The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 64

<Part 3>

About three years ago.

It had been a little over a full year since Sheila became a maid of House Calley.

In the meantime, Sheila hadn’t been able to go see her older sister Fabiola even once.

First, she had no money.

After sending 90% to her older brother, she had less than 1 solid left.

Even though she was provided food, clothing, and shelter, no matter how much you didn’t spend or didn’t eat, it still cost a fair amount of money for a person to live.

Of course, paying the carriage fare to Holzeroad within the same county wasn’t difficult. The problem was Sheila’s mind, that she didn’t want to go empty-handed with only travel money.

She had become a maid in such a huge mansion, and she wanted to bring even a little money to her older sister, who had married off as if she’d been sold.

So Sheila began to scrimp and save the money left over after sending it to her older brother.

After a year passed like that, she had saved about 8 solids.

Even after subtracting the carriage fare and various travel expenses, she would be able to give her sister about 7 solids.

In her heart, she wanted to save 10 solids and go, but that was the limit.

She missed her older sister so much.

Once she even got permission to take leave, it finally felt real that she was going to meet her sister.

Just thinking about meeting Fabiola, who was like a mother to her, and being held in her arms made tears well up in Sheila’s eyes.

She planned to complain about this and that to Fabiola. About how sharp and nasty the hands of the young noble lady were. And how her whims were like a pot of porridge boiling over.

No, if she talked about that after meeting for the first time in two years, her sister would only feel upset, right?

Sheila quickly fixed her resolve. She decided she’d tell her how wide and magnificent the count’s mansion was, and how handsome and elegant the nobles were.

And in her sister’s arms, she would sleep for about one night and come back.

Her brother-in-law’s expression was a bit dirty, but he would let a sister-in-law who came from far away sleep for one night.

Sheila believed that as she pleased.

Aiming for that, she deliberately attached her first leave in a year to the one day off she had in a week.

“Anyway, kids these days are so flighty. Look at you using up leave the moment you get it. And you even attached it to your day off.”

Ebony, a senior maid who also attended to Judith, openly snubbed her.

“I’m sorry, Unnie. When I come back, I’ll work twice, no, three times harder.”

Sheila gently smiled and soothed Ebony.

She was going to see her sister Fabiola, so this kind of scolding was nothing.

With the thought of going to see her sister, Sheila’s mind had grown so generous that even if someone slapped her on one cheek, she felt like she could smile and offer the other.

On the day she headed to Holzeroad to see Fabiola, Sheila took out and put on the outing clothes she’d bought new when she got hired a year ago. She had deliberately bought them a little big, and only now did they fit reasonably well.

Pulling an outing hat down over her head as well, Sheila diligently got into the carriage.

The weather was very nice. It had been a while since she dressed properly, and Sheila’s mood, riding a carriage with money she’d earned, also became very good.

Looking at the scenery changing moment by moment outside the carriage window, Sheila even fell into the feeling that she was a successful woman, if only for a moment.

Even though she had to send most of what she earned to her older brother, she thought this life wasn’t bad.

Anyway, she had gotten out from under her older brother’s hand, and she could meet her sister like this occasionally too.

Bringing her brother-in-law’s face to mind, Sheila vowed to herself that she would act warmly toward him as well.

‘Mr. Duker, who runs a butcher shop, if I remember correctly.’

There probably wouldn’t be several Mr. Dukers running butcher shops in one village, so it wouldn’t be hard to find him.

After getting down from the carriage, Sheila, as expected, was able to find Duker’s shop easily.

The problem was that the door was closed at a time when he should be doing brisk business.

Did he go on a trip somewhere?

“Is this the butcher shop Mr. Duker runs? Where did Mr. Duker go?” Sheila asked the fruit shop owner next door, who had his door open.

“Go to the restaurant in the middle of that intersection.”

Whew, thankfully, it didn’t seem like he’d gone on a trip far away.

“Excuse me, about Mr. Duker’s wife….”

She tried to ask about her older sister’s whereabouts too, but the shop owner, hit with a barrage of questions from a stranger who wasn’t even a customer buying fruit, shut his door and went back inside.

Still, anyway, it was fine since she learned where Mr. Duker was.

Thinking that Mr. Duker, true to how he looked, didn’t seem to get along well with the neighbors either, Sheila started walking in the direction the fruit shop owner had indicated.

If she was lucky, maybe her older sister would be there with him. Or maybe she’d be at the house where she lived with Mr. Duker.

Fortunately, there was only one restaurant at the intersection.

Wondering if her older sister might be here, Sheila opened the restaurant door.

As soon as she went inside, an atmosphere closer to a pub than a restaurant spread out. Seeing the stairs leading to the second floor, it seemed the upper floor allowed lodging.

Even though mealtime had already passed, the tables on the first floor were moderately full with people drinking from midday.

In the midst of them, Sheila found Duker.

It was definitely Mr. Duker. The one who had appeared at the cabin overnight and taken her older sister away.

No. Now he was properly her brother-in-law.

Sheila recalled her resolve, once again, to be warm toward him.

Fabiola wasn’t beside him.

‘Of course….’

Sheila had known for a long time that she wasn’t the kind of person who got that lucky.

Still, Sheila’s heart fluttered as she headed toward Duker. No matter what, finding him meant she’d be seeing her older sister soon.

