Episode 8 –
Room 301
Summer pulled Liri around quickly while explaining the hotel.
“Your job is to collect laundry from the guest rooms and put it back in place. Simple, right?”
Liri wrote everything down in her notebook.
“Late at night, most requests are refused. We need to sleep too, don’t we? Ah, and jewelry is not allowed while working.”
Summer pointed to the locket hanging on Liri’s neck.
Along the underground passage wall, there were bells marked with room numbers, connected by strings leading somewhere.
“When a guest pulls the string in their room, the bell rings. You’ll walk through this passage to get into the hotel.”
From outside, the hotel looked different from the inside she saw while working.
The grand chandeliers, the murals of ancient Roman gardens, and the beautiful carpets weren’t everything. Hidden behind them was a small, humble community of workers who had nothing to do with nobility.
“I’ll show you the living quarters too. You can use the bed Bennett used.”
The room barely had any furniture. Liri sat down on the small feather-stuffed bed. Like most maids, she knew she would face endless hard work, but for now, she was just happy to have a place to lie down.
—
**[Letter to Sister Bolina]**
*Sister, I’ve been too busy to write until now. I got a job at the Belmore Hotel (please cross yourself when you read this).*
*I’ve been trembling with nerves this whole week. What hurts me is that everyone here adores Belmore—even though they’ve never even met him—because he pays them so well.*
Liri paused for a moment, then picked up her pen again.
*Everyone else here graduated from maid school, but I’m the only one from a convent. Still, I’m working hard so they won’t look down on me. I haven’t made any big mistakes yet.*
*Once I get my first pay, I’ll come visit the convent.*
*And don’t worry, the mural is safe. I still visit Sister Brigida’s grave whenever I can…*
“Elizabeth, are you writing a love letter? If not, put out the light already.”
Summer grumbled. Liri quickly slipped the letter between her books and blew out the candle.
—
Nearly a month passed. One day, before work, Summer called Liri aside.
“Elizabeth, from today you’ll be working alone.”
“Alone? What if I make mistakes?”
Summer answered lazily, checking her reflection in the mirror.
“It’s better to make mistakes while you’re still a trainee. You’ll handle the laundry on the third floor.”
The moment she heard “third floor,” Liri thought of the man in Room 301. Memories of that day she tried so hard to forget rushed back. She hadn’t seen him since running away from his bed. Summer misunderstood her silence.
“There are a lot of rooms on the third floor since they’re smaller. But that’s not a bad thing.”
Liri just nodded. She couldn’t possibly tell her about the man she met in Highbrom.
“Let’s go.”
Dressed in her black maid uniform with a white apron, Liri adjusted her bonnet in the mirror. The girl who once wore a dark blue checkered dress was gone; now she looked like an experienced maid. She prayed that her work would match her appearance.
—
Christopher enjoyed the quiet after a long day. He sank into a soft sofa with whiskey in hand, reflecting on everything.
*‘We searched Highbrom, but no one saw a girl like her.’*
That was fine. If she didn’t appear, nothing would happen. The nun leaving East Longfellow had told him:
*‘Things will go as God wills, so don’t be arrogant.’*
At least, that wasn’t true for Belmore. The convent had been relocated exactly as Belmore planned.
As for the girl, once he found her, he could send her far away.
He rang the bell for a maid. He needed clothes ready for his appointment with Cecil tomorrow.
After a while, someone knocked and entered politely. Normally, he wouldn’t even glance at them, but something about her back looked familiar.
“Should I take all these clothes out?”
Hearing the maid’s voice, Christopher set his glass down sharply.
Startled by the sound, the maid turned.
When he saw her face, he spoke.
“So this is where you were.”
No wonder they couldn’t find her in Highbrom—the lighthouse never shines right at its own base.
Christopher spoke first. Liri, who had been bowing her head, slowly looked up.
“Now explain. Why are you working here?”
His cold gaze made her shoulders tremble. His whole body showed his displeasure.
“I didn’t know you were still staying here.”
“That’s not the answer I want.”
“I’m not the kind of… of woman you think I am. That night was just—”
Before she finished, he cut in.
