How can you become stronger if you don't build up bonds?

Over the past two decades, under the continuous influence of Duke Eugene and the Chosen One Linwei, the Duke's Palace has developed a servant training and management mechanism that is completely different from that of the upper class of nobles in other kingdoms.

In the past, stewards who held certain management authority and personal servants who served the royal family closely were at the absolute top of the food chain in this hierarchy. They could almost arbitrarily decide the fate of the servants below them.

Because the Duke's mansion was so large, the number of servants required was also quite large, and the power held by these high-ranking servants needed to be delegated layer by layer.

Over time, this led to an extremely rigid hierarchical system, where the oppression and exploitation of those in higher positions by those in lower positions was commonplace. A considerable number of the lower-level servants lived in misery, and their actual status was perhaps even lower than that of slaves in the conventional sense.

This situation improved when the vast ducal mansion was passed down to Eugene Creddy.

Eugene's personality was somewhat eccentric among the generations of the Kreddy royal family. He disliked this trend and, in addition, he liked beautiful women. Sometimes, he would even personally inspect the selection of the lowest-ranking maids in the ducal mansion.

Whether someone is good at working or not isn't that important; the key is that they're pleasing to the eye.

The butlers and servants, who belong to the upper class of exploitation, are not afraid that the lower-class servants will complain to Eugene, because they would not dare to do so after being oppressed and mentally controlled for so long.

But these people were terrified of a situation where some of the lower-class maids, due to long-term oppression and exploitation, would lose their good looks and appearance, and Eugene, having remembered her, would notice this contrast.

Eugene will investigate such matters thoroughly once he discovers them.

Once the investigation is thorough, those who are most unscrupulous in their crimes will suffer greatly.

It is worth mentioning that the early Duchess Laura also disliked this trend.

Her starting point was completely different from Eugene's.

Laila was not born into a traditional noble family in Wallis; her family, the Broland family, was a well-known commercial family in the East.

The Broland family is incredibly wealthy, with a history spanning over 200 years since its founding. Their influence extends throughout the vast and boundless eastern regions of the continent.

However, its direct lineage, up to the generation of Laila's father, had never been completely subordinate to any kingdom in the eastern continent.

It wasn't until Laura, as the new generation heir of the family, married Eugene that the core direct line of the Broland family officially submitted to the Kingdom of Wallis.

As the heir to the family, Laura received top-notch education and received unwavering support from her family from a young age. She possesses exceptional abilities in all aspects, making it effortless for her to manage the entire ducal mansion.

Therefore, in the early days, Laura would exert equal pressure on every servant in the Duke's mansion, not allowing anyone to escape her control or take away her management authority.

During this period, the original servant class system of the Duke's mansion began to gradually decline.

Later, Duke Eugene fell in love with Lin Wei's mother, the unremarkable cleaning maid from back then, and the original servant class system of the Duke's mansion finally suffered a devastating blow.

Lin Wei's mother came from a humble background, and a series of unfortunate events led her to become a slave until she was chosen by Eugene and brought back to the Duke's mansion.

The people Eugene brought back personally were so well-received that no servant dared to disrespect her. Even his wife, Laura, couldn't openly express her dissatisfaction with her.

Lin Wei only came to understand a fact in the last two years: Laura's hatred for her maid mother did not stem from Eugene's infidelity.

In this world, it is perfectly normal for people in high positions to have multiple wives and concubines.

As the heir to a large family, Laura Broland was already used to this kind of thing.

What Laura truly couldn't accept was that Eugene had gotten her favorite maid pregnant.

It is a well-known fact among the people of the Eastern Continent that the Kreddy family of Wallis only fathers children with their principal wives.

This rule played a significant positive role in the rule and succession of the Wallis monarchy.

But Eugene broke that.

According to him, this was an ancestral precept that only kings had to follow, and dukes had followed it voluntarily.

Laura couldn't accept this argument at all, believing that Eugene's actions were an insult to the Broland family, and even more so to her, the lady who had married into the Broland family!

But Eugene ignored all of that and continued to do things his own way.

Eugene can be considered one of the most influential figures among the Dukes of Wallis.

With his powerful deterrent presence, no one dared to directly or indirectly harm the child in the maid's womb.

Laura's resistance only went as far as preventing Eugene from granting her the title of maid.

