Chapter 6
“Master… I really have to go now… ow!”
“There you go again with ‘Master.’”
Sean, who had been playing with Lucy’s blonde hair, twisting it around his fingers as she sat at the bedside, suddenly tugged hard on her hair.
Thanks to that, Lucy was pulled another hand’s span closer to the edge of the bed, and her vision was filled with his cold, sky-blue eyes.
Sean furrowed his smooth, pale brow and pouted his lips petulantly as he toyed with her golden hair again.
“Call me Sean.”
“Sean… I really have to go work now.”
Even though he knew her pleading voice would soon carry a tremble of tears, Sean continued to act as if he hadn’t heard her.
Growing increasingly desperate, Lucy could barely hide her panic. She hadn’t fed the horses in the stable yet, nor cleaned the stairs.
If she couldn’t manage even the small tasks assigned to her, given she was just a child, it would be Raila Auntie who would end up getting scolded.
“Is working… hard for you?”
“N-No!!”
No matter how young she was, Lucy knew she must never complain about her hardships in front of her superiors.
Though clumsy in other things, she had grown up in an environment where she had no choice but to be quick-witted about such matters. She shook her hands frantically in denial.
I’m so happy to be able to work in this manor.
“Hm… really? How happy are you?”
“Very… very happy.”
She answered in a tiny, shrinking voice, her fingers twitching nervously under his curious gaze.
Her soft golden hair shimmered in the sunlight pouring in through the window, and her eyelashes, shadowing her green eyes, were tipped with gold strand by strand.
Sean, watching Lucy shine so brightly by herself, began hesitantly.
“What about playing with me?”
But Lucy, who was half hoping she could nod along to anything just to leave quickly, only kept glancing at the door and completely missed his question.
Sean, who had been playing with her hair while waiting for her answer, frowned once more when he realized she hadn’t heard.
As if it was inevitable, Lucy let out a small cry of pain.
“Master…! It hurts…!”
“‘Master’ again! Answer me now. Do you like playing with me or not?!”
“I-I like it! I like it…”
But it was an obvious lie, and Sean didn’t believe it for a second.
No matter what she said, Lucy’s expression and gestures betrayed her true feelings.
He was irritated that she wouldn’t just do what he wanted, but the moment she was out of sight, he would become restless again. Lately, his nerves were always on edge.
Ever since the first day they met in his father’s study, this gentle-looking girl hadn’t left his mind for a moment.
“I gave you candy! And cookies too!”
“Master, it really hurts…!”
“‘Master’ again!!”
“What else am I supposed to call you? You’re my master, not my friend…!”
Struggling to free her hair, Lucy suddenly tumbled backward when Sean abruptly let go.
“Uh-huh…”
“Get out!!”
When the teary-eyed Lucy looked up from where she’d landed on her backside, Sean was kneeling on the bed, yelling at her with a furious face and disheveled hair.
Leaving him behind, Lucy scrambled away in a hurry.
Beyond the closed door, she heard the sound of a plate and tray — likely the snack she’d brought — crashing to the floor.
She ran straight to the stable and collapsed among the haystacks, stifling her sobs.
This is bad. I made the young master angry. I’m going to be thrown out. What will I do if I’m thrown out?
Luckily, Lucy and Raila were still allowed to work at the manor the next day, and the day after that.
But if there was one misfortune, it was that Sean’s torment only grew worse.
“Eek!!!”
Startled by something suddenly thrown at her, Lucy fell to the ground with a thud.
When she looked up through tear-filled eyes, she saw the young master sneering down at her, frogs hopping around everywhere.
Though he was just a child, the cold gleam in Sean’s eyes made Lucy clamp her mouth shut.
Unable to protest or move, she just trembled where she was, while Sean glared at her fiercely before spinning on his heel and vanishing around the manor’s walls.
Lucy couldn’t move an inch until all the frogs had hopped away.
Right after frogs and insects, the next torment was him jumping out of nowhere to grab her hair and shake it around.
It didn’t matter that she braided it up to keep it out of reach — it was useless.
In his anger, Sean would push her over and claw at the tightly braided hair until it was a complete mess.
He would climb onto her back, grab handfuls of her hair, and shake her so violently that Lucy ended up sobbing several times a day.
Worried that her aunt might notice, Lucy would brush out her hair in her room and shed silent tears as the strands fell.
“Lucy… are you really going to be alright? You’ve grown it so beautifully.”
“It’s okay…”
After several weeks of enduring it, Lucy made up her mind. She decided to cut her hair.
Unlike Raila’s own coarse, reddish hair, Lucy’s fine golden hair was so pretty that Raila felt even more reluctant than Lucy herself.
“It just gets in the way of my work.” Even when Raila offered to braid it for her every day, Lucy just shook her head.
