Chapter 10
Click.
As the door closed completely, Ethel let out a long sigh without realizing it.
‘Another day safely over.’
It was a sigh mixed with fatigue and relief, but a faint smile appeared on her lips, perhaps because she finally had time to rest in her own space.
At first, she thought the room was quite small, but now she found it cozy and intimate.
She sat on the bed, massaging her swollen, red hands.
It had been ten days since she arrived here.
Her once smooth hands had become rough within three days of starting work in the laundry room.
Even looking at her rough hands made her smile.
‘If they still haven’t come for me, it seems Count Chrysos really intends to use me only as a maid.’
She had been anxious whenever she saw Laszlo returning from the palace, worried that he might suddenly order Marsha, ‘Wash her and bring her to my room.’
But Laszlo seemed completely uninterested in her. It was as if he had already forgotten her existence.
She couldn’t be more grateful and relieved.
‘It seems Count Chrysos saved me.’
Ethel had reached this conclusion after replaying the events of the victory banquet in her mind several times.
Had Laszlo refused her on that day, she would have been handed over to someone else.
And she was certain that none of those who reached out for her would have had any gentlemanly manners.
‘Count Chrysos even said he would use me as a maid. No one might believe it, but at least he left room for me to preserve my honor.’
If anyone later asked what she did at Count Chrysos’s estate, she could claim she was just a maid.
Of course, such a situation was unlikely to occur.
‘Does he even know that I am grateful?’
The dead would rage if they heard, but to be honest, Ethel was glad to have escaped the Lancaster Duchy this way. To her, the Lancaster Duchy was a prison where she couldn’t run away or live comfortably.
Moreover, the Canyon family had no reason to seek her out now, so selfishly speaking, her current situation wasn’t too bad.
Of course, working in the laundry room was not easy.
Sitting in one place for long hours washing a lot of laundry in cold water left her hands, back, knees—really, her whole body—aching.
‘But it’s better than living with constant tension. At least I can sleep well.’
She felt more at ease now than she had when she lived under constant scrutiny, hoping she wouldn’t make a single mistake.
However, the head maid was a problem.
Marsha seemed to take issue with everything and found fault at every turn.
While it was the head maid’s job to ensure the maids were doing their work properly, it was troublesome how often she came to the laundry room to overturn everything Ethel had washed.
Had it not been for having to rewash what Marsha overturned, Ethel wouldn’t have been so physically exhausted.
‘Still, it got a bit better after Celia spoke up. I didn’t expect that.’
Three days ago, Marsha had made a scene, even hitting Ethel in a fit of anger, as if determined to find fault with her laundry.
“What, you washed like this again today? Are you stupid, or are you ignoring me?”
With such absurd claims, she had hit the back of Ethel’s head. It didn’t hurt as much as a slap would have, but it felt much worse.
Ethel was so dumbfounded that she was speechless, but Celia, the senior in the laundry room, exploded.
“Madam! Don’t you know how busy the laundry room is? If you keep this up, having an extra maid here is meaningless!”
“Busy or not, the work must be done properly!”
“Then why don’t you show us how to do it? Because I don’t know how to make it any cleaner to teach her!”
She even brought a filthy rag and soap right in front of Marsha.
Marsha glared at Celia, gnashing her teeth, then stormed out without a word.
“Thank you, Celia. But… are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“What’s not to be okay about? And don’t worry, I didn’t do it for you.”
Celia brusquely turned back to work, but Ethel was genuinely grateful to her.
However, contrary to Celia’s words that everything would be fine, the quality of the food for the laundry room maids subtly worsened from the next day. The bread was smaller, the soup had almost no ingredients, and the fruit often had many bad spots.
It was clearly Marsha’s doing.
When Ethel sent an apologetic look, Celia, chewing on an undercooked potato, whispered to her.
“This will only last a day or two. It’s too much trouble to prepare separate meals just for us. You’ll see.”
And just as she said, from today’s meal, the food was the same as everyone else’s again.
Of course, during that time, Idel had to skip dinner for about two days, but she didn’t tell Celia.
It wasn’t as if she skipped more than two meals in a row; she only missed dinner for two days. For Idel, who was often forced to fast for the sake of maintaining her figure, it wasn’t a big deal.
‘Even when the quality of meals dropped, they still gave us fruit regularly…’
She recalled the ‘perfectly fine’ apple slice she had for dinner today while rubbing her rough fingertips.
Anyway, today had ended like that.
Thanks to the recently provided maid’s uniform and underwear that fit her, as well as bedding, she was now much more comfortable even when sleeping.
‘Let’s sleep quickly. I need to get plenty of rest to work tomorrow.’
Thinking that, she lay down, but someone knocked softly on the door.
Idel’s eyes widened involuntarily.
‘Who could it be at this hour?’
A shiver ran down her spine. She wondered if Laszlo, who had been quiet until now, suddenly came looking for her.
There was another soft knock.
Idel carefully got up and asked.
“Who… is it?”
“Um, I’m Daisy from the next room.”
The visitor outside answered in a whisper, almost pressed against the door.
After taking a deep breath, Idel opened the door.
Outside stood a girl wearing a loose shawl over her pajamas.
“What brings you here at this hour?”
“Uh… may I come in for a moment?”
Daisy, still whispering, glanced around nervously.
The tired servants wouldn’t appreciate anyone chatting in the hallway.
“Come in.”
Idel, relieved that it wasn’t Marsha or Mina, let Daisy in.
There was a chair in the room, but it was already being used as a shelf, so Daisy had to sit on the bed.
“Sorry I can’t offer you a proper seat.”
“Oh, no! It’s not a big deal….”
Daisy had beige hair with a hint of gray and clear light green eyes. She seemed to be about eighteen years old.
Her bright smile soon made Idel drop her guard.
“Can I ask what brings you here?”
When Idel asked again, Daisy exclaimed, “Ah!” and took out two small jars from her pocket, placing them on the table.
“I came to give you these.”
“What are they?”
“One is hand cream, and the other is ointment for pain. It might not be much for someone who used to be a noble, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Uh…? But why are you giving these to me….”
Idel couldn’t help but ask. After all, she had only exchanged a few greetings with Daisy and never had a proper conversation.
But Daisy spoke with an understanding look in her eyes.
“I heard you’re being harassed by Mrs. Bohen. You must be in a lot of pain, right?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. As I said, I’m in the next room.”
Idel found it hard to understand what she was saying. Seeing her confusion, Daisy added.
“The walls are thin, so I hear everything. Every night, you groan in pain.”
“What? Me?”
“Oh… you didn’t know….”
Idel really didn’t know. She blacked out as soon as she fell asleep.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. I must have disturbed your rest.”
“No! I’ve been able to sleep through my father’s snoring since I was young. It’s not that… I just wanted to give them to you.”
That sentiment was so unfamiliar to Idel. In the world she had lived in, ‘just because’ didn’t exist.
But there wasn’t a hint of deceit in Daisy’s clear eyes.
Idel opened the jars Daisy placed on the table.
The hand cream felt very greasy, and the ointment had a strong minty smell.
“Can I apply this ointment to my waist or knees?”
“Yes. Waist, knees, shoulders, neck, back… anywhere. It smells bad, but it feels cool after you apply it.”
With that, Idel took a bit of the ointment and applied it to her knee. The thick, sticky texture wasn’t pleasant, but the area soon felt cool and then warm.
