Chapter 14
“Agh, be gentle!”
As one of the maids wiped the wound with a damp cloth, Catherine cried out.
“I am being gentle! Ugh, how could they whip you like this? Where on this scrawny body is there even a spot to hit!”
At that, murmurs of complaint erupted here and there, starting with one maid’s grumble.
“Aren’t you going too far, Head Maid? You never say a word when the maids from the main building mess up.”
“Exactly! They slack off every day, and you don’t say anything!”
“It’s because we end up doing all their work when they slack off.”
“And if we don’t, it’s all our fault.”
“So why did you disobey the Head Maid’s orders and end up like this, Catherine?”
“You’ve got some nerve saying that to someone who got hurt. Just leave her be. That must hurt a lot, right, Catherine?”
Catherine lay sprawled on the bed, groaning in pain, surrounded by the annex maids.
Looking at them again, they seemed less like colleagues and more like family.
- Blood may not bind us, but we’re family, Kayla. Got it?
A gentle woman’s voice echoed like a memory from long ago.
If I hadn’t been sold to the assassin guild, could I have lived like that too?
- You can do it with me. Family.
In that instant, a voice I wanted to forget rang out alongside it.
I lowered my eyes.
What happened, happened. It was all in the past.
Getting lost in useless sentiment like this—had I really gone soft?
It was then, as I turned to leave without a word.
The annex maids’ conversation drifted over.
“That wench would’ve been kicked out ages ago if not for Countess Katrina!”
“Shh! What if someone hears you?”
This time, fortunately, it was a familiar name.
‘If you don’t know that name in the empire’s high society, you must be a spy.’
The flower of society, Countess Failin Katrina, who had swiftly become the Second Imperial Consort’s right-hand woman with her dazzling beauty and shrewd social skills.
‘Who would’ve thought the Head Maid had connections to that woman.’
But why was that woman’s confidante attached to Prince Edwin’s side?
His background was too unremarkable to warrant a surveillance role.
‘Do they keep tabs on him just because he’s a prince?’
Coincidentally, I had met the countess once before I died.
She was beautiful, but venomous.
Beautiful flowers always have the sharpest thorns, after all.
And those who got pricked were always the ones closest to the bloom.
Suddenly, the Head Maid’s overzealous actions flashed through my mind.
‘What to do.’
As I pondered with my eyes downcast, I felt the maids’ gazes on me.
Why were they all staring at me?
“Um, Nanny?”
One maid, meeting my eyes, approached cautiously.
When I just stared back without answering, she continued awkwardly.
“Catherine says you saved that child. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“We’re grateful you saved Catherine, but we’re just lowly maids, so if the Head Maid finds out about this…”
She looked deeply apologetic, at a complete loss.
The other annex maids standing behind her were the same.
Unlike before, their faces were grim.
Catherine was no different.
Of course, I knew exactly what they were worried about.
They were afraid the Head Maid would retaliate against them, lowborn as they were.
“Don’t worry.”
When I answered calmly, the maid’s mouth fell open in surprise.
“Pardon?”
“It was my doing, so I’ll take responsibility.”
“You’ll take responsibility, Nanny?”
The maids stirred at my words.
“So it’s true she came with a letter of recommendation from Lady Conrad.”
“Does that mean we can go back to not having to watch out for the main building maids like before?”
I watched their reactions for a moment before speaking again.
“In exchange, I have a few questions for you.”
* * *
‘I got all the information I need for now.’
I was heading back to the main building after finishing my talk with the annex maids.
‘Now I just need to decide what to do.’
The distance between the annex and the main building wasn’t far.
In the end, I reached the main building’s door without making up my mind.
‘I’m leaving soon anyway.’
What held my ankle to the last was a kind of hesitation.
‘I’m not really Rachel Brown, so do I really need to get this involved in the prince’s palace affairs?’
The fact that I was even agonizing over this didn’t make sense to me.
‘What’s making me try this hard?’
Whatever the Head Maid did, what did it have to do with me?
The prince, the princess, the annex maids—they were all strangers to me, anyway.
