Chapter 26
"What...what did you say?"
“The person who saved my life was the Emperor, and the person I am too humble to even look at is Count Crisis and his family, not someone like you, who is just another commoner.”
Marsha fell silent at Idell's words.
Edel was fed up with people who oppressed those weaker than themselves to reaffirm their power and status.
“Do you think that by stepping on someone who was a nobleman, you will somehow become one of them? But that will not happen. The Count is busy now, so he has not been able to manage the house, but he will soon find a lady and start to take care of things. When that happens, you will be just a servant, like the rest of us.”
Idil's words struck Marsha to the core. She pursed her lips, her fists trembling with anger before suddenly slapping Idil across the face.
The sharp sound of the slap echoed through the cold, damp air of the laundry room.
When Edel's vision faded from the sudden impact, she realized that she was already lying on the ground.
“You’re a rude whore! How dare you talk back to your boss? You won’t step one step out of here until you’ve finished every single piece of laundry, and you won’t get any food until then either!”
Marsha stormed out angrily and locked the laundry room door from the outside.
Edel, who was staring quietly as Marsha’s footsteps faded and she closed the door, felt as if the whole situation was surreal.
I heard a faint sound of a stick sliding between the door handles, but the sensation of her clothes swallowing water on the floor was strangely clear.
It seems there is a ringing in her ears.
“I need to wake up…”
She wanted it badly, but her head was spinning, and her body wouldn't move.
'If I don't finish the work, who knows what Mrs. Bohon will say to Count Crisis…'
Her mind knew she needed to get up and wash as many curtains as possible, but her body felt as if it were burning and freezing at the same time, leaving her unable to even lift a finger.
Her vision became more blurry.
“Perhaps… it would be better if you fell asleep forever…”
With this last thought, Idil fainted.
* * *
Marsha was still furious after locking Edel in the laundry room.
"That pathetic girl! She's practically a prisoner now, and yet she's talking about being a commoner like me? Just you wait, I'll make sure she regrets this!"
Her anger increased.
In the small kingdom ruled by Marsha, Idyll was the only person who dared to challenge her.
“I am Idel, ma’am.”
She still remembers the first day they met, when Idil answered her question in a calm voice, without any anger or resentment in her eyes.
That was when Marsha first began to hate Edel.
'If you're human, you should show some emotion when someone falls beneath you! She's no longer noble, but she keeps pretending to be very classy…!'
Marsha prides herself on her understanding of human nature, honed by nearly thirty years of experience in the service industry. By her mid-forties, she had amassed a small fortune, which she attributed to her “insight into human nature.”
I found it amusing how easily nobles were influenced by sweet talk or a few words that played on their insecurities, and over time, came to believe that they were above them.
But Edel was different. She did not interact with Marsha as the other nobles did, as if she were deliberately resisting the inferiority complex that Marsha suffered from.
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'm sorry."
"I will do my best."
No matter how much Marsha tried to provoke her, Idell's responses were always devoid of emotion.
Marsha, who had hoped to see Idil lose her temper or break down in tears, found herself increasingly frustrated by Idil's calm and hard answers.
And those eyes!
Idell may have claimed that she never challenged or resisted, but she never truly submitted.
Even when she bent her head, her eyes remained steady and unwavering.
It's as if she's saying, "You can bark all you want, I'm not listening!"
That's why Marsha wanted to torture her even more until she finally broke.
In the end, although Marsha succeeded in getting Idell to give a different answer than usual today, she was not pleased at all.
"You speak as if you were a noblewoman, my lady."
The moment she heard those words, a shiver ran down her spine.
'She must have seen through me! That's why she hasn't made a single mistake so far!'
Edel knew that Marsha considered herself above the nobility, while she was also concerned about the power she possessed, which could disappear at any moment.
“Edel is not someone I can easily manipulate. When the Count arrives today, I must tell him to get rid of her.”
In any case, Edel, who was locked in the laundry room until Marsha gave orders, would not be released. There would be plenty of time to humiliate her in front of Laszlo.
