Chapter 2
But what could a mere maid say to her mistress — and a wicked one, at that?
She had come up right behind Heather, but the woman was too absorbed in the young men around her to notice Rosalyn.
Then, after looking Heather up and down, Rosalyn smirked and gave a light nudge to the wine glass sitting nearby. It was a bold move — one even I, standing right beside her, hadn’t expected.
“Oh my, oh no!”
“Eek! What— what is this!”
At Rosalyn’s startled voice, Heather finally noticed her dress had been ruined and was horrified.
But Rosalyn merely glanced back and forth between her and me with wide, surprised eyes, and said something outrageous.
“My maid must have knocked the glass by mistake. Oh dear, what do we do!”
I felt like my mind had gone blank.
‘This lunatic actually went through with it!’
Still, I quickly dropped to the floor, pressing my forehead down. It was Rosalyn I had to go home with, after all.
Contrary to what I expected, Heather didn’t raise her voice in anger.
Instead—
“You. What’s your name?”
“I— I’m Emma.”
“Right, Emma. Since you’re calling it a mistake, I won’t make a big fuss out of it — as long as you pay for the dress.”
“What?”
I cautiously lifted my head.
Heather was speaking sweetly, the corners of her mouth curled up.
“If your mistress bows her head and begs forgiveness, well, I might just accept the apology and let it go…”
“…”
“But it doesn’t look like she has any intention of doing that.”
She smiled and leaned down toward me, and in a voice too quiet for the men to hear, she said something terrifying.
“Thirty million gilden for the dress, and twenty million gilden in compensation. You might try running off, so I’ll file a police report for now — but pay that off, and I’ll withdraw it.”
What happened after that was even more absurd. Right in front of me, having watched everything, Rosalyn denied it all.
“Why are you making a fuss and telling me to take responsibility for what you did? Mother! Fire her!”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who did it!”
“What a laughable little thing. And here I put up with people mocking me because of you!”
“What on earth are you talking about now?”
“Are you deaf too? They insulted me last time, said my makeup was tacky!”
So that was it — she was still bitter about that, and decided to frame me for it? What kind of rotten situation was this?
Just then, a police officer arrived.
“Detective Greg Norman, minor offenses division. I’ve come looking for a Miss Emma Hampton, following a report filed by Miss Heather Dartmouth. Is she a maid in this household?”
At their question, Baroness Tessis shook her head.
“No. I just fired her.”
“My lady!”
“I’ll give you time enough to pack your things. Make any more noise, and your charges will only pile up.”
I don’t remember well how I packed my things or how I was dragged off to the police station.
When I finally lifted my dazed head, I found myself in a narrow holding cell blocked by bars.
On the way there, the officer had explained indifferently.
“You have a week to pay restitution. If you can’t repay the money within that time, you’ll stand formal trial and be transferred to another prison.”
“How am I supposed to raise money while I’m locked up in a cell?”
“Through someone you know, obviously. If you show a bit of sincerity, well, I might be able to let you out on bail for a while.”
Even as he said this, he seemed certain I wouldn’t be able to pay it back.
Who did I know in Herona, a city I’d never set foot in before now — and how was a country maid supposed to come up with fifty million gilden within a week?
It was hopeless. According to him, if I failed to pay restitution, there was a high chance I’d be sentenced to around five years of hard labor.
‘Five years, for something I didn’t even do…’
On top of that, a red mark would be stamped on my identification papers, meaning even after my release, I’d have no way to find a decent job.
I kept laughing bitterly, without meaning to. I couldn’t believe the world worked this way. It felt like someone was playing a cruel joke on me, except there was no way that could be true.
‘Does any of this make sense?’
All that grueling servitude, bowing my head to that damned girl — and the reward for it all was prison? I was furious, resentful, suffocated. If I could, I wanted to grab Rosalyn by the hair and shake her senseless. No — killing her felt like the only thing that would satisfy me.
But after three days passed, the venom drained out of me, and by the fifth day, I found myself wondering what use there was in blaming others.
‘If struggling and clawing at it is just going to end in prison anyway, what was even the point of living so hard?’
If I rotted in prison for five years and came back out, well — what kind of mire would be waiting for me then?
Was there really any reason to keep living a life that only led from one worst-case scenario to the next?
“Damn it. There’s only one answer left.”
In that narrow cell, barely large enough for one person to lie down in, I finally arrived at the conclusion that I should die.
