Maybe there was a better way.
There may have been a better way.
‘… But I couldn’t think of anything other than this.’
My heart is pounding with tension, and my hands are trembling with the fear of what will happen next.
She is now sitting in Count Nigor’s drawing room. When she arrived at the mansion, the old butler of the house disappeared with the words to take Yuria to the drawing room and wait.
As I walked down the hallway, the mansion I looked at was strangely quiet. Even though there must be a lot of people, such as employees. It felt like everyone was holding their breath to avoid something they were afraid of.
Just as they held each other to calm their trembling hands, the door opened and two maids entered. One was wearing gauze with red stains on her face as if she had just been treated, and the other had a neat appearance compared to her…
‘She’s limping.’
Yuria felt a chill and looked away from her limp legs. They took Yuria to the bathroom. One of the maids stretched out her hand as if to take Yuria’s dirty clothes off. Yuria, who suddenly didn’t know why she was doing this, was startled and she took a few steps back.
The gauze-clad maid grabbed her hem and spoke calmly.
“I will wash you.”
“… Pardon? No, it’s okay. If I need to wash, I’ll take care of it.”
“I will wash you. This is the Count’s order.”
Noticing that the maids were shaking, Yuria lowered her eyes and nodded her head. She put herself in their hands. Yuria went into a tub of lukewarm water and she was served by them. The dust and dirt were washed away with a careful hand.
Yuria lowered her head and found the face of a girl who was extremely depressed in the undulating water surface. Saggy eyebrows, a lowered mouth, watery eyes… She had a face that looked like she was about to cry.
One of the maids, who kept her mouth shut, whispered quietly. She was the one with the gauze.
“If you keep looking like that, the Count won’t like you.”
It wasn’t a very loud voice, but perhaps because of the nature of the place called the bathroom, the voice bounced off the wall and echoed through my ears.
“… Yes.”
When Yuria put water in her hand and sprayed it on her face, a light flashed in her darkened eyes.
She’s right… There’s nothing good about hurting the Count.’
She looked up at the corners of her lips, but the girl’s face reflected in the water still looked depressed. A mournful laugh flows out. Yeah, she couldn’t possibly smile properly.
I don’t know what my younger sister is going through, and who can smile in a situation where she’s going to face terrible things in the future?
After bathing, she wiped herself with a towel and put on the pajamas brought by the limp maid. The white one-piece pajamas barely covered her knees, the fabric was so thin that it barely showed through. It was an outfit that made her feel ashamed.
Seeing my reflection in the full-length mirror, Yuria’s face darkened even more.
“Smile.”
The maid with gauze opened her mouth again.
“The Count is a scary person. If his opponent is a commoner and a weak woman, he has nothing to fear about her. Never rebels, just do what he tells you to do. You are beautiful, so if you smile well, follow him, and be modest, he will treat you with a little kindness.”
“… Why are you giving me such advice?”
“Yeah, because I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“……”
“You must be curious about your sister, but don’t ask me today.”
Yuria suddenly turned her head toward the maid at the story of her sister. The maid glanced at Yuria’s face, distorted by her worries and anguish, and put on a dress that looked like a coat.
“Layla… How is my sister now?”
“I don’t know either. All I know is that she’s locked up in a dungeon. The condition of your younger sister was the Count or his aide Alexander…”
He is the man who brought his sister’s hair. Alexander, when the name appeared, Yuria wrinkled her face involuntarily.
“Or, no one will know except Oberon, the servant in charge of the prison.”
Oberon, a name that Yuria knew well. He was a servant from a commoner who came down to the estate of Nigor while doing business with the count in the capital, and he was a man with bad rumors.
I heard from the villagers that he was weak to the strong and strong to the weak, a typical trash human. He told the Count of all kinds of cowardice, but it said that he did not treat others as people and ignored them.
I know I shouldn’t judge people based on rumors, but in the current situation, I had no choice but to think negatively.
