“What is it that you actually want from me?”
“What?”
Marsha looked taken aback, as if she hadn’t expected Edel to ask such a thing.
“You despise me. Is making me suffer in this freezing cold until I collapse the only way to satisfy your pride?”
“Watch your tongue! You’re nothing but a servant who crawled in here with nothing to your name. How dare you act as if you’re still a lady?”
Marsha’s face contorted with fury. She stomped her foot on the cold stone floor, her voice sharp enough to cut through the icy air.
“You’ve lost everything and fallen to the bottom, yet you still cling to that disgusting, pathetic pride of yours. It’s absolutely revolting!”
Edel didn’t back down. Her vision was blurring, and her heart felt as though it were being squeezed by a cold hand, but she stared straight at Marsha.
“If my very existence offends you so much, you could have sent me to another labor camp, or somewhere far away. Why keep me here? Is this just to torment me?”
“Torment you? Don’t flatter yourself. It’s not torment; it’s a lesson. A lesson to teach you exactly who you are now.”
Marsha stepped closer, her shadow looming over Edel.
“You’ll finish all the curtains by sunset. If even one is left, or if I find a single speck of dirt, you won’t be getting a single crumb of bread for the next three days. Do you understand?”
Edel didn’t answer. A wave of nausea washed over her.
“I asked if you understood!”
Marsha grabbed Edel’s shoulder and shook her. The sudden movement sent a sharp, agonizing ache through Edel’s head. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stifle the groan that threatened to escape.
“Answer me!”
“……Yes. I understand.”
Edel’s voice was dry and cracked. Marsha gave a triumphant scoff, released her grip, and turned to leave.
“Good. I’ll be back at sunset to inspect them. Don’t think about slacking off.”
As the heavy wooden door creaked shut, the silence returned to the laundry room, heavier than before. Edel slumped against the edge of the large washbasin. Her breath came out in ragged, white plumes.
She was alone.
Her limbs felt like lead, and her fever-ravaged mind kept drifting toward the darkness. *Just a little more,* she told herself. *Just get through this, and then I can rest.*
She lowered herself back into the ice-cold water. Her feet were completely numb now, a dull ache radiating from her toes up to her knees. She stepped on the fabric again and again, her movements becoming increasingly mechanical and slow.
*I am a prisoner.*
She reminded herself of this fact every time the freezing water splashed against her skin. Whether it was the cold, the fever, or the cruelty of a woman who took pleasure in her suffering—none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was survival.
She couldn’t die here. Not like this.
As the sun began to dip behind the estate walls, casting long, chilling shadows across the room, Edel’s consciousness began to flicker.
*Just one more. Just one more curtain.*
Her hands gripped the edge of the basin, her knuckles turning white. She no longer felt the cold; she only felt the weight of the world pressing down on her shivering frame.
“I’m curious why you insist on tormenting me. I have never talked back or acted rebelliously toward you, My Lady, so what more do you want me to do?”
“W-what? Have you lost your mind? What are you suddenly…!”
“Do not change the subject. Give me a clear answer. And stop harassing Salia or Laila.”
Stung by her own guilty conscience, Marsha began to shriek, hurling insults at the top of her lungs.
“You wildcat! So you’re finally showing your true colors, are you? I saved your miserable life, and now you think you can look down on me? How dare a criminal raise her eyes to me like that!”
Marsha’s voice echoed throughout the laundry room, making my head throb even more.
And so, Edele spoke on impulse.
“You speak as if you were a noblewoman yourself, My Lady.”