Chapter 9
“Is the room still not organized? Or… are you planning to use it as a storage room?”
The room looked clean, so it had definitely been cleaned. But there were too many miscellaneous items scattered around. There were dishes, seasonings, clothes, handkerchiefs, accessories, flower vases—things of all kinds. It looked like they had been placed there on purpose, making it seem like a storage room.
“It’s a bit too nice to be used as storage.”
It was close to Lilith’s bedroom, and the furniture was luxurious. It seemed like it would be better used as a guest room than a storage space. Though, she didn’t know if any guests would ever stay there.
As I tilted my head in confusion, Verdi shook hers. Her expression suddenly looked strange.
“These things here… they’re not just ordinary things…”
Verdi bit her lip, as if it was hard for her to talk.
“Verdi?”
“It’s just… I couldn’t believe it at first either.”
After hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke.
“But I think I can trust you more than the others, Chloe. That’s why I’m telling you.”
“…?”
“The truth is, everything in this room has poison in it.”
I blinked slowly a couple of times. Then I looked back at the items piled in the room. To my eyes, they all looked normal.
“I found all of these over the past two days.”
“How did you find out they were poisoned?”
“Well… there was a similar situation at my previous job. So I checked them out of habit, just in case… and I found poison. There’s probably a lot more hidden somewhere.”
“All of them came from the annex?”
“Yeah. I think they were used by the former maids.”
“If they used them, then…”
Verdi nodded.
“They must have been meant for Miss Lilith.”
I stayed silent for a moment. It meant the previous maids had tried to kill Lilith. Most likely, under someone’s orders.
‘Of course. That makes sense.’
The Shainon family wouldn’t just sit back and let someone like Lilith, who was a thorn in their side, live peacefully. It wasn’t that they were keeping her alive out of kindness or for appearances. They simply hadn’t succeeded in killing her yet.
‘Then maybe… maybe the reason the previous maids died…’
Could it be that Lilith’s powers went out of control and killed them, sensing danger? I couldn’t be sure of that yet. But what was clear was that there had definitely been attempts to kill her.
Verdi let out a sigh and spoke again.
“I don’t want to think this way, but… do you think someone among us might be trying to kill Miss Lilith too?”
“…I don’t know yet.”
I could only feel emotions in the moment—I couldn’t read thoughts. Most of the emotions I felt from the maids were fear toward Lilith.
“Verdi, for now, let’s keep this between just the two of us. If the other girls find out, they might panic.”
And like Verdi said, we couldn’t be sure one of them wasn’t involved.
“Okay, I understand. Chloe.”
“For now, let’s lock this room and go rest for today.”
Verdi nodded obediently at my words. We did a quick clean-up of the room and then returned to our own bedrooms. It was a small room, but I liked having it to myself.
“Haa…”
I plopped down onto the bed with a sigh. Even if Lilith were to die, it wouldn’t cause me any harm. If anything, I was supposed to die because of Lilith.
“But still…”
Lilith, a little child who didn’t know how to doubt a hand offered to her. I remembered her bright smile and the small hand that reached out to me with worry.
“I just… can’t turn my back on her.”
I chuckled bitterly and muttered to myself. As I stood up to change clothes, something fluttered down to the floor.
“Oh right, the handkerchief.”
I’d clean it and return it, but I didn’t know when I’d get the chance to see him again.
“Speaking of which…”
I suddenly remembered Johann, who had handed me the handkerchief. When our eyes met, I couldn’t feel anything from him. No emotions at all. It was the first time I hadn’t felt a single emotion.
“Maybe I wasn’t using my ability then.”
That might be it. I was pretty shaken up at the time. I nodded to myself as I finished changing clothes. More importantly, Lilith needed someone to teach her how to read.
Among the maids, Verdi seemed like the best choice.
“Hm… I wish we had a proper tutor.”
What we really needed was a more professional teacher.
