Chapter 7
Her eyelids snapped open even before the sun had risen. She quickly sat up and curled her body, but the surroundings were far too quiet.
Flora, fumbling beside her for her sword, soon sighed at the fact that there was nothing there. It didn’t take long for her to realize that this wasn’t Ploheim.
Even though about a month had passed since she came here, Flora still couldn’t get proper sleep. She had certainly never relaxed her tension, and that continued right up until the moment she fell asleep.
*’You won’t need that sword anymore, so I will keep it.’*
When she had seen him in the barracks, Flora had thought the Duke gave off a chillingly cold impression.
But now she was a little confused. It was because the Duke had taken her sword away with a rather joyful smile.
Especially that look in his eyes, as if he was seeing something amusing, and his testing tone. Even she, quite accustomed to Ian’s sarcasm, found him a difficult person, unsure how to react.
“What is that man thinking?”
Sighing lightly, Flora looked with complicated eyes at the light beige-toned dress hanging by the dressing table.
It was a maid’s uniform that Mary had brought for her, now that she was working as a maid at the Heinster Ducal Residence by the Duke’s command.
She found maid’s work terribly hard to get used to. She didn’t know what the Duke was thinking by entrusting her with maid’s work, but for now, she had no choice but to do as she was told.
Flora reluctantly put on the maid’s uniform. Although it was a relatively active style of maid’s uniform, it was a design that covered her down to her ankles, so the feeling of it lightly brushing against her skin was cumbersome.
She tied up the hair she usually wore loose, and the look of a perfect maid was complete.
A stranger’s face formed on the surface of the mirror hanging on the wall. Nowhere in the mirror was there any trace of the woman who had cut down enemies with a sword.
*Perhaps I should have asked for trousers like the servants wear,* she thought as she walked, and soon arrived at the dining hall where the main building’s staff usually ate.
“Oh! Flora, over here.”
Mary, the first to greet Flora, raised her hand and pulled out a chair as if telling her to sit next to her. Around them, about twenty other maids were already seated.
Since several weeks had passed since Flora became a maid, no one seemed awkward at her appearance.
Thinking that their master had brought a maid who did odd jobs near the western border, the other staff didn’t show much interest in Flora’s identity.
Although quite a few questions had been asked at first, the new maid was quite taciturn, and they soon lost curiosity.
“Oh dear. It’s tied like this.”
“Ah…”
Mary, having found something again today, reached her hand out toward Flora’s apron.
Flora, startled, tried to move her body back a step late, but Mary’s hand touching her waist area was so natural that she missed the timing.
Mary, untying the loosely tied ribbon and tying it tight again, smiled brightly.
“There, all done. The more I see it, the more it seems you have no talent for this kind of thing, Flora.”
Looking at Flora, who had no dexterity despite being taught many times, like a younger sister, Mary smiled.
Mary was quite affable, and after they had exchanged names a couple of weeks ago, she often called Flora by name and looked after her like this. Since it was the same even when she refused, for Flora, who had no social skills to begin with, it was just uncomfortable.
“I appreciate it, but from now on, I will do it myself.”
“All right.”
Despite her blunt tone, Mary smiled brightly without a hint of being offended. There was no one present who didn’t know that the new maid had a blunt personality.
Meanwhile, warm soup and freshly baked bread were placed on the table.
“Come on, eat up. We have a lot of work to do today.”
The chef, Mikhail, brought out the dishes, making a big show of his favor. Then, seeing Flora sitting quietly, he added,
“I thought you’d be sulking because you got kicked out of the kitchen, but you seem fine.”
“I don’t blame you, Chef.”
“That doesn’t make any sense! I should be the one blaming you for causing that commotion. Right?”
Mikhail refuted with an incredulous face, but today again, the new maid, devoid of any change in expression, only maintained a calm demeanor.
The work she was assigned after suddenly being taken off wood chopping, which she had been doing just fine, was kitchen work two weeks ago.
Harriot, apparently not wanting to even run into her wandering around the mansion, had sent her to the kitchen, telling her to try washing dishes for a change.
But what he hadn’t factored in was that Flora had never in her life even properly seen a precious teacup, let alone cooked. Handling dishes that required delicate care with her rough hands, she broke things constantly.
If she had just dropped them by accident, it might be understandable. But fine, luxurious dishes need to be handled very carefully. Whether she lacked that concept entirely or not, she had already shattered several wine glasses with just her own hand strength.
The chef looked at Flora as if asking *where in the world did they bring this person from*, and had no choice but to put her in charge of ingredients.
