Chapter 034. Cleaning the Guest Rooms
“Well then, that concludes the morning briefing. I expect everyone to carry out their duties flawlessly today. Move out.”
With the sharp *clap* slicing through the air as a signal, everyone began to exit the servants’ hall in an orderly manner.
Deborah, slowly moving in step with the group, kept glancing toward the entrance.
No matter how she thought about it, something felt strange.
She had been certain that she would be summoned as soon as the morning sun rose, but even after some time had passed, nothing had happened.
‘Could they be planning to call me after the briefing?’
she wondered, but Lady Charlotte hadn’t spared her a single glance since entering the servants’ hall.
‘What in the world is going on…?’
The excessively quiet situation only made her feel more uneasy.
It had seemed certain that Lady Charlotte would call her in and tell her she was fired…
Recalling the Duke’s menacing aura from yesterday, Deborah looked at Lady Charlotte again with a perplexed expression.
Moving along with the orderly line of people, she soon found herself nearing the entrance.
It was then that her eyes met Lady Charlotte’s, who was standing rigidly and observing.
Deborah hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to approach, but ultimately stepped out of the line and walked toward Lady Charlotte.
“Um…”
Finally standing before her and opening her mouth, she found herself unable to continue.
What was she supposed to ask?
‘Did the Duke tell you to fire me?’
Or perhaps, ‘The Duke said he was going to fire me yesterday, so what’s going on?’
Neither question was one she could bring herself to ask, especially with the curious stares from behind Lady Charlotte making it even harder to speak.
“What is it? It seems like you have something to say.”
Lady Charlotte, who had been waiting patiently, finally spoke.
Deborah hesitated for a long while before bowing her head.
“It’s nothing. I’ll… come to you later, privately, and speak then.”
At the cryptic words *later* and *privately*, a slight crease formed between Lady Charlotte’s brows.
Deborah bowed once more to Lady Charlotte before quickly exiting the servants’ hall.
* * *
“Hey.”
Ever since leaving the servants’ hall, Deborah had been in a daze, as if her mind were elsewhere.
She was so out of it that she didn’t even notice someone calling her.
It wasn’t until the next moment that she became aware of the presence behind her.
*Thwack!*
A sudden impact struck her head, and a short groan burst from Deborah’s lips.
Caught off guard, she clutched her throbbing head and turned around.
In her line of sight were three people.
Ludmilla, Molly, and the other one who always tagged along with Ludmilla.
Deborah’s gaze, fixed on the smug smiles of the three, shifted to her feet moments later.
Spotting the rag lying on the floor, she lifted her head to face them again.
“…What’s the meaning of this?”
Her voice trembled faintly with anger at the humiliating act of throwing a rag at her head.
But instead of faltering at her reaction, the three exchanged glances and snickered among themselves.
Moments later, Ludmilla, the apparent leader of the group, stepped forward toward Deborah.
“Why, doesn’t it suit you perfectly? A filthy orphan like you.”
“…”
“What are you going to do, glaring at me like that?”
After a period of relative quiet, Ludmilla’s tongue lashed out with even sharper, more venomous words.
“You’re going to clean all the guest rooms on the second and third floors today.”
With her arms crossed, Ludmilla tilted her eyes upward and spoke as if issuing a command.
Of course, while she was a senior maid, she didn’t have the authority to arbitrarily reassign tasks like this.
Deborah wanted to demand what right she had to give such absurd orders, but she knew all too well that doing so would only lead to the same brutal violence as before.
The threatening posture of Molly rolling up her sleeves behind Ludmilla was enough to make that clear.
There was nothing she could do, no choice she could make.
Seeing Deborah standing silently, biting her lip, Ludmilla’s mouth curled into an even nastier smirk.
“Got a good beating a few days ago, and now you’re finally learning your place, huh?”
“…”
“Acting all high and mighty before, and now you’re this obedient already.”
“…”
“That’s why dumb girls like you need a good thrashing, don’t they?”
Finding something immensely amusing, Ludmilla burst into cackling laughter, and the two behind her joined in.
Though her body trembled faintly with unbearable humiliation and anger, Deborah clenched her teeth and endured.
‘This is nothing. I can handle it…’
She had endured far worse, far more painful words.
Deborah knew that if she could just get through this moment, when her heart felt like it might burst, it would pass. As a child, she had cried and hurt so much to learn that lesson.
So this was nothing, she told herself, tightly clenching her fists.
* * *
“Phew…”
Having changed the bed sheets, Deborah wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a long sigh.
Her gaze drifted to the clock on the small table.
‘Already this late…?’
Her hands, organizing the wooden trolley to move to the next room, grew increasingly frantic with anxiety.
Even though she had skipped lunch and worked nonstop, she still hadn’t finished her tasks this late in the day.
She had thought she could finish by evening if she moved quickly, but that was a grave miscalculation.
Changing bed sheets and covers in each room, dusting furniture and decorations, wiping the floors with a damp cloth and a dry rag, and emptying the trash cans.
Oh, and one more thing.
Checking and replacing the air fresheners in each room took far more time than expected.
She had finished all the rooms on the third floor, where there were the most, and now there were about three rooms left on the second floor.
The guests would soon finish dinner and return to their rooms…
The thought quickened her steps.
“Bed sheets, pillow covers changed, dusted, floors cleaned, trash cans emptied.”
Checking each task with her eyes, Deborah made sure she hadn’t missed anything.
Finally, the last room.
Thankfully, no guests had come up to the second floor yet, and if she could quickly leave this room without running into anyone, her work for the day would be safely completed.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Deborah was packing the cleaning tools and replaced covers into the trolley.
Then, her hand froze as she noticed the bottle of aroma oil inside the trolley.
In her haste, she had forgotten to replace the air freshener in this room.
To check the scent of the current air freshener, Deborah walked toward the head of the bed.
Since each room had a different fragrance, she needed to confirm the existing scent before refilling it.
Quickly picking up the crystal bottle by the bed’s headboard, Deborah opened the lid and brought it to her nose.
The moment the subtle fragrance wafting from the bottle hit her nose with a strong intensity,
Deborah’s movements froze in place.
A scent reminiscent of clean grass carried on the breeze.
Though slightly different, it unmistakably reminded her of a moment when she had smelled a similar fragrance, flashing through her mind like lightning.
That moment when time seemed to stop.
A man’s large hand wrapped around her waist, their bodies pressed closely together, and his breath so near she could feel it…
As if entranced, Deborah’s hand moved toward her lips.
Recalling that heart-pounding moment, her fingers cautiously traced her lips.
*Clunk—*
The sudden dull sound cutting through the room’s air snapped Deborah out of her reverie, pulling her back to reality.
Startled, her gaze darted toward the door where the sound came from.
And there, she saw him.
The man who had stood beside the Duke on that forest path not long ago, Count Leicester.
The man who had looked at her with a repulsive gaze was standing there.
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By Anna 💓
Greetings, I hope you’re doing okay. I’d like to propose some novels that I’ve translated that may interest you:
The goal is five divorces.
The Ruffian and the Mad Warrior Get Married.
