The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 49

“Pfft!”

Sheila spat out the milk she was drinking.

White droplets of milk splattered across the table. Even onto the plate holding the cookies and fruit….

“Ah, I’m sorry…!”

Spitting milk out in front of the master!

Flustered, Sheila didn’t know what to do. She looked around for something to wipe it with first, when Cedric spoke.

“You spilled what I gave you earlier too. You’ve got a sloppy mouth.”

“Y-yes…?”

What was he saying right now…!

Flustered in every way, Sheila’s ears turned red as well.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to eat it all anyway.”

“…!”

Cedric handed her his handkerchief. As always, his movements were elegant, completely at odds with the words coming out of his mouth.

Regaining a bit of her composure, Sheila thought it was almost better that he was spouting nonsense. It seemed the talk about the taste of milk had passed just like that….

“Anyway, about this milk.”

But it hadn’t. Cedric casually returned to the topic from a moment ago.

Sheila’s heart sank again.

“How does it taste to you? It seems a bit bland to me.”

“W-well. I’m not really….”

Taking the handkerchief, Sheila stalled for time. It wasn’t strange at all that Sheila, who wasn’t a kitchen maid, wouldn’t know the proper taste of milk.

“Is that so? It really doesn’t suit my palate.”

Cedric continued, “Maybe I should call in the farm owner….”

That was when it happened.

“Mmm!”

Sheila made a strange sound and cut Cedric off.

“Now that I drink it again, it’s delicious.”

Sheila hurriedly gulped down the milk and set the empty glass down. She’d drunk it so hastily that a milk mustache formed on her upper lip.

Cedric nearly burst out laughing.

“Really? Hm….”

Watching Sheila pretend nonchalantly that the milk was delicious, Cedric tilted his head and lifted his own glass. It was partly to hide the corners of his mouth that kept twitching upward.

Just as he brought the glass to his lips with his usual leisurely motion-

“Ah!”

Sheila reached out in a panic and let out a desperate cry.

When Cedric froze, the one who’d shouted, Sheila, froze as well. Meeting his eyes as if asking what was wrong, Sheila hurriedly added,

“Ah…! I’m hungry. If you’re not going to drink it, could you give it to me?”

Cedric, who’d clearly been about to drink the milk, let out a small laugh and poured all of his into Sheila’s glass.

Sheila diligently gulped down the milk she’d obtained, afraid it might be taken back. She didn’t forget to grab the remaining cookies and fruit either, to avoid suspicion.

Even while she busily stuffed herself with food, Sheila’s thoughts were tangled.

‘Should I tell Uncle Sam to stop mixing in water? Or just a little?’

Neither option came easily.

If she stopped watering down the milk, the taste would grow richer, and if it suddenly became richer, he’d realize she’d been watering it down all along.

Even if she gradually reduced it so he wouldn’t notice, Sheila would no longer be able to receive money from Sam.

She’d earned a lot of money from being beaten, but her obsession with side jobs only grew stronger. The money she received from Sam was the same.

Sheila still didn’t feel like the pay she received as compensation for being beaten was truly her money.

She would probably feel that way until the initial contract period of three months was over. If she failed to make it through that period safely, she’d have to pay a penalty far greater than what she’d earned.

‘Ha… damn it. If I could just fool the Young Count’s palate, it’d be perfect…. Why are the Lotas merchants so unnecessarily honest?’

Seeing him say the milk tasted bland after returning from studying abroad, it was clear that in Lotas, the merchants didn’t water down their milk.

Anyway, that wasn’t the important part.

This wasn’t a matter that involved only money.

Sheila thought of the one solid she received each month from Sam.

“I’ll give you one solid a month. How about it?”

Sam had been the one to propose the amount first, after realizing Sheila had noticed he was mixing water into the milk.

“D-deal!”

Sheila had shouted it. She lifted her chin stiffly to hide how bad she was at bargaining, but inwardly she was shocked. It was twice the amount she’d expected.

On top of that, since the other party had proposed the amount first, her sense of guilt was lighter.

After that, Sam would sometimes slip Sheila a little extra pocket money on top of that payment.

Only then did Sheila belatedly realize that it was actually a small amount in exchange for turning a blind eye to corruption.

But she had no intention of squeezing more money out of Sam.

She justified taking money from him by thinking, ‘Uncle Sam isn’t blameless either,’ and ‘Even if it wasn’t me, someone would’ve noticed eventually.’ But in truth, every time she wrote the item ‘milk’ in the ledger, a corner of her heart felt uneasy.

Anyway, if it were discovered that she’d been bringing watered-down milk to Cedric and that she’d been paid to ignore it, neither Sam nor Sheila would get out unscathed.

If it were exposed, Sam would lose his biggest client and be unable to pay off the cost of the machinery he’d bought a few months ago, and he’d go bankrupt.

