The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 80

“I’ve brought your luggage, miss,” Sheila said.

Because of the appointment ceremony, every servant in House Calley was in emergency mode.

In other words, they were ordered to prioritize ceremony duties over their original assignments, and to ensure that the guests who had come would not be inconvenienced in the slightest.

The butler who received the Lotas duke’s daughter’s luggage from the coachman pointed to Sheila, Cedric’s personal maid, and told her to bring it up.

Since Sylvia had not brought an attendant maid with her, her luggage was relatively simple.

But for Sheila’s slender frame, the bags were by no means small.

Cedric’s gaze landed on Sheila holding the luggage. Sheila was fulfilling her duty with the most perfectly maidlike expression and posture in the world.

“Miss, if it’s all right with you, shall I unpack for you?”

As if Cedric were not even in the room, she asked Sylvia.

Ah, of course, it wasn’t that she was truly treating him like he didn’t exist.

When she came in earlier, she gave him a brief bow where he stood beside Sylvia.

Still, for some reason, Cedric didn’t like it. It was the kind of feeling where she wanted to nitpick at him for no reason.

Cedric was about to say that was enough and tell her to leave, but Sylvia cut in first.

“Could you? Thank you. I don’t bring a maid with me.”

Sheila had already heard that Sylvia didn’t have an attendant maid and had come up because of it. That was why she asked whether she should unpack.

With Sylvia’s permission, Sheila began arranging the belongings into the wardrobe with practiced skill.

Sylvia watched the deft hands of a capable maid with a pleased expression.

「Since you came all this way, just take care of Eric. Don’t let him do anything strange.」

As if Sylvia’s gaze toward her displeased him, Cedric brought up Marquis again.

「Why would I? I came to have fun with you, honey.」

「I told you to stop calling me that.」

「Honey.」

「Do you want to get thrown out right now?」

Only then, at Cedric’s face hardened in genuine seriousness, Sylvia burst into laughter.

「All right, all right. I won’t.」

While the two of them chatted, Sheila finished tidying neatly and propped the empty bags beside the wardrobe.

Sylvia walked over to Sheila, opened the clutch she was holding, and held out a single silver coin.

Sheila’s eyes widened.

“What are you doing? Take it already.”

Even at the Lotas duke’s daughter’s words, spoken in fluent Beloica, Sheila hesitated.

Beloica originally had no tipping culture. Sheila hadn’t done it expecting any separate reward, either.

But Sheila had picked up something during Judith’s lessons. Lotas did have a tipping culture.

Of course, even they paid wages to their own servants and didn’t tip them. But when receiving service elsewhere, tipping was generally expected.

There was even a customary range for tips, and as Sheila remembered it, it was about three to four lera in Beloican currency.

But the coin the lady offered, as beautiful in temperament as she was in appearance, was a full one denis, twelve leras.

As Sheila’s hand began to rise, tempted to accept the generous lady’s money, a short command snapped out of Cedric’s mouth.

“Stop.”

Sheila’s hand froze in midair.

“Don’t take it.”

At Cedric’s words, Sheila looked at him with resentful eyes.

In that instant, Sylvia’s eyes gleamed as she read the unusual tension flowing between them.

Sylvia spoke in the same bright voice as before.

“Cedric, don’t.”

Even at Sylvia’s sweet, coaxing words, Cedric stayed silent. Leaving him be, Sylvia asked Sheila, who was frozen.

“What’s your name?”

Her voice was gentle.

“…Sheila, miss.”

Flustered, Sheila replied in a voice that almost disappeared.

She’d worked as a maid for years and seen countless guests visit the count’s household, but it was rare for a noble to ask the name of an ordinary maid.

“Sheila, take it. I’m giving it to you because I liked how you arranged things.”

“But….”

Sheila stole careful glances at Cedric.

“Take it.”

The moment Cedric reluctantly granted permission, Sheila quickly held out her hand.

When Sylvia smiled and placed the coin in her palm, Sheila opened her mouth in Lotas, a language she’d picked up during lessons.

「Thank you, miss.」

It was a simple phrase, but at the sight of a maid speaking her native tongue, Sylvia’s eyes gleamed with curiosity this time. Sylvia smiled warmly and said,

「You’re welcome.」

Then, still in Lotas, she added,

「Sorry, but could you bring me a cup of tea?」

「Yes, miss.」

Sheila understood the simple request and answered in Lotas as well, then left and closed the door behind her. Sylvia, who couldn’t take her eyes off Sheila’s back, asked,

「She’s pretty, that one. Did you teach her?」

「No.」

「Our language.」

「She was Judith’s personal maid. She sat in on Judith’s lessons.」

「And now?」

Because Cedric spoke of her as “was” Judith’s maid, Sylvia asked about her current status.

