He then recalled the moment he’d caught her as she was about to fall while getting out of the carriage.
How she had pushed him away, startled.
‘To react so strongly just from brushing against a mercenary. Your future will be rough.’
Of course, he understood her hatred for him. He had only been carrying out the Emperor’s orders, but he was the one who had annihilated her ducal family.
Although she had momentarily pushed him away, he had been somewhat impressed by her immediate, polite apology. What formidable willpower she possessed.
However, despite appearing mentally resilient, her body was so delicate.
‘How are women’s waists so thin? Are their internal organs properly housed within their ribcages?’
It was a physique utterly incomprehensible to Laslo, who had a torso as thick as a mature tree. And it was unbelievable that she had endured the uncomfortable escort journey with such an upright posture in that slender body.
He had instructed them to travel slowly, fearing that her body would shatter if they drove the carriage at their usual speed, and he was immensely relieved he had done so.
If the carriage had been swaying wildly, she might have missed the signs of someone trying to open the carriage door.
‘I don’t know what it is you want to protect so much that you’d risk your life, but…’
Laslo ran a hand through his still-damp hair, sighed, and stood up from his seat.
‘Well, perhaps if I keep her around, she might prove useful in some way.’
He decided to think about complicated matters tomorrow and extinguished the oil lamp.
Even after the light vanished, feeling the lingering warmth of the lamp, Laslo thought of Edel’s retreating figure. He didn’t know why Edel had crossed his mind.
***
Edel opened her eyes in the early morning, as a faint light seeped in.
Despite falling asleep as if in a stupor, her body moved by habit. It was probably 6 AM now.
She splashed her face with icy cold water to wake herself up, then retrieved a mop from a corner of the bathroom and cleaned the room.
She had to rinse the mop four more times because of the thick layer of dust.
‘I really slept in a place like this.’
A wry laugh escaped her lips.
It was amusing how the quality of her sleep wasn’t much different whether she slept in rooms cleaned daily by maids or in this dusty, shabby room.
Edel opened the window to let in the chilly pre-dawn air. Her body shivered from the cold, but her mind felt sharp and clear.
“Hoo, I can do this. It’s okay.”
She tidied her appearance, encouraged herself, and then headed to the kitchen with an empty tray.
Male and female servants were coming to the kitchen to get their breakfast.
However, contrary to the warning that one would be in trouble if they arrived after 7 AM, there were still empty seats even after 7 o’clock, and Marsha was nowhere to be seen.
The servants gathered at the table stole glances at Edel, whispering amongst themselves, but no one spoke to her first.
‘It wouldn’t be proper for me to speak first either.’
As she habitually recalled social etiquette and observed the atmosphere, Marsha entered the kitchen around 7:30 AM, yawning.
Behind her followed two or three maids who seemed to carry a bit more authority than the other servants.
It seemed everyone had finally gathered.
“Is everyone here?”
Marsha, seated arrogantly at the head of the table, surveyed the dining table where all the mansion’s servants were gathered, a frown on her face since morning.
Then, she saw Edel sitting at the very end and let out a small smirk.
“Today, I’ll introduce our new colleague first. Newbie! Stand up and give your introduction.”
At her call, Edel quietly stood up and bowed her head obediently.
“It’s nice to meet you all. I am Edel. I will be working as a maid at the Krissus Count Family starting today.”
Since hardly anyone knew she had entered the mansion the previous night, most looked at Edel with curiosity.
The young men’s eyes sparkled with anticipation or they let out low whistles, while the maids, for whom help was supposedly needed, showed obvious signs of welcome.
Marsha watched them calmly for a moment, then tossed out a remark.
“Why, aren’t you going to introduce your experience? Former Duchess Lancaster?”
Edel was not surprised, as she had expected Marsha to bring it up.
However, everyone else was, naturally, shocked, and the kitchen instantly became a commotion of murmuring voices.
“Lancaster? Lancaster, isn’t that the place? The one our master just… crushed?”
“I think so. Didn’t she just say she was the Duchess?”
“Eek! The Duchess? Someone like that is working as a maid here?”
“No way!”
The servants, who had spent their lives catering to nobles, found it hard to accept that someone who had been a ‘Duchess’ was now their colleague.
But Marsha spoke coldly, as if mocking them all.
