<Episode 1>
Thump!
“Sigh…”
Adele Bryce laid the letter down roughly. She tightened the grip on the tip of the letter and its end crumpled in vain.
“I’ve been…”
Blink, blink.
The lights of the oil-deprived lamp shook faintly. Adele, the maid, glared at the new shadow swaying in the light.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Her cold voice filled the room.
It was a dark night.
The only ones who could come see her this late in the night when everyone else was asleep were either the lord of the castle or the head housekeeper.
“I asked you something, Ashlyn Rosebell. What are you doing here?”
However, it wasn’t the head housekeeper, much less the lord who’d visited her. It was instead the person who’d given the head maid the most trouble these past few months.
It was the maid in question, Ashlyn Rosebell.
“Ashlyn…it’s a strange coincidence for our names to be the same.”
The woman, who was standing still like a lady in a portrait, murmured.
Adele swallowed a scoff and tried to hold back her anger. She didn’t even want to ask her what nonsense she was talking about.
It had been a day or two since she started acting weird.
“You’ve been under that strange fever for two weeks, and it seems that you’ve finally lost your mind.”
Adele waved her hands with a dissatisfied look.
“It’s done. I’m done. Like I said, pack up your bags and leave when day breaks.”
“…….”
“I can’t keep you here any longer.”
“…….”
There was no reply from the maid. Adele almost choked up on her words.
“What the hell have you done so far? If you have a conscience, tell me. The first two months, you played around at the Duke’s orders, and then afterwards, everything I left you to do was a mess. Let’s say that you had no choice but to lay down because of your fever,”
“…….”
“I thought you would come to your senses…but no, you look more out of it than ever. You didn’t do what I told you to, and now you come to my place in the middle of the night?”
Her breath became rough as she spoke. Adele took a deep breath.
“Do you understand now? If you understand, pack up and…”
“Head Maid, I want you to give me a chance.”
Adele blinked very slowly. Perhaps she was so flustered that she couldn’t grasp the situation well.
What did she just say?
No, before that…
“Did you just speak to me informally?”
The maid’s face was expressionless, whether she had grasped Adele’s bewilderedness or not. The pale face, half submerged in the dark shadow, was out worldly beautiful.
Her eyes met with the maid’s. The maid’s deep blue eyes shook briefly as if she had realized what the other party was thinking. After a moment of consideration, the maid moved her lips.
“…please.”
For the first time in a while, Adele felt speechless.
“Please?”
That…was that her idea of honorifics?
“You really have gone crazy.”
“Listen to me first. No, please, listen, head maid. No, ma’am.”
It was a mess.
At this point, the head maid wondered how far the young maid’s antics would go.
“Just give me three months. In the meantime, I will definitely improve my skills and prove my worth as a maid.”
Adele didn’t answer back anymore. She was not worth replying to. She took an empty piece of paper and scrolled down something.
The hand-written document was a notice of dismissal.
She held it up in front of the maid so as to let her know she had it ready.
‘I’m sure of it! I’ll kick you out!’
Under the dim light of the lamp, Adele’s pale eyes shone fiercely.
* * *
Time slipped along.
Adele did give the young maid something when she made up her mind.
It just wasn’t the letter of dismissal that she’d been so eager for.
* * *
Ashlyn Rosebell decided to take a short break during work after a long time.
“Sigh…”
She was sitting in the garden by the fountain.
This abandoned garden was Ashlyn’s favorite place in the duke’s vast estate. Few people came here since it was far from the main residence.
Ashlyn looked down at her hand.
‘The badge of the chief maid.’
She could still see the proud expression of the head maid when she personally handed it over to her. Shining brightly in gold, it was a thing all maids dreamed of. Of course, that included Ashlyn herself.
How hard had she worked for this little badge?
‘It’s been a ridiculous three months.’
Ashlyn recalled her past with dazed eyes.
Of course, it was a mess at first.
She couldn’t even clean properly, so her senior maids often scolded her. Well, what was the use of recalling all that now? At any rate, Ashlyn had not been expelled from the Ducal Residence, and was even promoted like this.
‘At this rate, I can leave the duchy in a year.’
A smile hung around Ashlyn’s mouth.
It was because she’d remembered the real reason she was so obsessed with getting this badge.
Becoming a chief maid meant that her salary would get raised. The faster her salary increased, the closer she was to leaving the duchy.
Ashlyn roughly calculated her salary. Her heart had already become enriched just by the thought of it.
