I became the contracted maid of the (villainous) Duke due to personal circumstances

Theodore C. Wisteria.

That name belonged to the Crown Prince of Wisteria Kingdom, a person known as the “Perfect Prince.”
At twenty-three years old, he had a slender and petite figure, but his large, round eyes and sweet honey-colored hair added an approachable charm to him. Despite his young age, he carried himself with a certain grace, and his extensive knowledge and witty conversation made him respected even by the haughty and talkative senior nobles.

Among the noblewomen, he was praised as if he were an angel descended from heaven.

“I heard, Gerald. You’ve been playing ‘maid’ with a young girl in the beginning? It seems like quite a lot of fun.”— But before Gerald, the devil himself.

Summoned to the royal palace and seated across from Theodore, Gerald frowned. Despite his demeanor, Theodore remained composed.

“I wonder… Didn’t you say you were going to propose to your childhood sweetheart? Was I mistaken in what I heard?”

“No, you weren’t mistaken. I’m currently playing ‘maid’ with my childhood sweetheart. It’s incredibly fun.”

“Really? Overdoing the bravado can be pitiful, you know.”

“Quit it.”

Gerald was annoyed by Theodore’s teasing, but after all, he had brought up the topic in the first place. Gerald had never expected to be turned down by Ruru. He had hoped that she would at least be happy to see him again, and perhaps, after some hesitation, she might agree to his proposal. Instead, she had flatly declared, “I don’t want to marry someone I hate.”

(Does she really hate that kiss with me so much that she’s been holding a grudge for years?)

Sure, he regretted making a move without permission, but he had done it because he genuinely cared about Gerald. What’s wrong with that?

“She’s got a stubborn personality. Her anger is just a front; she’ll give in eventually.”

“Wow, you’re pretty confident. Overly stubborn guys tend to be disliked. Sometimes you should take a step back and show some maturity, even to someone older, you know?”

Gerald turned away from Theodore’s advice, especially since Theodore was a married man.

“Hmph. I don’t need to be told that.”

“Or maybe, as an opportunity, you could start looking at other girls? I can introduce you to some stunning beauties with incredible figures.”

“No thanks.”

Cutting off the teasing remarks, Gerald responded, “How many years do you think I’ve been working on this?”

“Haha, you’re right. If the person you’re dealing with were the type to give up easily, you wouldn’t have been working under me for six years.”

Six years. Has Gerald really been at the beck and call of this man for that long?

Theodore chuckled and placed some coins on the desk.

The chitchat time was over; Gerald wasn’t summoned here for small talk. Theodore’s expression shifted from a friendly one to that of a serious politician.

“Now then, let’s get to business. I want you to investigate that particular matter thoroughly.”

Several days had passed since Ruru started working at the Marquess’s mansion. She had managed to adapt to the daily routine and her tasks, including Gerald’s bonus missions, which she approached with as much composure as possible (even though her success rate was still zero).
However, her current issue was the harassment she faced from her fellow maids.

“Why are you doing the cleaning duty? I heard that you were supposed to assist the housemaids when Mr. Gerald is not around,” one of the maids remarked, smirking. They traced a finger over the area she had supposedly cleaned, claiming that dust was still present and forcing her to redo it.

“Hey, didn’t you spend quite a long time in Mr. Gerald’s room this morning?” another one chimed in. When she tried to explain that she had been detained by Gerald himself, they demanded she recount every detail of their conversation, word for word. She couldn’t tell them the truth, so she made up something haphazard, only to be scolded for inconsistencies.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t notice,” she muttered as she carried a bucket of water for cleaning. But then, she was suddenly pushed from behind, causing her to spill water all over the corridor. The other maids looked at her with displeasure, and she was left to clean up the mess herself.

Ruru continued to mop the floor, grinding her teeth in frustration.

“Why do I have to go through all this!” she muttered to herself.

She was left to clean this assigned area all alone, and her attempts at making amends or greeting her colleagues were met with cold shoulders. When she took her seat in the dining hall, the other maids would quickly vacate the area, leaving her isolated. Ruru had earned the resentment of her fellow maids and found herself isolated in her workplace.

“Why am I going through all of this just because Gerald kissed me in such a conspicuous place!” she thought.

The memory of that kiss in a prominent location still lingered in her mind. It had left her frozen, unable to protest as he playfully kissed her on the forehead. She couldn’t say anything inappropriate or disrespectful to him in public, and if she did, she was sure to face consequences.

“Ugh, I’m carrying the burden of this debt. I can’t run away just because of some teasing,” she muttered to herself. She refused to be bullied by her colleagues, and crying to Gerald for help would be foolish.

