Chapter 24
“You really can’t answer, can you? That must mean you’re the culprit! Am I wrong?”
“N-no, ma’am! It’s just… I really didn’t see anything, so…”
“Prepare the punishment room.”
“Ma’am!”
“Don’t worry. Once you’re in that room, your memory will become very clear.”
If her claim of standing in the hallway all night was true, then she should clearly remember who she saw.
The Countess whispered this like the devil itself, gripping the maid’s cheek.
The maid begged, pressing her forehead to the ground, but the Countess showed no mercy.
“I was wrong, ma’am! Please forgive me!”
“What are you all standing around for? Move! Or do you want to be punished with her?”
In the end, the maid was dragged away like Tana.
The Countess stood up, wearing only a shawl over her nightgown, and the remaining maids whispered among themselves.
“What are we going to do…”
“Melina has a young daughter…”
“If something happens to Melina too…”
Their voices were low, but not low enough to escape her ears.
The Countess frowned and turned around.
“What was that?”
“…”
“What did you just mutter?”
“M-ma’am.”
“We were just…”
Looking at the trembling maids, she remembered the voices that had mocked her at the boutique.
[She claimed she didn’t know anything, didn’t she?]
[As the mistress who managed the family budget, how could she not know? She just turned a blind eye.]
[And yet, she bragged about her daughter at every social gathering?]
[Goodness, people need to have some shame…]
[By the way, why did she even come to the boutique? It’s not like she can go to any parties.]
[She’s probably planning to spend the rest of her money. What better excuse for not refunding those who bought her daughter’s paintings than saying she’s broke?]
[How shameless.]
When she turned around, the noble ladies quickly closed their mouths as if they’d never said a word.
But the corners of their mouths curled into sneers.
Unable to confront them, the Countess had to flee the place with a flushed face.
But now…
Just like those ladies, the maids were whispering and gossiping about her.
How dare they! The very people who should bow their heads to the ground when she spoke were mocking her behind her back!
“Talk! Tell me what you were saying!”
“Ma’am!”
“Kyaaah!”
“What insolent things were you saying behind my back that you all fell silent the moment I turned around?”
“W-we were just talking about Melina, aaah!”
“How dare you mock me?!”
Panting heavily, she cornered the maids, and Bella’s words came to mind.
[The one being beaten doesn’t think about the reason. They just feel hurt and sad.]
Back then, she had brushed those words off.
She thought Bella was just flaunting herself because she had the Count’s favor.
But now, looking at the maids whispering behind her back, she had a different thought.
Those lowly things probably had the audacity to resent her and mock her too.
Just like Bella—that insolent, uncultured girl—they were probably waiting, biding their time.
The Countess glared around, but she couldn’t tell who she should trust and who she should throw out.
In the end, she called the steward.
“Noah!”
The steward was the only person in the mansion she could trust. He had been loyal since she was a young lady.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Prepare another punishment room. If I’m going to punish those insolent things as well, the one we have now won’t be enough.”
The steward didn’t bother asking pointless questions.
“Understood.”
The maids began to beg, but it was useless.
“M-ma’am!”
“Please spare us! Please, aaah!”
The servants, following the steward’s orders, began dragging the maids away, and—
Bang!
The door to the punishment room slammed shut, sealing in their desperate cries.
The punishment room was in a corner of the first floor, far from my attic.
Even so, I could always tell who was being called to the punishment room and who was dragged out.
Because whenever the maids were together, they whispered about it.
If the steward or the Countess came by, their mouths clamped shut again, but they didn’t seem to see me as someone they needed to be cautious around.
“Apparently, yesterday Sarah too…”
“Melina’s legs are so bad from the beatings…”
Just like now.
Their terrified whispers grew more frequent as the punishment room filled with the smell of blood.
The more they feared the Countess, the more they worried about their own safety.
But there was nowhere to report the Countess, so all they could do was curl up and pray they wouldn’t be the next target.
I lay in my room, listening to the maids’ chatter.
“I’m not feeling well…”
I used my fever as an excuse.
In truth, I really wasn’t well.
I had been pushing my body, already weak from the torment of Charlotte and now the Countess.
And I had stopped taking painkillers, so the accumulated strain finally hit me all at once.
Even knowing that, I didn’t take medicine—to maintain my alibi.
‘If the Countess suspects me, it’ll be nothing but trouble.’
After a few days in bed, the Count sent a servant to check on me.
It was obvious he was worried that Lady Hilton’s investment might fall through.
“Tell him the advisors’ meeting will end soon and he shouldn’t worry.”
I gave him the kind of vague reassurance the Count would like.
Satisfied, the Count left me alone, just as I wanted.
That meant no unnecessary fuss about sending a doctor or making me take medicine.
So I groaned in pain by day and…
“…”
At night, I prepared various “gifts” for the Countess.
I used to place the gifts inside her room.
But after I heard she was staying up all night to catch the culprit, I started leaving the gifts outside her room or on her window ledge.
That was enough to rattle her frayed nerves.
By the time I returned from my nightly task, I was drenched in sweat.
I felt even worse because I had been so tense, careful not to get caught.
I collapsed onto my bed and stared up at the cold ceiling, and suddenly thought of Ahfwyn.
‘I didn’t get to visit him again today.’
He always looked like he wanted me to come.
‘But it can’t be helped.’
Ahfwyn probably wanted me to set him free as soon as possible, not just keep him company.
I thought of his clear eyes, then closed my own tightly to erase the image.
“Who is it! Who the hell is doing this?!”
The next dawn, the Countess once again rounded up the maids like she was catching rats.
Tana’s bloodstained maid uniform had been placed on her window ledge.
The maids lined up and stared at each other, but none of them knew who had done it.
The Countess hadn’t been sleeping, and the maids had also been trying to catch the culprit.
They guarded not just her room but the hallways too, watching for anyone suspicious.
But the culprit always acted beyond their expectations.
If they guarded inside the room, the item would appear outside.
If they guarded the door, it would appear on the window ledge.
If they even guarded outside, the item would show up on a dining chair.
It was as if the culprit was hiding somewhere, watching them.
“Have you still not found the culprit?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I even had the knights on watch, but…”
“Useless fool!”
The Countess slapped the steward across the face.
The steward was technically a servant but had the authority to oversee the others, so she usually wouldn’t treat him like the other staff.
Normally, the Countess would never have humiliated him in front of everyone.
But now, her nerves were frayed from lack of sleep.
“Get out of my sight. I can’t stand to look at you.”
“…”
The Countess’s hysteria wasn’t just directed at the steward.
“Why are you walking so loudly? Can’t you walk quietly?”
“You—did you just turn your head in front of me? Why? Were you worried I’d see you laughing at me? Hm?”
She lashed out at the maids for the smallest things, and some were even sent to the punishment room.
“I-I can’t take it anymore…”
“Sarah ended up like that too. Honestly, I’m scared.”
“It’s not like this mansion is the only place we can work…”
Unable to endure it any longer, some maids resigned, and others simply ran away.
They decided survival was more important than a recommendation letter.
In the end, the only servants left at the Count’s house were those so inexperienced they couldn’t find work elsewhere.
With the mansion so short-staffed, the Countess finally realized how serious the situation was.
“We’ll have to hire new staff.”
