Cedric asked again, “Does it hurt a lot where you were hit?”

Why is he asking that…?

Sheila’s gaze naturally dropped at the question. Then she looked at herself and was startled.

After entering her room, she had taken off her maid uniform and changed into a nightgown. She had begun working, but the hem of her skirt brushed against the sore spot every time she moved. So Sheila had clipped up both sides of the skirt with clothespins. She had forgotten what she looked like while working that way.

‘Oh… damn, like this!’

Sheila hurriedly pulled out the clothespins.

“Forgive me. I forgot I was dressed like this…”

Even if it was just a nightgown, it was not much different from a maid uniform, but it was the first time she had faced a member of the household in a nightgown.

“I didn’t expect anyone to come to my room at this hour.”

Even if someone did, it wouldn’t matter if it was another servant. The problem was Cedric.

‘Why on earth did he come!’

Sheila cursed inwardly and went on, “Oh, these clothespins are for communal use, but the head maid said we could keep a few in our rooms…”

Within five minutes of Cedric entering her room, Sheila was explaining, as if she had lived her whole life making excuses, why the clothespins had ended up here.

Cedric cut her off, “I asked if it hurts a lot where you were hit.”

Cedric’s expression had grown even colder than before, and Sheila gasped.

Her shoulders stiffened in tension. Standing before Cedric made her feel like she was back at sixteen, when she had first become a maid.

“Ah… no. Not at all.” Sheila focused on the sensation in her calves and replied faithfully.

Cedric stepped closer and looked down at her with narrowed eyes. His gaze seemed like it could draw a confession without interrogation.

Unable to look away in time, Sheila looked up at him, who was half a head taller, then spoke again, unable to withstand the pressure he gave off.

“O-Of course it hurt when I was hit. And for a while after, it ached dully… But after resting a bit, it got better, so… so I said I was fine…”

She was rambling without knowing what she was saying, until his next words shut her mouth.

“Lie down.”

Her gentle eyes widened to the point they looked like they might pop out.

“…Pardon?”

He repeated himself, “Lie down.”

At those words alone, Sheila’s face turned red as a beet.

Why was he suddenly telling her to lie down?

Sheila had no idea why Cedric was saying this.

Instead, a conversation she had overheard between the maids at night came to mind.

“I like it best when he says to lie down.”

Sheila, about to fall asleep, had perked up her ears when the conversation turned racy.

“Ah, you beast of a woman.”

“Why pretend you don’t like it? You like it from behind too.”

From behind…?

“Well, it’s a bit much to ask for it first, so I wait for him to tell me to lie down.”

They do that from behind too?

Raised in the countryside, the naïve girl had heard such talk every night since becoming a maid, and her curiosity had grown. The little lewd devil in her mind had grown with it.

When Cedric glanced at the bed, Sheila instinctively took a half-step back to get away from it.

Of course, Sheila knew very well he didn’t mean anything lewd. But she couldn’t think of another reason to lie down on the bed.

‘The lewd devil’s got a firm hold on me.’

Sheila chided herself and stepped back again. She wanted to move farther, but her attic room was tiny. When her backside bumped against the worktable opposite the bed, she had no choice but to stop.

Cedric strode forward, leaning toward her. “Are you refusing an order?”

Sheila, trembling in fear, gripped the worktable behind her tightly and shook her head hard. “No! I-It’s not that…”

Her brows drooped as she looked on the verge of tears.

“Then why are you doing this if it’s not that?”

Cedric’s insistent eyes told her to obey.

“Well… my job is to take the punishment in place of Miss Judith. So I was punished, and you told me to rest, so I did. But… why do you keep telling me to lie down? If you need something, I can fetch it quickly…”

As Sheila started making excuses again, there was a sharp sound of something being set down, and his scent came closer, then farther away.

Even in the warm weather, the scent he carried was cool. Strangely, it didn’t feel unfamiliar.

“It’s ointment. Apply it.”

Sheila turned her eyes to where the sound had come from. On the worktable was a small tin. The round, flat container was clearly filled with high-quality ointment.

It wasn’t the cheap market stuff commoners applied everywhere, but a genuine product from a pharmaceutical company.

‘Must be expensive… He could have just given me the money instead.’

The spot where she’d been hit was a little swollen, but it wasn’t bad enough to need ointment. It would go away on its own after a day anyway.

To Sheila, who had been far from a life of plenty all her days, expensive ointment was nothing but a wasteful luxury.

