Resetting Lady

Business was prosperous.

Donna was born and raised in this area, and when they arrived, her eyes widened, saying that it wasn’t like this until just a while ago. There was no road like that there before—rather, it was a garbage dump.

Everywhere they went, she would burst into exclamations. The improvements were going crazy fast. Sure enough, the Evans family, who hadn’t been here for long, continued their diligent hunt.

“Look over there, goodness… Such a big circus came to this town.”

“Right.”

Instead of cherry picking the Hare household, the Evans family was trying to take the territory for themselves. That’s why the fief was being developed at such a crazy rate thanks to the enormous wealth and skills being poured out by Evans.

The fief’s residents were puzzled, but they couldn’t take their eyes off the entertainment and wealth being provided, and they secretly started favoring the Evans family.

Even Donna, who couldn’t hide her hostility towards the Evans family, showed such excitement at the spectacle she was seeing. She begged Borwen.

“Excuse me… Mister Borwen…”

“……”

“…Yes.”

When the two girls looked up at Borwen with shining eyes, he was forced to check the time once again and bought a ticket, reminding them once again that they shouldn’t be late in coming back.

“It’s still a bit of time later, so let’s just look around the town a bit more,” Carynne said.

“Yes.”

The number of people increased, and Carynne’s old father—who wasn’t good at business—and her clumsy fiancé were being eaten up by the sneaky merchants from the city. She already knew about those facts, but she wasn’t thinking about interfering in this life.

Very smoothly, the Hare household was dropping into ruin. That was just a minor thing for Carynne this time. The household would go bankrupt, everything would be seized, their meals would be shabby, Dullan would return to the monastery in the mountains, and the desolate fief lord would die in agony.

It was a good enough tragedy that would add to the pitiful loveliness of the female protagonist.

“The streets are really crowded!”

Borwen hurriedly followed behind the young women, who were running amongst the people on the street. When Carynne and Donna picked this and that, Borwen was the one who paid and carried the things. Then, when he looked up again, they were suddenly already at another store far away.

The attendant was quickly drained of his energy.

“Tsk, tsk. Surely enough, men who only do convenient things have only that much stamina.”

Donna smiled as she entered the hatter’s shop first, followed by Carynne. Without entering the store, Borwen waited outside—it was awkward for him to come in because the store sold only items for women.

Filled with fluttering fabrics, harmonious decorations and various hats, it was a place that induced excitement. In addition to the hats, they also sold inexpensive accessories and sewing tools.

Carynne was the daughter of the fief lord, so she didn’t exactly ‘buy’ things. The best items were first given to the lord. Rather than opening their own stores like this, the best seamstresses and the most skilled workers were bound to be employed by the mansion.

However, barring the actual quality of the items, she found that there was a unique charm about going around like this. It was a different kind of fun. Instead of buying things for herself, she either watched her servants or bought things for them.

Between folds of fabric, Donna whispered while looking outside the store window.

“Male attendants don’t do much, and they’re just annoying because they just try to look cool.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“But all the attendants do physical work, right?”

“Bringing tea, carrying luggage or opening the doors when there are guests?”

“Why are you so upset?”

“There’s heaps of work, but see. We came on this outing here thanks to Milady.”

She put on a hat and turned around.

“Not that.”

Donna grew sullen and picked up another bonnet. The sky blue large brim hat looked quite good on Donna’s brown hair. While looking in the mirror, she smiled as though she knew it, but Carynne shook her head.

“This coming summer will be quite hot, so a boater hat would be better than a bonnet that’s made of fabric. The bonnet’s brim would cover your face, but the fabric would make it humid, so your hair would stick to your sweat.”

“This coming summer?”

To be exact, she couldn’t compare it to 「 another summer 」 because she didn’t know any other. However, she knew that the servants, the merchants and everyone else would sneakily roll droop in the heat while rolling up their sleeves and go out without wearing their undergarments.

“Yes, that’s what I said. Anyway, what do you think of Borwen?”

“It’s not that I dislike Mister Borwen.”

Comparing the sky blue bonnet with the boater hat made of straw, Donna glanced at the attendant.

“It’s just… I think there are too many attendants in the manor compared to the number of maids. Actually, attendants do less than the maids, right? Maids have so much to do throughout the day, like washing dishes, preparing meals, cleaning and changing the bed sheets. Meanwhile, all the attendants have to do is dress up, open the door and sometimes carry luggage, but hnghh. They even get paid more, hnngh.”

“Is that so.”

Was it due to her father’s vanity? Or perhaps it was a product of a romance novel’s worldbuilding. In her mind, what’s left of the words that described Carynne’s life was such an old memory that there were ashes.

The memories were seared into her brain as though they’d been scorched by flames, and even after a hundred years, they throbbed as they revealed their existence.

There didn’t seem to be anything like the number of maids written in the script. When she giggled, she waved a hand when Donna looked at her strangely.

Should this be called an error? But it’s too grand to label her father’s mismanagement as divine error.

“Not too long ago, Sera said that she was scolded by Lady Isella while delivering a telegram. It’s not like she’s paying us or anything!”

In a few months’ time, she’ll be giving you your salary. Carynne giggled again. For a maid, Donna had a rather rash mouth. Was it because she was still young and because she was originally in charge of the laundry?

However, it was more satisfying to have new dialogue so as to brush away boredom. Bringing out Donna to this trip also had such a reward like her prattling.

“What happened?”

“While delivering the letter, Sera was scolded for giving it with her hands instead of putting it on a tray.”

“Oh my.”

“It’s like she detests even touching us, goodness.”

“Oh right, we don’t have trays for letters.”

“Uh… I-It’s not that… Oh… I apologize.”

Having been acquainted with the Countess, Carynne knew how many nobles thought it was disrespectful to touch their bodies, but she didn’t want to tell Donna about it.

Instead of graciously informing her about how class differences worked, Carynne blamed her own poverty. In a countryside like these, there were insular laws and customs, so it was meaningless to give such advice.

“I’m joking.”

“Uh…”

“Laugh.”

“…Ohoho.”

Though it was awkward, the two burst into laughter.

In the end, people of the same gender spent the most time closely. Even comparing time spent for dialogue, Carynne would spend more than half of the novel with Isella rather than Raymond.

However, Raymond’s importance as a character was naturally higher compared to Nancy, Donna and Isella. Even Dullan’s importance was higher than the maids’ since this was a romance novel.

“Instead, let’s add some decorative cloth on the boater hat. Not flowers—ribbons.”

But this time, Nancy as a character has become more prominent. ‘Right now’, instead of Raymond, Nancy enthralled Carynne’s daily life more intensely.

Whenever she opened her eyes in the morning, she saw Donna’s face, not Nancy’s, and she would feel a sense of accomplishment.

She previously thought that it was a meaningless change because all maids were the same, but because Donna was just a laundry maid who had never been a personal maid, her fingertips were not as smooth as Nancy’s. She was also a bit dense, but she was cheerful, and Carynne liked the eighteen-year-old’s innocence.

Above all, she was proud that she had managed to change the characters.

So while giving Nancy or Donna time and affection, Carynne enjoyed thinking about cutting into the maid’s stomach with a knife at any given time.

Though she could be regarded as someone wicked, her beautiful heart was not a lie, and so there was nothing to worry.