It was a world where parents sold their children and children killed their parents.
So what reason did I have to risk danger to help others?
- You’re so contradictory, Kayla.
That damned Ian’s voice echoed in my ear again.
- You kill people without batting an eye, then help total strangers just as casually.
It was something he’d said to me not long after we met.
- I just can’t understand it.
That was exactly what I wanted to say to myself right now.
Why was I stepping up for an annex maid I’d soon part ways with?
Simply because I couldn’t accept the Head Maid punishing innocent annex maids?
Truth be told, I couldn’t accept myself for getting this proactive over something so trivial.
‘For now, let’s handle this and decide later.’
I shook my head quickly.
Either way, I’d promised the annex maids I’d sort it out, so I had to keep my word.
Breaking promises was even more distasteful.
With that, I convinced myself and flung open the door.
* * *
The moment I entered the main building, two maids grabbed my arms as if they’d been waiting.
They dragged me outside and forced me to my knees on the dirt ground.
The Head Maid had come out by then and stood before me.
“Lady Rachel Brown. You know what you did wrong, don’t you?”
When I looked up, I saw the Head Maid’s bull-like angry face and the main building maids gathered behind her.
They looked thrilled, anticipating what was about to happen.
The moment our eyes met, the Head Maid bellowed like lightning.
“Releasing a maid who’s being punished without the Head Maid’s permission—what law in what country allows that?”
A dictator who ignored even the prince, prattling on about laws.
It was such an ill-fitting line.
As I stifled a scoff inside, it happened.
The Head Maid’s hand rose above my head.
Thanks to that, I fell into unexpected anguish.
Should I let that wicked palm flying toward my face hit me, or not?
Dodging the blatantly visible swing would be easy.
But if I didn’t take it meekly, it would only stoke her rage further.
‘No helping it now.’
I lowered my eyes.
A loud whoosh filled the air, followed by a flash of white before my eyes.
My left cheek burned.
It had been ages since someone hit me, so it felt terribly awkward.
‘And it pisses me off too.’
Meanwhile, the Head Maid was still glaring at me venomously.
“Didn’t I tell you clearly, Lady Brown? I’d handle everything regarding His Highness the Prince, so you just fulfill your duties as nanny.”
She planted her hands on her hips and barked.
“Yet not only do you shirk your own work onto others, you even meddle in my affairs.”
The Head Maid gestured to a maid by her side.
“Go get the whip right—”
“I can’t accept that.”
My limit for enduring was exactly my ‘left cheek.’
I continued coldly.
“It’s impossible for me alone to attend to both Your Highnesses. I need the maids’ cooperation.”
The Head Maid sneered at my words and scowled.
“Ha, making pathetic excuses now?”
“I’m just stating facts.”
I stared steadily at the Head Maid.
“But you forbade the maids from attending His Highness under the pretext of leaving his affairs to me. Isn’t that strange?”
“What?”
“The master of this place is none other than His Highness Edwin.”
At my words, the Head Maid sensed something off and furrowed her brow.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Yet you punish a maid who prepared His Highness’s meal without his permission. Doesn’t that add up?”
In that moment, the Head Maid’s eyes widened.
“That’s—!”
“If that’s not a challenge to imperial authority, what is?”
Playing householder in a house without one was one thing, but acting like master when the true owner stood right there?
No one could tolerate that.
Murmurs rippled through the main building maids at my words.
When her subordinates wavered, the Head Maid shouted even louder instead.
“You and your loose tongue! Stirring up trouble with baseless nonsense!”
The Head Maid’s hand shot up once more.
That was when it happened.
“Stop—! What do you think you’re doing!”
A shrill yell came from behind the Head Maid.
The voice belonged to none other than the master of this palace, Third Prince Edwin.
Edwin stood at the top of the stairs, his face twisted in fury.
Clinging to his side was a startled Emilia.
Prince Edwin glanced back and forth between me and the Head Maid before slowly descending the stairs.
“I asked what the hell you think you’re doing.”
His voice was seething with anger, unlike his usual self.
