The Male Lead? I Don’t Want Him

* * *

“If you go down this corridor, there’s a dining room. We’ve set up a passageway leading straight outside from the corridor, so you can dine in the garden when it’s sunny.”

“Ah, I see.”

The butler’s explanation was so lengthy that, after a long silence, she found her throat dry when she tried to respond. As she cleared her throat to answer, the servants following behind immediately brought her cold water.

“Um… Thank you.”

She wasn’t particularly thirsty, but she had no choice but to drink since they went to the trouble of bringing it. Once she finished her water, a hand immediately reached out to take the glass.

“The paintings installed in the corridor are all works of famous artists. Starting from the right, there’s an artist who became famous about five hundred years ago-“

She hadn’t expected such a detailed explanation. Since the butler was explaining so passionately, Luna couldn’t tell him to stop.

Moreover, the servants who were following behind were closely observing every expression on Luna’s face and even provided her with water, a chair, and fanned her, making her feel overwhelmed.

“Why is everyone doing this?”

Unable to bear it any longer, she quietly asked Antes, who seemed to immediately understand her question and shrugged.

“Is there anything you find uncomfortable?”

At the same time, the butler, looking apologetic, addressed Luna. His expression was like that of a child about to be scolded. Luna shook her head as if to say it’s nothing.

“No, not at all. I’m just overwhelmed by the elaborate tour of the mansion…”

That’s the problem. It’s too much! Stop it!

She had tried to phrase it indirectly, but her message didn’t seem to get across. Seeing her emotional response, the butler geared up to resume his explanation with a look of pride in his eyes.

Excuse me! Please do something about this! Luna looked at Antes with a pleading face, to which he gave a resigned smile.

“I’d like to postpone the tour because I’m still feeling the effects of the journey. I’m tired.”

“Oh, I apologize! I hadn’t considered that… I’m truly sorry!”

The butler immediately offered to prepare warm water and tea, bowing so deeply that his forehead nearly touched the ground.

If this was going to be the response, she should have spoken directly! This was exactly the reaction she wanted to avoid!

Luna glared at Antes, who looked back as if to say, ‘Did I do well?’ But since he had spoken up for her, she soon softened her gaze.

Afterwards, Luna, who had taken a bath with shiny bath salts and five servants, stared at a cup of tea with a single flower petal and finally spoke.

“Has everyone gone mad? This is too much. Is this how nobility usually live?”

Having lived half her life not much different from commoners, she wondered if this was the norm for nobles.

Unfortunately, Antes hadn’t really lived the life of typical nobility either.

When he shook his head indicating he didn’t know, the answer came from the other servants who had accompanied them from the capital.

“I once apprenticed in the House of Count Hamon, but it wasn’t like this.”

“I also briefly worked in another household, and they weren’t this excessive.”

So why are they behaving like this? Could it be because of the rumors?

Even though things had improved, for the past ten years, there had been strange rumors about Antes and Luna all over the continent.

If it had been just one of them, it might have been different. But both of them were implicated. Luna frowned, thinking that they might be overly nervous because of those rumors.

“We need to have a proper conversation at some point.”

If things continued like this, she felt like she’d faint within a week. The servants would probably feel the same way.

She didn’t want to live in discomfort for years because of a misunderstanding. All that was left to do was to have a conversation to clarify that all the rumors were false.

“Should I help you?”

Antes, who knew that Luna could be both very strong with the strong and infinitely gentle with the weak, asked her. Luna shook her head.

“No, I’ll do it myself. We can just have tea and talk calmly. We can also discuss the wedding while we’re at it.”

It was always the person who felt uncomfortable who should solve the problem. Unlike her, Antes seemed unfazed.

If he really had disliked it, he would have protested during their last visit. But since he hadn’t, it meant he was okay with it. So she had to handle it herself.

Luna’s guess was right. Unlike Luna, who had once confronted the servants, Antes didn’t particularly care about their behavior as long as they did their job.

While their behavior was a bit excessive, it was better than them not doing their job.