In any case, she would not allow the "bastard" in the maid's belly to take away even a fraction of the Duke Wallis's resources and power.

Judging from Eugene's attitude, it seems that he never thought about having offspring in the first place.

He wanted to give the maid the title of concubine simply because he loved her.

Rumors circulated that when his maid mother had a difficult childbirth, Eugene insisted on saving the mother and never considered prioritizing the child's life.

Later, Eugene seemed quite afraid that Lin Wei would find out about this.

On the contrary, Eugene received Lin Wei's high praise in this matter.

……

Since Lin Wei's birth, the term "pretty maid" has become extremely sensitive in the Duke's mansion.

On the one hand, Laura absolutely could not accept the emergence of another favored maid.

On the other hand, the fact that Lin Wei's mother died in childbirth was a great blow to Eugene.

For several years, he barely paid attention to the various affairs within the Duke's mansion.

Therefore, Laura completely tore up Eugene's original rules for selecting maids, and did everything in the opposite way to Lin Wei's mother.

While it's not necessary to deliberately choose someone with an unattractive appearance, their temperament must be the opposite of the phrase "gentle and graceful."

During this period, Laura's mental state was terrifying; she demanded that the maids maintain a competitive and hostile relationship with each other.

However, while maintaining a competitive and hostile relationship, no substantial internal strife or sabotage is permitted.

Any instances of friendly, harmonious, or sisterly relationships among the maids will be severely punished!

Lin Wei still has a deep impression of that period. Laila's strategy for managing servants mainly involved a battle between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

When recruiting servants, the principle of selection is to choose those who are simple and honest, hardworking and capable.

In managing them, they were inexplicably made hostile to each other.

Therefore, during those years, the Duke's mansion was filled with a suffocating atmosphere, and most of the ordinary maids lived in dire straits.

There have even been cases of people completely breaking down due to excessive psychological pressure.

The only place in the entire Duke's mansion that could be considered a haven was the secluded residence where Lin Wei lived.

Lin Wei was an outsider in Laila's eyes, and the maid who took care of Lin Wei was naturally also an outsider.

In short, nobody cares about this side.

After thoroughly analyzing the dire situation of the Duke's mansion, Lin Wei, who was not yet six years old, decided to step forward and help these poor maids.

Anyway, he's been researching how to increase Laila's hatred level, so these two things can be done simultaneously.

Lin Wei's extensive surfing experience from his previous life allowed him to quickly devise a solution.

That is, teaching the maids to act.

In essence, Laura didn't have that much energy to keep an eye on these servants all day long; sometimes, a little bit of appearance was enough to fool her.

Lin Wei personally wrote out the formulas and taught them how to perform in front of Laila.

Gradually, Lin Wei's "acting method" became popular in the Duke's mansion.

At the same time, Lin Wei gave these maids a psychology lesson, telling them that Laura's idea was wrong and that no matter what, they should not give up their pursuit of "truth, goodness and beauty".

A child not yet six years old patiently guided them like a teacher, and the maids in the Duke's mansion naturally became Lin Wei's fans.

Later, when Lin Wei's identity as a chosen one was exposed, his wife, Laura, became his devoted follower.

The maid's son became the Duke's greatest prince, and the greatest prince, Linwei, fell in love with a deaf-mute maid with a tragic past.

Then tell me, what does the word "maid" mean to the Duke's mansion now?

Lin Wei completely reshaped the servants' environment in the Duke's mansion.

The era of great oppression and exploitation has passed, and the era of great hostility and pretense has also ended.

Instead, the era of the "extended family" took center stage.

Lin Wei could find virtually no fault with Duchess Laura now.

I even admire her a little.

Because she always manages to come up with some tricks that leave Lin Wei scratching his head, but are actually quite useful.

For the past twelve years, Laura has been dedicated to ensuring that Linwei lives comfortably and happily in the Duke's mansion.

After years of reform, the servant system of the Duke's mansion had finally reached a level that Lin Wei was very satisfied with.

The Duke's mansion now has more servants than ever before.

However, these servants were not recruited. They came from various regions of Wallis and were all children who had suffered from natural disasters and demonic calamities, were left without care, and had extremely pitiful backgrounds.

Laila disregarded their appearance and qualifications, bringing them into the Duke's mansion and training them all from scratch.

These children from impoverished backgrounds not only receive formal and professional servant training within the Duke's palace, but also have the opportunity to receive an education.

