WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Fragments of Thorns and a Cradle ◈

Volume 1, Part 2

Chapter 9

──────

Content Warning: sexual exploitation and slavery.

Lucrezia, Endymion's mother and Henrietta's mother-in-law, had been a daughter of House Durak, the kingdom's foremost ducal family.

House Durak was an ancient family of great nobles and meritorious founders who had built its power in the north before the kingdom itself began. Its authority was said to rival the royal family's. For generations, the crown had checked Durak while trusting them, and trusted them while keeping them at a distance.

Unlike Durak, whose power lay in the north, House Gwendel was rooted in the west. Long ago, they had been the royal house of an independent nation whose capital was Gwennetar, the central city of the west. Even now, they served as protectors and administrators of the west in the role of grand marshal.

Had Durak's ancestors not torn the continent apart to enthrone Kailak's founding queen, Gwendel would have remained a royal house with many vassal families, rather than becoming merely a feudal house.

That was how extraordinary Lucrezia's bloodline was. Few women in Kailak could rival her nobility, especially with the queen dowager's seat vacant. There were scarcely any women of her generation with such an exalted and imposing background.

Moreover, Durak was nearly the equal of the royal family in scale. Gwendel, too, was among the wealthiest houses in the kingdom thanks to the gold mines of the western mountains, and had recently become enormously rich through its trade port.

A celebration honoring Lucrezia's birth, backed by those two houses, had to be dazzling and overwhelming. It could not be dull, but neither could it be frivolous. It had to observe proper etiquette while remaining bright and harmonious. Especially now, when Lucrezia had gained a daughter-in-law.

In Kailak, as elsewhere, a household's finances and domestic order were judged by the banquets it held. A banquet displayed every part of the new lady of the house: her taste, breeding, aesthetic sense, and refinement.

And this banquet honored Lucrezia, the former marchioness and mother-in-law of the current lady of the house. Naturally, every detail would be weighed and judged.

Those who enjoyed talking about others, noble and commoner alike, would gossip endlessly. The food served that day. The flowers on the tables. The dress worn by the lady of the house. Even the ribbons in the maids' hair. They would inspect every last thing and chew it over whenever they needed amusement.

On days like this, female slaves were usually absent, or used to make the lady of the house look better. Each family treated concubines differently, so their role at such events varied, though not by much.

Either remain hidden without making a sound.

Or act like a foolish, defective woman meant to draw criticism away from the lady of the house.

That was the purpose of women like them. If a concubine was brought to a banquet, there was only one reason. She would divide the attention directed at the lady of the house and give people a separate target for their gossip.

Marie understood the nature of nobles well. Since she was seven, she had had no choice but to understand it.

Marie's home was San Arzok. The people of San Arzok thought of her as a lovely but vulgar girl. A lord's woman who could never become his wife. That was Marie, a pitiful and laughable child.

They were always ready to condemn her. They wondered when she would fall into ruin and become worse off than them. When would Endymion tire of Marie? When would she reach for a place beyond her station and be cast down?

Seeing a girl no better than themselves receive her master's affection set their hearts ablaze with hellfire.

Marie understood people well. She understood how bottomlessly ugly their malice could be.

People found it easier to tear apart someone weak. They needed another person they could curse without restraint. A shield was needed to stop cruel criticism of the household from being directed at the lady of the house because of her mistakes.

"That doesn't suit him at all."

Madame Flandme, the children's nurse, frowned slightly as she looked at Claude's green jacket. The sky-blue vest beneath it was no better. The silk was poor, but the colors were worse. She turned to Claude's mother.

"The quality is dreadful. Where did you get this silk? And who was the tailor?"

She sighed inwardly. From the stitching of the lining to the embroidery decorating the sleeves, the outfit was tacky and shapeless. Had Marie truly spent days choosing this?

"Isn't it cute?"

But the young master's mother merely bent down to smooth her son's hair, offering no other opinion. Well, she had chosen everything herself, so perhaps that was natural. Madame Flandme was even more alarmed when Marie said she had already picked an outfit for Ewin, the younger son.

