Lena was no longer a skinny, unsightly maid. A healthy luster flowed from her moderately plump cheeks, her slender body drew soft curves, and her hair, eyes, skin, and lips that had regained their full color were revealing a fresh beauty.
Elliot’s eyes quickly scanned the things Lena was wearing. Unlike her, who wore a rather plain dress to win sympathy, Lena’s maid suit was luxurious, as they were paid by the Duke’s family.
Her neat white blouse and undecorated gray skirt might look modest at first glance, but when looking at the heavily falling skirt, they can tell that it is made of the highest quality oxford fabric. Moreover, the buttons were all luxury wrapped buttons, and an expensive cameo brooch hung over the gray ribbon draped under the collar of her blouse.
Up to this point, she could still think that the Duke’s family paid for such clothes and decorations. But not with the pearl earrings on Lena’s ears and the pearl hairpins that held her hair. She could tell at a glance that they were expensive items, and even Elliot, who had been Liddell’s maid for half a year, had not yet had such a luxury item. And by Elliot’s standards, such a thing shouldn’t be Lena’s.
Kahel asked Liddell, ignoring Lena and Elliot’s surprise.
“You always have something new to learn. I let her work as a maid without much thought, but if she is a maid of a Duke’s family, it would be better to give her the surname of a nobleman even if it was of a low status. How did you go through the reinstatement process?”
“But I think it will be difficult to find a noble family to adopt her. Probably from…….”
“There is a noble who accepts a sinners’ daughter so well, so there must be noble families who will adopt commoners. Above all else, isn’t she the maid of the Luave family?”
Kahel’s smile was obviously closer to ridicule. Although Liddell wasn’t one to break her expression enough to reveal her feelings, she was heartbroken. But it was no worse than Elliot. She was so humiliated that she couldn’t stand that she herself was being treated like Lena; no, she was being treated lower than Lena was. She wanted to run to Lena at any moment and pluck the earrings and hairpins.
Elliot managed to capture her expression that was about to be distorted and asked again with a sad face.
“Your Excellency. If it’s not too much to ask, can I talk to Lena for a moment? It’s nice to see a face I haven’t seen in a long time.”
At that, the blood on Lena’s face disappeared. She didn’t know what Elliot would do to her when it was just the two of them. Lena clasped her hands in cold sweat with an anxious expression on her face. Kahel noticed Lena’s uneasiness, but he nodded his head softly at Elliot.
Arder took Lena and Elliot up to the hallway adjacent to the greenhouse and stepped back. It broke his heart that he had to pretend not to notice Lena’s trembling eyes, but here Lena would never get hurt. Rather, they had to take off Elliot’s abominable mask so that Lena would never suffer again.
“You look great, Lena.”
Elliot, who made sure there was no one around, shot at Lena with a sarcastic voice. Lena knew that something like this would happen today, too. Although she knew it, she was actually surprised, flustered, and scared to see Elliot’s face. But Lena once again chewed on the words Kahel had said yesterday.
[“You are no longer Baron Fidelia’s maid. You’re under my protection, my person. There’s absolutely no reason for you to be intimidated. If you don’t believe in yourself, believe in me.”]
She was still nervous and her body still trembled, but Lena thought, ‘let’s believe in His Excellency’ and took a deep breath. The more she chewed on his voice, the more courage she felt inside.
“Yes. I enjoyed it everyday here. Everyone is kind to me, and the Duke is also merciful. There’s no hunger, and there’s nothing wrong. My body is healthy and I no longer have nightmares. So you probably see it that way.”
At those words, Elliot quickly opened her axe eye and she grinded her teeth.
“You traitor! Bitch who doesn’t know grace! How can you live comfortably under the enemy who killed our parents? Even animals know grace! Even less than a beast……!”
The words, which Elliot had thrown to accuse Lena, did, however, provoke Lena’s wrath. It was an instant that her body, which had been trembling with fear, began to tremble with anger.
“Let’s set it straight. Grace? Was it grace that they dragged me to die in your stead? When your parents were arrested, you ran away, but now you come and call me a traitor? Shouldn’t you be thankful to me that I saved your life by having myself arrested instead of you?”
Her insides were boiling. She couldn’t figure out what the concept of ‘grace’ was in this family. Rather, isn’t it her grace that Elliot is still alive?
But Elliot put on a dumbfounded expression on her face, as if she had heard an absurd sound. She couldn’t believe the reality that the maid, who used to kneel at her feet and begged with both hands, now opened her eyes straight and fluttered at her.
“Where are you trying to glare at now? Not even more than a rat! Or did you even sell your body to the butler earlier? So, that’s why he made you a maid? After all, your mother was also a prostitute, so you are no different. Aren’t you?”
