Chapter 13
“Judging by your expression, it seems you already know what this is.”
I sat down in a chair and opened the ledger.
“Let’s see. A sack of flour is originally 200 gold, but here it says 300 gold? And since the castle bought over a hundred sacks of flour, the leftover money is…”
“Stop! That’s enough!”
The head maid quickly cut me off, looking frightened that someone might overhear.
“What do you want? You wouldn’t have waited for me instead of going straight to the master if you didn’t want something in return.”
She was quick-witted.
That meant she had chosen to side with the Chairman of the Senate instead of me.
I slammed the ledger shut with a loud thud and said,
“I only want one thing. For everything to go back to the way it was. First of all, assign Mary back as my maid.”
“That’s not difficult. No one wants to be your maid after what you did to Tess anyway.”
No wonder no new maids came after Tess quit.
‘Maybe rumors spread that I’d bite if provoked?’
Honestly, that was for the best.
Any new maid would likely be on the head maid’s side and would’ve made things difficult for me.
“And I want my bedroom cleaned like before. It’s so dirty right now that I’ve been staying in the maid’s quarters.”
“Fine. I’ll send the maids—”
“No, I’d prefer you to clean it yourself. Whoever made the mess should clean it up, right?”
Her expression twisted as she imagined the current state of my room.
There were still cockroaches flying around, and the bedding and wallpaper were wrecked with traces left behind by the bugs.
Cleaning all that and replacing everything with new items would be quite the ordeal.
“Then I’ll have Tess do it—”
“Tess couldn’t have done all that on her own. You ordered it, didn’t you? Then you should take responsibility too.”
“You’re being unreasonable…”
“Or do you want to spend a night with cockroaches like Tess?”
The head maid’s face twisted again, probably imagining a night spent in that infested room.
“Cleaning sounds better, right?”
“Sigh…”
She pressed her forehead and let out a deep sigh, but she didn’t argue further.
Apparently, cleaning a filthy room was still better than sleeping with cockroaches.
“It has to be spotless, as if nothing ever happened. Replace the bedding too.”
“Fine. Is that all?”
“Lastly, tell the Chairman that you’re still harassing me. Make sure to report that well.”
The head maid smirked.
“So that’s why you didn’t take the ledger straight to the master? Even if he punishes me, the Senate would still target you.”
“Exactly.”
Even if I didn’t use the head maid, the Chairman had plenty of ways to come after me.
For example, sending assassins at night.
But if he saw me being harassed by the head maid, he wouldn’t bother with new tricks.
He looked down on me and probably wanted to show others how his grandson Denson could beat me.
“Tell him I’m so mentally exhausted I can’t even lift a sword.”
The head maid reluctantly nodded at my words.
“You’ll really return the ledger if I do that?”
“It’d be even better if you could check on how that grandson of his is doing lately.”
“Don’t tell me you plan to beat Master Denson?”
Strangely, it felt like someone somewhere was saying, “You? How dare you?”
“I already beat him once, didn’t I?”
I stood up, waving the ledger in my hand.
“Then I’ll take this with me. I’ll give it back after I’m done sparring with Denson, so don’t worry.”
As I passed the head maid, she suddenly lunged at me.
I casually stepped back and dodged her hand.
It was easy to sense the movement of an untrained commoner, even with my eyes closed.
Thud! Crash!
The head maid, who had thrown herself at me with full force, ended up rolling noisily on the floor.
“Didn’t we just agree to get along?”
I crouched down in front of her, where she lay unable to get up from the pain.
“You…!”
She tried to get up to grab me but groaned, clutching her waist.
She must’ve hit it on the desk when she leapt.
“What if I get angry and tattle on you to the Duke?”
“N-No! Please don’t! It was a mistake! This whole thing is… um…!”
At the mention of Duke Clasta, her face turned pale.
So even while siding with the Chairman, she was still afraid of the Duke.
I grabbed her hand off the floor and forced a handshake.
“Ugh…”
She tried to pull her hand back, but I held it firmly.
“Let’s get along from now on. Oh, and tonight, I feel like having steak.”
I smiled at her as she glared at me.
“Looking forward to it, okay?”