“Don’t even think about asking Oberon. After all, that snake-like man will only say useless words instead of answers…”
From the ridiculed voice, there was a hint of disgust towards the person named Oberon. The maid shook her head as if she had suddenly come to her senses and continued her speech.
“The aide doesn’t want to get involved in useless things, so the only one who can get the right answer is the Count. You’re not feeling well today, so you’d better ask the next day after the night.”
“… Thank you.”
“Your expression is still stiff.”
She’s standing in the full-length mirror, hesitated and smiled. She was still awkward, it was more of a smile than the expression she had made before.
Yuria followed the maids to the Count’s room. As one step closer, one step closer to her destination, it felt as if her breath was suffocating. I had a headache as if something was ripping through my brain. Yuria had to squeeze her flabby forehead and try to breathe.
Before reaching the room, they met two men walking from the other side of the hallway. The man with black, curly hair roughly tied into one and unbuttoned a few buttons on his chest was Oberon, a servant whom the Count loved, and on the contrary, the man with buttons all the way down and dressed neatly was the assistant Alexander.
As soon as Alexander made eye contact with Yuria, he avoided her gaze, and Oberon grinned.
“Right! I thought we would meet if we were here.”
He approached Yuria and the maids. The maid, who was limping legs, dyed her face blue as if terrified of him.
“Is this woman Yuria Hanson? The most beautiful woman in this estate! Indeed, she is much prettier than the noble ladies I have seen in the capital. The Count will like her.”
The man scanned Yuria from head to toe.
“Lady, by the way…”
“Oberon. Stop talking nonsense and let’s go.”
“It’s okay. I knew.”
When Alexander called his name briefly as if warning him, Oberon clicked his tongue in annoyance. The man tapped Yuria’s shoulder lightly and walked to the other side of the Count’s room.
“Let’s go.”
The maid took Yuria, who was unintentionally looking back, and started guiding her back to the room. The sound of the two of them talking was clearly heard from behind.
“Aide, do you want to bet when the Count will get tired of that woman?”
“I don’t make stupid bets like that.”
“Not funny… I mean, all the savvy things have the same reaction.”
“… You are a human being who has nothing to do.”
“Haha.”
The laughter subsided and the men disappeared across the hallway.
‘Are you dismissing other people’s misfortunes as fun bets? Terrible….’
With her eyes tightly closed, Yuria felt her anxious heart grow stronger. As they said, the women could not last two weeks and were kicked out of the mansion.
Indeed… Will I be able to see my sister someday? No, would my sister be better than that?
‘Stop. Don’t think more. Don’t worry about what they say. Don’t be afraid. It will show up on your face. Let’s calm down. Calm down, Yuria.’
As she recalled Layla’s face, she struggled to contain her heart. But when she remembered her sister’s face, her negativity was far from suppressed, and she tried to climb up.
Then I heard a knock on the door. Yuria opened her bright eyes.
A delicately engraved door was hanging in front of her. Before long, they had arrived in front of the Count’s room.
“We have brought the guests.”
There was no mental preparation, but as soon as the room owner’s permission was granted, the maid opened the door indifferently. The door, which looked like new, opened softly without a scratching sound anywhere, revealing the look of the room.
A red light was illuminating the dark room. The room, filled with all kinds of expensive and luxurious furnishings, seemed to reflect the ostentatious and extravagant character of the owner.
Two glasses of wine and the bottle of wine were placed on a small round table, and next to the table was a huge bed large enough for three people to lie down on.
Count Nigor was sitting there. The maid pushed Yuria’s back and closed the door. Yuria staggered for a moment, then regained her focus. Not knowing what to do, the Count, seeing Yuria lingering on the spot, smiled and tapped the seat next to me.
“Come here and sit down.”
Yuria hesitated and sat down next to the Count. He poured wine into the wine glass and handed it to her. Yuria, who suddenly remembered the maid’s advice, forced her smile and accepted the cup. As the opponent forced her to drink the wine and pour it to her mouth, she heard something shattering. The wine glass Yuria was holding fell to the floor and shattered, and the liquid contained in it moistened the floor.