“It was the Baron who tormented my mother! The Baron came every day to buy Mother jewellery, to invite her to live in the castle, and to tempt her. But has Mother accepted any of them? She earned a decent income by participating in the tapestry work jointly done by the village wives. But who are you calling a prostitute?”
Lena gritted her teeth unknowingly and stared at Elliot. They were sick people. They were the monsters that couldn’t bother her mother and tormented her. Although Kahel called himself a monster, it was just funny, because Lena knew the real monsters.
And as Lena unleashed her wrath, Elliot forgot that she was standing on the Duchy of Luave, raised her hand and slapped Lena on the cheek. If she had a knife in her hand, she would have stabbed Lena without hesitation.
But the moment she hit Lena, Elliot got the feeling that it was a bit strange. She certainly couldn’t feel anything touching her palm, but the sound of the squeak was too loud. And Lena doesn’t seem to be in any pain, but her cheeks swelled red and blood dripped from her lips.
“Huh? What, what?”
With a strange sensation, Elliot alternately glanced at her hand and Lena’s cheek, and Lena belatedly tumbled over to the side and grabbed her cheek. It was a clumsy performance for anyone to see.
“What fuss is this?”
As if waiting, the door to the greenhouse opened again and Arder and one of the maids came out.
“Oh my gosh! Lena! Are you okay?”
Chloe, who came out with Arder, was startled and supported Lena, and Arder looked at Elliot with contemptuous eyes and headed to the greenhouse with Chloe, who had supported Lena. Elliot, who was left behind, said, “Oh, wa, wait!” She had no choice but to follow along.
Seeing Lena, followed by Arder, and the swollen cheek and blood on her lips, freezing the friendly atmosphere in an instant. Kahel, who had been talking to Liddell again about personal matters, glanced back at Lena and then wiped the smile from his lips.
“Looks like you were very happy to see her. To the extent that you dare put a hand on the Duchy’s employee…….”
A cold gaze fell on Elliot, who was coming in after.
“Oh, no, I didn’t do that!”
Elliot was a bit embarrassed. If she’d rather felt a slap on the cheek, she wouldn’t have said anything, but she certainly seemed to have missed.
“Then, who else was in the hallway?”
“No, it’s not…….”
“Then, this child slapped herself on the cheek so hard? Enough to make her lips burst?”
“No, it’s not…….”
“Are you deceiving me now? Did I say earlier that you won’t be lucky twice?”
It wasn’t that Kahel was spitting out ferocious energy or screaming, but people thought the temperature in the greenhouse had cooled down a bit. Elliot, not knowing who Kahel was, swallowed a gulp and looked at Liddell with an anxious look. She was an angel who had always saved her, so she believed that Liddell would save her this time as well. But at that moment, Elliot read the cold contempt that had passed Liddell’s eyes. Liddell had a look Elliot had never seen from her before, but she could recognize it right away.
But Liddell quickly smiled, perplexed and asked Kahel,
“Kahel. We don’t know what’s going on between the two of them. Of course, Elliot was a little…… I think she did something inappropriate, but could you forgive her one more time? This is a tea party that Countess Delroot has prepared after a long time, so I’m worried about what will come out later.”
“I know. Because of someone.”
Kahel still spoke as if blaming Elliot, but it wasn’t that no one didn’t know whom he was talking about. It wasn’t until then that Mariela came out.
“That was an unexpected commotion. Miss Liddell. I am sorry, but the maid Miss Liddell brought in will be in the employee’s waiting room until the end of the party. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes, of course. I am grateful for Madam’s consideration.”
It was a great consideration for the mistress, Liddell, that she would let the maid, for whom it would not be enough even if she was kicked out, to still stay in the Duke’s residence until the end of her party. And it was, on one hand, something that Liddell had no choice but to feel ashamed of. If she was a princess’ maid, she could raise her chin at any party, so to send such a maid to the waiting room, where employees were gathered, was shameful.
Elliot was kicked out of the greenhouse, not knowing how Liddell felt. The ‘women’s waiting room’, to which the Duke’s residence attendant took her, was the room where a maid waited for their master when other nobles visited the mansion.
It was a neat and clean place, far from being shabby because it was the space under the Duke’s residence, but to Elliot, who had just passed through the heavenly greenhouse and dazzling corridor, it looked like a barn. Besides, the maids brought in by other nobles were already occupying the place. Elliot felt ridiculed that she had to sit among the maids of common birth.
“Excuse me! Is there any place other than here?”
Elliot grabbed the attendant who had brought her and asked with displeasure.
“Somewhere else? There is.”
“Then, guide me there.”
“Of course”
The attendant smiled and went back with Elliot.