Of course, since he had given it for free, she would accept it gratefully, but she couldn’t imagine herself actually using it.

Still, the idea of selling something Cedric had given her felt somehow wrong. If he were to ask later where the ointment he had given her had gone, what could she say?

Then again, a man in Cedric’s position would hardly be petty enough to ask after the whereabouts of a tin of ointment.

So had he told her to lie down for that?

“You can apply it yourself, can’t you?”

Turning over all sorts of thoughts about a single tin, Sheila snapped to at Cedric’s question and answered, “Yes! Yes, of course.”

Fortunately, Cedric gave no further order to lie down. Instead, another question followed.

“How long are you going to keep doing this?”

“Pardon?”

This…?

Just as she had cleared one hurdle, another appeared.

Had he realized those accessories were Judith’s? A cold bead of sweat ran down Sheila’s back as she retraced which of her actions might deserve to be called “this.”

“The crocheting.”

“Ah…”

So he meant the crocheting… Damn, she had gotten nervous for nothing.

Sheila managed a smile and answered, “Now… I was going to stop and go to bed.”

It wasn’t merely a polite phrase; she truly needed to stop and sleep. Perhaps because she had been so tense, the fatigue of her four years as a maid crashed over her all at once.

But it wasn’t over until it was over.

“Turn off the light.”

Sheila’s eyes widened. “You’re… not leaving?”

“I’ll go after I see you put out the light and lie down.”

At her timid question, Cedric replied as if it were only natural.

Is this right…?

The situation felt awfully unnatural, but Sheila no longer had the will to think for herself.

What did it matter? An order had been given, and all she had to do was obey.

Sheila hugged the blanket she’d left on the chair and capped the lamp. Once the air was cut off, the flame went out at once.

In the dark, Sheila lay down precisely on the bed a few steps away, as her feet knew the way. As she settled, her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness.

It was a night of the full moon. Soft moonlight seeped in through the open window.

The moonlight made the tall, handsome man standing in her room clearly visible. His presence filling the shabby room still felt terribly out of place.

Even so, as her back touched the bed, fatigue swept over her.

Come to think of it, today had been a very long day. She had risen before dawn to work, attended on the young lady, been caned during the first lesson, and then, as soon as she returned, threw herself into her side jobs until now. Of all of it, the most exhausting had, of course, been the time spent face-to-face with Cedric.

“Then rest.”

“Yes, Young Mas… ter.”

Sheila’s answer came out slurred.

Not only today; Sheila was always short on sleep.

She heard him open the door.

“I’ll see you at the next lesson.”

Sheila answered, “Yes,” but the sound never left her lips and remained only in her head.

Looking at the maid who, despite being wound tight, had fallen asleep at once from exhaustion, Cedric quietly closed the door.

***

During the hours when naps were forbidden, Judith went to see Marisa. She had decided to go to her mother to complain about wanting to sleep and to whine about her pitiful situation. Thanks to that, contrary to what they had feared, Sheila and Molly gained free time as before. Who knew how long it would last, though…

On the way back after accompanying Judith to Countess Marisa’s rooms, Sheila spoke first to Molly.

“It must have been hard alone, right?”

They were used to one of them looking after Judith when the other had a day off, but yesterday’s situation was a first. It wasn’t even a holiday, yet she had left Judith to Molly and rested alone in her room. Even if being caned was a special circumstance, she couldn’t help feeling uneasy about it.

“Oh, it’s not like this is new.”

Not to the extent of Sheila, but having served Judith for three years, Molly spoke with the air of a veteran maid.

“By the way, how about you? It hurt a lot, didn’t it?”

Only now, after attending Judith, did Molly ask about the caning, wearing an apologetic look. She felt sorry that Sheila seemed to shoulder all the rough work.

“Not really. See? I’m fine.”

Speaking as if it were nothing, Sheila turned lightly in a circle before Molly.

“Really?”

Even so, Molly couldn’t quite set aside her doubts.

She had never heard Sheila complain, no matter the situation. Even if she were in pain, it was obvious she would pretend otherwise.

That wasn’t the same as being dishonest. Sheila wasn’t the type to lie or deceive; if anything, she was easygoing and plainspoken, only she didn’t readily bare her heart.

As Molly saw it, that was simply Sheila’s nature. She never claimed credit even for things worth a little show.

“There’s nothing to thank me for. I only did it because I was paid.”