She mopped the floor vigorously, enduring the mistreatment from her fellow maids.

She wanted to quit, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. While she endured their bullying and evaded Gerald’s advances, she found herself losing sight of what she was really fighting for.

As she continued her cleaning duties, she noticed a distressed voice coming from a nearby room. Pausing in the hallway, she listened intently. During cleaning hours, room doors were left open for ventilation, allowing her to see the inside of the rooms. Two maids inside the room seemed to be frantically searching through a cabinet, their expressions filled with panic.

“What’s going on?” Ruru asked as she approached the room.

Startled, the maid who had been responsible for bullying her in the past, Harriet, turned to face her. They were accompanied by Orian, who was frantically rubbing the side of a cabinet covered in a brown wooden veneer. Underneath the disheveled cloth, there were dark, ink-like stains that appeared to have spilled.

“Oh, we didn’t do anything!” Harriet quickly defended herself, even though Ruru hadn’t accused them of anything yet.

Ruru didn’t react coldly, even when she was told, “It has nothing to do with you. Go away.” She simply replied with a casual, “Alright then, see you.”

Orian, who was calmer than Harriet, continued to scrub the stains with a vacant expression.

“We didn’t do anything, but suddenly these stains appeared,” Orian explained, “It doesn’t look like ink, and no matter how much we rub, it won’t come off.”

“Orian! There’s no need to say anything more to her,” Harriet chided her, her face turning pale.

“This cabinet is one of Lady Geraldine’s dowry pieces! If the Maid Chief finds out it’s been stained, it will be a big problem!” Harriet exclaimed with panic.

It appeared that they were in the room belonging to Gerald’s mother, who was currently in the Garanshia Territory.

“Come on, stop panicking and help,” Orian scolded Harriet. “Go get some cleaning solution or something.”

“What if the solution makes it worse?”

“Then what do you suggest we do?”

“Let me see,” Ruru interrupted.

She moved Orian aside and examined the stains. The black streaks, resembling ink, were limited to the wooden part of the cabinet, and there were no marks on the carpet beneath.

“Have you tried vinegar?” Ruru asked.

“Vinegar?”

“It’s possible that this is caused by tannins in the wood—tannin stains. I remember when I once had to repair discolored furniture, a veteran craftsman used vinegar to clean it up.”

“Oh, right! You were a daughter of a furniture maker. Wait here; I’ll go get some,” Orian said and quickly left. She returned promptly with vinegar, and Ruru soaked a gauze with it before applying it to the discolored area.

“When a veteran craftsman repaired discolored furniture, he mentioned that long exposure to metal could cause this kind of discoloration,” Ruru explained.

“I haven’t had any metal in contact with it!” Harriet protested.

“Did you spill anything? Like detergent?”

Harriet’s expression suddenly changed.

“I did spill some soda water that I was using to remove a stain from the carpet. But I wiped it up immediately, and it didn’t leave a stain at the time.”

“It’s similar to peeled apples. It might not have been an issue immediately after spilling, but over time, the color changes when exposed to air,” Ruru clarified.

After some time, Ruru peeled off the gauze, revealing the original, clean light brown wood.

“Wow, amazing! Thank you so much, Ruru!” Orian clapped her hands.

“Well, um… you’re welcome,” Ruru replied.

Harriet seemed to have mixed feelings, as she had been helped by someone she previously regarded as an enemy. Ruru, on the other hand, was relieved that her knowledge as a furniture maker’s daughter had come in handy, and she felt happy to have interacted with girls her own age again.

She had initially thought she could get by with just work, but now she realized that having friends could be important. While Harriet was a bit prickly, Orian hadn’t been openly hostile to Ruru, making her easier to talk to.

“Will there be any lingering smell from this?” Harriet asked.

“It’s okay. If we leave the windows open and let the breeze in, the smell will disappear quickly. The weather is nice today, so I think it’ll be fine. We can also inform the Maid Chief and ask her to leave the windows in this room open for a while,” Ruru reassured them.

“That sounds like a good plan. The stains are completely gone, and I don’t think there should be any issues with the report,” Orian agreed.

“Hey, Harriet,” Orian began, “I’ll report this. Don’t worry, I’ll be honest about it. But don’t get the wrong idea; I’m not doing this to acknowledge you or anything!”

“What? Harriet, are you still saying stuff like that?” Orian retorted.

Without waiting for a response, Harriet grabbed the cleaning tools and stormed out.

“I’m sorry,” Orian says as he hurries after Harriet, but Ruru waves at him, signaling not to worry.

It seemed like the grudge Harriet held wouldn’t easily disappear.