“Lady Beauhen! Lady Beauhen! I just heard from the knight outside that this woman is the ‘Duchess of Lancaster’!”
“What? The Duchess of Lancaster?”
Marsha’s eyes widened as she scanned Edel from head to toe again.
However, she had no intention of showing Edel any respect. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“Goodness, I never thought I’d live to see the day I could order a Duchess around like a servant. Hohoho!”
Marsha, with a sly smile, generously ordered the maid who was chuckling alongside her, “Still, I must follow the Count’s orders. Mina! Wash her, feed her, and let her sleep for now. You know the room at the end of the corridor? Give her that one.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“And you, newbie. What’s your name?”
Edel wasn’t particularly bothered by being called ‘newbie’ by the head maid. She would have been happier if she’d been assured she wouldn’t be summoned to Laslo’s chambers, but since she couldn’t be certain, she couldn’t bring herself to smile.
She replied in her softest voice, “It’s Edel, ma’am.”
It felt strange yet strangely comfortable not to add ‘Lancaster’ or ‘Canyon’ to her name.
“Oh my, you speak so elegantly, just as one would expect from nobility? Hohoho! You’d better keep it up.”
Marsha’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, as if expecting something amusing, then she winked at the young maid and disappeared.
Mina, the young maid, unlike when Marsha was present, lifted her chin and looked down at Edel condescendingly. It was like seeing Marsha when Laslo had disappeared.
“You look terrible. Follow me, ‘Duchess’.”
Even with Mina’s sarcasm, Edel wasn’t particularly offended. She had endured worse mockery and slander in high society, so this was nothing.
Mina, perhaps busy, didn’t taunt her further and led her directly to the bathroom.
“This is a water basin, this is a dipper, this is soap, and this is a towel. Do you not know how to wash yourself with just this much explanation?”
“No. It’s just that I don’t have any clothes to change into… Do you have any spare maid uniforms?”
“There might be one from a maid who quit… I’ll go look for it, so wash up first. You smell awful.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
“Oh my, you’re even thanking me. You still have the luxury?”
Mina snorted at Edel’s response but didn’t omit the necessary instructions.
“When you’re done washing, go to the last room at the end of the corridor. That’s your room. I’ll bring your meal beforehand, so eat it, and bring the tray to the kitchen tomorrow morning.”
“What time tomorrow morning should I bring it to the kitchen?”
“Seven AM. Be absolutely on time, or you’ll be in trouble.”
“Understood.”
Seeing that Edel showed no sign of anger or shame, Mina seemed annoyed and added, “You’d better get a good night’s sleep tonight. Tomorrow, you’ll realize how much your maids have suffered.”
Then, she turned abruptly and left, leaving Edel alone.
She probably wanted to see Edel stewing in anger, but she seemed quite naive compared to Marsha, the head maid.
‘Still, she’s quite kind for that. She’s bringing clothes and food.’
Edel was grateful for even such small considerations.
After all, in the past, a traitor like her would have been stoned to death in the public square. It was understandable that people harbored ill feelings towards her.
‘I should wash first. As that maid said, I think I smell quite strongly.’
She had tried to maintain her cleanliness, but compared to when she used the finest cosmetics and perfumes, she felt like she constantly smelled.
It was late October, and washing herself with cold water was daunting, but it was better than smelling bad, so Edel gritted her teeth and poured cold water over herself.
“Hhuk.”
The water was colder than she had expected.
Her breath escaped her chattering teeth.
‘I need to wash quickly. As quickly as possible.’
Edel wrung out the handkerchief she had tied around her neck, lathered it with soap, and scrubbed her body, which was covered in sweat and dirt.
As she rubbed her body in the dim, quiet bathroom, a hollow laugh escaped her.
‘It’s only been three weeks since I had maids bathe me….’
It felt more like three years since she had enjoyed such luxury.
She realized she had been a hothouse flower.
Even on the day the Duke’s family’s fortunes declined, she had worried about the future while soaking in a copper bathtub. Her body was bathed in perfumed water, and maids attended to her.
