The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 69

“Kyaa!”

Sheila ended up letting out a scream at the sight of Cedric leaning at the end of the stairs.

“Y-Young Count. I’m sorry, huff… I’m sorry. I was just so startled.”

Sheila, who had dared to react so rashly at the sight of the Young Count, bowed and apologized.

“Why are you so startled? Like someone who’s done something wrong,” Cedric asked in a gloomy voice.

“W-w-wrong? No…! It’s just that I didn’t know you’d be here, Young Count.”

Flustered, Sheila stammered. She had come back after delivering part of the contract killing fee, but strictly speaking, she still hadn’t committed a crime yet.

“But why are you here….”

Sheila was about to ask Cedric why he was standing in an empty corridor, but Cedric cut her off.

“Did you have a good trip to your hometown?”

Why are you asking that…?

“Yes….”

Replying diligently without understanding, Sheila belatedly seemed to realize something and bowed deeply.

“Thanks to you, I had a good trip. Thank you.”

If she thought broadly, being able to earn money and go back to her hometown was all thanks to her masters, so she shouldn’t forget to express gratitude.

“What thanks is there from me….”

But his reaction was somehow twisted.

‘Is this not it…?’

Since nothing else came to mind, Sheila desperately praised Cedric.

“Of course! The fact that I can work at this estate and go back to my family home safely is all thanks to the Count and to you, Young Count!”

Cedric let out a short laugh at Sheila’s workplace-appropriate line.

Thanks to that, Sheila had to think for a long time about whether she’d done something wrong.

But she’d only gone out on her holiday. No matter how much she thought about it, she hadn’t done anything wrong.

It was just that she’d gotten home a little later than expected because she’d browsed the market.

“Fine, go on in.”

“Thank you, Young Count.”

Sheila, who had been tense, bowed deeply in thanks.

Then she tried to hurry into her room after passing Cedric, but Cedric spoke again.

“Ah, you must be tired from taking the train and traveling a long distance.”

Sheila stopped.

“…Yes?”

“Go in and wait. There will be lessons soon too, so I should check your condition.”

The words “I’m fine” rose to Sheila’s throat, but she couldn’t bring herself to say them. Cedric’s mood seemed unusually sunken.

And even if she said she was fine, it wouldn’t matter anyway. After signing that damned contract, it wouldn’t be wrong to say the right to her body had been handed over to Cedric.

“Yes….”

Sheila, who’d wanted to wrap up her day in a good mood, slumped her shoulders and went into her room.

***

Before Cedric arrived, Sheila quickly laid the carpet on the floor. The dull-colored used carpet she’d picked by eye, considering only the size, fit perfectly from in front of Sheila’s bed to in front of her worktable.

“Done!”

While she was satisfied, having done a bit of cleaning as she laid the carpet and wiping the sweat from her forehead, Cedric banged on the door.

“Open the door!”

She’d moved as fast as she could, but the Young Count showed up sooner than she’d expected.

“Young Count….”

When Sheila opened the door, she stepped back. Cedric strode in proudly as if it were his own room and slammed the door shut.

“Lie down.”

At Cedric’s momentum, Sheila answered yes and, with practiced movements, took off her outing clothes.

Then she realized she was wearing new underwear, and her face heated up with an inexplicable embarrassment.

It wasn’t because of the Young Count that she wore new underwear, but she still found herself caring about his reaction.

Since he had such a neat personality, would he like the new underwear too…?

‘What does it matter whether he likes them or not!’

Sheila hurriedly erased the question that had arisen in her mind.

Then Cedric said, “Take off the top too.”

“Yes…?”

“You worked hard going to your hometown, so I’m going to loosen even your back.”

Sheila wanted to refuse. She usually got a massage in just her underwear, but the thought of telling her to take off the underwear she wore on top too felt like too much.

But Sheila was scared of Cedric speaking politely like that, so she took off her upper underwear without a word.

Crossing both arms to cover her chest, Sheila hurriedly lay face down on her bed.

When the peak touched the rough cotton cloth, a slight shiver ran through her.

While she waited quietly for his touch, the new underwear Molly bought her tore wide in his hand. It happened in an instant.

“Young Count!”

Startled, Sheila cried out like a scream as she called him and turned her head.

“Oh dear, my hand slipped.”

Something ridiculous came out of Cedric’s mouth.

“What kind of…?”

Dumbfounded, Sheila opened her mouth again.

“Just now, you did that on purpose…!”

But before Sheila could even sort out the facts, Cedric cut her off.

“I’ll compensate you.”

“Yes…?”

Is money the problem right now?

At Sheila’s tone, even more dumbfounded, Cedric spoke again.

“Double.”

