‘Where… am I…?’
My vision was hazy, but I could make out the unfamiliar surroundings. A large window draped in heavy curtains, a sturdy, high-quality bed, a nightstand, and pieces of furniture like a sofa and a small table.
I opened my mouth to call out, but my throat felt parched and scratchy, triggering a dry, hacking cough. At the sound, there was a stir beside me.
“Edel! Are you finally feeling a bit more conscious?”
“Dai… sy…?”
“Yes, it’s me, Daisy. Are you hurting anywhere? Does anything feel strange?”
I was bewildered by Daisy’s presence, but to answer her, I tried wiggling my fingers and toes.
“I’m not sure… I think I’m okay. My toes just feel a bit numb.”
“Do you remember things from the past, too?”
“Things from the past? …Yes. I think I remember everything.”
Since even the memories I would have preferred to forget remained vivid, it seemed my mind was intact.
Daisy sighed in relief and said,
“Edel, you’ve only just woken up after two days. The doctor said you were truly on the verge of death.”
“Is… that so?”
“He said that even if you did wake up, there was a risk of lingering issues. You had such a dangerously high fever. He also mentioned that you had some frostbite on your feet.”
Daisy gripped my hand tightly, her expression emotional. At the mention of frostbite, the last thing I remembered came rushing back.
“Come to think of it, what happened? I was definitely in the laundry room…”
Wasn’t I soaking my feet in icy water that felt like it would freeze my brain? And stepping on the curtains?
No, that wasn’t it. Marsha had slapped my cheek. What happened after that?
As I struggled to recall more, Daisy, her lips set in a firm, thin line, squeezed my hand harder and whispered.
“I heard that Lady Bohen did that to harass you? She’s truly cruel! That woman is nothing but evil.”
Her large eyes welled up with tears, as if she were brimming with indignation.
Daisy took a deep breath to steady herself, then filled me in on what had happened while I was unconscious.
She told me how Marsha had slandered me to Laslo, how Salia and Laila had defied orders to plead that I was sick, and how Laslo, upon finding me collapsed, had immediately summoned a doctor and gathered the servants to threaten them into silence.
“So, it was finally exposed that Lady Bohen is a complete liar. Not just about slandering you, but about the imperial etiquette she preached, and her claim that one must never speak directly to the Count…”
“Wait. So, are you saying the only servant who was allowed to talk to the Count was Lady Bohen?”
“That was the excuse. We were told we must never speak first unless answering a direct question from the Count or the young lady. We were told we had to go through Lady Bohen for everything.”
Some of that was technically true, but the rest was a lie.
While ordinary servants weren’t supposed to approach the master’s family recklessly, they were certainly allowed to speak if they had a legitimate reason—they didn’t need the housekeeper or butler to act as a gatekeeper.
‘Lady Bohen used that lie to consolidate her own power.’
In this house, the housekeeper had been the only bridge to the master’s ear and the only voice for the servants. Because most of the staff here were inexperienced, the lie had held firm.
Watching Daisy clench her fists in anger, it was clear she held just as much resentment toward Marsha as the rest of us.
‘Perhaps Daisy was bullied, too, because she was kind to me.’
My heart ached at the thought. Given that Salia and Laila had also been discriminated against for taking my side, that guess was almost certainly correct.
I forced a smile and held Daisy’s hand tightly.
“Have you been the one nursing me this whole time, Daisy?”
“Yes. The Count gave his permission. Salia and Laila were very worried, but the laundry work is in a state where no one can afford to be absent.”
“Ah, so Salia and Laila are suffering because of me.”
“It’s not because of you! It’s Lady Bohen’s fault.”
Daisy looked adorable as she muttered with a pout.
“Thank you, Daisy. I’m only alive because of you.”
“My nursing was barely enough! Besides, the doctor the Count called was the truly skilled one.”
“Wait, the Count called a doctor for me?”
Daisy nodded vigorously.
“He was quite a unique person. I was terrified because I thought you were dying, but that doctor didn’t even change his expression.”
Daisy described a man who looked almost as sickly as a patient himself—gaunt and pale. It was unnerving how emotionless he remained while examining me as I burned with fever.
