Episode 4
“As someone who has worked in the mansion for a long time, you must have seen many maids. So now, just by looking at someone else’s behavior, you can figure out how well she fits in this mansion. Of course, that’s also the job of the head maid. So I’m suspicious if you really didn’t know that Marie lacked qualifications. Whether it’s her lack of ability, or intentional, or if her head has really deteriorated due to illness.”
At my words, my adoptive father nods. Perhaps thinking there was merit in it, his eyes sank even cooler.
“The head maid is really in a busy position. So how can she check every single maid? Or maybe the document delivery went wrong……. What the truth is, no one knows yet. Don’t you think so, Sisse?”
Roena’s excuse seemed quite reasonable. Considering Margo’s reputation for diligently working in the mansion all this time, it wasn’t unreasonable. Moreover, with ‘Roena’ taking her side, the situation was already tilting to one side. Very unfairly.
My adoptive father looked at me as if confused. He wore a very troubled expression, as if he didn’t want to hurt anyone.
So I bit my lip in a way that everyone could see and said in a low voice.
“Certainly, the people here know more about the head maid than I do. What kind of abilities she has. Above all, since Roena says that, I think my thoughts aren’t that important.”
“Sisse?”
“What’s certain is that she didn’t meticulously check the maid assigned to me several times. If she had, she would have easily noticed. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m fine. Really.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Mother grabbed me and burst into tears. I stroked Mother’s back and whispered.
“It’s okay, Mother.”
“It’s all my fault.”
My adoptive father said in a despondent voice.
“I never dreamed I would hurt you and Sisse like this. It’s my fault for not managing the household. Please forgive me. I swear this won’t happen again. Please don’t shed tears on that beautiful face. It feels like my heart is tearing apart.”
My adoptive father approached us and embraced Mother and me. And he sincerely asked for forgiveness.
“I think I brought up unnecessary words. How did the matter that started with Roena saying she would help me flow to here? I should have just swallowed it.”
“No. You spoke well. I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again, but even if it does, don’t hide it and be sure to tell me. I swear that no one in the Wischwaltz family will disdain you. This applies even to my daughter Roena. Understand?”
At my adoptive father’s declaration, Margo’s expression hardened. The same went for the surrounding maids.
I looked at them and gave a slight smile. My adoptive father’s favor, which had become stronger than before my return, instilled caution in everyone while confirming where his affection was biased.
In other words, things were flowing exactly as Margo had worried. Very pleasingly.
“Sisse, I just hope you can relax your mind. And I hope you can clear up the misunderstanding about Margo.”
“Roena, I respect your thoughts. That will continue in the future. So don’t say such things.”
At my words, Roena smiles brightly. She seemed not to take the seriousness of my adoptive father’s declaration very importantly. She was only anxiously watching my reaction.
The funny thing was that seeing her behavior, other people thought, ‘Ah, Miss Roena is really sorry.’ Even though that wasn’t the case at all.
Based on the experiences I’ve suffered so far, this was merely an act to grant justification to having taken Margo’s side a moment ago. It was nothing more than the expression of her tiny conscience.
Therefore, if you peel off one layer, it’s clear you won’t find any remorse toward me anywhere on that face.
That said, I couldn’t miss the gap she gave. I placed my hand on Roena’s shoulder and opened my mouth.
“Yes, Roena, how about giving this kind of help instead of teaching me studies?”
“What kind of help? I’ll do anything, Sishe.”
،
I gave Roena the sweetest smile and said.
“Send me a maid who can help me well.”
“What?”
“You reduce the burden on the head maid. So she doesn’t make a mistake again. One of the maids helping you now would be fine, right? What do you think?”
I still haven’t forgotten. Those maids of hers who, along with Margo, pointed fingers at my mother and treated Roena like a saint.
Also, how much fun I had with those maids after my adoptive father died.
“My maids?”
Roena asks back in disbelief. I looked at her with a triumphant expression like a general who won the war.
***
Roena had a strong attachment to her own things. That feeling didn’t distinguish between people or objects. The maid I mentioned was also one of the precious things she couldn’t have taken away.
Therefore, as long as it was labeled as ‘her own,’ even without giving affection, it was a part she couldn’t help but be sensitive about.
So she must have felt a great sense of loss at my words. Shrinking like a child whose teddy bear is taken away, feeling despair. That could be seen in the pain in her eyes.
But that was only for a moment; as always, she tried to overcome this situation with one method. Through the weapon called tears.
Originally, Roena couldn’t control her crying well. Once she started crying, she sobbed sorrowfully enough to soak her cheeks all over her angelically beautiful face.
When in pain or sad, or even when upset, she shed tears and sobbed deeply. The same when she wanted to justify her actions.
So no matter how absurd a situation she created, or how rudely she offended someone to the point of being a nuisance, everyone forgave Roena.
