The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 40

“Hey, newlywed.”

As they were wrapping up the cleaning, Sheila called out to Molly.

“What is it, you’re making me nervous again.”

Molly, hearing herself called “newlywed,” straightened and put on a serious face.

“Fine then, Mollys.”

“You little…!”

This time she scowled for real and snapped.

Seeing Molly’s state, Sheila quickly dodged out of reach.

Their little chase around the room, one pursuing and the other running away, ended with Sheila’s surrender. Molly, who was stronger, grabbed her by the scruff of the neck.

“Aaah! I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

At Sheila’s contrite words, Molly let go of her clothes. If things had gone a little worse, the maid uniform she was now in her fifth year of wearing might’ve ripped. But thanks to that bit of running around, the atmosphere warmed up.

After catching her breath, Sheila said, “Hey, Molly. Your husband, when you do it one after another, how… how many times can he go?”

“What?”

Molly’s eyes narrowed; she understood Sheila’s question in an instant.

She should’ve known from the moment Sheila started in with the “newlywed” talk….

Instead of answering, Molly started scolding her friend.

“There you go again, mouthing off to your big sister. There’s nothing a virgin won’t say.”

There was no way Molly, a fellow maid, didn’t know what kind of stories got passed around in the maids’ room at night. Sheila might have a room to herself now, but Molly also knew very well that since starting work as a maid at sixteen, Sheila was an expert in theory.

Right down to the fact that she always worked and never once had a lover in the past….

“What big sister? We’re only a few months apart.”

“A few months, my foot. I was born in a whole different year.”

At Sheila bristling over being called a big sister, Molly said, “Besides, this big sister actually got married, kid. Did you forget that?”

Riding that momentum, Molly even started treating her like a child, and Sheila picked up the rag she’d set down.

“Hey, enough, knock it off!”

At Sheila’s reaction, so unlike her usual self, Molly’s eyes widened.

She’s not the type to sulk over something this small….

“Huh. You really must be curious, huh? Why, is there a man you like or something?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

Huh…?

Convinced there really was something, Molly started talking again.

“Oh, it’s not, huh? But you do know if you get caught just fooling around, you’re finished, right? If you’re going to see someone, you’d better have a firm promise to marry first….”

Ugh, she’s not even answering what I asked!

Sheila started to get annoyed at Molly, who kept lecturing her.

“I said it’s not like that. Forget it!”

Right then-

“My husband can probably manage about three times.”

“In a row?”

At the answer that finally popped out of Molly’s mouth, Sheila’s eyes grew wide.

Three times was about the same as what Cedric did yesterday. Cedric did it four times.

Molly laughed like she didn’t know what Sheila was thinking.

“After once, he pretty much dies. Give him about an hour and he comes back to life. Then the last round is in the morning.”

“Aaah….”

Unlike Molly’s voice, which was quietly full of pride, Sheila’s reaction was completely flat.

“What’s with that bored reaction? I went out of my way to tell you.”

At Molly’s sulky complaint, Sheila hurriedly spoke, looking apologetic.

“No, it’s not that… I just don’t really know about this stuff.”

“Right. You wouldn’t.”

When Sheila said she didn’t know much, Molly’s expression turned suggestive as she went on.

“A real man should have his wife begging for mercy in bed, you know….”

After acting like she wasn’t going to say anything, Molly went on and on, excited.

Only after quite a while did she finally go, “Oh my, listen to me,” and get embarrassed, but Sheila wasn’t even listening anymore. Lost in her own thoughts, Sheila asked another question.

“Do you… do it in places besides the bed too… and, like, all over?”

At Sheila’s second question, Molly’s face turned bright red.

“Oh, this tiny thing, seriously. So shameless.”

Sheila clicked her tongue at Molly, who’d been acting even more like an older sister just because she’d gotten married once.

“Sheila, your big sister will explain it, so listen carefully.”

But when Molly didn’t hesitate and started talking right away, Sheila looked at her with bright, eager eyes.

“As a rule, it’s best to avoid men who try to screw you anywhere and everywhere. As for my husband, he treats me like a princess in bed. When I’m treated preciously on the bed, it almost feels like I’ve become a noblewoman. Of course, the moment I go to work, I’m right back to being just a lowly maid.”

Molly waved the wet rag in her hand as she spoke.

“Still, if you can, you should at least be treated like a lady on the bed, don’t you think?”

“Yeah… that’s true.”

The more she listened to Molly, the more Sheila felt her mood sink, and she barely managed that awkward reply.

As expected, what she’d done with Cedric was clearly different from the usual relations between husband and wife.

‘Right. This is strictly punishment.’

Sheila tried to soothe herself.

It was true that cold-blooded Cedric had felt lust using her body, but as he said, it was still just punishment. Carried out, properly, in the punishment room.

Even so, since it was still a relationship between a man and a woman, she’d wanted to know how it differed from ordinary married couples. After listening to Molly, it all became clear.

In the end, it was agreed-upon punishment and nothing more than something they each had to do.

Regardless of how it felt when they did such things….

When she thought about it, just as it was natural for getting beaten to hurt, it was natural for the act to feel strange.

