Ch#26
“W-what?”
“The one who spared my life is His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, and the people I can’t defy because I’m a lowly prisoner are you, Count Criserus and his family. Not you, who holds the same commoner status.”
Those words shut Marsha’s mouth.
Edel was utterly fed up with people who oppressed those weaker than them just to reaffirm their own power and status.
“Do you think trampling a former noble makes you one? But that won’t happen. The Count is still too busy to manage the household right now, but soon he’ll hire a butler and start proper oversight. When that time comes, you’ll just be a maid too.”
Those words pierced Marsha’s vitals sharply. Gritting her teeth, her fists trembled violently before she suddenly slapped Edel across the cheek.
A sharp ripping sound tore through the damp, chilly air of the laundry room.
Regaining focus in her whitened vision, Edel was already collapsed on the floor.
*Spoils of war*
“Y-you wicked bitch! How dare you talk back to your superior? You won’t eat or drink until you finish wringing all of it, and you won’t step foot out of here!”
*Duchess*
Truly written by Lemon Frog
Edel stared blankly from Marsha stomping out furiously to the laundry room door slamming shut. It all felt somehow unreal.
The distant sound of a long rod being wedged between the door handles reached her ears, but oddly, the sensation of her clothes soaking into the floor water felt vividly clear.
Her ears rang with a buzzing hum.
I need to get up…
She desperately wanted to, but her head spun wildly and her body had no strength.
If she didn’t finish the work, who knew what Mrs. Bohen would tell Count Criserus…
Her mind screamed to get up and wash as many curtains as possible, but her body burned like fire while freezing like ice, leaving her unable even to twitch a finger.
Her vision gradually blurred.
- 2 -
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*If only I could just fall asleep forever like this.*
And those eyes!
With that thought, Edel blacked out completely.
Edel claimed she’d never defied or rebelled, but conversely, she’d never fully submitted either.
You could tell from those unshaken eyes even as she bowed her head.
*‘You bark all you want—I’ll just plug my ears!’*
Marsha, having locked Edel in the laundry room, was still seething as she stormed off.
She wanted to torment her more. Until she broke.
She had finally succeeded in provoking a different response from Edel today, but Marsha felt no joy at all.
“That damn bitch! A slave like her dares say ‘same commoner status’? Just you wait—I’ll teach her a real lesson!”
“You speak as if you’re the noble here, ma’am.”
Her insides boiled.
In this count’s mansion, her little kingdom, Edel was the only thorn in her side.
Honestly, those words had sent a chill down her spine.
“It’s Edel, ma’am.”
She must have seen right through me! That’s why she’s made no mistakes until now!
Edel’s calm voice from their first meeting, answering her name with indifferent eyes devoid of anger or contempt, still lingered vividly.
Edel knew it all: that Marsha saw herself as superior to nobles, and that she anxiously clung to her current precarious power that could vanish overnight.
That’s when it started. Her hatred for Edel.
Edel, you’re someone I can never bend to my will. When the Count gets back today, I’ll tell him to sell you off somewhere.
*A person should snap at least a little after I scratch at their insides like that! A former noble still pretending to be refined to the end…!*
Anyway, Edel wouldn’t be released from the laundry room until Marsha ordered it, so she had plenty of time to badmouth her to Laslo.
Having rolled in these circles for nearly thirty years, Marsha believed she knew people inside out. She credited her mid-forties assets to her ‘insight into human nature.’
Laslo was so taciturn and expressionless that his thoughts were inscrutable, but he was just an illiterate mercenary at heart—easy to sweet-talk.
She’d grown amused watching nobles fall for flattery or anxiety-stoking words, eventually believing herself above them.
But Edel reacted entirely differently, as if prodding Marsha’s inferiority complex toward nobles.
Fine. Anyway… Edel surely won’t finish the laundry, so what punishment should I mete out?
“Yes, ma’am.”
That thought turned her unpleasant pounding heart into a strange swell of anticipation.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’ll do my best.”
At the hour the master of the house returned, the Criserus Count’s carriage pulled up before the mansion.
Unlike usual when no one came out, Marsha and her two loyal maids greeted Laslo.
No matter how she provoked her, Edel’s responses were always devoid of emotion.
For Marsha, who had hoped Edel would tremble in rage or sob in self-pity, those unflappable replies were utterly unsatisfying.
“You’ve arrived, my lord.”
.
“You’ve worked hard today.”
Marsha fidgeted awkwardly with her hands, then spoke as Laslo’s gaze grew menacing.
Laslo paused upon seeing them simpering at him as he stepped down from the carriage.
“It’s a bit awkward to say this, but because she lived as a noble, she’s too arrogant. So lazy and dismissive of the other servants.”
*Something must have happened.*
Laslo tilted his head at the unexpected topic.
Edel arrogant? Lazy and belittling others?
Laslo had always valued Marsha’s consistency.
The reason he kept her as head maid despite her incompetence, bragging, and greed was that she required no deep pondering over whether she was deceiving him.
Her motives were so transparently revealed that managing her was easy.
*That woman who knelt before Linia?*
Seeing Laslo furrow his brow as if recalling something, Marsha took it positively and whispered even lower.
“Nothing out of the ordinary?”
“Ohoho! Come inside first and we’ll talk. It’s cold out here.”
“She’s late every morning as a matter of course, treats the laundry maids like her slaves while making excuses to shirk her own work. And that’s not all? She seduces the male servants with her pretty face—ugh, don’t get me started.”
Normally, the response would be ‘Nothing much,’ but Marsha clearly had something to say.
She shook her head and clicked her tongue. Too immersed in her fabricated lies to notice Laslo’s gaze turning icy.
Laslo said nothing more and entered the mansion, heading to the first-floor parlor.
It might have ended better if she’d stopped there, but Marsha had much more slander prepared.
The parlor, with its burning firewood, was warm. Laslo tossed his coat aside and sat on the sofa.
“She even defied my advice today. Well, for a former duchess, who knows how beneath her a mere maid’s counsel must seem.”
“It’s quite cold today, isn’t it? Mina! Hurry and bring some hot chocolate.”
That flash of anger was genuine. Recalling Edel’s ‘You act like a noble’ made her stomach churn again.
Marsha tried acting warmly by ordering another maid for drinks, but Laslo replied impassively.
“She eats three full meals despite slacking off, and it corrupts the other servants into idleness. That can’t go on! Don’t you agree?”
“Have I ever drunk hot chocolate?”
“So, what’s your point, in conclusion?”
“Oh, r-right? Linia likes it, so I must’ve assumed. Then perhaps some hot tea…”
“I don’t like wasting time. Spit it out.”
Marsha, unable to hide her gleaming eyes, spoke in eager anticipation.
She sat flustered on the sofa beside Laslo, scooting as close as possible.
“I felt she needed a stern warning, so I assigned her some grueling work today. She surely won’t finish it. She shirks even easier tasks onto others, after all.”
“……Is that so?”
“Well, my lord. It’s about that… ‘prisoner.’”
“Of course! But if I punish her myself, it might seem biased, so perhaps Your Lordship could impose an exemplary punishment for all to see.”
“Prisoner?”
“You know, that former duchess woman.”
Finally broaching the main point, Marsha gauged Laslo’s reaction with a forced laugh. Unable to read his expression, she still believed he’d grant her request.
“Edel Lancaster? What about that woman?”
*He knows nothing unless I tell him.*
6
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