Ann, but she hadn’t made her decision yet because she talked about it with Ann for long. Plus, it had been only a week since she became the duchess. It had been too short to even use the word ‘yet’.

“Really, Ann is not good enough to serve you. I worry she might not be able to give you the necessary advice when you meet the king and the queen at the capital. She knows almost nothing about manners.”

Shaynie sounded really worried. Then, she smiled warmly to Rubica as if saying she could take care of all that. But to Rubica, it only looked like a hag’s evil smile.

‘So this is what you are after.’

The manner teacher in a duke’s family wasn’t a lower role compared to the housekeeper and it came with a huge salary. However, that was only an honorary job. The housekeeper could stay right next to the duchess to meet those who had great power and influence on the noble society. Moreover, she could give direct advice on the uses of the family’s budget and recommend people for certain jobs.

In short, she had some real power.

Teaching manners to Rubica was just an excuse, Shaynie had made all those visits because she wanted to replace Ann.

‘Should I tell her not to criticize Ann in front of me?’

Rubica wondered what she should say, but then she heard knocking on the door. Ann, who knew nothing about what happened, came in with refreshments. She poured out a glass of Rubica’s favorite apple juice and poured grape juice into Shaynie’s glass. Moreover, the refreshments on each plate were different. Ann had thought of both Rubica’s and Shaynie’s taste. Rubica found it so sad that such a nice lady had to be criticized by Shaynie on her back.

“Ann, according to the Claymore Family’s traditional manners, the coffee spoon should be on the dish. Putting it next to the napkin like this has been done by nobles only lately. How can a family with a long history and traditions like Claymore be shaken by such a trend?”