Laszlo was such a quiet, expressionless man that it was difficult to know what he was thinking. But since he was nothing more than an ignorant mercenary, he wouldn't be difficult to win over.
'Good. Now… it’s clear that Idell won’t be able to finish the laundry, so what kind of punishment should I give her?'
When she thought about it, her unpleasantly beating heart swelled with a strange sense of anticipation.
* * *
As the master of the palace was returning home, Count Crisis's carriage stopped in front of the palace.
However, unlike usual when no one was out, Marsha and two maids greeted Lazlo.
"Welcome back, Count."
"Thank you for your hard work today."
Laszlo, who was getting out of the carriage, hesitated for a moment when he saw them smiling gratefully at him.
'Something must have happened.'
Laszlo felt relieved that Marsha was as steadfast as ever.
The reason he appointed her, a haughty, boastful, money-obsessed woman, as his head servant was that he did not have to worry about whether or not she was cheating on him.
Since she revealed her true intentions with great transparency, it was easier to manage her.
"Was there any problem?"
“Hohoho! Please come in and let’s talk. The wind is cold.”
Normally, she would have said, "There's nothing worth mentioning," but Marsha seemed to have something to say today.
Without saying much, Laszlo entered the palace and headed to the reception room on the first floor.
The reception room, where the wood was burning, was warm. Laszlo threw his coat aside and sat on the sofa.
“It’s very cold, isn’t it? Mina! Go and get a cup of hot chocolate quickly.”
Marsha tried to appear friendly and asked another maid to bring her a drink, but Laszlo responded with a blank expression.
"How long has it been since I drank something like hot chocolate?"
“Oh, is that right? I must have made a mistake because Mrs. Linnea likes it. So, how about some warm tea…?”
“I don’t like wasting time. If you have something to say, say it quickly.”
Marsha looked a little confused, then sat on the sofa next to Laszlo, and tried to get as close to him as possible.
“Well, Count, it’s about… the prisoner.”
"A prisoner?"
“As you know, the woman who was once a duchess.”
"Ideal Lancaster? What about her?"
Marsha fidgeted with her hands, pretending to be annoyed, but when Laszlo's gaze turned stern, she began to speak.
“I am embarrassed to say this, but perhaps because she lived as a noblewoman, she is very haughty. She is very lazy and looks down on the other servants.”
Amal Laszlo looked up in confusion at this unexpected story.
Is that woman, Idil, arrogant? Lazy and compromising?
'The woman who knelt before Linnea?'
Marsha interpreted Laszlo's frown as a positive reaction, approached him, and whispered in a low voice.
“She is always late in the morning, and she runs the laundry maids like they are her servants, while she procrastinates on her work for this or that excuse. And that’s not all! Because her face is so beautiful, she flirts with the male servants. Oh, you won’t believe it!”
She clicked her tongue and shook her head. She was so preoccupied with the lies she was making up that she didn't notice the coldness creeping into Laszlo's gaze.
Perhaps it would have been better if she had stopped there, but Marsha had more slanders to spout.
“And today, she had the nerve to speak to me when I tried to offer her advice. Well, she was a duchess once, so I think she would find advice from a mere maid extremely insulting.”
The anger she displayed at that moment was real. When she thought of Idil's words, "You're acting like a noblewoman," it made her blood boil again.
“If she continues to behave like this while receiving three meals a day and living comfortably, other servants may follow her example. This cannot happen! Don’t you agree?”
"So, in conclusion, what are you trying to say?"
Marsha, unable to hide her greedy expression, spoke in an enthusiastic voice.
“I thought I should give her a stern warning, so I assigned her a difficult task today. I’m sure she didn’t complete it. After all, she’s the type of person who delegates easier tasks to other maids.”
"…Is this correct?"
“Of course! But since it might be embarrassing for me to punish her directly, it would be great if you gave her a punishment that would serve as an example to everyone.”
Marsha finally reached this point and smiled slyly as she watched Laszlo's reaction. Although she couldn't read his expression, she was confident he would agree to her request.
'He knows nothing about the house unless I tell him myself.'
Laszlo, who had been deep in thought, certainly stood up and asked.