The Crown Prince Who Raises a Side Character

Episode 41: Servant Cedric (7) – Image Improvement. The Manor Arc.

Episode 41: Servant Cedric (7) – Image Improvement. The Manor Arc.

If you were to ask Neria, a maid in the manor, who the most terrifying person in the world was, she would undoubtedly point to ‘the young mistress’.

“Ouch!…Hey, are you kidding me!?”

The catalyst was trivial.

While helping the young mistress with her morning toilette, while brushing her hair, a few strands became tangled in the comb by accident.

A simple happening, the kind that inevitably occurs when one is brushing hair.

But for that one trivial mistake, Neria was beaten until her face was a blooming bruise, and she writhed in pain for a full day.

After that, it was a ceaseless downward spiral.

The mere sight of the Young Mistress’s face, or even sensing her presence, made her instinctively flinch. And trying to do her chores in that state, mistakes naturally mounted.

Then would come another harsh reprimand from the Mistress, making her recoil even further next time.

Some of the other maids, pitying the newcomer, tried to get her shifts changed, but even this had its limits.

So many servants quit because they couldn’t bear the Young Mistress’s tirades that available hands were always stretched thin.

Neria, too, considered quitting countless times, but she couldn’t bring herself to hand in her notice.

Having lost her parents early and needing to care for her younger siblings on her own, she simply couldn’t ignore the remarkably high wages she earned here.

For Neria, the recent changes at the mansion were most welcome.

As the Young Mistress’s attention was entirely consumed by the new manservant, Neria found a sliver of respite for her mind and body.

Neria savored this reprieve cautiously, yet felt an unease stirring within her.

Knowing the Young Mistress’s terrifying temperament, she couldn’t imagine this peace lasting.

“I’m sorry. I was too harsh last time.”

So, when the Young Mistress abruptly lowered her head and apologized, Neria could only freeze, dumbstruck.

It wasn’t only Neria who was taken aback; she could sense the others around her holding their breath.

Taking the silence as some sort of cue, the Mistress glanced nervously at Neria.

Only then did Neria realize she hadn’t offered any response, and she hurriedly spoke.

“I-It’s alright! Truly, it is! It was all my fault, there’s nothing for you to apologize for, Mistress!”

Neria bowed deeply, lower even than the Mistress had lowered her head, in a flurry.

The emotion mixed into the action was contriteness, but even more than that, it was fear.

It was because she perceived the young mistress’s apology not as a true apology, but as some sort of test.

If she puffed up her chest and spat out something like, “Indeed, you were far too harsh,” and the young mistress reversed her stance, how on earth would she manage the aftermath?

“No, uh…”

Seeing Neria shrink in on herself, the young mistress trailed off, then sighed.

“…It won’t happen again. And as a gesture of apology, I’ve added extra to your wages this time, so please accept it.”

That was all.

Without another word, without picking at her, the young mistress simply left Neria’s side and, one by one, bowed her head to the other maids, offering her apologies.

Only after the young mistress had completely left the area did Neria, who had been frozen stiff, finally unclench.

A senior maid, who often helped Neria, approached her.

“Neria, are you alright?”

“Yes, somehow…”

“Well, I’ve seen a lot in my life, but this is something else.”

The senior maid, who claimed to have experience serving not only the Redbel family but other noble houses as well, seemed genuinely astonished by Claudia’s actions.

Fundamentally, nobles were stingy with apologies towards those beneath them.

Acknowledging their faults and asking forgiveness from someone lower in status was considered a blow to their dignity as nobles.

The most common approach was to forgo apologies altogether, followed by ‘making amends with material compensation without uttering a word of apology,’ ‘having someone else deliver the message,’ or ‘phrasing it indirectly, like there had been a misunderstanding before.’

In that sense, what Claudia had just done was almost groundbreaking.

In front of everyone, Claudia herself had bowed her head and directly spoken words of apology without any roundabout phrasing.

“It seems the young mistress has changed a great deal.”

At the senior maid’s words, Neria stared at the spot where Claudia had been standing just moments before.

Frankly speaking, the mistress’s apology didn’t resonate within her soul quite as deeply as it should have.

It was inevitable.

Wounds of the heart don’t vanish so easily.

Just one thing, though.

A very small thing.

Truly, only just a little.

The truth was, a sliver of hope had begun to bloom that perhaps something, just maybe, could change.

*

Thump.

Claudia, not even bothering to change her clothes, nearly collapsed, burying her face in the bed.

The time it took to seek out each and every servant in the mansion and apologize for her past actions was about two hours.

It wasn’t physically strenuous work, but the mental fatigue Claudia felt was beyond imagination.

The humiliation of offering apologies to servants she usually regarded as insignificant.

The shame of lowering her head in front of others.

But more than anything, what burdened her most was─

“─An apology isn’t the end of it. It seems you deeply felt that, didn’t you.”

“Ugh.”

At the servant’s words from beside her, Claudia flinched visibly.

