“Poor women who can only take beatings from the Duchess without being able to fight back.” With her thought process flowing this way, Lily finally stopped the refraction of her anger and directed her emotions toward the proper target: the Duchess, who had beaten her.
“Bad person.”
Lily sniffled as she watched Charlotte meticulously applying medicine to her arm.
“It has already been nearly ten years since you entered the ducal house.”
“Ah, did you know?”
“Of course. I remember everyone.”
Charlotte lowered her eyes slightly with a faint smile. It was time to say what she had prepared.
“Isn’t it strange? There is no child as diligent and caring as you in this mansion, yet Mother does not acknowledge you. I recommended you for the position of head maid several times, but you know. My words carry no power.”
As soon as Charlotte finished speaking, Lily’s eyes shot up.
“You recommended me?”
“Yes. I recommended you last summer as well. But I am sorry. It feels as though you are not shining because of me.”
Lily’s eyes widened in shock.
Of course, she too had thought along the lines of Charlotte’s words. To be honest, she had resented Charlotte day in and day out, thinking, If I hadn’t been your direct maid, I could have risen higher by now. However, at the single sentence that Charlotte had recommended her and acknowledged her, all her resentment melted away completely.
And she thought: My failure to succeed isn’t because I am Charlotte’s direct maid, but because of those nasty superiors who refuse to recognize my worth!
“That is because of the head maid! The head maid dislikes me. She says I talk too much or something.”
“Oh my, is that so?”
“Having a lot to talk about might be my flaw, but I think a flaw is not absolute; it is something highly subjective that people can perceive differently. Daisy said my talkativeness makes me fun!”
“Andrea is indeed rather blunt.”
To grow close to someone, even if you are not actually close enough to open your heart to them, creating a common enemy is the most effective way to make the other person view you with affinity. In Lily’s case, that enemy was the head maid.
At Charlotte’s brief remark, Lily concluded that Charlotte also disliked Andrea, the head maid, and she opened her mouth, sensing her chance.
“Blunt, indeed! There cannot be another person as boring in all the world. She cannot even properly catch a joke and fails to join in conversations! She has no eloquence and no sociability! That is why she has no popularity with men, either.”
“Really? Such things happen.”
“Usually, someone who becomes head maid should know how to cherish everyone, but she does not do that. She only keeps close to those fox-like wenches who flatter her. Just why does the mistress favor such a person!”
Touched lightly, the words poured out like a bursting floodgate. Charlotte forced down the smile that kept spreading and straightened her gaze.
Andrea, the head maid, was a close confidante of the Duchess.
Managing the annex where Charlotte stayed and the western main building, Andrea reported Charlotte’s every move to the Duchess.
Making Richard wait and swapping the dress were both things that reached the Duchess through Andrea. Because of that, although Charlotte was confined to the annex, she was always walking on eggshells. Even if she dropped a single teacup, a scolding from the Duchess would rain down upon her.
However, if one thinks about this in reverse, it is actually a good thing for Charlotte. It means that once Andrea is gone, there will be no need to live cautiously within the annex like she does now. Of course, a maid reporting to the Duchess will still exist, but she simply needs to make that maid her own person.
Yes. Just like Lily right now.
“Are there many children who dislike the head maid?” “Of course there are! Except for the kids the head maid dotes on, everyone else probably hates her! I can bet my name on it!”
In truth, Lily’s name did not hold much value, but Charlotte feigned surprise and stroked her chest.
“Just yesterday, Daisy got severely scolded by the head maid over something trivial, and well.”
Charlotte let the chattering words flow in one ear and out the other, bringing her legs together, resting her chin on her knees, and reminiscing. About what Lily was like before she died.
“Young lady, what are you going to do about dirtying the sheets like this! Bloodstains don’t come out easily, so what will you do?”
Where was a coughing fit of blood something that could be stopped just by trying to stop it? Seeing the dark red blood she ultimately couldn’t hold back and vomited out, Lily scolded Charlotte instead of worrying.
