TPNSIA-14

Chapter 14. Maid Catherine (4)

“Ow! Be gentle!”

Catherine cried out as one of the maids wiped her wounds with a damp cloth.

“I am being gentle! Good grief, there’s barely any flesh on you. Where did she even find room to whip you this badly?”

That complaint opened the floodgates, and grievances began pouring out from the other maids.

“Wasn’t the head maid way too harsh? She never says anything when the maids from the main building cause trouble.”

“Exactly! They slack off all the time, and she never scolds them!”

“That’s because we end up doing all the work they neglect.”

“And if we don’t, we’re the ones who get blamed.”

“Still, Catherine, why did you have to disobey the head maid’s orders and end up like this?”

“Is that really what you should be saying to someone who came back injured? Leave her alone. Catherine, does it hurt a lot?”

Catherine lay on her stomach on the bed, groaning, while the maids from the annex crowded around her.

Looking at them again, they seemed less like coworkers and more like family.

—We may not be related by blood, but we’re family, Kayla. Understand?

The gentle voice of a woman echoed from an old memory.

If I had never been sold to the assassin organization, could I have lived like them too?

—Then be family with me.

Suddenly, another voice—one I wanted to forget—echoed alongside it.

I lowered my gaze.

It had already happened. It was all in the past.

Getting sentimental over something so pointless…

I must have grown soft.

I was about to turn around and leave without a word when the annex maids’ conversation drifted into my ears.

“That old hag would’ve been kicked out ages ago if it weren’t for Countess Katrina!”

“Shh! What if someone hears you saying that?”

Fortunately, this time, the name was familiar.

Anyone who doesn’t know that name in imperial high society might as well be a spy.

Countess Failin Katrina, the flower of high society who, with her dazzling beauty and remarkable social skills, had quickly risen to become the Second Imperial Consort’s right-hand woman.

I didn’t expect the head maid to have connections to that woman.

But why would one of her people be stationed beside Prince Edwin?

Edwin’s standing was far too insignificant for this to simply be about keeping watch over him.

Maybe they keep every prince in check just because they’re princes?

Coincidentally, I had met the countess before I died.

She was beautiful, but vicious.

The more beautiful the flower, the sharper its thorns.

And the ones who got pricked were always those who kept the flower closest.

The head maid’s increasingly excessive behavior flashed through my mind.

What should I do?

As I stood there thinking with my eyes lowered, I felt the maids staring at me.

Why were they all looking at me?

“Um… Nanny?”

One of the maids cautiously approached after our eyes met.

I merely stared at her instead of answering, and she continued awkwardly.

“Catherine said that you were the one who rescued her. Is that true?”

“It is.”

“We’re grateful that you saved Catherine, of course, but… we’re only maids. If the head maid finds out about this…”

She looked deeply apologetic and unsure of what to do.

The other annex maids standing behind her were no different.

Their expressions, cheerful only moments ago, had grown dark.

Naturally, Catherine looked worried as well.

I knew perfectly well what they were afraid of.

They feared the head maid would retaliate against them because of their low status.

“Don’t worry.”

When I answered as if it were nothing, the maid’s mouth fell open.

“Pardon?”

“I’m the one who did it, so I’ll take responsibility.”

“You’ll… take responsibility, Nanny?”

The maids began murmuring among themselves.

“So it’s true that she came here with Mrs. Conrad’s recommendation.”

“Then does that mean we won’t have to constantly watch what we do around the main-building maids anymore, like before?”

I observed their reactions for a moment before speaking again.

“In return, there are a few things I’d like to ask you.”

I’ve gotten all the information I need for now.

After finishing my conversation with the annex maids, I headed back toward the main building.

Now I just have to decide what to do.

The annex wasn’t very far from the main building.

Even so, by the time I reached the main building’s entrance, I still hadn’t made up my mind.

I’m going to leave soon anyway.

The thing holding me back until the very end was hesitation.

I’m not even the real Rachel Brown. Do I really need to get this involved in the affairs of the prince’s palace?

The fact that I was even considering it made no sense to me.

What exactly is making me go this far?

What did it matter to me what the head maid did?

The prince, the princess, the annex maids…

They were all complete strangers to me.

