Chapter 041. The Night of the Ball
“Do not do it carelessly; clean every nook and cranny meticulously. Until there is not a speck of dust or a single stain, make it thoroughly clean.”
Mrs. Charlotte, standing on the central staircase that overlooked the ballroom at a glance, was checking every action of the others with hawk-like eyes.
Afraid of perhaps getting caught in that surveillance net, thick beads of sweat formed on the foreheads of the maids who were vigorously wiping the marble floor with dry cloths.
“Ugh, a ball all of a sudden.”
“Exactly, I thought we might skip this one.”
In the place farthest from where Mrs. Charlotte was standing, near the window, a few maids moved their bodies while voicing complaints mixed with dissatisfaction.
Deborah was mixed in among that gap.
“Ah, but I heard that the Constant Marquis family is on the guest list for this ball.”
“Constant?”
“Ah, you know, the one whose marriage talks with the Duke are currently in full swing.”
“Ah……”
The secretive whisper made Deborah, who had been focused on wiping the floor, pause her movements for a moment.
“Then, the lady who will become the Duchess of Cheister in the future is coming.”
“That’s right, so isn’t Mrs. Charlotte so fired up like that? To make a good impression on the future mistress.”
“Anyway, I hope she’s a good person.”
“From what I’ve heard, she’s said to be gentle and cheerful…… but who knows.”
Since you only know after experiencing it, the maid giggled while saying that, but her gaze suddenly met head-on with Mrs. Charlotte’s face, who was staring blankly this way.
Eek, the maids who quickly lowered their heads with a loud noise focused intently on wiping the floor like mice for a while.
Deborah, who was beside them, also resumed her paused hand movements diligently.
-Ah, you know, the one whose marriage talks with the Duke are currently in full swing.
-Then, the lady who will become the Duchess of Cheister in the future is coming.
She tried to move her body even more harshly to avoid recalling the conversation she had just heard, but she couldn’t shake off the words echoing in her mind like an echo.
-I discovered you wandering the second-floor corridor and brought you here personally; that person was the Duke.
-From what he said, this is the second time, so it probably isn’t the first incident.
-I intend to report exactly what I heard to the Duke. That’s my duty.
-What happens afterward…… will be decided by the Duke.
Several days had already passed since Mrs. Charlotte had said those words.
In the meantime, she had waited anxiously for the decision that would come down on her, but from that day until now, this very moment, nothing had changed.
That wasn’t the only strange thing.
The fact that all the unexpected situations she had encountered one after another in utterly incomprehensible ways had disappeared as if they were all lies.
As if everything that had happened so far was a dream. Completely clean.
‘……This must be natural.’
Between her furrowed brows, Deborah unwittingly let out a bitter smile.
As she said, everything that had happened so far had just been strange.
From the beginning, it was absurd that she, a lowly maid, had been involved so often with him, the master of this vast mansion.
But then, what is this feeling now?
What on earth is the reason for her heart fluttering like this?
‘No, Deborah…… please no……’
It was an emotion she should have immediately given up the moment she realized her feelings on that path.
It was something anyone would mock, something deserving of condemnation.
To dare, she, a lowly orphan…… him, of noble blood…… it was absurd.
Deborah bit her lower lip until it bled and scrubbed the floor even harder.
While thinking that, if only she could clean her own heart as cleanly as the floor being wiped by the dry cloth.
* * *
“……Pardon?”
The gaze shooting at Deborah, who asked back with round eyes, was extremely sharp.
“Didn’t you understand? Tonight, you have to attend to the young lady personally with me.”
“……”
She thought perhaps she had misheard, but no, she had heard correctly.
So it was even more incomprehensible; what on earth did that mean?
Just a little while ago, amid the busy servant hall preparing for the ball to be held tonight, a familiar face entered.
It was the exclusive lady’s maid of Lady Cecilia.
She pushed through the group who were wiping and rechecking the dishes and utensils to be used in the ballroom today, and with her usual fierce expression, told Deborah to follow her.