But I didn’t want to end things in such a miserable state.
I pulled out half of the bundle of money I’d carefully hidden away in my bag, and called for the officer in charge.
“Detective Norman. I’d like to apply for a one-day bail. You said bail was possible if I found a way to pay back the money, right?”
“What? Where’s this money suddenly coming from, when you had none this whole time?”
“I’m going to try asking Baron Tessis to lend me some money first, and if that fails… I’ll sell myself to some back-alley tavern. However I look at it, that has to be better than prison.”
As I spoke, I quietly slid the bundle of cash beneath his hand.
Detective Norman glanced down, gauging the thickness of the bundle of bills, then gave a low “Ahem,” clearing his throat. Even after subtracting the bail, it was likely more than the man’s monthly salary.
“Fine. Twenty-four hours, starting from this exact moment. If you’re not back by seven tomorrow evening, I’ll put out a warrant for your arrest. Finding someone like you would be no trouble at all!”
When I’d first entered Herona, I hadn’t had any trouble, since I’d had the Baron and Baroness’s guarantee of identity — but for a lowly commoner to travel elsewhere, they needed a certificate from the police headquarters or another government office confirming they weren’t a wanted fugitive.
So in the end, I was nothing more than a rat trapped in a jar of poison.
And yet, locking me up here over supposed flight risk was nothing but discrimination against commoners.
I spent over half of the entire fortune I’d scraped together, with such difficulty, just to be free for a single day — but I didn’t regret it. Eight million gilden, after all, even doubled, would have been nowhere near enough to pay off the restitution.
‘Let’s have the best day of my life.’
Carrying my luggage, I left the police headquarters and took a room at a rundown inn.
That evening, I ordered the most expensive dish the inn had, and paid extra to have hot water brought up so I could bathe.
I thought to myself that this was the first time I’d ever lived so freely, so entirely for my own sake.
* * *
I’d meant to sleep in, but out of sheer habit, my eyes snapped open at six in the morning.
Still, after lazing about for a good while, I finally got up late, ate breakfast, got dressed, and left the inn.
Then I strolled once around the streets of Herona, watching the curtains being drawn back on shop windows and the clerks at dress shops dusting with ostrich-feather dusters. It was a district lined with dress shops catering to wealthy commoners and lower nobility.
Having made my way around, I cautiously stepped into the shop with the dress I liked best.
“Excuse me, is anyone here?”
The clerk’s brow furrowed slightly at the sight of my appearance.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but how much is that dress hanging out front?”
By now, her expression was openly suspicious.
“That might be a bit expensive for someone like you to afford.”
“I’m running an errand for Lady Rosalyn Tessis of the Tessis barony. Do you need me to explain further?”
When I let a hint of irritation show in my voice, she finally answered my question.
“If you mean the one in the window, that would be this one — five million gilden.”
After spending all that time thinking about a fifty-million-gilden debt, five million gilden felt almost laughably small. Even though I only had about seven million gilden in my pocket.
“I’ll take it.”
At those words, the clerk’s expression brightened at once.
“Would you need any stockings or gloves as well? We just got a shipment of lace gloves in…”
“No, that’s all right. My lady only asked me to bring back the dress.”
She looked a little disappointed, but pulled out the dress I’d pointed to and wrapped it up with great care.
A dress, packaged in a box — it was the first time in my life.
I paid and left the shop.
Then, one by one, I bought shoes to match the dress, undergarments to wear beneath it, a bag, and even hairpins.
Even so, I still had about seven hundred thousand gilden left.
“Good. Today, I’m going to live in the most extravagant way possible.”
Struggling under the weight of several boxes, I made my way back to the inn, put on my newly bought undergarments and dress, and did my makeup with great care.
Doing up my own face after so long made me laugh. This was the first time I’d ever dressed up purely for myself.
I also took off the brown wig I always wore, since my hair color matched Rosalyn’s. I’d worn it because there was no way Rosalyn would tolerate a mere maid looking even slightly similar to herself. My thick red hair, once confined in a hairnet, tumbled down in waves.
‘No wonder my scalp itched so badly every evening.’
That was over now, too.
After brushing my hair smooth several times and pinning it up neatly, I looked, in my own way, rather like a noble young lady.
Staring intently into the mirror, a strange feeling came over me.
‘I really do look like Rosalyn, don’t I.’
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