Chapter 44
44. Generous Salary2022.01.30.
Arthur let out a small sigh as he held Reina in his arms.
“……Why are you so thin.”
“…….”
Reina blinked blankly. He murmured as he held her trembling body.
“It’s just like five years ago. So small. Shaking like this.”
“…….”
The low voice ringing in her ear felt unfamiliar. Reina thought this was too unrealistic. It was stranger than that night of the triumphal procession, when he had lied in front of thousands of people. Her body was still trembling as if she were cold, so Arthur crossed his arms behind her back and held her even tighter.
“…….”
The room was filled with crimson sunset light. The room, dyed in a reddish glow like spilled sunset, made her feel strangely unsettled. Reina buried her face in his shoulder as if she wanted to escape from it all. Maybe because her vision went dark. It felt a little reassuring.
“…….”
As she bowed her head fully toward him, he held her more gently yet firmly. Arthur stroked the back of her head.
“Madam, just in case…….”
Arthur continued in a calm voice.
“If you’re being threatened by the Julius family, or if they have some weakness of yours.”
“…….”
“Why don’t you ask me for help? Have you considered it?”
Arthur said quietly.
“I’ll wait until you tell me.”
Reina, who had been held for a long time, didn’t flinch or startle. She quietly listened to his voice with her face buried in his chest. Her trembling was gradually subsiding. Arthur spoke slowly.
“I want to stand on the same side as you.”
Arthur stroked her back with his large hand.
“I won’t ask you to trust me right away. You still need a little more time, right?”
“…….”
For a while like that, Arthur simply held her without a word. As he held her tightly, he slightly tousled the hair at the back of her head and said.
“I’ll wait. Take your time thinking about it.”
“…….”
Reina’s trembling hadn’t completely disappeared. But her breathing had become more at ease than before. Arthur smiled faintly, then pressed her head firmly into his chest one last time before slowly letting her go.
“…….”
“…….”
Reina pulled away from him very awkwardly. And at last, she looked up at him. Facing her, Arthur smiled. Then he cupped her cheek.
“Stand on my side. I’ll protect you.”
He said it quietly, like a promise.
“I won’t……blame you.”
“…….”
“Don’t cry.”
The fear subsided. But in its place, something else made her feel strange.
“…….”
She averted her gaze and bowed her head. But his embrace was so vast and peaceful that it only made it harder for her to calm down.
* * * They finally began their slightly late meal. Instead of returning to her seat, Reina sat in the chair next to him where he had released her. And with a dazed expression, she picked out the mushrooms from the dishes one by one and ate them. Arthur couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“……Stop that and just eat what you want. I don’t care about the mushrooms.”
Reina, looking at him, still had a dazed face. But it seemed she understood what he said. Her face had turned red. Still, regardless of whether he laughed or not, Reina silently continued eating the mushrooms with her flushed face. Arthur placed various delicious dishes in front of her, telling her to eat whatever she wanted comfortably with a smile, and let her do as she pleased. At the same time, he cleared away a plate of fish dish from near her. As Arthur did those things, Reina watched him awkwardly with her reddened face. * * *
“Is it true that the marquis treats his employees generously?”
Reina mumbled embarrassedly.
“Yes……. Julius is famous for paying the highest wages in the empire. That’s why even maids come from far away to seek employment here.”
Reina was simply someone born and raised in Julius territory who luckily got the continent’s best job, but in fact, there were more maids in the mansion who had come from afar aiming for Julius Mansion. Arthur asked.
“How much do you get paid?”
“…….”
As Reina hesitated and couldn’t open her mouth, Arthur smiled faintly as if realizing his mistake, gently touched his own forehead, and changed the question to allow her to answer.
“How much do they usually pay? To a maid around your age.”
“……Maid……wages?”
As she felt awkward wondering why he was curious about her wages, Arthur calmly added on, tailoring it to ‘Christina.’
“Don’t I need to know that much to manage this mansion with you? Since maids are the most numerous employees in the mansion.”
In truth, it was the lady of the house and the head maid who handled such things, not the head of the family or the heir. But if he needed to know about the maids’ salaries to manage the mansion with ‘Christina,’ it wasn’t something she could avoid. He had been on the battlefield for five years, so he probably needed to get a sense of mansion operating costs in the city……. After pondering how to phrase it for a moment, Reina spoke.
“A maid around my age would probably get about 30 gold.”
……Would Lady Christina know my salary? Reina quietly added.
“Mrs. Hurst mainly handles it, so I don’t know exactly…….”
“…….”
