CHAPTER 16
Masha flipped through the reservation notes and continued speaking.
“Please come back after business hours.”
“R-right now? Can’t I see him now?”
“Master Naz isn’t here. I have to bring him back, so come again tonight.”
A flicker of irritation passed her face briefly, but Eliza teared up and thanked her sincerely.
Only after Eliza left the establishment did Daisy and Everett appear.
“She was really rude. Did you see her at the end? She looked like she was barely holding back her anger. Miss, why are you trying to meet someone like her? She was like that from the start, and she’s still the same.”
“Well… I want to confirm a few things. And… I kind of feel sorry for her. It’s complicated.”
Daisy tilted her head, not understanding Everett’s vague response. Then she muttered complaints about Eliza as she went back into the kitchen.
“Master Naz, thank you so much for meeting me.”
Unlike their first meeting, Eliza sat calmly with her hands folded. The lighting was dim, but the dark circles under her eyes revealed how much she had suffered emotionally.
To open her heart, Everett quietly spoke the magic words:
“Miss Eliza, you must’ve had a hard time.”
At the warmth in her voice, Eliza broke down into tears. Everett handed her a handkerchief as she repeatedly wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.
“Thank you.”
After crying for a long while, Eliza finally let out a deep, relieved sigh.
“Master Naz, about the man you mentioned before…”
Everett placed the Knight of Cups card in front of her.
“Don’t you think the woman he’s looking at might be me?”
It may have started as pure love. But what remained in her now was desire.
Desire blinds people and makes them dream impossible dreams.
Like the person in the Seven of Cups card, desperately yearning for countless unreachable cups floating on the clouds.
“It was when I went to the plaza on Miss Dora’s errand. A child bumped into me, and I almost fell. Someone saved me.”
Before Everett could ask, Eliza began her story.
Everett nodded quietly and dimmed the light a little more.
“He was… kind. He treated me, a maid, so well. No one had ever shown interest in me before… but he asked me so many things.”
“What did you talk about?”
“Mostly about my work. I take care of Miss Dora all day. You may not know, but caring for a sick person is incredibly hard.”
Dora, the only daughter of the Viscount of Kestharican.
She was a precious child born to the viscount late in life. The viscount lost his wife due to postpartum complications, and Dora became his everything.
Sadly, Dora was frail, and the viscount constantly worried about her health.
He was desperate.
If he died and Dora too passed, the vast lands of Kestharican—and even the title—would fall into the hands of his greedy relatives.
His anxiety, growing alongside Dora’s worsening health, became easy prey for opportunists.
People began openly asking for their sons to marry Dora.
The aging viscount trusted no one.
“He believed everyone just wanted Miss Dora dead so they could steal his wealth by marrying into the family.”
“That must’ve been tough on you, watching all this from up close.”
“Yes, the viscount… his temper…”
Eliza cut herself off before criticizing her master, so Everett changed the subject back to the Knight of Cups.
“Who was the man who saved you in the plaza?”
At the question, a sweet smile spread across Eliza’s lips.
“He’s a baron’s second son. But I call him Chad.”
To her, Chad was the knight on a white horse she had dreamed of meeting.
“He’s kind, very polite to me. And most of all, he believes love is the most important thing in life…”
Their repeated encounters, seemingly by chance, became fate.
“Did he ever ask you to introduce him to the viscount?”
“No. He would never ask that. Everyone knows the viscount and Miss Dora walk at the same time, same place every day. He just happened to be there when we passed by.”
Everett clicked her tongue silently.
‘So he did target Dora and approached Eliza to get closer.’
According to the maids, Chad was one of many sons from a baron’s family that had only a title and no real estate.
He had little chance of inheriting anything of value. But he was too ambitious to accept his fate.
His eyes had landed on the sickly Dora Kestharican, whose death could come at any time.
‘He probably wasn’t good enough to approach the viscount directly. Even if he tried, he wouldn’t have been noticed. So he staged “coincidences” and used Eliza’s admiration to paint himself as a good man. Cunning bastard.’
To Chad, Eliza was just a stepping stone to Dora.
‘Ever since I told her who he really is, she’s stopped calling him “he” with affection and switched to “that man.”’
Whatever Chad’s intentions were, Eliza clearly believed they were lovers.
“But… why did you ask to meet me again, Miss Eliza?”
She took a deep breath again.
“Master Naz… I truly don’t know what to do.”
“What do you mean?”
Chad and Dora were planning to marry soon. Was she afraid of losing her lover?
“I feel so guilty toward Miss Dora. Every time I see her, I feel this overwhelming guilt.”
Guilt?
An audacious belief that Chad wouldn’t leave her even after marriage.
A shameless confidence that their relationship would continue as it was.
And, beyond that, a firm desire to become the next Viscountess after Dora’s death.
Calling it “guilt” was laughably arrogant.
“Miss Eliza, I think you’ve come to the wrong place.”
“…Pardon?”
“If you’re here to make a confession, I think you should seek out a priest instead.”
Eliza was flustered by Everett’s sudden sharpness.
“Did I… say something wrong?”
Her voice trailed off.
A woman doomed to be betrayed by the man she believes is her true love.
Everett felt anger and pity toward Eliza’s foolishness.
Blinded by sweet words, and pitying Lady Dora instead… how absurd.
Eliza had spent most of her life caring for a frail, sensitive noblewoman.
To her, Chad, whispering love while holding her rough hands, must’ve seemed like a savior from her gloomy life.
Like a moth flying into open flames despite knowing the outcome.
In Everett’s eyes, Eliza looked like a blind moth flying toward death.
“I just… I just wanted to know what my future holds.”
With a quiet sigh, Everett began shuffling the tarot cards, her face calm.
Eliza, previously sulking, brightened up again.
She already believes she’s the winner. Will she even be able to accept what I’m about to say?
Watching the cards shuffle quickly, Eliza opened her bag and pulled out a small silver ring.
She dropped it into the glass cup used for consultation payments.
“This is the most expensive thing I own. For now. Soon, I’ll receive jewels far more valuable than this, so I’ll offer this as your fee.”
She giggled lightly behind one hand, as if she were already a viscountess.
Everett didn’t even glance at the ring.
“Please draw three cards, Miss Eliza.”
Eliza’s gaze was more serious than ever as she looked at the cards.
Everett gathered the rest of the deck, leaving only the three Eliza picked.
Just then, a card slipped out and landed on the table.
This is the card the tarot wants to speak through.
Everett flipped it over. Her expression darkened.
She laid down the three cards Eliza had chosen, one by one.
—Nine of Swords, showing a woman tormented in a room lined with swords.
—Five of Pentacles, showing a woman walking barefoot in front of an injured man.
—King of Swords, a man on a throne holding a sword.
The card the tarot truly wants to show is the King of Pentacles.
Everett sighed again.
If the cards are right, Eliza’s future is painfully obvious.
“Master Naz? Please tell me. What do the cards say? I must be incredibly happy, right?”
For the first time, Everett was relieved that her own tarot drawings were poorly done.
Eliza’s future was grim.
But she couldn’t lie and say happy days were ahead.
After a moment of resolution, Everett finally spoke.
“Miss Eliza, listen carefully to what I’m about to say—and remember it.”
“Of course.”
“Whether you follow my advice or not is your choice. The future is not fixed. Tarot cards merely guide you toward a better path.”
Eliza nodded solemnly.
“Of course. Master Naz, I’m not some foolish maid who blindly believes in fortune-telling.”
She winked confidently, full of anticipation.