“I saw you at Highbrom. Don’t think I don’t know what kind of place that is.”
He spoke like an interrogator.
“Please, just pretend you don’t know me. Just this once.”
“And why should I? Who hired you?”
Liri bowed her head, begging. If not for this man, that night would have remained just a foolish mistake she could keep to herself.
“All the maids here were hired by Lord Belmore.”
It was the most powerful name she could think of. But to him, it meant nothing.
“Belmore hired you? What could he possibly see in you?”
His mocking tone silenced her.
“You’re an orphan. You’ve had no proper education, no real work experience.”
He dragged out every fact that proved she was nothing.
“And if Belmore finds out you once damaged the hotel’s reputation, he’ll never keep you employed.”
“That was… only if the guest keeps quiet.”
“Then tell me why I should keep quiet.”
Liri clenched her fists.
“I’ll quit once I save enough money. Until then…”
“You trust people far too easily.”
She added softly, “I beg you.” But he didn’t answer. The silence felt humiliating.
She even suspected he was enjoying her misery.
“I don’t exactly trust you either. But a true gentleman doesn’t gossip, does he?”
Her words struck him like a bomb.
He strode toward her. Liri stepped back but soon found herself trapped against the wall.
“Do you really not know who I am? Or are you just pretending?”
She looked at him nervously, not knowing how to answer.
“I know.”
“Then why talk about Belmore hiring you? Don’t you understand what that means?”
“So what? You’re just a guest, aren’t you?”
Christopher sighed. He had expected her to cower, not to stand her ground like this.
She couldn’t even recognize her true employer, and yet—
“A maid who wears improper clothes and even keeps jewelry.”
He grabbed the necklace at her throat, pulling her closer. Their faces were almost touching.
“You should just leave Londinium. Go somewhere no one knows what kind of woman you are. That would be better for you.”
His voice turned oddly gentle, his breath warm on her skin. But Liri refused to give in. If she were going to run away, she would have left East Longfellow long ago.
“I won’t go. You only see me that way because you’re a man who goes to Highbrom to buy women.”
She gripped her necklace tightly.
“Threaten me all you want. I won’t take your money.”
“You won’t take money?”
He let go of her pendant, and it dropped against her chest with a cold touch that made her shiver.
“So, you won’t ask me for anything? Not even—laundry?”
Liri pulled out one of his shirts from the basket.
“That’s all I need to handle.”
“I was only trying to help. It’s not too late to walk away.”
From her very first day working alone, her luck was terrible. He looked at her with pity, like she was some stray dog. His cheap sympathy felt worse than insults.
“If Lord Belmore listens to you, I’ll be fired. But I’ll never leave on my own. Not now, not ever!”
Shouting the last words, Liri ran out of the room.
—
After that, Liri was bedridden for two days.
Summer sat beside her, placing a cool cloth on her forehead.
“Liri, what happened to you?”
But Liri couldn’t answer. Telling the truth meant admitting the story of Highbrom, and she wasn’t sure anyone would believe an orphan like her.
Summer sighed at her silence.
“Listen, if it’s about a guest, don’t ever talk about it. That’s why Bennett got fired.”
She whispered as if the walls had ears.
“Guests eventually leave. But if rumors spread, it’s our reputation that suffers.”
“What did Bennett say?”
Liri asked nervously.
“She blurted out that a guest had brought a woman from Highbrom into the hotel. She even complained about having to dress the woman herself. Of course, Bennett was furious about being forced into it.”
Summer rambled on, but Liri wasn’t listening anymore.
*So… he didn’t actually do anything that night?*
Her mind was tangled.
*Then what kind of man is he?*
Any ordinary man would have paid money to take advantage of her. Instead, he offered money just for her to leave.
Liri sat up and brushed her hair. Her face looked pale, with dark circles under her eyes.
She pressed her eyelids, then changed into her uniform.
“Why are you getting up? Rest another day.”
Summer tried to stop her.
“I can’t. There are no days off here. If I keep lying down, I’ll only burden everyone.”
Working hard and keeping silent—that was the only way for Liri to prove her innocence.
—
