LUCIA

Chapter 10 Northern Territory (1)

Some time after Hugo departed, Lucia woke up because she needed to use the bathroom. She hoisted herself up and pulled on a rope to call the maids. She was suffering from heartburn due to the heavy alcohol consumption yesterday. As if the maids were on standby right outside the room, they appeared a second later.

"Your Grace, good morning."

"I wish to use the washroom, aid me up."

Leaning on the maids, Lucia managed to get out of bed. When she tried to support herself on her own feet, an ache shot up through her body, causing her to grimace.

"Are you feeling unwell? Shall we call for the doctor?"

Lucia momentarily observed the maids' expressions. The maids observed the highest form of respect while they spoke, but she couldn't help feeling like they were telling her 'We know where and why you are in pain.'

Maybe it was her own inferiority complex, as the maids' expressions never changed. It was a relief she had the old maids to attend to her. If some of the younger maids in their twenties were attending to her, she would have been very uncomfortable due to her embarrassment.

Lucia understood every part of a maid's life and habits. In front of their Lords, they would behave with courtesy, as they are educated to keep a blank expression at all times. However, they only kept to that practice when they were in front of the masters. Behind their master's back, they would laugh and jeer like any other normal human being.

Maids often boarded in the same mansion as their masters, and were limited in their own freedom. Therefore, their interest and source of entertainment would naturally be directed toward their master's family affairs. Their lives were a repeat of paying attention to their master's words and habits. In their mundane existence, those moments felt like events to them.

Back when Lucia worked as a maid(1), she had stuck to concentrating on her tasks. She had been a quiet and sincere maid. Eventually, she had become her master's favored servant and had often attended to her master during grand social events. When Lucia had become her master's favorite, the other maids had looked at her with disdain and had ostracized her.

Had Lucia's personality been more lively, she would have asked her master to punish the other servants and gone about with her head held high. However, all she had cared about was doing her job to the best of her abilities.

One would think that they would be grateful to her for that, but it was not so. They had treated her like a bug. Even so, Lucia hadn't felt hurt seeing their behavior. If one were to listen to their words carefully, they didn't hold any elegant conversations. That was especially true the mornings after their masters came out of the same bedroom. The maids' gossips would become especially bad. Lucia would only sigh listening to what the other maids were laughing over.

These were the Duke's maids, but they would be no different. However, if the maids weren't seen talking that way, there was no way she could do anything to punish them.

It was just a little stressful, because she knew all the dark and dirty secrets that would happen behind the scenes.

"...No need. It will be fine if you assist me for a bit. That's right, yesterday I broke a cup."

"We have already cleaned it up. But please be sure to wear your slippers as a precaution."

She had slept like a log all those hours, without knowing that the maids were entering and leaving the room. It was possible that she had fainted. Lucia was taking slow steps returning to the bedroom, when she stopped in front of the window. The maids, who were supporting her, also stopped and waited for her quietly.