‘From now on, I’ll have to wash with cold water even in the middle of winter. It seems the Krissus Count’s family doesn’t provide warm water for their servants.’
She would probably just wipe her body with a wet towel, as she might catch frostbite otherwise. By spring, her skin might become dry and flaky.
These were humiliating things that a Duchess or a Count’s daughter could never imagine, but she would have to accept such realities from now on.
‘I’m not going to die. It’s not so difficult that I’d rather die.’
She had considered giving up on life when she arrived here, but she wasn’t someone who longed for death. All living things have the instinct to survive.
She wanted to live, as long as she wasn’t reduced to a mere plaything for base desires.
She wasn’t asking for a grand life.
She just wanted to quietly take care of herself and live a simple life.
That was why she saw a glimmer of hope when Laslo handed her over to the head maid, calling her ‘additional manpower.’
‘At least, they don’t seem to have any immediate plans to do anything to me… I need to keep my wits about me and learn to work hard.’
She carefully unbraided her hair and washed it with soapy water. If the water were warm, the greasy hair oil would have washed off easily, but with cold water, it seemed to tangle more.
Still, she had to do her best. Just as she had always lived.
After washing herself, Edel quickly dried her body and put on a maid’s uniform from the laundry basket someone had left.
It was quite loose, as someone else had worn it, and she had to roll up the sleeves, but the hem was rather short, reaching far above her ankles.
‘But this is better than nothing. They even gave me a chemise and drawers.’
There was no petticoat to puff out the skirt, but Edel decided to be grateful that she wasn’t just wearing a single dress over her bare body.
Wasn’t it much better than putting on dirty, smelly clothes again?
Carrying the clothes she had arrived in, she left the bathroom and headed to the end of the corridor that Mina had pointed out. A faint light leaked from the open door of the room at the very end.
That seemed to be her room.
When she opened the door, half of the ceiling was slanted, and cold wind seeped through the cracks of the small window. The room contained only a narrow bed, a table, and a worn-out chair.
There was no wardrobe, but instead, three nails were hammered into the wall, serving as the only place to store clothes.
The room seemed to have been vacant for a while, as dust covered the table and cobwebs hung in the corners.
‘People live in rooms this small?’
It was the smallest room she had ever seen. Even the terrace of her former room was larger than this.
However, Edel quickly dismissed the thought.
‘I’m no longer a noble.’
As a criminal who should have been beheaded and her corpse displayed on the city walls, she should be grateful to have a room, even one like this.
What she was more grateful for, in fact, was that there was food on the table. It was a brown loaf of bread, a cup of water, and half a brown apple, but still.
‘I should eat.’
She had finished the meal she ate in prison during the day long ago. As the tension released from her body, which had been prepared for death, and she had finished bathing, she felt ravenously hungry.
Edel locked the door securely, sat down, and carefully tore off a piece of bread.
The dry, sour bread was frankly not tasty, but she chewed diligently, took small sips of water, and forced it down her throat.
After finishing the bread, she bit into the small piece of apple.
“Haa…”
The apple crunched as she bit into it, and its sweet and sour juice spread throughout her mouth.
Suddenly, she realized she was alive.
She preferred fruit to desserts like cakes, cookies, or puddings. The sweet and refreshing taste of seasonal fruits was far more pleasant than the sweetness created by cream or sugar.
She had missed fruit so much while being brought to the capital on a rattling cart.
‘Will I not be able to eat another piece of fruit before I die?’
She had thought that, wallowing in misery, but now, a small apple slice was crunching in her mouth.
Even such a small thing gave her courage.
“Will I be able to eat fruit tomorrow too?”
A smile bloomed for no reason.
Would there ever be a day of comfort if she endured day by day, relying on this small sweetness?
‘I’ll postpone cleaning the room until tomorrow. As the maid said earlier, I should get a good night’s sleep tonight.’
Edel, who had completely cleared the food on the tray, neatly folded her unwashed old clothes and lay down on the bed.
The floor was hard, but it took her less than five minutes to fall asleep.