CH 122

Elena’s eyes grew red, and hot tears eventually fell from them. She realized that this place was indeed a nightmare, and she couldn’t stop crying.

“Well, we’ll be fine since we’re working in the castle. It will be okay,” the head maid reassured Elena, then she instructed her to start working again.

Contrary to her words, all the women in the kitchen looked extremely anxious.

* * *

Once night fell, Elena squatted down to the cramped, dirty kitchen floor. She then rubbed the feet of the women who had fallen asleep as they groaned from the harsh labor they had gone through during the day. Elena could gauge how fatigued the maids were by the swelling in their feet. She silently continued, then she dragged her exhausted body onto a shabby blanket once she was done. She laid down, naturally sighing as she did so.

‘Lenoa… I haven’t seen her all day today.’

To Elena, it didn’t make sense for the lady of the household to ignore the kitchen. Even if she weren’t to work in the kitchen, there was an unsaid rule that the madam should come into the kitchen at least once when the meals were being prepared. It was all the more true given the current situation, but Elena had not been able to spot Lenoa anywhere near the kitchen.

‘Perhaps I have the wrong idea about the madam’s duties… or did something happen to Lenoa?’ Elena began to worry. She however could not jump to rash conclusions and start asking the maids about Lenoa’s whereabouts. After all, Elena was confident that Lydia was around in this castle somewhere even though she had not met her yet. Anyone in the kitchen could be one of Lydia’s spies, so Elena couldn’t simply ask around about her curiosities or take out the fly mushroom extract without being careful. She had no choice but to wait and be patient.

* * *

The next day, the maids began to allow Elena to work on a lot of other things after they realized that she had rubbed their swollen feet at night. They had even left her responsible for the oven since they thought of Elena as an assiduous  worker who did as she was told without complaining.

“Stir well so that it doesn’t stick. Princess Lydia is very picky about her food,” one maid said.

“Is that the madam?” Elena asked nonchalantly, her face still covered in soot.

“I would have run away immediately if she were. Our madam is… There’s no use discussing this. She’s a wretch.”

Elena gritted her teeth when she heard the maid’s voice filled with pity. ‘Maybe something happened to her… What should I do? I need her help…’ She then asked, “Is Princess Lydia going to be our madam from now on, then?”

“What? Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know anything. Princess Lydia is the lord’s cousin and the king’s sister. She just has a twisted—I mean—a picky personality that makes it difficult to curry favor. So, you shouldn’t ever go out in the hall, either. She’ll get nitpicky with you for no reason, so don’t ever go out there.”

Elena became relieved when she was told not to go out to the hall. She had been worrying about what to do if she was asked to clean the hall in addition to doing the work in the kitchen.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a hardworking maid, so we’ll do our best to protect you. We have to protect each other. Anyway, that woman—”

“Shut your mouth. Did you already forget the time you were almost beaten to death because you badmouthed her? Watch yourself,” the head maid advised sharply, prompting the chubby woman that had been talking to quickly close her mouth.