Arthur didn’t respond. She suddenly felt shabby showing herself like this. She had never thought her salary as a maid working for Julius was low……. It was just maid’s wages, after all. Somehow, revealing it in front of him made her heart heavy.
“30 gold per week?”
“……Yes?”
Reina was bewildered by Arthur’s question. Was he joking? Even if he didn’t know prices. No matter how wealthy they were, there was no way a maid’s weekly wage was 30 gold. She would have bought about ten houses by the seaside by now.
“No. Annual salary.”
“……?”
This time, Arthur looked bewildered. He truly seemed to have no idea. Frowning as if he couldn’t grasp it, he asked.
“Annual salary? Then what’s the weekly wage?”
Reina answered.
“About 50 silver. Plus various small allowances and meal expenses, so sometimes it’s nearly 60 silver.”
“…….”
Arthur looked speechless.
“……Didn’t you say Julius gives the most generous wages in the empire?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Arthur narrowed his eyes and asked as if doubting his own ears.
“……And that’s generous?”
Did it feel low to Sir Arthur? Reina answered in a daze.
“Of course. It’s generous. Generally, a mansion maid my age gets about 20 silver a week. Compared to other places, it’s almost two or three times more.”
“…….”
Reina was puzzled by Arthur’s expression, as if he couldn’t understand. It really was generous weekly pay. And Reina had even received a promise of double wages if she stayed hidden from his sight. So she was set to receive 1 gold per week. How many maids in the world got gold coins every week? Usually, you had to work a full month to get maybe one gold coin. Considering living expenses, that is. But that exceptional weekly gold salary was a stroke of luck only due to Reina’s special situation. In reality, 60 silver a week was by no means a small amount. It was treatment that other maids would envy.
“…….”
Arthur just stared at Reina silently without responding. It seemed Sir Arthur really had no sense of prices after being away at war for five years. She felt cautious, as if she had spoken too knowingly about maids’ lives without meaning to, but the thought of helping him, who didn’t know everyday prices after returning from war, weighed more heavily, so Reina gathered a bit more courage and explained in detail.
“……In most mansions, you’d have to be a head footman or a mid-level cook to get that kind of wage. So Julius Mansion is really generous to maids. No place else pays that much to a maid in her early twenties. Unless it’s a professional lady’s maid serving the madam…….”
Of course, Mrs. Hurst received much more than that……. Reina quietly added.
“……Julius wants maids who keep their mouths shut and never quit, so in return, they pay really generously. Once you get used to this salary, you usually can’t think of quitting and working somewhere else.”
“…….”
Reina knew that working at Julius Mansion wasn’t easy. But for a maid in need of money, there was no better job than Julius. Reina said it softly and honestly.
“What makes you endure the hard work is ultimately the generous weekly pay. Even if you go to another mansion, you might end up in a really tough place if you’re unlucky. The chances of running into a terrible master are the same everywhere……. So naturally, it’s better to go where you’re guaranteed good money. That’s why Julius Mansion is a dream job for maids.”
She truly thought that was Julius’s one virtue. Reina continued.
“That’s why everyone keeps their mouths shut and endures even when the work is harsh. They don’t hire maids who seem like they won’t last long in the first place. This place……it’s not a job you can just get easily. It’s probably second only to getting into the imperial palace in difficulty.”
When she was first hired, they even made her sign a nondisclosure agreement so she couldn’t leave freely once she entered……. But honestly, the high salary was a bigger reason for sticking it out. The other maids were probably the same. In any case, Julius Mansion, the continent’s top chaebol household, was a job everyone wanted but couldn’t get. No matter how cutthroat the internal situation was, that’s how it looked from the outside. Aside from hiring only tight-lipped, highly skilled maids, the only thing known was the high pay. Arthur’s face was complicated.
“…….”
Oh right. Come to think of it, my salary isn’t double. She belatedly remembered the marchioness’s new promise she had forgotten. Reina was promised ten times her weekly wage as compensation for carrying out the marchioness’s orders. That would be five gold coins a week.
“…….”
She still remembered being shocked that such wages were possible back then, but she had completely forgotten after hearing the grandmother was sending Taylor away. Five gold a week. That was 20 gold a month. Reina suddenly realized the fortune she had been promised. Of course, it was payment for equally dangerous work…….
“You.”
Suddenly, Arthur called her. Reina looked up at him startled. Arthur gazed at her steadily.
“After hearing that, I’m thinking……it might be possible for me to buy you over right now.”
“……?”
Arthur continued.
“……I’ll give you that money. No, I’ll pay you 30 gold a week. Then, will you become my person?”