Then he added, “Do you have a problem with that?”

Ha! Sheila was so stunned she couldn’t say anything.

No matter if he was the Young Count, did he think money was everything? What Cedric tore was a gift Molly bought her. And she’d worn it for the first time today.

She didn’t know what his problem was, but Sheila couldn’t hide how absurd it was.

Still, the answer she could give was already decided.

“…No.”

Right…, since when did I ever wear new underwear?

The underwear was already torn, and Cedric promised compensation for it.

With nothing more to say, Sheila buried the head she’d lifted back down.

It meant, hurry up and massage me and get out.

She said it was fine, but she couldn’t help being angry. She was so angry that she didn’t even care she was naked.

The Young Count, who she didn’t know what had gotten into him, also roughly kneaded her body with oil on his hands, then slammed the door and left.

Sheila held back the tears that were threatening to come up, then sprang up and locked the door first.

Then, to change out of the torn underwear, she walked over to the dresser.

And then she found it. Two coins Cedric had left on the newly laid carpet….

2 solids.

It wasn’t double the underwear’s price, it was more than twenty times the amount. If it was the cheap kind Sheila usually wore, she could easily buy forty pairs….

‘Crazy…’

Even Sheila, known by everyone as Donmisae, didn’t welcome this kind of money at all.

Sheila’s hand trembled as she picked up the coins he’d left.

***

When a suspicious man visited the estate, Cedric had finished his meal and was drinking tea while looking out the window.

It was a young man he’d never seen before, wandering around the main gate.

Seeing him chewing gum, he wasn’t from this area. At least, in this area, gum still wasn’t that common.

Soon, Sheila hurried out.

The young man who spotted Sheila waved his hand happily.

Watching that, Cedric called Rufus, who was with him.

“Come here.”

“What’s wrong?”

Rufus, who had been working in Cedric’s room as soon as the meal ended, stood up and approached the window.

“Look into that,” Cedric said, pointing out the window.

Rufus quickly realized who Cedric was pointing at, and his face brightened.

“Shall I?”

He’d been bored for a while, so this was perfect.

As if he’d read Rufus’s thoughts, Rufus looked at his master, who was staring at him with a pathetic gaze, and spoke in a fairly reliable tone.

“Just leave it to me.”

The man about Sheila’s age who had been outside the window Cedric was watching soon disappeared.

‘Let’s see~ I’ll just finish what I was doing, then go down and grill Lucika, who’s in charge of the hall~!’

Excited, Rufus hummed a tune in his head, spraying vulgarities.

To Rufus, investigating someone was a joy like a ray of light in a dull daily life.

Even Rufus, a work addict, sometimes got bored if he only worked at a desk every day.

When you investigated someone, interesting facts often turned up, more than you’d expect.

In Sheila’s case, it was even more interesting.

She didn’t just create and do this and that kind of side work in the estate, she had strange nicknames too. Most of all, uncovering the collusion with the owner of Viehaver Farm, who supplied milk, even gave Rufus, an investigation maniac, a kind of catharsis.

If he hadn’t become a secretary, Rufus would’ve become a detective.

If he became a detective, he should use a pseudonym that suited a detective rather than his real name. How about Benedict? And make the surname four syllables too, Benedict Cumberbat….

“If you understand, move right now.”

“Right now?”

At Cedric’s instruction, Rufus, who’d been going to finish what he was doing first and then move, made a blank expression.

Is this that urgent?

But Rufus quickly erased that thought and decided to move according to his master’s will.

And he thought.

‘Anything related to Miss Sheila has to be top priority!’

Reflecting on himself for not having understood his master’s heart, Rufus left the room.

Soon, after grilling Lucika, who was in charge of the entrance… no, after investigating, he learned that the visitor was Sheila’s hometown younger brother, and that he’d stopped by since he was passing through this area after a long time. He’d even come once about three years ago.

Lucika added that she remembered him especially well because back then and now, he was chewing something like jerky.

Of course, Rufus, having completed the investigation splendidly, reported the contents to his master right away.

A few days after that, Rufus received another order, this time to tail Sheila when she went to her hometown on her holiday and investigate.

If it were up to him, he wanted to go himself, but since Sheila knew his face, Rufus had no choice but to quickly pay someone to follow her.

Only when it was nearly evening did he secretly bring in the person who had tailed her and receive the report together with Cedric.

Surprisingly, the place Sheila headed to wasn’t Broden, her hometown that her master knew, but Holzeroad, a village on the outskirts of Calley County.

‘Seriously, she really is an interesting woman.’

Now Rufus felt like he understood why Cedric was so worked up over a mere maid.

Even to Rufus, there was always something that broke expectations.