“All right. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

It wasn’t a minor issue. Antes hoped that Luna would be able to conclude her conversation with the servants harmoniously.

“Okay. I’ll do my best for a peaceful daily life.”

With that, Luna clenched her fist and nodded.

* * *

After observing the situation for a few days, Luna decided to gather all the mansion’s servants and propose a small tea party.

However-

“I thought I said a ‘small’ party…”

In a garden that seemed ready enough to host a ball right away, Luna looked surprised.

“I-I’m sorry! Should I… clean this up?”

“No, there’s no need to clean up when you’ve prepared all this. But when did you prepare all this? I’m sure there was nothing like this last night.”

Since the instruction had been given only yesterday evening, there wouldn’t have been much time to decorate. When Luna asked in astonishment, a servant hesitated and stammered in response.

“W-well, I prepared from last night until this morning…”

“You didn’t sleep?”

“Yes?! Oh, yes…”

The servant hung his head, and Luna held her forehead, wondering why there were rumors about her making servants prepare for parties without sleep.

This couldn’t go on. Luna gestured to the flustered servants with a serious face.

“Everyone, please sit down.”

The servants, looking as if they had been scolded, hesitated before slowly sitting on the grass.

“Why are you sitting there? Why not on the perfectly good chairs?”

Luna was exasperated. At the servants’ bewildered looks, she pointed to the chairs on either side of her.

“Sit down. Like the servants who came with me.”

Even with clear instructions, no one sat down.

Why on earth? No one hit you, did they?

It seemed that speaking kindly wouldn’t help in this situation. Luna, looking angry, spoke again.

“Sit down quickly. Why are you all ignoring me?”

As if they had been waiting for that, the servants finally sat down. Although Luna felt uncomfortable, she tried to console herself and smiled.

“Shall we start the tea party? The theme is ‘For a Duchy where we all live happily.'”

As Luna finished, there was silence. The servants looked perplexed, not understanding her words.

Luna, realizing they didn’t get it, explained again.

“It seems you’re all overreacting because of the rumors about me. But there’s no need. If I need something, I’ll ask. There’s no need to carry water, chairs, or fans around all the time.”

It was implied they didn’t need to follow her around. After all, she was with other servants, including Laura.

Despite this, the atmosphere remained tense. Laura and Emma intervened.

“She’s really not like the rumors say. Just work as usual.”

“Yes, the young lady prefers to be alone, so you don’t need to follow her around.”

But no one responded affirmatively. Instead, an unexpected answer came.

“It’s not because of the rumors…”

The youngest female servant of the Duchy began to speak. She seemed to regret her words and quickly covered her mouth.

Luna, having heard the comment, inquired about the details.

“That is…”

“Come on, if you don’t tell me, I’ll get angry.”

When threatened, the scared servant hurriedly began to speak.

“It’s not because of the new master, but the previous one was terrifying. When he said to sit and we did, he’d slap us.”

“What did you say?”

Luna was in disbelief. The servant continued:

“I was once drenched with water just for bringing slightly lukewarm water…”

She trailed off, hinting at other incidents.

“Why did you work for such a family? Were you threatened that if you quit, you wouldn’t find another job?”

“No, not that. I just thought working for nobility would be like this, so I never thought of leaving…”

“What?! That’s not the case! While there are some strict nobles, very few resort to physical abuse!”

Laura, incredulous, received nods of agreement from other servants who had originally been in the Duchy. The young servant replied:

“Is that so? All of us here are new to working for nobility, so we didn’t know…”

“Oh my god, it’s like they deliberately hired you!”

Laura was furious, and Emma nodded in agreement. Luna felt the same.

Even in the Duchy mansion in the capital, it wasn’t like this. It seemed like they were deliberately chosen to vent stress upon.

“Didn’t the Duchess say anything?”

She didn’t seem like a bad person, and while Fersen might be a bit oppressive, he didn’t seem like someone who would resort to violence.

“The Duchess never comes here. Only the Duke occasionally visits. Every time he visited, he would be angry and resort to violence, so we thought it was normal.”