[Kugane] "I hear they keep her in the castle dungeons..."

[YianKutku]

In Kugane's Kogane-doori (market area).

Who are they talking about?

[Keever]

Completely unknown. As of now, I would put it down to just NPC flavourtext-gossip (like in Ishgard: "But a moon in the kitchens and that maid is already fat with child!")

[YianKutku]

(like in Ishgard: "But a moon in the kitchens and that maid is already fat with child!")

I remember this bit of chatter being outside the Athenaeum Astrologicum, so I was wondering if it was something astrological, or just another oblique way of mentioning another noble having their way with the help.

[Rongway]

I remember this bit of chatter being outside the Athenaeum Astrologicum, so I was wondering if it was something astrological, or just another oblique way of mentioning another noble having their way with the help.

I could think of some creative interpretations involving the astrological, but I think it just means "[some female character] has only been at the new job for a month and she's already been knocked up."

[Enkidoh]

I remember this bit of chatter being outside the Athenaeum Astrologicum, so I was wondering if it was something astrological, or just another oblique way of mentioning another noble having their way with the help.

Like Keever said, it was the later, just idle gossip about the sad tendency of members of male nobility in Ishgard abusing their station by taking advantage of their female servants, only to cast them out into the street once the inevitable happens (eg: Hilda).

I'm not sure the npcs referred to by the OP are insinuating something similar though.

[Saiah]

the pregnant maid story is actually part of a bigger plot. She appears near the gossiping nobles time to time and is then aproached by the father to be, who speaks of marriage to sort the matter out.

[Keever]

the pregnant maid story is actually part of a bigger plot. She appears near the gossiping nobles time to time and is then aproached by the father to be, who speaks of marriage to sort the matter out.

You're confusing that with another story. The nobles gossiping about the pregnant maid are static, and don't interact with that story.