Deborah, who had been sitting with a dazed face for a moment, soon followed behind her, pushing aside her curious gaze.
She had anticipated from the direction they were going, but as expected, after walking for quite a while, they arrived at the lady’s bedroom.
In response to the request to make her look as splendid as possible, they had devoted one or two hours to it, and fortunately, a satisfactory reaction came from Cecilia’s mouth.
As she left the bedroom upon being told she had worked hard and could go, the lady’s maid followed behind her.
Just as she was feeling puzzled about what was going on, an absurd statement popped out of her mouth.
It was that she was to help arrange Lady Cecilia’s hair at tonight’s ball.
There was good reason for Deborah to be so surprised.
Normally, in official social events, the personal attendance to noblewomen and ladies was one of the duties entirely handled by their exclusive lady’s maids.
Arranging disheveled dresses and adjusting accessories, or tidying up hair that became mussed during dancing—all of those fell under such duties.
Even if Deborah had been called on a whim by Lady Cecilia to touch her hair, that was limited to within the mansion.
It might be different on ordinary days, but to be in charge of the lady’s hair at an official noble social event? It was absurd.
“How could I possibly……”
So she unwittingly asked back, but the response that came back became even sharper.
“It was directly instructed by the young lady.”
A warning not to argue.
“Anyway, keep that in mind, and make sure to go to the servants’ waiting room in advance later without being late.”
“……”
“And don’t think of being late like last time.”
Do you understand? Not liking that she kept her mouth tightly shut, she scolded even more sharply.
“……Yes.”
When Deborah reluctantly nodded that she would, the maid glared at her once more and then turned around briskly.
Even the young lady, no matter what, how could she to such a girl…… The cold words she muttered as she turned away rang clearly in the ears of Deborah, who stood dazed.
* * *
In the noisy waiting room.
In one corner of it, there was a person sitting as if she were an uninvited guest.
It was Deborah.
After staring down at her fingers on her lap for a long while, Deborah finally raised her gaze and began to slowly look around her surroundings.
The first thing that entered her view was the maids, each dressed in splendid uniforms.
They were the exclusive lady’s maids of the noblewomen invited to tonight’s ball.
As if they knew each other well, they exchanged warm greetings and were now gathered together, blooming into a flower of conversation.
Well, if they were close enough to the Cheister family, they must be from noble families wielding considerable influence within the Rubayk Kingdom.
They would have seen each other frequently at every social event they attended, and naturally grown close.
She alone could not mix into that group and just felt like a heterogeneouslvz existence.
‘Whether here or there…… being an unwelcome outcast is all the same……’
A chuckle escaped her unwittingly, yet it felt somewhat bitter.
It was then.
Click.
At the sound of the door opening, the attention of those who had been chattering boisterously all turned at once toward the door.
The atmosphere became even noisier than before.
Wondering what on earth was going on, Deborah, curious about the identity of the person who had just entered, also peeked her head slightly to the left.
“Windy!”
“What’s it been, so long? Come on in.”
The person everyone chimed in to welcome with a word or two appeared, from her outward appearance alone, to be of no different status from them.
A lady’s maid employed by a noble family.
But why on earth were they all flocking around her so boisterously?
That question was resolved not long after.
“The young lady is really going to become the Duchess.”
“Come to think of it, hasn’t she been famous since her debutante days? The story of how the young lady fell for the Duke of Cheister at first sight.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Everyone praised them as a well-matched pair.”
Exclamations poured out endlessly: they would become a beautiful couple unmatched in the kingdom.
Only then did Deborah realize that the woman who had entered receiving everyone’s attention was the maid of Lady ‘Olivia de Constant,’ one of the protagonists of tonight’s ball.
“Then, besides our Olivia young lady, who else in the kingdom could possibly match the Duke of Cheister?”
With her chin held high, the maid expressed infinite affection and respect for the young lady she served.
Deborah stared at her fixedly for a long while, then soon turned her gaze to the opposite side.
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By Annna 💓