And she herself….

If she were branded as a maid who’d committed fraud and fired, it would be impossible for her to find work as a maid anywhere else. Then her older brother wouldn’t stay quiet like he was now. It would be hard to find work that paid better than maid labor. In the end, she’d probably be sold off like her sister. Under the guise of marriage.

That was how horrific the price Sheila would have to pay in exchange for one solid a month was. For nobles, it was nothing more than a mere one solid….

“One solid.”

“Gasp!”

Startled by Cedric’s sudden words, Sheila sucked in a sharp breath.

“One solid should be enough, right?”

At Cedric’s repeated question, Sheila barely swallowed the milk she’d been holding in her mouth and asked back.

“C-cough! Yes?”

“I’m talking about the cleaning fee you mentioned earlier. I’m asking if one solid will be enough.”

Ha, damn… that scared me.

“I wasn’t trying to charge money for that.”

Sheila, whose heart had dropped again after thinking about her arrangement with Sam, refused the payment for cleaning.

Right after finishing the work, her arms and legs had been trembling the whole time as she cleaned, but she’d never thought of taking money for something a maid was supposed to do.

“If you’re not taking money, then don’t do things I didn’t tell you to do.”

At Cedric’s words, Sheila slowly nodded and replied, “Yes… Young Count.”

Then, all of a sudden, the question she’d had while cleaning earlier came back to her.

“Then, who cleans that room…?”

At Sheila’s question, his brow furrowed. “You worry about useless things. I won’t make you do it, so don’t worry.”

“….”

That’s exactly why I’m worried, though…?

Sheila couldn’t bring herself to voice the thought.

‘Fine, I’ll just worry about the milk. He’ll take care of the cleaning himself. It’s not like he’d do it personally.’

Thinking about who did it would only make her head hurt.

“May I take my leave now?”

At Sheila’s words, Cedric swept his gaze over the empty milk glasses and the empty snack plates one by one. Then he shrugged his shoulders.

“If you’re done eating, you can leave.”

At his permission, Sheila’s face brightened for the first time.

“Thank you for the snack, Young Count.”

Cedric watched the maid who was about to slip out of his grasp.

And Sheila’s face looked very pleased, too.

But the maid’s expression, as always, quickly changed again.

Then, with a dejected expression as if she’d made up her mind, she said, “Especially the milk…. It was really rich and delicious.”

After finishing her words, Sheila bowed her head and hurried away.

Cedric was left alone in the room.

In the quiet room, a beat late, a short laugh, “Hah,” echoed out.

***

It was about two months ago.

Rufus’s report was how Cedric learned that Sheila was committing fraud with a farm that traded dairy products.

“She already had a stingy streak, but according to the investigation, for about three years now she’s been doing anything that makes money.”

“Anything?”

When Rufus reported what he’d investigated, Cedric asked back.

To be precise, Cedric hadn’t ordered an investigation into Sheila. Rufus had simply investigated on his own and reported it after Cedric asked, “Is it possible for a woman in her twenties to be smaller than she was in her teens?”

Either way, since he’d already done the investigation, there was no reason not to hear the report.

And once he heard it, curiosity arose. The range of “anything” was far too broad. Cedric was curious just how far Sheila had gone for money.

“Yes. On the day off the maids get once a week, she washes and hangs the other maids’ clothes for them, and she goes to the market and sells things she’s made, like tablecloths and cup coasters. There are quite a few witnesses. She likely knits until late at night even after her workday ends to make goods to sell at the market. That’s why her room was separated in the end as well.”

So that was why.

In fact, letting Sheila have an attic room had been approved by Cedric himself.

Even while studying abroad, Cedric received reports about the servants from the butler and the head maid. That was because even before he left to study abroad, Cedric already held decision-making authority over various matters in the household.

Because of that, except for matters that were urgent right away or the bare minimum matters that directly concerned the Count and Countess, reports were sent to Cedric, who was abroad.

As for other matters, the Count and Countess were not interested anyway, and even if they were told, no proper resolution would come. Small issues among the servants were especially like that.

So the butler and the head maid chose to send letters to Cedric abroad, report in writing, and receive approval. And in practice, handling things that way was faster.

Therefore, Sheila’s matter was also reported to Cedric in that way.

When Cedric found Sheila’s name in the head maid’s letter, he instructed her to give Sheila one attic room on the third floor. For the future as well, it seemed better that way.

But he couldn’t ask in detail by letter exactly what Sheila was doing and how, to the point that it caused the other maids’ complaints.

“In any case, there’s no regulation banning maids from side work.”

While Cedric pieced together how it connected to what happened before, Rufus continued his report.

“And this is a bit ambiguous, but….”

“What is it?”