“Honestly, I don’t think the young lady took poison. Who in the Duke’s estate would dare harm the young lady?” “This is all happening because the young lady doesn’t move on time and doesn’t eat properly on time. If you do as I say, you’ll get better right away.”
Saying that, she dragged her out forcibly to the outdoors where a fierce cold wind was blowing. I am certain that tending to Charlotte every hour was so tiresome that she wanted to get rid of her for even a few hours.
Thanks to that, Charlotte caught a terrible cold that day and suffered from a blazing, high fever for months on end. Even then, Lily didn’t show a hint of remorse on her face as she said things like this:
“They say commoners’ bodies are weaker to begin with. You can’t help your birth origin, right?”
At that time, Charlotte was lying in bed, barely able to lift a finger, so she felt sheer misery rather than anger. And she grew helpless. Thinking, there is truly nothing I can do, and there are so many people wishing for my death.
However, the present Charlotte is different. The misery remains, but she is not helpless. It is still sad, but that does not mean she will not feel anger.
“So, do you know what that trainee knight said? ‘Excuse me, head maid. Do you happen to have a child? If so, may I ask what a three-year-old child likes?’ That’s what he said! The head maid doesn’t even have a child, and she’s unmarried, you see!”
“That knight really had no tact.”
“It wasn’t that he lacked tact, but rather that he just spoke the truth as he saw it, right? You should have seen the head maid’s face back then, Young Lady!”
Watching Lily burst into giggles, clutching her stomach and nearly rolling backward, Charlotte felt a wave of nausea rising inside her. However, the current Charlotte was able to hide her burning, long-harbored fury beneath a carefully painted smile.
So, she continued to appropriately play along with Lily’s words.
“If the head maid were to leave, there would be many people rejoicing.”
“Rejoicing? They would throw a festival! Ah, just imagining it is wonderful! If that witch-like woman were to disappear!”
Clasping her hands together as if in prayer, Lily’s eyes sparkled, but her shoulders soon dropped as she grew dejected.
“But it won’t happen. You know how much the mistress dotes on the head maid.”
“Isn’t that just because she has been with her since before she came to the ducal estate? It seemed like even Mother said she wasn’t entirely sure about the head maid’s character or abilities.”
“Pardon? Really?”
No, of course it was a lie. But since Lily couldn’t very well ask the Duchess if that was true, she naturally trusted Charlotte.
“Yes. I heard it not long ago, so there’s no mistake. However, isn’t Mother also a soft touch when it comes to sentiment? She said that’s why she keeps her around despite having no other choice.”
“That’s…”
Lily’s brown eyes darted back and forth rapidly. Rolling this way and that, her eyes were filled with a wicked hope that perhaps she could find a way to drive the head maid out.
If the mistress is keeping the head maid around purely out of affection, wouldn’t it work if something happened to make that affection disappear? If that happens, wouldn’t the head maid neatly vanish? Entertaining such thoughts, the corners of Lily’s mouth involuntarily twitched upward.
“Oh, Young Lady. I need to go wash the blankets, but I completely forgot. May I excuse myself?”
It was bound to be an excuse. She would rush straight to where the other maids were and blab about this. Then they would put their heads together to figure out a clever way to oust the head maid. Since she needed time for that, Charlotte was more than willing to let Lily go.
“Of course. Come back when you’re finished.”
Lily bowed brightly with a beaming smile.
“For lunch, I’ll bring the sandwiches you like! Along with some eclairs!”
Charlotte smiled gently and replied that she would appreciate that, and Lily hurried out of the room with a step that was similar to when she arrived, but noticeably lighter.
It was less than a week later that Andrea let out a scream.
“Ma’am! Y-You’re misunderstanding! I really didn’t do such a thing!”
Charlotte leisurely left the room and stood on the landing of the stairs.
Then, sitting in a luxurious yet vulgar armchair of unknown origin, the Duchess came into view. Next, Andrea was spotted begging frantically on her knees in front of the Duchess, while Lily and her clique stood nearby with their arms crossed as if to show off, flickering into view.