In their daily lives, Lai La provides them with a comfortable standard of living, ensuring they never have to worry about basic needs.

But what impressed Lin Wei the most was Laila's ideological education of them.

Instead of instilling in them the idea of ​​obedience as the highest principle of servants, Laura encouraged them to see themselves as part of the Duke's household and that their daily work was out of dedication to the Duke's family.

In short, the Duke's mansion was neither a "hospital" nor a "slave's quarters"; it was their home.

They were, in fact, children of the Duke's family.

Whenever a maid reaches marriageable age, Laura encourages her to pursue her own feelings, and if she wishes, the Duke's mansion can act as a matchmaker.

When each of her children gets married, Laura sends her blessings and a dowry, and the Duke's mansion hosts a lively and grand wedding ceremony.

Lin Wei could very clearly feel the level of care Lai La put into these matters.

Her emotion and reluctance at the wedding ceremony were genuine.

Even today, a saying circulates in Fengdu City: "It's better to marry a duke's maid than a noblewoman."

From the outside, the blessings bestowed by His Highness Lin Wei at the maid's wedding ceremony alone far exceeded the aura of an ordinary noble family.

…………

The maids currently responsible for the daily maintenance of the forest area are usually quite young.

This also contains some deeper meaning from Madam Laura—she hopes that these young maids can maintain a close relationship with Lin Wei from a young age, and that Lin Wei can give them some guidance in his spare time.

To make it easier for Lin Wei to remember their names, Laila consulted Lin Wei and gave all the maids under the age of 15 in the Duke's mansion a code name.

Initially, the generation name was "Yue" (月), ranging from January to October.

Then came the "Ye" generation, which also used the prefixes one through ten.

Now, Tina is meeting with members of the "Flower" generation.

However, Lin Wei sometimes still couldn't remember things and had to rely on Luya to help him remember. She could easily remember all the characteristics of the maids in the Duke's mansion, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she was Lin Wei's external memory bank.

The staring contest in the center of the large garden continues.

But in the end, it was Rikka who timidly broke the deadlock:

"M-Sir...hello..."

"Sir...sir...?"

Tina looked at the young girl with a few freckles on her nose and couldn't understand why she would call herself an adult right away.

"No...I...did I call you that wrong...but...but that's how Madam...taught you..."

According to Lucia's summary, Rikka is naturally introverted. When she first arrived at the Duke's mansion, she couldn't say a word and usually preferred to be alone.

Given her personality, Laura did not assign her to work with the other maids, but instead made her the first to start her shift alone.

"And who is this lady...?" Tina asked tentatively.

It was obvious that Lucia hadn't told her anything about the Duke's mansion.

Tina's words made Rikka's head feel a little hot. She subconsciously raised her hand to her mouth as if to bite her nail, a habit she had when she was highly nervous.

"The lady is... the lady..."

"..."

The conversation between the two reached an impasse once again.

Lin Wei thought it was time for him to go down.

He casually gave Fengliu a command, and Fengliu dispelled the current hovering magic. With a flap of its large wings, it carried Lin Wei towards the center of the garden.

With her mind still foggy, Rikka finally managed to come up with another question to ask:

"My lord...do you know Lady Lucia...ah—"

Rikka suddenly noticed the giant wind eagle overhead.

"Giant...Giant Windhawk, this lady also taught... um...it's the Duke...ah, it's His Majesty the Duke..."

Rikka's fingers gradually touched her teeth, but immediately, as if she had been electrocuted, she quickly put them down.

In this grand duke's mansion, the duke himself was the person these young maids saw the least.

Rikka, who was already a bit less intelligent than the other maids, had no idea how to entertain guests alone.

"What...what should I do..." Rikka seemed at a loss.

"So afraid of the Duke, it turns out, everything was for the best..." Tina's face tightened, and she bit her lower lip with her silver teeth.

"Eh...no, Your Grace...it needs to be wider, that's..."

Suddenly, Rikka spotted the giant wind eagle leaping down from not far away.

"It's Your Highness!!!"

In an instant, the tension and helplessness on her face completely disappeared, and a smile as bright as the sunflowers beside her appeared. Her voice was full of joy. Without hesitation, she abandoned Tina in front of her and ran towards that direction at full speed.

Good morning, Your Highness!