CH 27

Roxanne took off the clothes in the laundry box and saw that they were still dirty. 

“What’s this? They’re still the same!”

“Yes. Because I didn’t do the laundry.”

Roxanne snorted as if she was amazed by the peaceful answer.

“Do you think that’s funny?!”

“It’s not funny, but I don’t understand.”

“What?”

“You heard right. If it were me, I wouldn’t be acting like that towards a temporary maid whom I won’t see in a month.”

Roxanne, who trembled for a moment, made a harsh expression with all her might as she rested her hands on her waist. But it was useless, she was not in the least bit scarier than Giulio who was waiting for Blanche and Ricardo in Digitalis.

“I treated you kindly, so you dare act like this right now?”

“How could that be? My eyesight is fine. Miss Roxanne had never been nice to me.”

“You, you!”

Roxanne was quite impressive, her face reddened as her nose breathed flames.

Blanche shook her head.

“I think you’ve said everything you want to say, so I’m going to go have breakfast. Miss Roxanne should do the laundry. Miss Roxanne ruined it in the first place, right?”

“Hey! Do you want to be fired like this?!”

“What? It’s not Miss Roxanne, but the Count who pays me, so I don’t think you can fire me.”

In fact, Count Juan’s wedding chores were something that everyone was reluctant to do. First of all, the pay was low. Besides, the rumors about the Count weren’t very good.

For this reason, most of the people who applied for this temporary maid job were people who gathered for the sake of their families.

Unbeknownst to her, Roxanne’s tears welled up in her eyes.

For her, Blanche was below her, and she deserves to be listened to. She didn’t know why things were going this way. So Roxanne had no choice but to raise her voice.

“Look! Do you think I will leave you alone like this?!”

Blanche scoffed.

“Yes. Do your best.”

With a tearing scream behind her, Blanche turned away. Because what mattered to her was not what Roxanne thought, but where Giacomo was.

So Blanche passed through the back corridor of the mansion.

Just then. 

Bark Bark!

The hounds barked loudly outside the hallway window, but her steps did not stop.

When Blanche looked down at the window, she saw the hunting grounds’ keeper heading to the hunting grounds, it was the forest behind the Count’s mansion, with dozens of beagles with him.

‘Seeing that the hounds were mobilized, it seems that the Count is going hunting today. Then Giacomo, the count’s right-hand man, will also attend the hunt.’

She thought as she looked at her own blunt expression reflected in the window.

‘If I know the face, I can kill Giacomo. Ricardo said he comes to visit regularly, so I might be able to meet him at night by waiting near the dungeon. If I break Giacomo’s neck in front of Ricardo, his stress stat might decrease.’

Blanche had finally come up with a plan. She looked at the clear winter sky where the sun came out, and then went back her own way.

* * *

Blanche felt uncomfortably tired. Unlike usual, it was because she could hardly be alone today.

It was Agat and Phoebe’s fault. Blanche, who was about to go out to the hunting grounds after skipping lunch, was caught by Agat and Phoebe and forced her to go to the dining area. Besides, the maids continued to speak to her, despite Blanche’s short answers.

Agat asked.

“Irene. Wasn’t your bed cold? Would you rather sleep beside me from today onwards? If we both curl up, we will fit. It will be warmer.”

“It’s okay. My coat is warmer than it looks.”

“Still…”

As Agat’s words continued to grow longer, Phoebe stopped her.

“Stop. Agat. Irene doesn’t like it. And Irene’s coat should be warm, right? The clothes were stuffed with goose fur. Isn’t it?”

Although she said that, Phoebe was still worried about Blanche. The same with Agat. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have asked this straight away.

“Is Phoebe right? Irene?”

Blanche replied, after swallowing a spoon of the thin potage.

“Well. I do not know. It’s something someone I know brought me when I left the house.”

“How…”

In an instant, the eyes of the two girls turned red. They must have thought that Blanche had a tragic story that could not be explained in words.

Phoebe said as if to soothe Blanche.

“It’s okay. Irene. We won’t look down on you because of your burns. In fact, my mom also had a lot of burn marks on her wrist. She’s dead now, though.”

Then, Agat spat out stories that were not even asked.

“My dad too. When we were young, there was a big fire in our village, so Phoebe and I are not afraid of you or disgusted with you.”

It was a moving and warm conversation, but Blanche still nodded bluntly.

“I see.”

It was a very disrespectful attitude, but the two girls thought it was because Blanche’s heart had not healed.

Amidst the aura of sympathy on their faces, a familiar, sharp voice found Blanche.

“Irene!”

The owner of the voice was, of course, Roxanne. But for some reason, she was not alone today. Roxanne stood in front of Blanche with maids her age on either side of her.

There was a trace of boredom in Blanche’s eyes.