In the end, shimmering golden strands fell in clumps under Raila’s scissors.
“What… what happened to your hair?”
“Sniff…”
The next day.
When Sean, as usual, pulled off her kerchief to grab her hair, he stared in disbelief.
The golden hair that always slipped so nicely through his fingers was gone. His brow twisted as he stared at the short hair that didn’t even reach her chin.
“What happened to your hair!!!”
“Sniff… Master… you kept pulling it all the time…”
“So you cut it?!! Why! Why did you cut it?!”
Why did you cut it without my permission!! Sean yelled so fiercely that tears sprang to his eyes, and Lucy, terrified, tried to run.
But Sean didn’t let her escape.
He tackled her from behind, and Lucy fell face-first onto the fresh green grass.
“Master, you’re heavy…! Please get off…!”
“Why… why did you cut it without my permission?!”
“It’s my hair!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. In this manor, nothing belongs to you. Everything is mine! Everything is mine!!”
Seething, Sean grabbed Lucy’s short hair and whispered.
From now on, don’t do anything without my permission. Got it? But Lucy, who never wanted to obey him again, steeled herself and shook her head.
No matter how hard Sean demanded an answer, her small mouth stayed shut, and only when Charles, who had found them, pulled the raging Sean off her did Lucy break free.
Lucy!! Stop right there!! Come back here right now!! Sean’s furious shouting behind her made her shudder, and she ran and ran as fast as she could.
After that, Lucy avoided Sean completely.
She no longer brought him snacks either. No matter how much Sean raged at Charles, the butler could no longer back him up, having seen it himself. There was no benefit in letting rumors spread that the young master tormented a servant.
Thanks to that, Lucy was able to enjoy a peaceful life for the first time in a long while.
It was on one such day, when she prayed every day that it would stay this way forever.
Summer had peaked, and the midday sun was so hot it felt like it could burn her skin.
But that also meant it was perfect weather for drying laundry.
Lucy helped her aunt wash old tablecloths and curtains, hanging them out to dry in the clearing behind the manor.
She tied a thick rope securely to sturdy branches and hung the dripping wet fabric out to dry. A fresh scent filled the breeze, tickling her nose.
“Lucy, finish up and come inside.”
“Yes, Auntie.”
Watching her aunt disappear with quick steps, Lucy took up the stick again and gave the linens another good shake.
She smiled, satisfied with the spotless white tablecloths, when suddenly the fabric all fell with a soft thud into the dirty yard.
“Ah…!”
Startled, Lucy turned to look at where the rope had been tied — there stood Sean, holding a pair of scissors.
When her empty, helpless gaze met his, he flashed a wicked grin, clearly waiting for her reaction.
He expected her to burst into tears or come at him yelling — one of the two. But her reaction only turned his smug face into one of deep disappointment.
Lucy simply glared at him for a moment, then turned away and quietly gathered the fallen laundry.
“Lucy!!”
Unable to hold back his frustration, Sean ran over and stood right in front of her, but Lucy ignored him completely. She pretended not to see him at all.
The truth was, she was just exhausted. She had too much work to waste her time reacting to the young master’s antics anymore.
No matter how much he hovered around, Lucy never once looked at him, and Sean’s breathing grew heavier with each passing moment.
Seething, he turned away and didn’t return to the manor but instead stood under the tree’s shade, watching Lucy work.
He bit his lip as he watched her haul the heavy linens with her small frame, carry buckets of water, and stomp on the laundry to wash it.
He didn’t even notice the sun climbing higher and the shade shrinking around him.
Lucy, standing with her legs submerged in the cool water under the large tree, turned her head and gasped.
Far off, in the blazing sun near a rock, Sean’s small figure lay collapsed.
“Master!!!”
Lucy ran barefoot, her wet footprints drying quickly behind her.
Under the scorching midsummer sun, Sean, just a child, couldn’t withstand the heat any longer.
Having sat there for hours without so much as a sip of water, his small body was burning hot.
Auntie! Auntie! Lucy’s frantic cries drew the attention of a nearby servant, who ran over, picked up Sean, and dashed back to the manor.
That night, he suffered terribly from a high fever — it was heatstroke.
“Lucy. The young master keeps asking for you. There’s nothing else we can do. Can you understand?”
“Yes…”
The manor stayed awake until dawn after the news that the young master — second only in importance to the Baron himself — had fallen ill.
To make matters worse, the Baron was away from home, which only deepened everyone’s concern.
Even when given medicine, Sean’s fever wouldn’t break, and as soon as he opened his eyes, the first person he called for was Lucy.
Though Charles had been troubled by Sean’s behavior toward her, in his position, the health of the child he served came before the feelings of a young maid.