Those subtle sensations and that odd feeling didn’t need any other interpretation.

“By the way, you’re managing the whipping-maid job all right, aren’t you?”

Molly, who’d been chattering happily, asked with concern when she saw Sheila’s stiff expression.

“Of course. I’m fine, really,” Sheila answered extra brightly on purpose. “You even worry about me. You really are my big sister. Molly Unnie.”

When Sheila jokingly called her Unnie and tried to link arms, Molly jumped in alarm.

“What’s with you, you’re creeping me out.”

“Why, you said you’re my big sister~”

As Sheila dragged out her words and followed her around, Molly tried to dodge her, and the two of them ended up in a playful scuffle.

If she’d been beaten with the paddle as originally planned the day before, she probably wouldn’t have been able to fool around like this.

The whipping-maid job had taken an unexpected turn, but Sheila decided it was actually fortunate for her. It was far better than having her backside torn open for the rest of the contract period.

The fact that the Young Count had sent Rufus to warn Judith so she couldn’t lash out had been unexpected, but that, too, didn’t seem like something she needed to assign any personal meaning to.

Sheila teased Molly with all her energy, then devoted herself to cleaning until Judith returned.

***

“Mollys. You, come here.”

“Yes, miss.”

When Judith returned from her lesson, she even roped Molly in and pushed Sheila aside.

Anne was a clueless newcomer, so that was one thing, but somehow Molly seemed to be the one taking the punishment. Whatever Judith intended, Sheila actually found it more comfortable.

It had been a while since she was treated like this, but she was no longer at an age to be hurt just because her young lady ignored her.

However, when she was treated like she didn’t exist for an entire day, Sheila couldn’t help remembering the past. Back when she was a novice maid, and Judith had tormented her in every way possible, starting with pretending she wasn’t there….

It was around three months after she first started serving Judith.

At the time, Sheila was a sixteen-year-old novice maid who was just starting to adapt to life in the count’s mansion, and Judith was an even more thoughtless, hot-blooded nine-year-old child than she was now.

Back then, if you served Judith, you basically lived with your cheek always ready for a slap. If it ended with a slap, that was considered getting off lightly. If you so much as tried to avoid Judith’s hand on instinct, there wasn’t a place on your body she wouldn’t grab, from your collar to your hair.

That day was probably just one of those all-too-common days.

In front of the Count and Countess, Judith would fawn and act cute like a fox, but her strength was incredible. After a few grabs at Sheila’s collar, all the buttons of her maid uniform popped off. Thanks to that, even the area around her collarbone that should’ve been covered by clothing was left marked with red bruises.

After being roughly tossed around for quite some time, Sheila was finally released and, thanks to the other maids looking out for her, allowed to leave Judith’s room.

More than the pain, it was the humiliation that made her cry.

If it happened now, she’d probably just curse to herself once and move on, but in the beginning, it was different. She’d only put on a brave front because she’d been thrown into the working world at a young age. Looking back, she’d always been a crybaby.

Sheila, a useless fledgling maid who couldn’t even do her work properly yet, didn’t want to show the pathetic sight of bursting into tears, so she bolted down the hallway.

As she ran, the face of her father, who’d passed away not long before, and the face of her sister, who’d been married off almost like she was being sold, kept flashing through her mind.

That was when she collided with someone with a heavy thud. As her body was about to fall back from the impact, a strong hand grabbed and pulled her upright.

A pleasant scent….

Even in her dazed state, as she smelled the fragrance rising from the fine fabric of his clothes, that was what Sheila thought.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Sheila hurriedly bowed her waist. She hadn’t seen his face yet, but it was either a member of the household or at least the butler, without question.

And the moment she lifted her head, Sheila’s breath stopped.

Because standing right in front of her was the eldest son of the Calley family, Cedric Calley.

In the three months she’d worked as a maid then, she’d only seen his face twice at the occasional family meals. This was the first time she’d ever faced Cedric from so close.

If a sculpture came to life, would it feel like this?

Cedric’s looks couldn’t be summed up by simply saying he was handsome.

The sharply cut jawline and nose, the noble and healthy tone of his skin, the cold image given by his keen eyes framed with fine lashes.

He had a face so devoid of human warmth it made you forget reality.

When she’d been running down the hall in tears after being manhandled by Judith, she hadn’t noticed, but at some point Sheila’s heart had started pounding.

Sheila finally came to her senses and straightened her posture. The moment she tried to take a step back to put distance between them, her wrist was seized and her chin was lifted.

“Ah…!”

The instant she saw those icy eyes fixed on her, the breath Sheila had just managed to draw stuck in her throat again.

The force radiating from that cool gaze was overwhelming.

It felt almost like looking into a blue flame.

Why is he like this…?

Cedric stared at Sheila as if glaring, but said nothing.

Ah…!

Only then did Sheila remember how awful she must look.

“This is….”

Sheila felt she needed to explain somehow.

She hadn’t meant to show herself in such a disheveled state, it was just that….

She had to explain, but there was no way she could tell a member of the household about Judith Calley’s cruelty. Her lips only opened and closed soundlessly as she hesitated.

The statue-like figure finally moved his lips.