No, they felt sorry for Roena and cursed the one who made her cry. Because the tears flowing between her trembling eyelashes were sparkling like jewels. Because she was pure and beautiful like a lily laden with dew. Because the crying her was the angel itself.
This time was the same. Her clear eyes swelling up was truly instantaneous, and her reddened eyes soon dropped large tears.
Her slender shoulders convulsed thinly in a pitiful way, emphasizing the cry.
Beyond her bowed hair, her white nape shone dazzlingly, subtly showing off its presence.
Everything was picturesque. So lovable that you have no choice but to hug her, so pitiful that you have no choice but to comfort her.
The dining room was instantly filled with silence. The only sound was Roena’s suppressed sobbing.
She tries to swallow it on her own, but the faint cry that subtly leaks between her pressed lips. Roena’s greatest weapon, which shakes everyone’s hearts, has appeared.
When she cried, everyone looked at me, each expressing different emotions. My adoptive father with a troubled face, Mother with an expression as if she couldn’t understand, and Margo and the other maids with eyes full of hostility.
I bit my lip hard. I chewed and chewed my lips because a despondent laugh seemed about to flow out. To think I forgot her true nature while intoxicated by this petty victory, how could this happen?
But first was swallowing the bitter water rising in my throat. Prioritizing overlaying a smile on my lips convulsing with anger. I pretended a calm voice and asked her.
“Did I make an unreasonable request?”
Roena stops crying as if she was waiting. And between her red-soaked lips, she endlessly utters ‘I’m sorry.’
I barely suppressed the urge to tear those lips apart and gently wiped Roena’s cheek with a handkerchief. And blinking my eyes slowly, I asked as if I really didn’t know what was wrong.
“No, I’m sorry. Actually, I don’t know why you’re crying. So I don’t know how to comfort you.”
“That’s not it. I just hate myself.”
“Roena. If you say it like that, I can’t understand well. Won’t you tell me in detail? That way, I won’t repeat the same mistake this time.”
Asking back like this, I once again swallowed the laughter that was about to burst out.
At the same time, I tensed up. Because her second weapon was coming out. That disgusting act of making the other person a fool by saying self-blaming words.
“It wasn’t an unreasonable request. Because there won’t be anyone who can serve you as well as my maids. They’re really kind and affectionate. But I don’t know why I’m crying like this. It’s not like we’re parting, but I don’t know why I feel so sad and upset. Sorry, I’m sorry. I hate myself like this too. I’m sorry, Sishe. Really sorry. But that doesn’t mean I won’t send them to you. Just, just…….”
Unable to overcome the surging emotions, Roena covers her mouth again and bursts into sobs.
I hid my fist with blue veins bulging under the hem of my dress and trembled. I was amazed at her act of disguising such childish tantrum of not wanting her things taken away in this way.
But people couldn’t see through Roena’s such behavior well. Because her attitude had a subtle quality that made the other person think of themselves as the ‘villain.’
When a pure beauty, so much that you want to embrace her, bursts into tears self-blaming because of her own words, who wouldn’t feel guilty.
Her behavior had the power to turn a legitimate request into a rude one, gentle tone into oppressive verbal violence, and momentary contact into molestation.
So third parties who didn’t know the exact circumstances always cursed the other person, and even if they knew the truth, they scratched their heads with troubled faces and said, ‘Still, couldn’t you concede a bit?’
Thanks to that, the one who didn’t concede was treated as a cold-blooded person under heaven, a ruffian who doesn’t consider the other. It was astounding.
Look now. Aren’t all except Mother looking at me as an unparalleled thief? As a rude person daring to covet her precious things.
So I smiled faintly. At the same time, I shrugged as if I still couldn’t understand if this was something upsetting enough to burst into tears.
“If you’re this sad, I have no choice. Okay, Roena, you don’t have to grant my request.”
“Sisse?”
“It’s fine. I’m really okay. Instead, stop crying. Your pretty face is getting ruined.”
Roena stops her tears with a visibly flustered expression. Perhaps because it was the first time someone reacted this way to her tears, she wasn’t even thinking of hiding her emotions.
“It’s not that I won’t send them to you. I just…….”
“I said again, I’m really fine. Like the head maid issue earlier, and now too. You come first, right?”
At the same time, lowering my eyes, I muttered in a calm tone.
“It seems like everyone thinks that way too.”
Then Roena waves her hands as if bewildered.
“Sisse, don’t think like that. It wasn’t meant that I won’t send them.”
“Roena, you don’t have to try so hard. I’m really fine. Now that I know you always come first, it’s okay. From now on, I’ll think considering you first too.”
I calmly looked at Roena’s appearance, who was making an anxious expression and at a loss. And I asked with my eyes.
See? I don’t cry like a child. But as plaintively as possible, as if self-blaming my own shortcomings, in a casual tone as if not resenting you who awakened me to my deficiencies. That way, you’ll feel guilty.
“So I hope others don’t misunderstand.”
☆☆☆
By Anna 💓
