**Chapter 24**
‘This is troublesome… It’s not like I can take a break just because I’m sick…’
The fact that the laundry room was still short-handed was one thing, but Marsha would never allow her to take sick leave.
Edel sighed and sat up.
‘First, I’ll go to work, have a quick lunch, and then ask Mr. Marco to get me some medicine. They should at least let me take medicine.’
About a month ago, she got to know Daisy’s father, Mr. Marco Moulton, who had told her to let him know if she ever needed anything from outside.
Though she preferred not to rely on others, as a prisoner, she couldn’t leave the mansion freely, so this time she would have to ask for his help.
Thankful that she at least had someone to ask for medicine, Edel lifted her heavy, waterlogged body.
At breakfast, Celia and Laila noticed right away that Edel was unwell.
“Are you feeling sick? You don’t look well…”
“I think I caught a cold. If I take some medicine and get a good night’s sleep, I should be fine.”
“Don’t take colds lightly. They can turn into pneumonia if you’re not careful. There isn’t much laundry today, so take it easy.”
“Celia…”
Edel was about to thank them when Marsha appeared with her ‘personal guards.’
As soon as she saw Edel, Marsha gave a meaningful smile. It didn’t bode well.
“Ahem! Now that I think about it, it’s already been over a month since the new year began. Soon, it’ll be March.”
Everyone stopped eating and looked at her curiously. There was still more than a month and a half left until March.
But Marsha ignored their puzzled looks and continued.
“When March comes, we have to do the spring cleaning for the mansion. It’ll be chaotic if we wait until then. Right?”
“Well, I suppose…”
Someone reluctantly answered, but the servants were still skeptical. It was a routine task every year, and the Chrysus family didn’t do any grand house renovations just because the seasons changed.
However, Marsha pretended to be lost in thought for a moment, then looked at Celia as if she had made a decision.
“Celia!”
“Yes…?”
“Today, wash all the curtains for spring.”
“What? All of a sudden? There’s still a long way to go until March!”
Celia frowned deeply, but Marsha looked even more delighted.
“Whether you do it today or in a month, it’s something that needs to be done anyway. It’s better to do it in advance. The weather seems nice today and tomorrow, so they should dry well.”
“But with the laundry piled up already…”
“That’s why I gave you more hands in the laundry room, isn’t it? You and Laila handle today’s laundry, and let the new girl take care of the curtains.”
At that, Celia and Laila looked at Edel. They realized what Marsha was aiming for.
“Edel!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You can handle it, right? It’s been almost three months since you started learning the job. If you can’t manage this, you’d be a fool or an idiot, wouldn’t you?”
Marsha must have known Edel was unwell at a glance. Otherwise, there was no reason to bring up a task nearly two months early.
‘There goes my plan to get medicine.’
Edel realized she wouldn’t even have time to ask Marco for help. Even if she skipped lunch and focused solely on the laundry, finishing everything today would be impossible.
“I’ll do my best.”
“It’s not enough to just do your best. You must finish it. And!”
Marsha spoke sternly, barely holding back a smile.
“You know to wash the curtains in cold water, right? I say this because you might recklessly use hot water since you grew up pampered.”
“Ma’am! What are you saying? It’s so cold…!”
Celia protested on her behalf, but Marsha shot her a sharp look as well.
“Celia, have you ever washed the curtains in hot water before?”
“Well, that’s because we never washed curtains in the middle of winter!”
“Whether it’s winter or summer! If you use too much hot water, how do you expect us to cover the cost of firewood?”
Marsha then mocked the young maids, saying they were too comfortable and lacked common sense. She muttered to herself as if speaking to no one in particular.
“Why would I give extra firewood for nothing? Maybe if they did something worth it.”
She then continued eating as if nothing had happened, hinting that bribes might make things easier.
Edel tore at her bread without a word. But the fever she had felt since dawn was worsening.