‘What’s this little badge anyway…’
In that moment, she became overwhelmed with emotions. It was because she’d been reminded of the hardships she’d been through until now.
She didn’t even have the time to fully register the fact that she’d somehow possessed a maid.
There was a threat to her livelihood that threatened to choke her as soon as she awoke.
She still vividly remembered the night she first visited Adele, the head maid.
It had not been easy to beg her to not cut her off.
She had rarely ever lowered her head to anyone before.
Fortunately, Ashlyn was a tactful figure. After getting a chance from the maid, she quickly grasped the work flow of the mansion with her natural workmanship and sense.
‘The problem was me not knowing how to do a maid’s job at first, but…’
Nothing remained before hard work. Ashlyn persisted until she didn’t figure it out completely, and her nosebleeds from working too long were a common sight.
Ashlyn’s change from being a bad maid quickly caught people’s attention.
She did everything, anything she could.
At the end, even the head maid, who was eager to kick her out earlier, clapped and acknowledged her.
“Phew…”
Done with recollecting her struggles, Ashlyn breathed a long sky. White fog formed in the clear blue sky.
The sun’s light, as she raised her head, poured on her half-closed eyelids.
At one point…
‘I once worked hard so I could become like that sun.’
Ashlyn smirked. Her tied up violet hair fluttered in the wind.
“Maybe it was my destiny to end up as a servant girl.”
Her voice was light as she murmured. The words held a slight regret.
Ashlyn wrapped the badge in her hand lightly. Her pale hands had become all ragged from the work.
It was something that she never would’ve imagined before.
In her past life that she remembered.
“I have to go back.”
Ashlyn shook her head as if to brush away her thoughts. Her short break had to end here.
In three days’ time, the duke will be back.
The estate was busy preparing to welcome the owner back after eight long months.
‘The head maid must be looking for you.’
She raised herself up from her seat. It was only when she stood on the frozen ground that she felt a sudden chill. Ashlyn shrugged and started to take small steps back towards the main residence.
Whing– a gust of wind passed by. Dry branches and grasses grazed each other and made a sound.
It was the very moment the entrance to the garden became visible to her again.
“……!”
She was caught by the waist out of the blue.
Ashlyn was so surprised that she couldn’t even properly let out a scream.
“There you are.”
Something low and soft touched her ears. She felt a hard, warm wall behind her back.
Wall? No, no. It was a human body.
Only then did Ashlyn realize that someone was hugging her from behind.
“I missed you.”
“Wha- what is this?!”
Thunk!
Ashlyn shook off the arm draped around her waist like a snake. The strong forearms fell flatly off of her. Her heart thumped like it was going to explode. Ashlyn turned around in a hurry, and her eyes met softly-bent ones.
“…….”
And at that moment, she was left speechless.
Because…
She knew this man very well.
“Are you surprised? It’s me, Therion. I ran to see you as soon as I entered the duchy.”
It was a sweet voice, and the expression on his face was also sickeningly sweet, as if he’d poured all the honey in the world on it.
No, she was wrong. She didn’t know this man.
The man she knew would never make a face like this.
‘What the hell is this…’
Ashlyn stepped back. The man tilted his head slightly.
“I’ve been waiting to see you face-to-face like this and talk to you…are you not pleased to see me?”
The man reached out his arms again through his black cloak, as if to console Ashlyn. Ashlyn stepped back. Only then did the man not come any closer.
“Is it because you’re afraid we’ll get caught? It’s alright, don’t worry.”
“…….”
“No one knows our relationship yet.”
Only then did a realization strike Ashlyn’s head like a lightning bolt.
This maid and Duke Laperion…so they had that kind of relationship.
‘No way, how would I know what to do now? I only possessed this body three months ago.’
Ashlyn couldn’t find something to say back to him.
Duke Laperion then approached her again with a friendly smile. The sound of a drum warning her sounded in her head.
She looked up at the duke blankly.
Glossy black hair, shining dark red eyes, a beauty spot under the left eye, a sharp nose, a sharp jawline…
How could she forget this face?
“Princess Ashlyn Britannia, I’ve brought you a cup of poison to drink.”
It was the last face she saw before she died.
The duke lowered his body. Despite the dirtiness of the floor, he knelt down without hesitation and kissed the back of Ashlyn’s hand.
“My lovely Ashie, whom I adore and respect, your servant has returned.”
The man who poisoned her himself whispered so.
Was it because his voice was sweet that she remembered the sensation she’d felt when she died – what she thought she’d forgotten?
DAMN…THIS IS CONFUSING ME…