She turned her head, fixing Cedric with a resentful glare.

Her disheveled attire and eyes, upturned with a touch of spoiled petulance, created a vision captivating enough to stir the hearts of most men, but Cedric’s face, as always, remained as impenetrable as a slab of iron.

“The servants didn’t truly forgive you because they accepted your apology. They had no choice but to accept it because you are a noble, the Lady of Redbell, their employer. I suspect you felt that as well.”

Claudia couldn’t find words to reply.

Cedric’s words had struck true.

Even after her apology, the servants still regarded her with fear, wary that she might be concealing some hidden scheme.

Thus, she couldn’t help but question.

“Is this… meaningful? Everyone seems to doubt me anyway, and they don’t exactly appear enthusiastic.”

“Milady, forgiveness is not a commodity displayed on a shelf.”

“What?”

“The very notion that because I apologized, the other party must reciprocate with forgiveness is a delusion, a form of arrogance.”

Claudia’s gaze darted about, tracing patterns on the floor.

She asked tentatively.

“Then… what am I supposed to do?”

“You have expressed your intent with words, now all that remains is to prove it through action. And in this regard, Milady, you are in a rather advantageous position. Because your reputation has been so low until now, simply behaving ‘normally’ or even ‘slightly more favorably’ can create a dramatic effect.”

When someone famed for their virtue commits a small transgression, people heap immense criticism upon that saint.

When someone notorious for their wickedness performs a small act of kindness, people re-evaluate the villain, claiming there’s an unexpected side to them.

Claudia’s reputation is undoubtedly at rock bottom, and the expectations surrounding her are infinitely low.

However, it is precisely because of this that even a minor change from her can leave a very powerful impression.

“Especially since you are beautiful and your bloodline is noble. It might be something you personally dislike, but it will be a great strength in whatever you try to do.”

When a common soldier is wounded and falls, someone might tend to his injury.

If a village woman healed his wound with scraps of cloth, the soldier would think of it as a ‘kind deed.’

If a fair princess were to tend a soldier’s wound with her own hand, the soldier would consider it a most ‘gracious boon.’

One might easily dismiss it as trivial, but its true effect should never be underestimated.

Especially not in a society where the concept of hierarchy is deeply ingrained.

In the borderlands of the Virka Kingdom, the nobles’ century-long display of incompetence has greatly eroded this sense of rank, but in the kingdom’s capital district, where Redvel’s estate lay, many commoners still saw nobles as inherently magnificent and noble by their very nature.

This must be thoroughly exploited, Cedric had said.

“Even infrequently is sufficient. If a servant performs their duties admirably, offer them words of praise. Especially when someone achieves a noticeable success, grant them suitable reward, and commend their accomplishment in the sight of the other servants.”

“Show leniency towards mistakes. However, this does not mean you should forgive all transgressions unconditionally. While such an approach might temporarily increase your popularity among the servants, it will weaken your authority in the long run.”

“Establish clear standards for reward and punishment in your mind, and allow the servants to discern these standards to a certain degree. But do not codify them into open rules. The moment you put the standards into writing, the servants will focus on the rules themselves, not on you.”

“Conversely, if you reveal parts of the standards without disclosing all, the ambiguous portions will become a weapon you can wield at your discretion.”

Truth be told, Claudia did not fully grasp everything Cedric was saying.

She vaguely recognized that what the servants had done was ‘wrong,’ but she still didn’t fully comprehend the severity, and she couldn’t quite embody the attitude of a ruler that Cedric was describing.

Perhaps this was only natural.

After living for so many years as a spoiled noble heiress, she could not so easily change with a single resolution.

But that didn’t matter.

When Claudia made a mistake, Cedric would point it out and tell her how to correct it.

When Claudia had a question or doubt, Cedric would provide a clear solution.

Claudia was not a prodigy who understood ten things from one lesson, but she was at least a talent who could master something if taught repeatedly.

“The head maid, Paula, is concerned about her short tenure in the position. As a result of senior maids leaving the estate one after another, she has risen to the head position after only three years. If you acknowledge her authority, she will surely be deeply impressed.”

“The gardener, Rudolfe, is under considerable stress because the garden he painstakingly cultivates is constantly ravaged by the rampages of Blood Mana Beasts. If you subtly acknowledge his efforts, saying something like ‘I haven’t said anything, but I know how hard you work. Thank you for always putting in the effort’, he will surely be pleased.”

“The head chef, Cruallo, is worried that you do not particularly enjoy his cooking. Rather than praising his dishes indiscriminately, point out when he makes a change to a recipe, and express your preference or dislike for that alteration. It will undoubtedly ignite even greater enthusiasm in him.”

So it went, as time passed.

With a most deliberate air, Claudia spoke to the maid who had helped her prepare this morning.

“Hmm. Good. I like it. You’ve improved, Neria.”

The maid’s eyes widened, then she replied with a faint smile.

“Thank you, my lady!”