Cedric immediately sensed that the reason Alfonso had brought this up so smugly was related to Sheila.

“So?”

Unlike his brief moment of agitation, his tone when asking back was dry.

After all, he had never cared about a maid’s chastity, and even if the man in question were his own brother, it would change nothing.

Alfonso was deflated by the reaction, which was far duller than expected.

“A few days ago, Allen tried to seduce Sheila, so I told him to stop.”

Alfonso tried to present it as if it were some achievement of his. But since nothing had actually happened in the end, Cedric gave no reaction at all.

In truth, however, this time Alfonso had misjudged Cedric. Cedric had, uncharacteristically, felt a sense of relief and found it absurd himself.

‘Boring man.’

Alfonso continued, “When I asked Sheila if Allen had done that often, she said it was the first time.”

Even as he spoke, Alfonso carefully studied Cedric’s expression.

Cedric’s face showed not the slightest change. But unable to let it go, Alfonso decided to try provoking him one last time.

“So don’t worry.”

“I don’t know what you expect me to be relieved about.”

“Are you really fine with it? A maid that both you and Allen are interested in makes me curious too.”

At last, the provocation crossed the line, and Cedric’s eyes narrowed.

The air shifted in an instant. The subtle yet unmistakable change in atmosphere made Alfonso back down first.

“Father told me to look after you in various ways. Since it’s been three years since you returned, you must need time to adjust.”

Alfonso smoothly changed the subject.

Cedric gave a short, derisive laugh at his attempt to steer the conversation. If Alfonso had taken it upon himself to look after his older brother, it would be one thing, but it was unlikely their father had ordered such a thing.

“Well, I have been playing the role of eldest son while you were away.”

Such words were nothing more than the usual banter between them. Alfonso had deliberately brought it up in jest, and Cedric, recognizing it as his younger brother’s way of showing affection, let down his guard.

In any case, unless Cedric himself relinquished his position, there was no way the roles of first and second son would ever be reversed.

“Do as you like,” Cedric replied indifferently.

He had no intention of giving up the position he had been born into holding. If he had, he would never have gone abroad to study in the first place.

The costly privilege of studying abroad was reserved for nobles, and especially for the eldest son.

“If you’re done talking, leave.”

Once the conversation had reached its natural end, Cedric quickly gave the order to leave.

Having come to stir his brother up only to leave empty-handed, Alfonso rose from his seat with a bitter smile.

***

Sheila hooked the yarn onto the crochet needle and deftly worked the lace.

Though she had bought herself time in place of a beating, by the time she finished the tablecloth she had been making for days, it was already late at night.

Then came a crisp knock at the door.

‘Who could it be at this hour?’

It couldn’t possibly be Molly, and it was unlikely to be the head maid or the butler either. She had done nothing wrong to warrant a visit from them.

Still, Sheila could hardly imagine anyone other than those three.

“Who is it?”

Before a reply came, Sheila opened the door.

Unless a thief had somehow entered, it had to be someone from within the estate, and a thief would hardly knock so politely.

And Sheila’s guess was partly right. The visitor was indeed someone from the estate.

“M-Master Cedric, what brings you to my room…?”

Of course, she had not at all expected that the one to come looking for her at this hour would be the young master of the house, Cedric himself.

While Sheila was still reeling, Cedric spoke words that startled her even more.

“May I come in?”

“Pardon…?”

No!

Sheila shouted—naturally, only in her mind.

“Do you have something you wish to say to me…?”

Sheila quickly masked her expression and put on her professional smile as she asked.

Though contact had been made between them due to the matter with Judith, it made no sense at all for the eldest young master to come personally to a mere maid’s room.

If he had something to say, he could simply have someone summon her. Why go to the trouble…?

Even Allen, who had lately been shamelessly consorting with maids, would not go so far as to come directly to a maid’s quarters.

However, Cedric’s eyes grew cold at Sheila’s thoroughly maid-like question.

“Do you mean to keep me standing out in the hallway?”

Intimidated by her master’s presence, Sheila stammered, “I-It’s humble, but please, come in.”

Was that the right way to say it?

Having never invited a noble into her room before, she was flustered.

Unlike Sheila, who didn’t know what to do, Cedric entered naturally. As someone who always occupied a spacious room, his presence made the slanted ceiling of the attic seem even more crooked.