But there was another problem here. No matter what, the woman didn’t even know the names of basic ingredients, so she often just spent the whole day with a blank face.
Since she was at least decent with a knife, he asked her to dice the ingredients for a casserole to be served at dinner, but even that she shredded into pieces like finely minced seasoning.
Unable to bear the trouble of having to explain everything one by one, the chef had ultimately thrown up his hands and kicked Flora out of the kitchen just yesterday.
“That’s too harsh. Flora’s only been here a short time. She’s just still clumsy.”
Mary, sitting next to him, chimed in with a sulky face at Mikhail’s scolding.
“I’m the one who barely managed to stop the butler from deducting it from her salary… and I’m too harsh?”
“What? You mean he wanted compensation for just a few broken teacups?”
Everyone listening nodded, saying that while it was absurd, it was just like that stingy butler.
There was one more rigid person in this mansion, no less than the strict Madame Melady: the butler, Durabic, who unhesitatingly cut staff’s wages when property was damaged.
“He said over thirty. And all expensive ones.”
*Whoa.* Mary’s eyes widened. She quickly covered her mouth with one hand, then cleared her throat and tried to look indifferent.
“Still, that’s too harsh. Both you, Butler, and you, Chef.”
“I apologize for that.”
A low voice cut in between Mary, who was pouting and retorting that they were penny-pinching, and the chef.
Mikhail, feeling a surge of annoyance, saw Flora, head bowed, enter his vision. Somehow, her apologetic face seemed lukewarm.
But he too had already experienced over the past two weeks just how blunt the new maid was.
Thinking that while she was just not good at the work, she didn’t seem like a bad person, the chef, feeling a bit awkward, pushed the soup toward her.
“Well… it’s not like failing at kitchen work is a big deal, so don’t be discouraged.”
“Flora, don’t worry about it. The butler is usually a bit of a stickler for rules.”
Mary winked and patted Flora’s shoulder, and the matter was settled for now. The conversation soon moved to other topics, and the usual noisy chatter began.
Flora held the shiny silver knife and fork and lowered her gaze. Eating together was always uncomfortable.
On the staff dining table, all sorts of stories were exchanged, but they were all things she didn’t know. From the latest fashionable dress to someone’s news or gossip, mostly.
Having little interest in such stories, she quietly ate her food. She couldn’t understand people who paid attention to adornments in a world where they never knew when they might die.
The laughter and chatter stopped abruptly just as she was almost finished with her food.
At the sudden silence, she looked up to find everyone looking at her pitifully, having stopped mid-sentence. The eldest among the women gently pushed the bread basket in the center of the table toward Flora.
“Do you want more? There’s plenty of food, so eat slowly.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Still, how can you work properly when you’re so thin? Here, have some meat too.”
“I’ve had enough, really.”
Putting down her spoon with a click, Flora answered, moving her chin slightly.
She didn’t know why they were so eager to give her more food, but she had already eaten her fill. She failed to notice that everyone had pitiful expressions after watching her inhale her food as soon as she sat down.
“Then, what work should I do?”
Flora stood up from her chair and stepped back with a stiff posture. The maids looked enviously at her straight posture and trim figure.
“The Head Maid will probably…”
“The work you need to do today is prepared in the backyard of the annex. You’ll know when you go.”
The answer to her abrupt question came from the woman in the center of three women who had just entered.
Having arrived here, Flora had roughly grasped the hierarchy of the staff. She was observant, always watching, so remembering the faces and names of the people working here wasn’t difficult.
The one who answered was Salin, who always held her chin high.
“I doubt you’ll do it properly since you’re so lousy at working…”
“I wonder if she’ll turn the blankets into rags this time.”
The other maids who always followed behind Salin giggled and chimed in.
“Well… Flora is still unfamiliar with this place.”
“Mary, looks like you’ve gotten quite close with the lowest rank. You don’t seem to know your place, interfering where you shouldn’t.”
As soon as Mary seemed to defend Flora, Salin’s eyes sharpened.
An awkward atmosphere settled over the previously pleasant breakfast.
Salin, who always acted sweetly toward the Head Maid, acted like a fox without a lion where the madam wasn’t present. Acting as if she were someone important, she bossed other maids around and mistreated them, so everyone watched her.
Seeing Mary’s face color with embarrassment, Flora raised her head and met Salin’s eyes.
“Is that an order from the Head Maid?”
“You have a strange way of speaking. Surely you’re not accusing me of lying?”
“That was not my intention.”
“I’m just coming from seeing her. She said, ‘Even if she can’t do kitchen work, she should at least be able to do laundry, don’t you think?’ Pfft!”
