IDSFTV 07

Chapter 7

I asked the soldier escorting me, wanting to confirm whether my guess was correct.

“Are we heading west right now?”

“What do you care? Shut your mouth.”

At his warning, I wrapped my arms around my knees and crouched down again.

Back in Willinger, I might have been the lord’s wife, but to these people, I was no different from a slave.

What exactly happened in Izar while Shiraz was staying here?

I tried to think about it, but my eyelids grew heavier and heavier. I hadn’t slept a wink the night before, too preoccupied with planning my escape from the lord. Now, the drowsiness finally came crashing down.

As we passed through golden fields in the fertile granary region, I realized my prediction had been right.

When we arrived at Izar Castle, my jaw dropped at its sheer size.

The lord’s castle in Willinger had once seemed like the whole world to me, but compared to Izar Castle, it was nothing. This place was enormous.

As we crossed the drawbridge lowered by the soldiers and passed through several massive gates, my hope dimmed.

Escaping from here would be next to impossible.

The castle was breathtaking, but to me, it looked like one massive prison.

“Stop dawdling and get down!”

While I was distracted by the scenery, the soldier yanked me out—apparently, we’d already arrived.

The soldiers and knights who had come with us were nowhere to be seen. Naturally, neither Shiraz nor his retainers were around either.

It seemed they had split off through another passage upon entering the castle, leaving only the lower-ranked soldiers with me.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

With a look of irritation, he led me down a long path toward a secluded corner.

“Wait here.”

The building in front of us looked shabby at best. He spoke to a middle-aged woman there, occasionally glancing at me.

“This way.”

The woman beckoned to me, and I quickly walked over.

Her cheeks bulged like she was sucking on candy, and she gave me a slow once-over.

It felt like the way a butcher sizes up meat quality—thoroughly unpleasant.

“She’s so scrawny. I wonder if she can even work properly,” she muttered to herself, then nodded to the soldier as if to say she’d take it from here.

Looking relieved to be done with me, the soldier left.

“From now on, don’t cause trouble and work hard. If you try to run off or slack, you’ll get the rod.”

With her large frame towering over me and her stern expression, she looked like one of those terrifying dorm wardens from a boarding school.

I obediently nodded, and she led me inside the building.

The interior was cluttered and maze-like—it seemed to be a dormitory for maids.

As I followed her, the absurdity of my situation hit me, and a hollow laugh escaped.

First I get caught trying to escape, and now I’m Shiraz’s maid.

From a nominal lady of the manor to a maid—was this really any better?

And yet, strangely, I felt more at ease.

Back at the lord’s castle, I had to think and act like Garnet all the time. Here, no one knew me.

I could simply be myself. That alone made me feel like I’d been freed from shackles.

“This will be your bed. I’ll tell you your duties later. For now, change into these clothes and wait quietly.”

“Yes.”

I answered the warden-like woman meekly. I really did sound like a proper maid.

She gave me a doubtful look before leaving.

Left alone, I took a curious look around the place where I’d now be staying.

So this is where the maids live… It really is like a maze prison.

From the looks of it, this dorm housed the lowest-ranked maids who did the most menial work.

The room was empty—probably everyone was out working.

Beds lined one wall, each with a shelf above it. Every shelf had personal belongings unique to its owner.

I sat on my assigned bed, which creaked and tilted to one side.

As I moved, the squeaks seemed almost amusing, and I steeled my resolve.

First, eat well, sleep well, and keep a low profile here. Then think about how to escape.

I had to stay quiet enough for people to forget I’d even been brought here. Eventually, they shouldn’t even remember I existed.

No one’s going to pay attention to some maid.

“Get up! If you keep dragging your feet, I’ll send you to the waste disposal area!”

A stick jabbed into me over and over, like poking at an insect.

It was still dark outside, but a maid’s day started at dawn.

I massaged my aching arms and shoulders as I got up.

The grueling, backbreaking work went on day after day like a hamster wheel.

Ah… So Rosalyn wasn’t exaggerating when she complained every day about her body aching and being exhausted.

The thought of her sobered me for a moment.

I changed into the drab maid’s uniform, rough as sandpaper, and stood in front of the wall.

I wiped the shards of a broken mirror and studied my reflection. My face looked as fractured as the glass.

It had already been several days since I arrived here.

After doing all sorts of chores, my hands had grown rough like scouring pads, yet oddly, my complexion had become fairer and smoother.

Maybe it was the regular schedule. Or maybe it was because my mind was more at ease now.

Physically, life here was harsh, but the mental stress I’d suffered in the lord’s castle was far worse.

Here, I ate when the bell rang, went straight to sleep after work, and woke the moment the morning bell sounded.

It felt like being kept in a pen, but I was adapting surprisingly well to the maid’s daily routine.

My job was to transport food supplies brought in from outside the castle to the kitchen—vegetables, meat, milk, all day long.

Because it was outdoor work, maids avoided it. In summer, you were drenched in sweat; in winter, your hands would freeze and get frostbite.

Back when I was the lady of the manor, I’d seen the maids doing chores around the castle, so I already knew this was a tough job.

Willinger Castle was small enough that the heavy tasks rotated, but here, there were so many servants that everyone had fixed duties.

Which meant I had to push a heavy cart nonstop all day.

I remembered the warden’s face when I volunteered for this job—first surprised, then smiling faintly, as if granting me a great favor.

So you won’t have any excuses later.

It was the look of someone thinking, You foolish child, you have no idea what you’re getting into. Let’s see how you handle the pain.

The first few days were hell.

I often lost my balance and toppled over with the one-wheeled cart, and at night, my back felt like it would break.

But I’d chosen this job because it let me move freely around the castle without arousing suspicion.

While making deliveries, I could pick up more than just the layout—whether something important was brewing, whether the soldiers were preparing for battle, even the Duke’s mood.

Best of all, I could chat briefly with the townsfolk bringing in supplies and hear news from outside the castle.

Today, like always, I started my day by pushing the empty cart.

The autumn air had turned crisp, stinging my nose, and the season made me feel strangely sentimental.

By now, I probably looked like someone who’d always been just another maid in this castle.

Sometimes I even wondered if I was better suited to this than being a lady.

Am I really going to just stay here and die as a maid instead of escaping?

I chuckled to myself at the thought and glanced up at the sky.

The fully ripened autumn sky told me it was nearly time to act.

The Duke of Shiraz should be making his move soon… That would be the Battle of Kieni, right?

As I rattled along with my empty cart, I mentally flipped through the original story.

It was a pivotal battle where the Duke crushed the rising momentum of General Marcus in one blow.

Even the elite troops from the capital would be deployed, along with all the garrison here.

When that happened, both the Duke and his men would leave, and this castle would be nearly empty.

Only the servants would be left to guard it.

With the defenses so thin, that would be my chance to escape.

As I pushed my cart with that thought, I noticed a maid who had come out earlier than me.

What’s she doing out so early?

It was rare to see a maid outside before me, so my curiosity was piqued.

She was stoking a fire under a huge cauldron, feeding in logs until the flames roared.

It was the laundry area, where several massive cauldrons were lined up. I always passed carefully by because of the hot steam they released.

Lately, there’d been rumors of plague in the eastern region, and the castle had tightened sanitation measures, boiling everything thoroughly every day.

Working in front of that fire all day must be brutal. I’d rather push a cart.

With that thought, I walked past her—

“Ugh!”

A sharp scream rang out.