This was a world where parents sold their children and children killed their parents.

So why would anyone willingly put themselves in danger just to help someone else?

—You’re full of contradictions, Kayla.

That damned Ian’s voice echoed in my ears again.

—You kill people without batting an eye, yet you also help complete strangers without thinking twice.

He had said that to me not long after we first met.

—I really don’t understand you.

Those were exactly the words I wanted to say to myself right now.

Why was I going out of my way for an annex maid I would soon leave behind?

Was it simply because I couldn’t accept that the head maid had punished an innocent maid?

Truthfully, what I understood least was myself—why I was getting this involved over something as simple as that.

I’ll deal with this first and decide afterward.

I quickly shook my head.

Whatever the case, I had promised the annex maids that I would resolve the situation.

And I hated breaking promises even more.

Having convinced myself with that excuse, I pushed open the door.

The moment I entered the main building, two maids grabbed my arms as though they had been waiting for me.

They dragged me back outside and forced me to my knees on the dirt.

The head maid had already come outside and now stood before me.

“Lady Rachel Brown. You know what you did wrong, don’t you?”

I raised my head.

The head maid’s face looked like that of an enraged bull, while the main-building maids gathered behind her appeared positively thrilled about what was about to happen.

The moment our eyes met, the head maid thundered,

“Just what country’s law allows you to release a maid undergoing punishment without the head maid’s permission?”

How fitting.

A tyrant who disregarded even the prince himself was lecturing me about rules and propriety.

I was inwardly scoffing when the head maid raised her hand above my head.

That presented me with an unexpected dilemma.

Should I let that wicked palm hit me or not?

Avoiding such an obvious strike would be ridiculously easy.

But if I refused to take it quietly, I would only provoke her further.

I suppose I have no choice this time.

I lowered my eyes.

Smack!

My vision flashed white with the sharp sound of impact.

My left cheek stung.

It had been a long time since anyone had hit me.

The sensation felt strangely unfamiliar.

And damn unpleasant.

The head maid continued glaring venomously at me.

“Didn’t I make myself clear, Lady Brown? I entrusted everything concerning His Highness to you, so you were to fulfill all your responsibilities as his nanny.”

She planted a hand on her hip and continued berating me.

“And not only did you push your own responsibilities onto someone else, you even dared interfere in matters under my authority.”

The head maid gestured toward the maid standing beside her.

“Go and bring the whip at once—”

“I cannot accept that.”

My tolerance ended precisely at one slap to the left cheek.

I continued in an icy voice.

“It is impossible for me to attend to both Their Highnesses entirely on my own. I require the maids’ assistance.”

The head maid sneered before scowling at me.

“Ha! Are you making pathetic excuses now?”

“I’m merely stating the facts.”

I stared calmly back at her.

“Yet under the pretense of entrusting Prince Edwin’s affairs to me, you forbade the maids from attending to His Highness at all. Don’t you find that rather strange?”

“What did you say?”

“This palace belongs to His Highness Prince Edwin.”

The head maid frowned, as though she had finally sensed something wrong with where I was going.

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“And yet you punished a maid for preparing His Highness’s meal without even obtaining His Highness’s permission. Doesn’t that contradict itself?”

The head maid’s eyes widened.

“That’s—!”

“If that isn’t a challenge to imperial authority, then what is?”

It wasn’t as though the master of the house were absent.

She was acting like the master while the true master was standing right there.

No one could reasonably tolerate such a thing.

Murmurs spread among the main-building maids.

Seeing her own subordinates beginning to waver, the head maid raised her voice even louder.

“You dare spout whatever nonsense comes to mind simply because you have a mouth! Trying to stir people up with such baseless accusations!”

Her hand shot upward once again.

And then—

“Stop! What do you think you’re doing?!”

A shrill shout rang out from behind the head maid.

The owner of the voice was none other than the true master of this palace.

Third Prince Edwin.

Edwin stood at the top of the stairs with a deep scowl on his face.

A startled Emilia clung tightly to his side.

Prince Edwin looked back and forth between the head maid and me before slowly descending the stairs.

“I asked you what you think you’re doing.”

His voice was unusually heated, nothing like his usual tone.