"Where are the little master's clothes?"

"Over there. In the wardrobe..."

"Don't tell me it's that hideous brown jacket I saw earlier. The sort of thing even a country village wouldn't wear nowadays."

"That's the one."

"Marie."

"It's cute. Like a baby deer."

Marie rose after arranging her son's hair and smiled brightly at Madame Flandme. The nurse looked at her in disbelief. Could someone's taste truly become this bad so suddenly?

"Marie."

"It really is cute."

Marie muttered as she struggled to lift Claude into her arms. Madame Flandme sighed.

The boys were still young. Anything looked cute and lovely on them, like a cluster of acorns. Marie and the marquess's sons were especially angelic, taking after both their parents.

It was not simply because she had cared for them since they were tiny. Marie's children truly were beautiful, the very image of their fathers.

Whatever they wore, they would draw attention. They were the first children the grand marshal of the west had acknowledged. Besides, he was a man so fastidious it seemed almost an illness. Attention was inevitable. Unless...

"Did you choose these on purpose?"

"What do you mean?"

Marie looked at her as though she truly had no idea. Madame Flandme started to speak, then closed her lips. She could roughly guess Marie's intention. It made her bitter, but if it was Marie's wish, there was no way to stop her.

The marchioness had entrusted Marie with all the general preparations for the banquet. Marie handled and directed the details, then reported to Henrietta for approval.

Outwardly, it appeared that the marchioness led the work, but Marie was the one actually doing it.

Marie had managed the Gwendel household in place of Lucrezia for years. Until a month ago, she had kept the accounts herself and performed all the duties expected of the marquess's wife and the former marchioness's daughter-in-law.

Even if someone qualified had finally appeared and she was stepping aside, the work had to be handed over. Henrietta, the current marchioness, could not possibly know how to manage the household of a great lord like Gwendel, a house that rivaled the royal family.

Only one month had passed. Henrietta needed Marie beside her to gradually learn the work Marie had done and the things Lucrezia had taught her. By rights, Henrietta should have learned from Lucrezia, not Marie.

But Lucrezia disliked Henrietta. From the moment the marquess chose her, Lucrezia had seemed unable to bear the sight of her. Once the marriage was decided, Lucrezia shuddered that she regretted ever letting the word marriage leave her lips, and afterward she did not say another word.

She could not keep her new daughter-in-law shut away in the inner quarters, so Lucrezia moved to the annex and never came out. Naturally, she left everything a mother-in-law ought to teach a daughter-in-law to Marie.

But Marie was Henrietta's inferior, not someone in a position to instruct her as a mother-in-law would. Their relationship could only worsen.

Of course, wives and concubines were never meant to be close. It was fortunate if they remained merely distant. If they did not become enemies and turn the family into chaos, that was considered good enough.

It differed by household, but concubines in southern families often fulfilled their duties and left. Their status and treatment varied by region and family, so some concubines did leave the household.

Usually, this happened after the illegitimate children they had borne reached adulthood. Such a time might come for Marie as well, though the marquess would have to permit it.

But that was a distant future. Madame Flandme hoped Marie would get along with the marchioness if possible.

For the children. Yes. For their sake, Marie should not defy the marchioness and should try to please her. The reason Marie's beloved children could grow up under her care was because the marquess's wife tolerated it.

That was the authority of a lawful wife. No matter how lonely or neglected she looked, even if her husband did not love her, her authority did not rust away. Authority did not come from emotions as brief and easily changed as love.

"Nothing."

If this kind of submission was Marie's wish, Madame Flandme understood. Marie was a fearful girl. She had no allies in this castle. It was her home, and she lived here, but there was no one who would take her side. Though everything existed for her, it was still so.

And all those things were temporary. They would vanish at once if the marquess stopped favoring her. Once that shallow feeling was exhausted, they would scatter as though such days had never existed. Marie knew that.

The other female slaves knew it too. Once cast aside, they would have nowhere to return to.

"It will be cute."

Marie kissed Claude's forehead. Madame Flandme laughed very briefly, then looked away.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried