It was time for supper. Gina, a maid, sighed a few times in front of the basement’s entrance with a plate.
“Eiiish, damn it. Why did I have to lose to rock-paper-scissors?”
Stomp. Stomp. Stomping her foot, she went down the stairs, one step at a time. A muddy smell stung her nose as she got closer to the cellar and made her feel nauseous. In addition, candles were sparsely placed, making it challenging to see underfoot.
“Why didn’t I just bring a candlestick?” Coming to the basement was so terrible that she didn’t even think about it. Gina managed to take one step at a time, and, missing her foot on the last step, she fell flat.
“Argh!”
The maid frowned as she rubbed her bumpy knees. A few pieces of chicken neck and potatoes on the plate disappeared somewhere.
“Because of that rotten…” Gina fumbled on the dark floor and managed to pick up the food and put it back on the plate. Perhaps there was dirt and muddy water on it, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t something she would eat anyway. Briefly after, the maid knocked in a small room deep in the basement.
“Miss Isabella.”
There was no sound in the room. Gina, who had no intention of hearing an answer in the first place, opened the door with a key and glanced around the small room with a frown. The room was full of mold and moisture, and there was only one candle, so it was dark everywhere. In a corner of the wretched little room was Isabella White.
Isabella, reading depending on the candlelight, looked like a lump of trash thrown on the side of the road. Her red hair, like the blazing sun, was messy as if she had fallen into a dust pit, and it flew down her shoulders disheveled as if she had never brushed it. Her thin and dirty face was seen under her messy hair. Not even street beggars were as dirty as she was. They used the free bath service provided by the country. And then, her dress—ripped and tilted everywhere—was nothing but rags. The more you looked at her appearance, the more the word ‘ridiculous’ popped up. The dress, torn to the point of showing her underskirt, wasn’t functional at all. In addition, under the skirt, she was barefoot. Her feet were full of wounds, and the calluses were worse than those of a maid’s.
“Hello, I brought you dinner,” she said while going in, not even glancing at Isabella. Gina, who put the dishes on the old and broken table, wiped her hands on the apron.
“Did you lose today?” Isabella asked in her usual cracked voice. It was because the amount of water provided was terribly small. Her creepy voice made Gina nervous for no reason. It sounded like scratching glass with her fingernails.
“Yes, Miss.”
“I apologize.”
“It’s fine. Eat and leave it in front of the door.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Gina walked out of the room as if running away. Shortly after, there was a sound of locking at the door.
Isabella sat down as usual in front of the table; she put her hands together, prayed reverently, and then raised the fork. On the plate were some rough potatoes and chicken necks, and even some black foreign substances were attached. Unbothered, Bella blew as much as she could and used the fork to wipe off foreign substances. With less than five bites, all the food on the plate disappeared. Bella poked the chicken a few more times in regret and put down the fork.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Rather than eating well, it was a wonder whether she ate anything at all, but Bella ended the meal with gratitude. Absent-minded, she looked at the empty plate for a long time and got up from her seat. It was to put the dish through the small hole under the door, but before she could reach out of the hole, she heard another click, and the door opened.
Creak~ Isabella met face-to-face with Rosalie, her older sister. Rosalie was a woman with red hair and amber eyes, just like Bella. But unlike her, she looked polished and clean from head to toe. Even her dress and accessories looked incredibly expensive. In addition, unlike Bella’s appearance, which exuded a pathetic atmosphere, Rosalie had the ideal appearance of a wealthy noble lady. A lovely, bright, and warm atmosphere overflowed all over her. Of course, the way she looked at Bella was so cold that even beasts would cry.
“Rosalie.”
Bella looked at Rosalie with a puzzled expression. On the other hand, the other party looked up and down at Bella with an unpleasant gaze. As if to knock, Rosalie’s hand was up, covered with a handkerchief. It was presumably because she felt disgusted enough to knock on the door with her bare hands.
“Rosalie, long time no see. How have you been?”
They lived in the same mansion, but the sisters met after 33 days. Rosalie looked displeased and shook her head at Bella.
“Why don’t you wash up if you have fresh water?”
“Oh, sorry. I smell, right?” Bella took a step back from Rosalie with a flustered face.
“Don’t you have a place to wash in this room?”
“I, I do. There’s a small bath,” Bella said, pointing inside the room. There was a wooden bath full of mold and other unknown things. Rosalie bit her lips to contain the waves of nausea. “However, the amount of water I can use per day is limited, so I can’t wash often…”
“If I had known that, would I have asked?” At Rosalie’s annoyed tone of voice, Bella immediately shut her mouth and tried to read Rosalie’s countenance.
“Come down.” Rosalie looked behind her and spoke gracefully. At her command, several maids went down the stairs and stood at the door. Just by looking at their faces, you could tell they were forced to be there because of Rosalie’s orders. In the maids’ hands were dresses, underskirts, hair ornaments, and soap.
“My fiancé will come today. We’ll have a quick tea and talk.”
“Your fiancé—”
“Yes, I mean His Highness, Grand Duke Jenos Ferdian,” Rosalie replied almost immediately. She was desperate to let everyone know that her fiancé was Jenos Ferdian, the Emperor’s younger brother and Grand Duke of the Empire. She even clasped her hands together, looking ecstatic.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him. He has been busy helping His Majesty with state affairs. He has been in small battles at the border. Even to come today, he had to clear some time out of his busy schedule.”
“I see. That’s great.”
“Are you being sarcastic right now?” As Rosalie stiffened her expression and asked coldly, Bella quickly waved her hands.
“N-no. How could I be?”
Rosalie glared at Bella disapprovingly, but there was no time to find fault with her.
“Hurry up, wash up, and change your clothes. I don’t want you to tarnish the family name.”
“Me-me too?”
“His Highness knows that I have an older brother and a younger sister, so I can’t have tea time without you, can I?”
“Ah…”
“Stop wasting my time and wash your body first. What are you guys doing? Should I do it myself?”
Rosalie pushed Bella’s back with her hand still covered with a handkerchief as she urged the maids. The maids whispered by themselves, but Gina and Emma stepped inside Bella’s room with crumpled expressions. It seemed that Gina and Emma were selected as the people in charge of bathing the one they hated the most.
“Just make her clean. Time will run out if you try to adorn her prettily.” Rosalie spoke with her arms crossed, then elegantly went up the stairs and disappeared. She also intended to change into more colorful and luxurious clothes and fix her makeup before her fiancé came.
* * *
“Aak! It’s hot,” Bella said, flustered, sitting in the bathtub. The water that poured over her shoulders was steaming.
“Hang in there. There’s no time to cool it down.” Emma spoke indifferently and continued to pour water on her body.
Bella’s body was ripening red, but no one cared. She also frowned a bit, but let them do their way. It was because they would pour ice water to cool the temperature if she complained any further.
“I think it doesn’t smell anymore. Let’s stop,” Gina said to Emma. She looked annoyed at the fact that she had not only come down to bring food earlier but had to come down again.
When the bath was over, Bella glanced at Gina and Emma and left the bath on her own. It was embarrassing to stand naked in front of them, but rather than hurriedly covering Bella’s body, they handed her an old towel.
“Wipe yourself, please.”
Bella wiped the water carefully alone, without anyone holding her hand to prevent her from falling due to the slippery floor. The maids’ eyes scanned her whole body.
‘Such a skinny, unattractive body.’
‘To think this thing is a noble, too.’
That’s what their eyes were saying.
After wiping off some water, the other maids approached and began to dress Bella.
“Ugh.” Bella closed her eyes tightly as the corset clung to her body. But the maids, who couldn’t care less about her pain, just tightened the cord on the corset and pressed more on the chest and abdomen.
“Gu-guys. Wait a minute.”
“Just hang in there. We’re running out of time,” Emma answered sourly and even tightened the corset. Bella opened her mouth as if reluctant, but the maid did not even look at her face.
“This dress?” Gina pointed.
“It looks too fancy. Let’s go with this one. If Miss Bella stands out, our necks will roll.”
“Miss Isabella stand out? Pfft.”
Bella shrugged when Gina snorted.
“You never know. There’s no harm in being careful.”
Gina shrugged at Emma’s explanation as if she couldn’t help it.
In the end, Bella was wearing a monotonous, dull, light-purple dress, which was expensive just because of the brand name but had no lace. The shape of the hem of the skirt was out of fashion too. Rather than young maidens, mainly ladies who did not want to stand out wore them.
“Is this enough for the hair?” asked Gina.
Emma nodded as she rudely scanned Bella’s face. The hairstyle was as plain as the dress, tied together under the ear. Bella couldn’t have her hair down because Rosalie firmly said she would have her hair hung beautifully in a wave.
“That’s enough. Let’s go.”
The maids organized the tools and left the room. They went up the stairs, talking to each other without caring about Bella. She silently followed the maids up the stairs. Her body suddenly faltered, and she clung to Emma’s skirt right in front of her.
“Goodness!” Emma screamed in surprise and dropped the jewelry box she was holding. None of them fell, but the accessories poured onto the floor.
“What are you doing?!” Emma shouted in anger.
Isabella shrank, and the maids openly swore at her as they put the accessories back in the jewelry box.
“You can’t even climb stairs now?!”
Right then, Bella found a small brooch that fell at her feet. It was a shabby butterfly-shaped brooch that Rosalie wouldn’t even look at. She carefully picked it up and stuck it in her chest. The shabby brooch matched the modest dress in its own way. The maids didn’t see her because they were quickly organizing the accessories.
Bella came out of the basement and stood in front of the drawing-room. She flinched as a maid opened the door for her. She almost opened the door herself, as usual.
“You came?” Baroness Martha checked every angle of a teacup as she glanced at Bella.
The Baroness, with red hair and amber eyes like Bella and Rosalie, was a great beauty. And like Rosalie, each move overflowed with elegance.
Since ancient times, the White household has tried to protect their distinctive red hair and amber eyes—something that most noble families don’t do now—and has always considered the hair and eye color when choosing a marriage partner. Thus, their children would continue their family characteristics.
Bella held the hem of her dress with both hands and bowed lightly. Martha shook her hand as if she didn’t even want to receive such a greeting.
“When the grand duke comes later, do it properly. You know what’s going to happen if you do something impolite?”
“Yes, Mother,” Bella answered calmly.
“At least it doesn’t smell,” said Rosalie as she opened the drawing-room door and came in. As expected, she was all dolled up. Rosalie’s wide, voluminous skirt was clearly different from Bella’s dress. Her neck was decorated by a blue-diamond necklace, a royal birthright that Jenos had gifted her.
“By the way, what’s this?” Rosalie, standing in front of Bella, found the butterfly brooch.
“Ah… I tried it on. What do you think?” Bella spoke with a bashful smile.
Rosalie stared at her smiling face, then suddenly reached out and pressed the brooch.
“Ugh!”
Bella, stabbed by the brooch’s silver needle, groaned with her hand on her chest, but Rosalie acted as if she hadn’t seen anything.
