The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 46

Before she realized it, the allotted time had passed.

Cedric pulled up his trousers and headed toward the sink to prepare a wet towel like last time. Then the bathtub beside it caught his eye.

Cedric looked at Sheila, who still hadn’t managed to get down from the table.

The more she wiped the semen running down her chin with her trembling arms, the more it only ended up smearing semen all over her body.

The sight of a woman covered in semen that had come from his own body was quite satisfying.

‘But I can’t leave her like that.’

Cedric knew it was time to return the woman who had fulfilled her duty well from a whipping maid back to an ordinary maid.

But in her current state, it didn’t seem like wiping with a damp cloth alone would make her completely clean. And making her use the shared bathroom that the maids all used while looking like that was….

Disliking both options, Cedric tossed the towel aside and turned on the bathtub faucet.

When this room was renovated, the bathroom wall had been removed, so the space was completely open.

The sound of water pouring out from the bathtub rather than the sink made Sheila look over with puzzled eyes.

“Come here. I’ll wash you.”

The maid hesitated. But after looking down at the state she was in, she seemed to give up and got down from the table and walked over to Cedric.

“I, I….”

Sheila opened her mouth. It was obvious she was about to say she would wash herself and leave.

Without a word, Cedric lifted her chin.

Her disheveled, slender hair was also smeared with sticky liquid.

“It’d be better to let your hair down.”

When she realized her opinion wouldn’t be accepted, tears welled up in the woman’s eyes, but she didn’t dare defy him.

When she loosened the hair she always kept neatly tied so it wouldn’t get in the way of her maid duties, her thick chestnut hair spilled down over her back.

Sheila’s youthful face, framed by her hair now spread out in full, caught Cedric’s eye. Her blue eyes, brimming with tears, shone like jewels even under the gaslight.

Just like when she first entered the mansion four years ago.

On impulse, Cedric turned her around. Then her slender body came into view, along with her full hips in contrast, and her buttocks swollen from being struck by him.

At the sight that perfectly blended all of his tastes, Cedric brought his hand to his mouth as if troubled. If it weren’t for the sound of running water, she might have heard his breathing grow rough for a moment.

Lowering his hand from his mouth, Cedric deliberately swirled the water to check the temperature, then spoke to Sheila.

“Get in.”

Sheila cautiously placed her foot into the exotic Lotas-style bathtub.

Such a luxurious bathtub bath.

She had already been flustered because every time she tried to wipe the fishy liquid from her mouth with her arm, it only felt like things were getting worse. And that wasn’t the only problem. Lewd fluids from both her body and his were smeared all over her body.

‘Maybe this is for the best.’

Sheila justified her embarrassing situation that way and curled up as she sat in the center of the tub.

“Tilt your head back.”

His command came from behind her.

Sheila shut her eyes tightly and tilted her head back.

Cedric filled a dipper with a sprinkler attachment at the end and poured water over her head. Her hair, which had been spreading freely, soaked up the water and flattened down. With her eyes shut tight and her head tilted back, the woman’s features looked fresh once again.

After letting water run endlessly over her already soaked hair, he finally applied olive oil soap to her hair once the ladle ran dry.

As he slipped his long fingers between her strands of hair and worked up a rich lather, Sheila hugged her drawn-up knees even tighter.

She had come into the bathtub and sat down as he told her to, but now that the situation had turned into the Young Count, who would become the next count, washing a maid’s hair, she didn’t know what to do with herself.

But it wasn’t the time to question that either. Sheila desperately chose to avert her eyes from reality.

Seeing the way she wrapped her fingers around her elbows until her fingertips turned white, and the resolute look on her face, Cedric quickly realized what she was thinking.

“You’re doing such a good job, so don’t think about stopping.”

It was praise with no beginning or end.

Sheila, who had been putting all her effort into denying reality, found the words absurd and turned her head to look at him.

But the moment she faced his cool expression with his upper body bare, Sheila hurriedly buried her face into her knees. The effort she’d made to deny reality fell apart in an instant.

Her heart pounded.

“Your head.”

At his short command, Sheila tilted her head back again.

Sheila squeezed her eyes shut tighter than before.

I shouldn’t open them again.

With her eyes closed, Sheila planned the route she would take to bolt out of this place the moment the washing was over.

She planned to grab only her chest covering and maid uniform and rush out.

She didn’t need to put on socks, and it seemed better to put on her shoes after leaving Cedric’s room.

As for her underwear, it was already in her pocket anyway….

While Sheila was planning her escape in the shortest time possible, Cedric filled the dipper with water again and rinsed away the soap applied to her hair.

Then he shook the water from his hands and stood up.

“I’ll leave the towel here, so wash slowly and come out.”

Thanks to Cedric making room for her, Sheila, who had been plotting her escape like a prisoner trying to flee, stopped planning.

“Yes, Ma….”

No, that’s not right.

Sheila stopped herself just as she was about to add “Master” at the end of her answer.