After the exam, he had simply opened a large bag, mixed some substances from various medicine bottles, tossed the concoction to us as a fever reducer and tonic, and left. The fact that he didn’t shrink back even in the presence of Laslo had left a strong impression on Daisy.
“I should express my gratitude to the Count, as well as that doctor.”
“I’m not sure if you’ll be able to meet the doctor again, but it would be good to thank the Count. He stayed by your side the whole time while the doctor was here.”
“Pardon?”
I was completely flustered.
Calling a doctor for a mere maid was already an act of mercy, but to think he had even stood guard…
‘I can only say it’s… unexpected.’
However, recalling how rarely things in my life ever went the way I anticipated, I felt a pang of shame for judging Laslo so arbitrarily.
I listened to Daisy’s excited chatter and laughed occasionally, but deep down, I vowed to thank Laslo as soon as I regained my strength.
* * *
Two more days passed.
Perhaps it was the doctor’s medicine, just as Daisy had promised; by evening, I was recovered enough to stand.
I sat on the edge of the bed and tentatively moved my frostbitten feet.
‘My toes still sting, but the dizzy spells have finally faded.’
The pain throughout my body, which had felt like I’d been beaten, had all but vanished, and the aching in my lower back and knees from the labor-intensive laundry work felt much better.
Looking at the deep orange sunset, I realized it was around the time Laslo usually returned from the palace.
‘It’s not polite to delay my thanks now that I’m mobile.’
Laslo tended to leave for the palace early in the morning, so if I didn’t see him now, it would be difficult to find another chance.
Though facing him felt daunting, doing what was expected was the best course of action.
I wrapped a shawl Daisy had lent me over my loungewear and headed toward his office. Taking a breath to straighten my posture, I knocked on the door.
“Count. It’s Edel.”
“Come in.”
His low, firm, and dry voice was exactly as I remembered.
When I pushed the door open, the faint scent of leather, the sharp smell of grass and rain-soaked earth, and the aroma of burning firewood drifted out to meet me. At that moment, I realized something new.
‘Now that I think about it, he doesn’t wear cologne.’
It wasn’t that he smelled bad—quite the opposite. It was fascinating that, despite it being a natural scent, he smelled like a vast, open field.
Perhaps because I had lived among people who doused themselves in heavy, cloying perfumes, Laslo, who revealed his natural scent without pretense, felt strangely ‘raw.’
“Hmm? Edel Lanca—no, you’re not a Lancaster anymore.”
“Please, just call me Edel.”
“Then… Edel.”
Even though I had practiced saying the name before entering, he seemed a bit surprised by my appearance, as if he hadn’t fully processed my arrival.
It felt unfamiliar to be called only by my name, but it was a reality I would have to get used to.
I bowed deeply.
“I heard that you called a doctor to save my life, Count. Thank you.”
He said nothing as I bowed and straightened back up, but once I was standing, he uttered a single observation.
“You’ve thinned.”
At those words, I instinctively clasped my thin hands together.
I had been slender to begin with, but after the fever, my cheeks were so sunken that even to my own eyes, it was a sight to wince at.
‘How unsightly I must be—a clumsy maid who is also physically frail.’
I tried to smile.
“I will do my best to recover.”
“You’re doing that even when…” He paused, his expression unreadable. “You don’t have to do your best. Just get some rest.”
“Thank you. Then, after one more day of rest, I will return to my duties in the laundry room.”
“Are your ears not working properly because of the fever?”
“Pardon?”
I wondered if I had made a grave mistake. However, he replied in a dry, indifferent tone.
“I told you to rest, yet you answer that you’re returning to work.”
“Ah… but I’ve recovered enough that I don’t need to lie down anymore, and the laundry work must have piled up…”
“You’re quite confident just because the medicine brought your fever down. Aillan’s medicine works well enough, but it’s all for nothing if you overdo it. Did I pay for expensive medicine just for you to turn it into a waste of money?”
He returned to scanning the documents in his hand, as if he didn’t consider me important in the slightest. However, Laslo soon dropped the papers and looked directly at me.