It had been a week since I came to the Shainon family as a maid. During that time, Lilith had been happy with even the smallest things I did. Seeing her like that made me feel both sad and bitter. Among the maids, I was now on friendlier terms with Verdi. At least, we weren’t afraid of each other anymore. The other maids were still the same.
But I had never planned to force anything…
‘Maybe it’s better this way. Maybe it’s safer if the maids keep their distance from Lilith.’
I still didn’t know what any of them were really thinking. Still, little by little, everyone was adjusting to the work of organizing and managing the annex.
‘It’s a relief that Eve—no, Bliss—must have spoken up. The annex’s budget has become more generous. The only problem is…’
I frowned. I had asked about hiring a tutor for Lilith, but unfortunately, they said it would be difficult.
‘Oh well. For now, I’ll just be thankful we have a bit more money to live on.’
In the end, I asked Verdi—who had some education and got along well with Lilith—to help. It had been four days since Lilith started learning to write and pronounce words from Verdi. She still had a long way to go with writing, but her speaking had improved a lot.
“But still, I really wish we had a real tutor.”
With no one around, I grumbled quietly.
Verdi also had her own maid duties. More than that, the annex didn’t run properly without her. She was far more experienced than the rest of us, and the other maids listened to her well.
“They don’t really listen to me, though.”
Was I imagining things?
“No, I don’t think they like me that much.”
Since I spent most of my time with Lilith, especially during meals, I hadn’t had much time to get close to the other maids. Maybe that’s why they seemed to avoid me.
Clatter.
As I washed dishes alone in the kitchen, I muttered to myself. Lilith was taking a nap after lunch, so I had some free time to clean up. These were the dishes Lilith and I had used. Even as I soaped up the plates, I was careful not to break anything.
We didn’t have much money to begin with—I had to be careful.
“…Well, it’s not like I’ll get hurt just because they don’t like me.”
I was older than the other maids. I’d lived through worse than childish bullying or being ignored. I was just thankful they weren’t trying to kill Lilith like the previous maids had.
“Haa… Still, I can’t relax.”
There hadn’t been any direct assassination attempts, but that didn’t mean I trusted the other maids completely. The number of deadly items Verdi and I had found kept growing day by day. It was a miracle Lilith hadn’t gotten hurt and was still alive.
In the novel, Lilith grew up in this kind of environment until she became an adult. Especially after the last incident when she killed the young maids, she must have been left even more alone.
‘No wonder she became twisted.’
I shook my head and started rinsing the dishes. Just as I was finishing up, I heard footsteps approaching the kitchen.
Then I heard the voices of Christie and Mars.
“There are guests coming to the main house almost every day. Who do you think they are?”
“Well, it’s the Shainon family. Of course there’ll be guests.”
“But it looks like it’s the same person every time.”
“Really?”
“There weren’t any symbols on the carriage. It was just all black…”
When they came into the kitchen, I turned my head slightly.
“That could be. But either way, it doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
“True. The main house seems busy, but it’s lucky the annex doesn’t have as much work.”
Christie and Mars made eye contact with me. Their expressions immediately hardened.
‘So I wasn’t imagining things after all.’
They clearly didn’t like me—and didn’t even bother to hide it. I finished drying the dishes and quietly placed them on a tray to return to the main house. The two of them sat at a table for servants, seemingly taking a break.
Even as they chatted softly, they kept glancing at me. Their stares were obvious, and honestly, it made me uncomfortable.
‘Fine, I’ll leave soon. Just hang in there a little longer.’
I muttered inwardly and was about to leave the kitchen. Just before I stepped out the door, I turned to glance at them.
‘Christie and Mars…’
Verdi had gone to take care of the items we found—the ones used in past murder attempts. So I had left the cleaning of Lilith’s hallway and nearby rooms to Meria. Of the four remaining maids, Meria seemed to be the least hostile toward Lilith.
‘She should’ve finished quickly. It was just cleaning up.’
They were usually always together, so I thought all three of them would return together. But only Christie and Mars were here—Meria wasn’t.
“Excuse me…”
Instead of leaving, I walked up to the two of them.
