Grace Cadin was the second daughter of the Cadin House, which was a renowned transcendent house of the Rosa Merchant Confederacy.
From a young age, she was employed by the Sorofya House to serve Charlotte Sorofya as her maid. The years they had spent accompanying one another had built up a tight bond between the two of them, which became the main reason why Grace decided to stay by Charlotte’s side.
Having come from a house of transcendents, Grace was blessed with extraordinary talents at birth. The Sorofya House was well aware of her talents and had been granting her the resources required for her growth for years, resulting in her reaching Origin Level 3 before she even hit her thirties.
With such strength, she could have easily qualified as one of Rosa’s nobles or taken on an official position in a government department or the military. Yet, she unhesitatingly refused all offers, even when the Cadin House explicitly told her to accept.
“Don’t go…”
When Charlotte clutched her sleeves and spoke with a choked up voice four years ago, Grace had already made up her mind. While the two of them were master and servant on the surface, the bond they shared was more alike to sisters. She couldn’t bring herself to leave Charlotte in the lurch.
Some people liked to say that life was a game of luck decided at birth. Being born into the Sorofya House in this world meant that one was set for a life of fortune and glory, but this ‘blessing’ simply led to Charlotte’s unfortunate childhood.
As Charlotte’s personal maid, Grace witnessed with her own eyes how having a mother could be worse than being without one. Charlotte’s mother, that foolish Austine bloodline purist of a woman, detested her own daughter and even viewed her as an embodiment of her own shame. That woman had no qualms expressing her dislike for her own daughter, and the psychological harm she dealt to her daughter was beyond imagination.
Even physical torture couldn’t have been more cruel than this.
Due to this, Charlotte suffered immense mental trauma from a young age. It was only after her bloodline awakened that things turned for the better. However, when it came to matters concerning marriage and family, her mental trauma would resurface, turning her back into that frightened, vulnerable child.
Grace actually vehemently opposed this engagement when she first heard about it. She believed that only a true love marriage could heal the wounds hidden deep in Charlotte’s heart. To her surprise—god knows what nonsense Bruce had fed her—Charlotte actually agreed to meet her so-called fiancé!
Since Charlotte had already made up her mind, Grace was in no position to hold her back. However, she felt that the least she could do was to vet the fiancé in advance to determine if he was a worthy man.
It was customary in Roel’s previous world to secretly trawl through your date’s social media accounts so as to gather some information beforehand. The nobles in this world weren’t fools and knew the importance of information too, so they would often send their aides ahead of time to check out their partners.
So, Grace was officially sent to the Ascart House ahead of time to inform them of Charlotte’s habits and preferences, allowing the host to prepare themselves beforehand. This was a common procedure when nobles of different countries visit one another. After all, the differences in culture could lead to awkward circumstances that both parties would prefer to avoid.
Just imagine serving mutton to your guest for dinner when they couldn’t eat it! That would completely ruin the mood for everything else!
The reason provided was legitimate, but of course, Grace’s main mission was still to gather intelligence. She was determined to uncover reliable information to deliver back to her young miss!
What was Roel Ascart’s personality like? How were the Ascart House’s situation, atmosphere, and inner politics?
With great conviction, Grace approached the doors of Ascart Manor and knocked upon it. She couldn’t have known that there was a carefully planned trap, running over the course of half a month, waiting for her to leap right in.
…
“Grace Cadin, the personal maid of Charlotte Sorofya. It’s a pleasure to visit the Ascarts’ manor.”
“I am Anna Eldor, the personal maid of Roel Ascart. In place of the Ascart House, I warmly welcome you here.”
At the foyer, Grace and Anna greeted one another in a respectful and dignified manner. Their smiles were as warm and natural as they could get. With these two experienced women setting the tone for the meeting, the atmosphere turned out to be fairly affable.
Neither the Sorofyas nor the Ascarts tried to one-up the other, greeting one another politely as equals. This attitude of mutual respect won the Ascarts a favorable impression with Grace.
She had represented Charlotte as her envoy to visit many noble houses before. The servants of prominent noble houses tended to be overbearing, whereas those from minor noble houses were too humble. Rarely was the reception of a noble house comfortable to her, but the Ascarts managed to achieve that.
The attitude of the servants often reflected the personality of their masters, so in a sense, this showed how cultured the Ascart House was.
As expected of a prominent noble house with a lineage of over a thousand years.
Grace put a little tick on the checklist in her heart as she entered the manor under Anna’s lead. She casually glanced at the furnishings along the way, not paying much heed to them at the start. While the decor was fairly classy, it wasn’t particularly extravagant. The retainers of the Sorofyas were far too used to opulence that hardly anything could impress them.
However, as they proceeded on, the look in Grace’s eyes began to change. She glanced at the sculpture placed by the corner of the living room, the artworks hung on the wall, and even the little ornaments placed by the edges of the staircase. Gradually, she realized something.
Antiques.
They were all antiques, and most of them were collectibles with many centuries of history behind them!
As Charlotte’s personal maid, Grace had been to most noble houses in Rosa. She had seen how nobles tried to feign classiness through extravagance, but she had never seen a noble house that humbly flaunted its history elegantly through putting so many antiques on display.
It was truly a splendid show of power, subtle yet powerful. It was much better than the superficial act that other noble houses put up.
Once again, Grace put another tick on the checklist in her heart.
Her level of satisfaction toward the Ascart House was at its highest ever. It had class, history, financial power, and culture. All that was left to do was to assess Charlotte’s fiancé, Roel Ascart.
“Is young master Roel not awake yet?”
“Yes, the young master stayed up late last night to read, so he ended up sleeping in a little more this morning.”
“I see. Pardon me for the abrupt question.”
Grace apologized humbly after hearing the reasonable excuse offered by Anna.
Diligent in his studies, that’s a good virtue to have. However, he should take care of his body better.
She shot a glance at the tightly shut doors to Roel’s bedroom and nodded her head approvingly. It was then that the doors suddenly opened, and an astonishingly beautiful silver-haired girl walked out with her clothes slightly unkempt.
The crowd fell silent, and the smile on Grace’s face froze over.
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