Why The Maid Inherited The Duke's Legacy- Chapter 6
<6> I Don’t Want to Get Hurt Again
As soon as Arad left, Ivnia’s legs gave out, and she slumped to the floor.
“Mommy?”
Ranelli, who had been hiding in the corner, came scurrying over.
Ivnia forced a smile and reached out, pulling her young daughter into a tight embrace.
“Mommy just tripped, that’s all.”
“Are you okay?”
“Of course. Let me hold you for a bit, my dear.”
Ivnia held Ranelli close, resting her cheek against the child’s head. Out of Ranelli’s sight, Ivnia’s face twisted in pain.
Her heart was pounding. Ranelli’s warmth and quiet breathing fell like dewdrops on Ivnia’s barren, fractured heart.
Had he come all this way just to pick a fight and vent his anger?
Honestly, she couldn’t quite remember what he had said.
She had been so flustered and scared by his sudden appearance that she had just responded mindlessly to whatever he said.
All she could recall was his cold tone and harsh voice.
‘I must have annoyed him.’
She knew. If it hadn’t been for the mysterious inheritance letter from the former duke, Arad would have completely ignored her.
But since she had made such an unreasonable request and stayed, he would probably kick her out as soon as the inheritance matter was settled.
‘I need to act quickly.’
Ivnia struggled to overcome the trembling in her body.
Facing Arad was much harder than she had imagined. While the fear of losing Ranelli was overwhelming, meeting him again had also awakened another fear deep within her.
‘I don’t want to get hurt by you again.’
Though many people in Gellenzik were frightening, Arad was terror incarnate to Ivnia. His influence over her was still too strong.
‘It’s okay. It’s okay… Let’s achieve our goal and leave this place as soon as possible.’
Ivnia tightened her arms around Ranelli. Ranelli, who seemed to love being in her mother’s embrace, hugged Ivnia back tightly.
***
Around the time the servants finished their early morning meal, the bell rang from the main mansion, summoning all the workers.
Ivnia, who had planned to keep Ranelli hidden in the detached residence while she worked, hesitated for a moment.
‘Arad said he’d send people to the detached residence. I’ll have to keep Ranelli somewhere else until things settle down.’
She didn’t want Ranelli to interact with others as much as possible. Especially if Arad’s influence could reach her.
It might have been a case of the thief feeling guilty, but Ivnia didn’t want to reveal Ranelli’s presence here.
After some thought, Ivnia took Ranelli’s hand and walked with her toward the main mansion. Near the stables at the back of the mansion was a barn where fodder for the livestock was dried. From what she remembered, not many people went in and out of this barn.
Ivnia led Ranelli up a steep ladder inside the barn. There was a small loft at the top.
“Ranelli. Stay here quietly, and Mommy will come back at lunchtime, okay? If people come, you need to stay quiet so you don’t disturb them. Understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Ranelli nodded as if she were used to it.
As the head of the family, Ivnia had to provide for them, and her grandmother, despite her illness, worked to contribute to the household. There was no one to look after young Ranelli at home, so she had to follow Ivnia around.
When Ivnia went to work at other people’s houses, she would hide Ranelli where the homeowners couldn’t see her and then do her work. No employer liked a maid who brought her child along.
Ranelli, being clever, was good at staying quietly in one place. She had learned through experience that causing trouble would make things very difficult for Ivnia.
But being good at something didn’t mean she liked it. Ranelli couldn’t hide her sullen expression, and Ivnia comforted her.
“Just twenty more nights, and we’ll go home, okay? Until then, can you listen to Mommy? I’ll do my best to get us home as soon as possible.”
“Okay, I understand. Can I make a doll with the cloth I found yesterday?”
Ranelli pulled out the old scraps of cloth she had found in a chest in the detached residence the night before. It seemed she had brought them along, anticipating being bored.
Ivnia stroked Ranelli’s head and nodded.
“Of course.”
Leaving her child alone made Ivnia uneasy, and she kept looking back at Ranelli several times before finally stepping outside.
Ranelli was a very quiet and careful child, rarely causing trouble, but she was still only seven years old. Even though it wasn’t the first time Ivnia had left her alone to work, it always felt like the first time, her heart filled with anxiety.
‘I need to find the research materials quickly.’
The most likely places where the research materials were stored were the former duke’s bedroom, office, and study. There weren’t many places to search, but the problem was that all three were heavily secured.
‘The opportunity will come eventually.’
Gellenzik Mansion was vast, and there were people everywhere. But sometimes, the darkest place was right under the lamp.
‘It would be great if I could be assigned to clean the fourth floor.’
Ivnia hoped she would have such luck.
But Selby, the head maid, took her to the semi-basement laundry room on the opposite side of the kitchen.
“Since you came without a letter of introduction, it’s best to start from scratch.”
Selby spoke coldly and handed Ivnia over to the senior laundry maid.
Laundry work was the most grueling of all the tasks assigned to maids. To tackle the mountain of laundry, one had to keep their hands submerged in water all day, causing fingers to wrinkle and eventually lose sensation.