“Quiet, quiet! Why are you so surprised and making such a fuss? A sinner who deserved to die has merely had her life spared by the Emperor’s mercy. Her status is the same as ours, or even lower.”
The maids who had followed Marsha into the room giggled in agreement. Mina, in particular, who had shown Edel to the bathroom and her room yesterday, looked more triumphant than the other maids.
Marsha waited for the atmosphere to calm down a bit, then asked Edel.
“Edel! Do you know what a new maid starts with?”
“No. I don’t know well.”
“I thought someone of your caliber, as a Duchess, would know such things, but I guess not?”
“…I apologize.”
Sensing Marsha’s intention to provoke her no matter what, Edel deliberately acted more submissive. She didn’t know what a new maid was supposed to do, but she was sure they would assign her the most troublesome and difficult tasks.
Marsha looked down at Edel with an arrogant expression and spoke as if a judge was passing a sentence on a criminal.
“You’ve been assigned to the laundry room. After breakfast, follow Celia. And Celia!”
At Marsha’s call, a black-haired maid named Celia looked at Marsha with a reluctant expression.
“You’ll need to teach the new recruit well for her to get comfortable, won’t you?”
“Are you… really okay with this?”
“With what?”
“No, I mean… are you sure there won’t be any repercussions later?”
At that, Marsha burst into laughter.
“Are you afraid Duke Lancaster will come back from the dead to look for his wife?”
The maids who followed Marsha laughed along, but most of them watched Edel, unsure of how to react.
It wasn’t out of fear of retribution. They felt it was impolite to laugh about the deceased in front of someone who had recently lost her husband and family.
And it was precisely because of this that Marsha acted even more impolitely.
‘She probably expects me to burst into tears, doesn’t she?’
But in reality, Edel was unfazed.
To be more honest, she was even relieved that the Lancaster Dukedom had been annihilated.
‘No one knows how dreadful it was to live as Duchess Lancaster.’
She felt as though she had gained the freedom to breathe in exchange for being stripped of all her luxurious possessions.
Life in this mansion would be difficult, but she felt she could live more comfortably than during her days as Duchess, when every day felt like walking on a blade’s edge.
Therefore, she was not afraid of being assigned to the laundry room.
Of course, she was a little taken aback when she entered the laundry room with Celia.
“This… is the laundry room?”
“Ah, yes. Well…”
In her unmarried days, she had visited the laundry room a few times as part of her education to become a lady. A perfect lady had to oversee even the humblest corners of the household.
In any case, the laundry room at the Canyon Count Family she had seen then was much cleaner and more pleasant than this.
‘His Majesty the Emperor supposedly bestowed not only territories and mansions but also an enormous reward…’
Compared to the rumors of their considerable wealth, this laundry room was surprisingly shabby.
The building itself wasn’t old or cramped. However, the items filling it were too shabby for the status of a count’s family.
The tin cans and basins for storing laundry by type looked old, and the wooden chairs where the maids sat to wash clothes seemed half-rotten.
Laundry soap was strewn haphazardly on the damp floor, and water stains were present everywhere.
Edel forced a smile, trying to smooth her furrowed brow, and averted her gaze from the black mold-covered walls.
‘Come to think of it, it’s not just this laundry room that’s strange. The mansion…’
‘It’s grand and imposing on the outside, but the inside feels a bit off.’
She tilted her head, recalling various parts of the mansion she had inspected yesterday and today.
‘Does Count Krissus dislike spending money on the mansion? But if a noble neglects their mansion to this extent, that would also be a problem….’
Even so, now was not the time to bring up such matters. Edel looked at the pile of laundry that had accumulated for the day and, following Salia, rolled up her sleeves.
“This will be your first time, but I can’t explain it to you multiple times… You see, it’s incredibly busy here, with no time to spare…”
“It certainly looks that way.”
“Hmmph. First, the soap is made once a month, and the soap we made is stacked over there, so take one and use it… After breakfast, come to the laundry room by 8 o’clock and start by washing the clothes of the master and young lady Lynnia…”
Salia, though flustered about whether to speak informally or formally, patiently taught Edel about laundry room duties.
It wasn’t particularly difficult.
‘The question is how long my stamina will hold out.’
No, her circumstances were no one else’s business, so she absolutely had to endure.
‘Don’t rush into things from the start; conserve your energy.’