Even though they were still in the punishment room, the punishment time had clearly ended, so she hesitated.

“…Yes.”

She answered again, boldly omitting the form of address.

Cedric didn’t mind and left the room, leaving the door connecting the punishment room and his bedroom slightly open.

Sheila turned her head and looked at the spot where he had been sitting. Even though she’d just experienced it, she still couldn’t imagine Cedric sitting there and washing her hair.

On the chair where Cedric had been sitting, instead of him, there lay only a large towel the master’s family used after bathing.

***

The place Alfonso moved to after following Marquis was another reception room. Both places were beautifully and splendidly decorated, as if to show the wealth and prestige of the royal family. But if the previous one had been closer to a typical reception room, this one had a completely different atmosphere.

“Do you drink?”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Alfonso replied.

The room was arranged perfectly like a bar. And far more beautiful and luxurious at that. To the side, there was even a stage prepared for musicians to perform.

“Good.”

At Alfonso’s answer, Marquis brightened. Then, looking around the space he’d put effort into, he said, “I can’t just go out freely, so I had it set up like this. What do you think?”

Of course, he could go out while hiding his identity, but it was no small hassle.

“It’s a wonderful space, Your Highness.”

“Sit. It’s a pleasure having a friend’s younger brother visit.”

Marquis then spoke to the attendant who came near, “Forget the music and bring the brandy. You know the one I save, right?”

The display cabinet was already full of liquor, but the attendant who received the order disappeared behind the wall to fetch the crown prince’s treasured bottle.

It seemed that even among rare liquors, the truly rare ones were stored deeper inside.

What the attendant brought was, as expected, brandy in a splendid blue bottle.

The maids set out matching snacks and disappeared. The attendant, too, served from a distance so the two of them could talk comfortably.

“Let’s see.”

In the meantime, Marquis was reading the invitation Alfonso had delivered. After reading through it with a subtle expression, Marquis said, “Still insolent.”

It was called an invitation, but it was only sent out of courtesy, and in the end, it was basically telling him not to come.

To Marquis, who was one year younger, two years his senior by school year, and, by status, the crown prince of his own country.

“If the Young Count has been rude, please forgive him.”

Alfonso, who had no way of knowing the invitation’s exact contents, bowed his head as best he could.

“Hahaha!”

Marquis threw back his head and laughed heartily.

Brothers were originally similar yet different.

If Cedric was the type who drew people in just by staying still, Alfonso was the type who acted actively with good sense.

In any case, even setting aside the fact that he was a friend’s younger brother, Alfonso was a sufficiently charming young man.

“What about you?”

At the question with no beginning or end, Alfonso flustered and asked back, “I beg your pardon, but what do you mean…?”

“Exactly what I said. How do you feel about your brother being appointed the next count, as the second son?”

To Marquis, Alfonso didn’t look like a man without ambition.

“I was suddenly curious. If your brother didn’t exist, the next count would’ve been you, so aren’t you disappointed? And you’re only a year apart, right? It must feel unfair that you were born a year later.”

Alfonso, who couldn’t easily open his mouth as he tried to gauge the crown prince’s intent, finally began to speak.

“I beg your pardon, Your Highness. This is the first time I’ve been asked such a question….”

Alfonso continued, “I was simply born the second son of a count’s family, and I’ve grown up that way.”

Marquis said, “Exactly. That’s what a second son is, isn’t he? The one who takes the place if something happens to the first.”

Marquis smiled playfully and added, “Just like me.”

Alfonso hid his fluster and observed proper courtesy.

“It’s impossible not to regret what happened to the late crown prince.”

Marquis had originally been only the second prince. About seven years ago, his older brother, the eldest son and crown prince, committed suicide, and Marquis rose to the position of crown prince.

Of course, the suicide was something only a very small part of the royal family knew. To the outside, it was announced as an accidental death.

The reason for the suicide was simple, if you could call it that. It happened less than three years after he’d entered a political marriage arranged by the royal family, while still loving another woman.

The current king, Roland III, had a strong temperament and had always found his firstborn son, who had a delicate personality, unsatisfactory. So he treated him harshly and constantly emphasized what it took to become the next king.

The one who became the former crown prince’s comfort was a lowly maid who attended him.

When Roland realized their feelings, he married the maid off to a man in a distant land that wasn’t even her hometown, and he also hurried the crown prince into marriage with the duke’s daughter he was already scheduled to wed.

After his brother’s suicide, Marquis secretly investigated the reason behind it. As a result, he learned that the maid his brother loved had been married off into a harsh region, suffered there, and then died in an unexpected accident. And that his brother, too, learned that fact and suffered crushing guilt, and that was what drove him to make that choice.

Roland, ashamed of his son’s suicide, announced his death as an accident. There was also no risk that the crown princess and her maternal ducal family would reveal the matter. They, too, felt ashamed of the crown prince’s suicide.

Even if the world had changed, what mattered to nobles was still honor over a human life.