The gossip of the two senior servants in the laundry room continued to echo in Elena’s head like a soothing mantra.
Every single sentence regarding how quickly noblemen grew tired of their new toys offered a faint ray of false hope that she desperately needed.
‘Right…
He will definitely get bored,’ Elena thought, repeating the phrase over and over to suppress the nausea in her stomach.
‘Alexander is the Crown Prince.
Why would he ever continue to desire a dull, plump, and lowly servant like me?
Last night was merely the satisfaction of his curiosity.’
After completing her first duty, Elena was asked to carry a stack of manuscripts and clean teacups to the inner garden area.
Her steps were slow and hesitant.
As she walked behind the stone pillars of the open corridor, her gaze accidentally landed on a magnificent gazebo in the middle of the garden, surrounded by blooming white roses.
There sat Alexander, lounging elegantly alongside high-ranking nobles, including prominent members of the Dracox house.
The Crown Prince wore a silk shirt embroidered with gold thread, his luxurious fingers holding a porcelain teacup with flawless poise.
He offered a faint laugh, responding to political chatter with a posture so calm, relaxed, and utterly carefree.
As if…
the horrifying event of last night had never happened at all.
As if, beneath the dim candlelight last night, he had never shattered Elena’s final defense and claimed her maidenhood.
Elena froze behind the shadow of the pillar, her fingers clutching her apron until her knuckles turned white.
A strange sense of suffocation and anger suddenly burned in her chest.
‘Look at him…’ Elena thought, her gaze burning with restrained hostility.
‘He acts as if nothing happened.
Meanwhile…
I have to bear this trauma and insane confusion all on my own!’
The contrast was excruciatingly painful for Elena.
For Alexander, that night was perhaps nothing more than a fleeting distraction in the middle of his busy life.
Yet for Elena, that night was a tragedy that altered her entire future.
She could never be as confident as before, back when she cherished the purity she had strived so hard to protect.
She still couldn’t comprehend why the Crown Prince was so cruel to her.
However, Elena quickly took a deep breath, forcing her rationality back into control.
She turned her face away, hiding herself as the nobles shifted their gazes.
‘It’s fine,’ Elena whispered, reassuring her wounded soul.
‘This is actually for the best.
If he acts normally and doesn’t seek me out again, it means he truly considers that night over.
As long as he doesn’t repeat it…
I can endure this.
I can pretend nothing happened and become invisible once more.’
Yet, the reality of being a lower-class servant gave her no time to wallow in self-pity.
“Hey, Elena!
Stop daydreaming!” a senior servant snapped harshly as soon as Elena returned to the back area.
“The water in the washing tub is empty.
Go to the back well and draw water until it’s full!”
“B-but…
isn’t that a male servant’s job?” Elena squeaked softly.
“Stop making excuses!
They’ve been sent to the market.
Do it quickly if you don’t want to get fired!”
Unable to protest, Elena was forced to walk toward the stone well in the backyard.
The deep, old well was equipped with a thick iron chain and a heavy wooden bucket.
Elena gripped the cold iron chain.
Every time she turned the pulley and pulled the chain to lift the wooden bucket filled with ice-cold water, a sharp, stinging pain shot directly from her inner thighs to her lower back.
The aftermath of last night’s intense encounter, combined with the friction of coarse fabric against her sensitive skin, made every tug feel like sheer physical torture.
“Ugh…” Elena whimpered softly, pausing her movements for a moment.
A cold sweat broke out across her forehead.
Her waist felt as if it were about to break, but she bit her lower lip tightly, refusing to shed a tear in front of the other servants.
Enduring the throbbing soreness, Elena pulled the well’s chain once more with whatever strength she had left.
‘This pain is only temporary,’ she reassured herself amidst the harsh creaking of the iron pulley.
‘This is the price I must pay for my father’s safety.
As long as Alexander leaves me in peace and forgets about me after this…
I can bear all of this weight.’
She did not know that from a dark corner of the mansion, a pair of deep blue eyes was watching her every move and her restrained whimpers from afar.
“How pathetic your fate is, sweetheart.”