Bang! Roxanne slammed her fist at the table where Blanche was sitting.

“Irene. You follow me right now.”

“If you have something to say, say it now. I am busy too.”

These were the words Blanche said while raising her eyebrows and chewing on hard black bread.

Roxanne was really funny.

Roxanne once again thought, ‘This isn’t it.’

It was at that time, as if to let everyone hear, one of the maids shouted.

“Ah really! You’re much too insolent so we can’t just let this go!”

The other maids, who looked funny just like Roxanne, also added a word or two.

“Are kids nowadays really like this? Yes, they are all so arrogant and desperate because they can’t somehow bring down a child who is weaker than them.”

“How ugly.”

“You’re pathetic.”

It was then that Roxanne began to panic. The same is true of the two unknown maids who stood in front of Blanche as if to follow Roxanne.

A good idea flashed through Blanche’s head then. Blanche stood up.

“Are you in trouble, Miss Roxanne? Let’s go. To a place without people.”

Roxanne’s group wasn’t the only one who was surprised by that. Agat tried to stop her right away

“Irene! Don’t do that. Where are you going?”

“I’m fine. Agat. Are you okay, Miss Roxanne?”

Roxanne looked at her surroundings and coughed.

“Of course! Uhumm. What, did you think I would be scared and walk away if you acted like this?”

As if running in a row, Maid 1, who appeared with Roxanne shouted.

“Didn’t you see? She followed us with her own two feet! We didn’t threaten her!”

Blanche raised her chin at Maid 1.

“Do not disturb others while eating, just follow me.”

“Huh?”

So the three maids had no choice but to follow Blanche like a chick chasing a mother chicken. And they regretted it.

Even though the sun had risen, it was still cold as it was winter, and Blanche headed to the forest behind the castle.

In fact, after listening to Roxanne’s scolding, Blanche was supposed to leave the maids first and hide near the entrance to the hunting grounds.

Only then will she be able to see the face of Giacomo, Count Juan’s right-hand man. Blanche, who finally arrived at the entrance to the hunting grounds, opened her eyes fiercely.

“Hey. Thank you for coming this far. So if you have something to say, just say it.”

Roxanne, unaware that she was being used, fired as if waiting.

Blanche was so cheeky that she wanted to rip and kill her.

“Look at you. Where is that arrogance coming from? Why? Do you really think we can’t do anything to a [email protected] like you?”

“Well.”

“[Well]?! This b*tch is really!”

Roxanne raised her hand in the air. Blanche grabbed the bitter hand that was about to hit her.

“If you have something to say, say it. Don’t lay your hands on people for nothing.”

Seeing Blanche sneering at her, Roxanne tried her best to recover her own hand. However, the hand held by Blanche did not budge.

Roxanne cried out like a scream.

“Let me go!”

“I can’t let you go. If I let you go, you will hit me, right?”

“You’re so funny, really! How dare you glare at me so blatantly when you’re not even normal!”

“There are people who are non-disabled and bad-tempered, so, shouldn’t there also be people like me?”

“This monster! If your face looks like that, you should at least have a pretty heart! Let me go. You will live alone for the rest of your life and die of old age! Who would take someone ugly like you?”

“It doesn’t matter though.”

“What?”

“Marrying a man is nothing.”

Roxanne couldn’t hide her embarrassment at the indifferent voice.

“You really! Are you going to talk back to me from beginning to end?!”

Suddenly, a third person’s voice intervened.

“What kind of commotion is this?”

At the appearance of a middle-aged man, Blanche felt her heart sink without realizing it.

She knew the owner of the voice.

The heavy voice spoke again.

“I asked what’s going on right now”

Unsurprisingly, when Blanche turned her head, she saw a familiar face.

He had the same red hair and green eyes as hers.

Marquis Marquette.

Blanche’s father.

The Marquis, dressed in hunting clothes with a musket behind his back, had just come out of the woods with a servant and three escort Knights. But his complexion was not good.

The Marquis was almost skin and bones and even had dark circles under his eyes.

‘Was he suffering for marrying his cherished daughter to a mani*c?’

If it hadn’t been for Roxanne’s scream at the right time, Blanche would have continued to stare at the Marquis.

“D*mn!”

As Blanche released Roxanne’s wrist, she squeezed her tears and cried out loud.

“You d*mn b*tch! It hurts!”

Only then did Blanche realize that she had broken Roxanne’s wrist. Instead of apologizing, she quietly stepped aside and bowed her head to the Marquis.

The Marquis, who could not hide his surprise at the sight of Blanche full of burn scars, felt displeased at Roxanne’s weeping. He said gritting his teeth.

“Whoever saw her would think her wrist was broken. Is there no quiet day with Count Juan at all?”