He seemed entirely unconcerned by the fact that he had stepped into a room smaller than his own bathroom.

While Sheila fidgeted awkwardly, his sharp gaze swept over the room. It was so small that he could take it all in at a glance without looking around.

Suddenly coming to her senses, Sheila stepped in front of her worktable to block it. On it were the accessories of Judith’s she had just finished repairing.

“There…! Young Master, what brings you to my room…?”

At this point, there was no helping it. She would have to quickly ask his business and send him on his way.

Cedric asked, “What were you doing?”

“Yes…?”

Instead of stating his purpose, he had asked a trivial question, and Sheila stiffened in tension.

She was standing in front of the center of the long worktable, blocking the accessories Judith had thrown away, but one side of the table clearly showed signs of recent crocheting—the chair askew from rising quickly at the knock, and the half-finished lace still hooked onto the needle…

‘He did tell me to rest…’

Sheila wondered how she should answer.

But how she spent her rest time was her own business, wasn’t it?

He hadn’t even said anything yet, but she already felt wronged. And feeling like she had done something wrong when she hadn’t was unpleasant.

Still, her subservient mouth began making excuses.

“I rested for quite a while after coming in… but I couldn’t sleep, so I was doing a bit of crocheting.”

A lie would not work here. Instead, she emphasized that she had followed his instruction to rest for a long time.

Then she glanced up to gauge his reaction. In the bright lamplight, his excessively handsome face was clearly visible.

Of course, just because he was handsome didn’t mean his expression was pleasant. With his sour expression, Sheila felt her throat tighten.

‘What is it? What did I do wrong?’

As Sheila reviewed her conduct, Cedric asked, “What are you making?”

“A t-tablecloth,” Sheila answered with all the focus she could muster.

“It’s not for you to use, I assume,” Cedric said.

With just a glance, he had already grasped the state of the modest room. Aside from the lace in Sheila’s hands, there was nothing in the room that could be called new.

And there wasn’t even a table worth covering with new lace, but only the worktable piled high with tasks.

“I make them when I have free time to sell at the market on my days off…”

Sheila’s voice gradually grew as small as an ant’s.

It wasn’t wrong, so there was no need to lie or shrink back, but for some reason, she always felt like a criminal before Cedric.

“I was under the impression we don’t pay less than other places, but perhaps I was wrong.”

At Cedric’s words, Sheila’s face turned pale. She hurriedly protested, as if truly accused of a crime.

“N-No! It’s just for some extra spending money… You know what they say about working hard while young. I believe in that. I want to earn even a little more while I’m young so I can live comfortably later…”

Sheila found herself even explaining her future plans.

Still, Cedric’s expression didn’t soften. He clearly remembered the expression she had worn on the day he had told her she would receive an additional ten solid—equal to her maid’s wages—for serving as whipping maid.

From what Rufus had said, ten solid was by no means a small sum for a maid.

And yet, even after taking that money, she had gone back to working after being beaten…

Though he had only struck her eleven times since it was the first day, Cedric found it most displeasing that she hadn’t stayed quietly in bed afterward.

‘You didn’t get enough strokes.’

Cedric felt an urge to punish Sheila more severely.

Until she couldn’t even rise from the pain, until she knelt and begged him to stop…

And even then, he would probably finish the punishment as prescribed.

Of course, to punish her as he wished, Judith would have to be sent away.

Even as Cedric entertained these thoughts, Sheila kept making excuses.

“The thread is a bit expensive, but I can sell lace for three times the cost of the thread. And of course it doesn’t interfere with my other work. I can make it in my spare moments.”

While half-listening to her, Cedric’s eyes turned to the lamp filled to the brim with paraffin oil.

Sheila noticed his gaze.

Maids were allotted a set amount of paraffin oil, just enough to prepare for bed.

Unlike the other maids who went to sleep at sundown, Sheila worked late into the night, so it was never enough. She had been squirreling away extra oil in a separate container bit by bit. For a fifth-year maid like her, it was nothing to hide a little paraffin.

And such a petty misappropriation was something even the head maid or the butler might overlook.

But Cedric looked like someone with neither blood nor tears…

“I… was just about to stop and go to bed. I don’t usually light it much, so I had some left over. Haha.”

Only after following that line of thought did Sheila awkwardly laugh. He did not laugh back. Sheila felt like crying.