「Now she’s my personal maid.」

「Oh? Really…?」

For some reason, Sylvia’s face held a bright, amused smile.

At that inexplicable smile, Cedric’s brows knit slightly.

***

Escorted by Alfonso, Eloise also arrived at the room where she would be staying for the four days.

Even without checking, Alfonso remembered exactly which room the third daughter of House Vivarini would use. It was the room he’d paid the most attention to choosing, because Eloise was his brother’s most likely fiancée.

And throughout preparing this room, Alfonso’s heart hadn’t been at ease.

Because he knew Cedric’s ‘shameful secret’ that the precious young lady of a great marquis house was considering him as a prospective husband.

After taking in the size of the room, the furniture and décor, and even the view beyond the window at a glance, Eloise spoke.

“It’s an excellent room. You looked busy, so thank you for escorting me personally.”

She said it as she withdrew the hand she’d been resting on Alfonso’s arm.

She was saying that because she’d seen Alfonso directing the servants when she first arrived.

As Eloise’s hand slipped away from his arm, Alfonso caught her hand and lightly brushed his lips to the back of it.

“The honor is mine, Lady Vivarini.”

Eloise, whose pride had been slightly bruised by Cedric’s friend, the young lady from Lotas, softened at Alfonso’s kind, attentive treatment.

“I heard the count’s family has a son my age. So it’s you.”

“My introduction is late, young lady. I am Alfonso, the second son of House Calley.”

“Among ourselves, ‘young lady’ feels a bit old-fashioned. Please call me Eloise.”

“Then please feel free to call me Alfonso as well.”

Even with their conversation filled with courtesy, the two of them quickly exchanged a sense of familiarity.

Still, it wasn’t proper for a young man and woman to speak at length alone in a room, even with the door left slightly open.

“I’m busy, so I’ll take my leave. If you need anything, please call for me at any time, Miss Eloise.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Alfonso.”

After finishing their greetings, Alfonso’s lips touched the back of Eloise’s hand lightly once more.

As Alfonso turned away, leaving her standing in the room, there was a trace of regret in his steps.

***

When Cedric came in to rest for a moment after welcoming guests, the image of Sheila, her eyes shining at the sight of money, rose in his mind.

And also the woman’s words from a few days ago, when she’d tried to pull a trick on him.

“Noble lords don’t go back on their word, do they? What was that called… chivalry? In those honorable knights and nobles, they always keep the words they’ve spoken, right?”

Instead of saying what she wanted outright, Sheila circled around the point.

As she said, the chivalric code passed down since long ago had taken root as a basic code of conduct that nobles, not just knights, were expected to uphold.

Figuring he’d at least hear her out, Cedric asked,

“So?”

At Cedric’s interest, Sheila brightened and continued.

“You said last time, Young Count. That if I’m not going to get paid, I shouldn’t clean unless you tell me to.”

Of all things, she was bringing up the time long ago when she tried to clean the punishment room after doing her job.

When Cedric lifted his brows, Sheila flinched, yet declared as if making a proclamation,

“Then I’ll get paid!”

“What?”

“That same amount you mentioned back then. If you give me just one solid, I’ll clean it spotless, without a speck of dust….”

“Rejected.”

He wondered what she was building up to, and this was it….

“Pardon?”

“I’m not ordering it.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s no need.”

At Cedric’s answer, Sheila’s brown brows drooped.

The day Sheila said she wouldn’t take money anymore in exchange for turning a blind eye to Sam watering down the milk, Sam from Viehaver Farm came to Rufus and explained everything. That story soon reached Cedric as well.

Since he’d blocked her from doing other side work, was she trying to make up for it by cleaning the punishment room?

She had paid fifty solids at the guild last time, yet Sheila still lived in constant tight circumstances.

Cedric had also heard through letters sent from Broden, Sheila’s hometown, about what kind of trash her so-called older brother Fred was, living a debauched life.

He drifted between taverns without any decent job. And what he enjoyed more than drink was gambling for small change in those taverns.

Addicted to gambling every day, he drank when he won, delighted, and he drank when he lost, out of anger. Either way, the conclusion was the same: he drank and played around every day. And it went without saying that the days he lost overwhelmingly outnumbered the days he won.

But how much did his debauchery really have to do with Sheila staking her life on money?

Judging from Sheila’s ledger, ninety percent of her wages were being sent to her brother, but that was it. Every other sum was going to the guild.

Even though it was obvious she was gathering money in secret, behind her wastrel brother’s back, Cedric kept feeling like he was missing something. It was Cedric’s intuition.

With that nagging unease left unresolved, he couldn’t bring himself to step in aggressively.

‘If it weren’t for this damned appointment ceremony….’

Even though it was a ceremony he too had long awaited, Cedric could only find this event bothersome.