Many apprentice maids ran away, unable to endure the eczema and the sting of cracked skin. As a result, the laundry room was always behind schedule and perpetually short-handed.
Olivia, the senior laundry maid, who had been whispering something secretively with Selby, tossed a pile of laundry at Ivnia with a sly smile.
“If you don’t finish this by lunchtime, you’d better forget about leaving the laundry room.”
Olivia, who was around Ivnia’s age, was in charge of training the apprentice maids. Her job was to assign the toughest tasks to the apprentices and, if they showed perseverance, provide etiquette training before assigning them to where help was needed.
So, a newcomer like Ivnia, who was older, was both unfamiliar and irritating to Olivia.
“Don’t think you can slack off just because you’re older.”
She narrowed her eyes, constantly watching to see if Ivnia showed any signs of displeasure.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Ivnia obediently took the laundry, sat at her assigned spot, and began washing. Her mind wasn’t on the mountain of laundry but on how she could search the rooms on the fourth floor.
‘I’ll finish this quickly and look for an opportunity during break time.’
Ivnia worked tirelessly without even straightening her back. She had done laundry work before when she first arrived here. She had even used that experience to take on laundry jobs in her hometown.
She was a skilled worker, fast, and had no intention of cutting corners.
There was nothing to fault. Yet, for some reason, even as she quickly and perfectly finished her tasks, the pile of laundry behind her showed no signs of shrinking.
‘This is strange. It feels like the laundry keeps piling up.’
It wasn’t until hours later that she realized something was wrong. She carefully observed her surroundings and noticed the apprentice maids giggling as they subtly added their laundry to Ivnia’s pile.
They were young girls, no older than 14 to 16.
‘If Ranelli were a little older, would she look like them?’
The thought made their actions seem less malicious. Still, she had no intention of being foolish.
Ivnia pretended not to notice, but at one point, she suddenly grabbed the arm of a girl who was reaching for her laundry.
“Ah!”
She looked straight at the girl with calm but firm eyes.
“If you need help, it’s better to ask. What you’re doing might seem harmless, but it’s no different from stealing someone else’s time and effort.”
“W-what did I do?”
The girl struggled to free her hand from Ivnia’s grip.
Though Ivnia looked slender and weak, her body, hardened by a life of hardship, was stronger than it appeared.
The girl tried to pull her hand away forcefully but suddenly let out a sharp cry.
“Ow, it hurts!”
Ivnia clicked her tongue inwardly as she looked at the girl’s hand. The delicate fingers she had grabbed were cracked and peeling.
“If you scrub stains recklessly, your fingers will get ruined quickly.”
“…”
“I’ll show you how to remove stains without hurting your hands. If you need help, just ask. Once you know the trick, you can finish your work without overworking your hands.”
“N-no, thanks.”
The girl, who had been caught doing something wrong, turned red and looked away as Ivnia offered to help her.
The other girls, who had been whispering among themselves, fell silent for a while. The laundry room, usually filled with the chatter of the girls, was now enveloped in silence. Sensing the strange atmosphere, Olivia strode over to Ivnia.
“What did you just say to her?”
Ivnia stood silently in front of Olivia and explained the situation.
“Her hands were badly damaged, so I offered to show her some tricks if she wanted…”
Olivia cut her off, raising her voice.
“Is the work too easy for you? Do you have time to worry about others?”
Ivnia noticed that Olivia’s demeanor was excessively sharp and almost gleeful.
Her eyes sparkled with interest, and her smile was mocking. Ivnia knew this cruel expression well.
It was the face of someone who took pleasure in tormenting the weak, someone who could be bullied without guilt because they were already ostracized by everyone.
No matter the reason, they just wanted to torment her. To feel that dark, twisted thrill.
“Training the apprentices is my job. Do you have a problem with how I do things?”
“…I’m sorry. I overstepped.”
Ivnia bowed her head before Olivia’s authority.
She held her breath, suppressing the rising feelings of injustice, defiance, pride, and sorrow.
‘It’s okay. I’m used to enduring. It’ll be over soon.’
Olivia smirked, her eyes glinting with malice.
“If you’re so confident and have time to spare, why don’t you handle all this piled-up laundry by yourself?”
Olivia had the apprentices bring over all the accumulated laundry and piled it up like a mountain behind Ivnia.
The amount of work was absurd, and Ivnia’s face turned pale.
“Don’t even think about moving until you’ve finished all of this.”
Even if she gave up her break time, the amount was overwhelming.
As Ivnia repeated to herself that she had to endure, stay silent, and bow her head, Ranelli filled her thoughts. Thinking of her child, her vision darkened, and she finally spoke up, pleading desperately.
“I’ll work through the night if I have to, but please let me have my meal. No, I have a child waiting for me. Just let me bring her some food…”
“How am I supposed to accommodate everyone’s personal issues while getting the work done? Do you think you’re the only one trying to sneak out like this?”
Olivia snorted and coldly walked out of the laundry room.
Ivnia stood there, her face pale, for a moment before, like someone possessed, she quickly returned to her spot and began working at a terrifying pace.
But everyone there knew. No matter how hard Ivnia worked, she wouldn’t finish her assigned tasks today.
***
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