That evening, Mary returned as my maid.
“Mary!”
“Young Lady!”
I ran to her and hugged her tightly.
Even though we hadn’t been apart for long, she had clearly lost weight while I was busy blackmailing the head maid.
“Young Lady, you said you were eating properly… Why are you so thin?”
“You lost more weight than me.”
“I was dieting on purpose.”
“Then I’ll just say I was dieting on purpose too.”
I buried my face in her chest and muttered, and she gently brushed my hair.
“Girls like you should eat well. You’re still growing. I heard Tess did something awful—are you okay?”
“I won.”
“You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
I shook my head vigorously.
“That’s a relief. But still, how did you convince the head maid? She’s not the kind to let me go so easily…”
“Well, I had my ways.”
I glanced away from her gaze.
“I know you’re brave and smart, but you still need to be careful, okay?”
“Okay!”
“Then shall we go clean your room? I heard it’s a mess. I really should’ve gone earlier…”
“It’s fine.”
I held her rough, chapped hand tightly.
Her hands showed just how much she’d suffered these past few days.
She probably did laundry from dawn until night.
As we walked down the hall, she said,
“It’s better to throw away the bedding and bring in new ones. I’m not sure if the linen room will release anything, but I’ll try. And also—”
We reached the room, and Mary paused at the door with a determined expression.
“Please wait here a moment, Young Lady. I’ll go in first to clean up.”
“We can just go in together.”
The head maid probably cleaned everything already.
“No. There might still be bugs. You might get shocked if you see them yourself, so let me go first.”
“Okay.”
Mary took a deep breath and slowly opened the door just a crack—just enough for a fingertip to slip through.
Then her eyes widened in surprise, and she flung the door wide open.
“Huh? Huh?! Young Lady! The room’s completely clean!”
The room was spotless.
The walls and floors were gleaming, and the bedding had been changed—it smelled fresh and fluffy.
Just like when I first arrived at Clasta Castle.
Thankfully, there was no need to go yell at the head maid again.
That night, steak was served.
It was delicious after such a long time.
After dinner, while I was enjoying the soft texture of my freshly made bed, the Duke of Clasta summoned me.
‘What could the Duke want now?’
I was sure I hadn’t caused any trouble recently.
Maybe the head maid told him some bad things about me?
When I arrived, the Duke was—unusually—seated at his desk.
As he put down his pen upon seeing me, he said,
“You’re here?”
“Yes.”
I sat on the sofa, quietly gauging his mood.
Luckily, he didn’t seem too upset.
I hadn’t even taken down Regan, the Pope-to-be, yet—I couldn’t afford to be kicked out of the castle.
He leaned back into the sofa across from me and asked,
“Did you have dinner?”
“Yes.”
It was a very delicious steak, actually.
The meat wasn’t tough at all, and the juice flowed out with every bite—definitely five stars.
“Good.”
He made a thoughtful noise and leaned back further.
But his expression looked strangely displeased.
‘Did rumors spread that I’ve been eating too well?’
I tried to recall everything I had eaten since arriving at the Duke’s castle.
Two-week-aged steak, oak-roasted chicken, a whole pack of premium strawberries blended into one smoothie…
I had been eating very well.
‘That must be it. He’s going to scold me for eating too much expensive food.’
I was convinced he was about to complain about the food budget skyrocketing since I arrived.
‘I should’ve been more careful… but it was all so tasty!’
“Then you must be full now.”
“…Yes.”
I placed my hands neatly on my knees and answered as politely as possible.
‘I’ll start eating less from now on…’
One of the Duke’s eyebrows twitched unpleasantly.
“Then you wouldn’t be able to eat an apple, would you?”
Only then did I notice a basket full of apples on the table.
They looked premium at first glance—vibrant color, glossy skin, and a fresh fragrance.
“Each one costs 10,000 gold.”
Excuse me? 10,000 gold per apple?
That’s about half a month’s wage for an average commoner!
A regular apple would cost around 5 gold—these were practically gold bars!
Staring at the apples in shock, the Duke grinned and asked,
“Want one?”
Without thinking, I nodded.
And immediately regretted it.
‘I totally walked into the Duke’s trap!’