If she acted overly familiar from the start and called out, “Brother-in-law!” Mr. Duker might feel awkward instead, right?

After the first day he came to their house and took her older sister, she hadn’t seen him even once.

For a moment, her mind grew complicated over what to say as a first greeting. Then she made up her mind.

“Um….”

Sheila spoke to Duker, who was quietly draining a beer mug, with a well-behaved attitude.

His unfocused eyes turned toward Sheila. Up close, he was more drunk than she’d thought.

Closing the shop from midday and guzzling alcohol instead. This guy, isn’t he making my sister suffer…?

All sorts of thoughts flashed through her head, and Sheila smiled and greeted him.

“Hello. You’re Mr. Duker, right? I don’t know if you’ll remember me. I’m Sheila, Fabiola’s younger sister….”

His eyes widened. Even in his drunken state, he’d clearly recognized his one and only sister-in-law.

But the answer that came out of his mouth was completely unexpected.

“Who? I’m not that kind of person.”

What is this guy…?

Did he drink and even forget his own name?

It was only once, but she couldn’t forget the impression of his rugged face. Besides, it wasn’t like there was another man in this shop who looked similar to him.

“Come on, brother-in-law. Why are you doing this? It’s me, Sheila. Fabiola must’ve told you about me a lot. When you came to our house two years ago, you saw my face too.”

Sheila still remembered how he’d smiled slyly at her back then, so what the hell was he trying to do….

It was a bit hasty, but Sheila called him brother-in-law and tried to act familiar. It wasn’t wrong to call her brother-in-law “brother-in-law.”

In that moment, Duker slammed the heavy mug he was holding down on the table with a bang and spat out a curse.

“Hey, fuck! I’m trying to drink, and some crazy bitch sticks to me and starts making trouble, what bad luck!”

Riled up by the sudden swearing, Sheila couldn’t hold back either and raised her voice.

“You are Mr. Duker. Why are you pretending you’re not? Where’s my sister! I’m not here for you, I came to see my sister!”

She hadn’t wanted to do this in case he wouldn’t let her sleep beside her sister, but now it was all or nothing.

If he wouldn’t let her sleep there, then she could just stay here for a day. She had money!

“Ah, damn it, you little bitch! Fuck!”

Duker, still sitting, raised his beer mug toward Sheila. It looked like he was about to hit her. Only then did the men nearby start trying to stop him.

“Hey, Duker. Stop it!”

“Who the fuck is Duker!”

At Duker’s high-handed attitude, the people around them clicked their tongues.

“Miss, please understand. He’s like that because he lost his wife not long ago.”

Huh…?

What are these people saying right now?

“Sorry? Lost… what?”

Sheila asked back, not understanding the man’s words right away.

But her question was swallowed up by the words of the people around them, each of them speaking up.

“Not just his wife. He lost the child in her belly too.”

“Hah! You people. Say it right! The baby died first, and because this bastard kept abusing her so much, his wife killed herself!”

“Who… killed herself….”

Sheila mumbled blankly, but no one listened.

And Duker, who had been insisting he wasn’t Duker just a moment ago, spoke up.

“You fucking bastards. Is it my fault that bitch killed herself? I paid good money to buy her and even fed her meat every day, and she can’t even carry a kid properly, fuck, and the one she got pregnant with even fell out?”

“…Who died?”

Even at Sheila’s question, Duker kept talking to the people without caring.

“She dropped the kid herself, then she cried and cried like some pathetic thing, so yeah, I said it. Go out and die. Does that mean actually die? If I tell her to die, does she really die!”

After shouting, Duker slammed the table with a bang and then buried his face right on it.

Sheila shook Duker, slumped over the table.

“Hey, mister! Get up and talk. Who died… Who died!”

Then she started pounding his broad back with her fists.

“Oh, hey! What’s wrong with this lady!”

The people who saw Sheila suddenly go wild started to stop her. Duker ignored Sheila and didn’t move at all, still slumped over.

In that moment, Sheila’s fist landed squarely on his back with a loud thud.

This time, it must’ve hurt a lot, because he sprang up and raised his hand.

“Ah, fuck! This is really!”

When they finally faced each other, Sheila said to Duker, “You’re my brother-in-law, right? Where’s my sister? I came to see my sister.”

Sheila quickly rummaged in her pocket and showed him her money pouch.

“I didn’t come to stay for free, I brought money too. I might not look like it, but I got hired as a maid in a count’s house. My sister probably doesn’t even know that. Right? Brother-in-law, you didn’t hear that I became a maid either, did you?”

“What the hell is this crazy bitch saying?”

“Where is my sister? I really miss my sister so much. You know I haven’t seen her for two years.”

Sheila grabbed and yanked at Duker’s clothes.

“Let’s go. To my sister. I have to see my sister. Hurry!”

Duker shoved Sheila off with his toad-like hand.

“This is rubbing salt in my wounds. Your sister’s dead. That bitch did it to screw me over! She hanged herself to death in my house!”

“No! My sister would never do that!” Sheila shouted.

Duker, enraged, lunged again as if to hit Sheila, and Sheila lost her balance and fell.

With Sheila sprawled on the floor screaming, Duker drunkenly charging at her, and people trying to stop him, the restaurant quickly turned into chaos.

It was then.

The thunderous roar of a man was heard.