‘It’s okay. Maybe putting my hands in cold water will help reduce the fever…’
With that hopeless thought, she forced the rough bread into her dry mouth. She couldn’t afford to skip meals when she was already feeling unwell.
Just moving the spring curtains from the storage to the laundry room was a daunting task, making Edel anxious.
“I’ll head out first. Take your time.”
After quickly finishing her meal, she tied her hair up and wrapped it tightly with a headscarf.
“Let’s go together, Edel.”
“It’s okay. I know where the spring curtains are stored.”
“You may know where, but not how many there are, right? There are seventy-five bundles, seventy-five!”
This meant there were seventy-five bags containing pairs of curtains for each side of the windows, translating to 150 curtains that Edel had to wash today.
Celia and Laila hurriedly stuffed the remaining food into their mouths and followed Edel to the first-floor storage.
“That wretched woman. She’s just nasty.”
Celia cursed Marsha as soon as they were out of earshot.
Laila chimed in, “Did you know? To become Madam Bohem’s ‘follower,’ you have to pay 100 Ringtons every month. Our monthly salary is only 1,000 Ringtons!”
“Paying tribute?”
“Exactly, ‘tribute’! That’s the word.”
As Laila marveled at the new word she learned, Celia was still grinding her teeth.
“Is she a thug? Extorting money from people who work in the same house?”
“Madam Bohem is obsessed with money. She’s made so much here that she bought a pretty decent house on Durham Street.”
“Ha! I thought with all her talk about money, she might have a house in the Carrera District, but it’s just in the Baltiche District?”
The Carrera District was where wealthy commoners lived, while the Baltiche District housed the middle-class.
Though Celia scoffed at it not being the Carrera District, it was unrealistic for even the head maid of a high-ranking noble household to live there. Typically, they’d buy a house in a nice part of the Baltiche District. If it was on Durham Street, that was quite good.
Moreover, if she bought it with money earned here, it was even more impressive.
‘The Chrysus Count’s family has only been around for about three and a half years.’
When that thought struck her, Edel found something odd.
‘She saved up enough to buy a house in just three and a half years?’
Even if it was in the commoner’s district, buying a nice house still required a significant amount of money.
‘A house on Durham Street would be around 300,000 Ringtons at a reasonable price. The head maid’s salary would be, at most, 4,000 Ringtons…’
Even if the head maid saved her entire salary without spending a penny, it would be only 168,000 Ringtons. Even with the tributes from the servants, it wouldn’t surpass the head maid’s salary.
The only remaining assumption Edel could think of was one.
‘Could it be embezzlement…?’
It wasn’t uncommon for household staff to embezzle noble money and run away.
Especially the stewards, who were often aware of the family’s cash flow.
But if the head maid of the count’s household was embezzling money, it would be laughable for the Chrysus family.
‘If the head maid is embezzling, it means the financial management is a mess…’
The unfortunate thing was, looking at the current state of the Chrysus family, that suspicion seemed likely.
While she was lost in these thoughts, they arrived at the storage. The walls were stacked high with identical bags.
“Were you planning to move all this by yourself, Edel?”
Celia asked with a laugh. It was a daunting task even for the three of them.
Edel decided to focus on the task at hand.
‘Right, it’s not my place to meddle in Madam Bohem’s affairs.’
Maybe Marsha’s family or husband was wealthy. It was normal to think so.
‘I must have subconsciously hated Madam Bohem. To think of embezzlement right away.’
Edel scolded herself as she loaded the bags onto the cart.
She stopped thinking about Marsha and pushed the cart to the laundry room.
The seventy-five bags of curtains were much more overwhelming than she had expected, leaving her no room for other thoughts.
As soon as they reached the laundry room, they began filling the large tubs with water. The largest tubs could hold about six average-sized curtains at a time, so to wash all 150 curtains today…
‘Even just filling and emptying the tubs will be a massive task.’
Having powdered soap would make the job easier, but the laundry room only had solid soap.
