Lady Floyen was a very beautiful woman, so adorning her in flattering clothes and accessories was a rewarding task, but her emotional ups and downs made Merilyn’s job very difficult. Whenever she felt upset, she would scream and curse freely, breaking expensive tea sets and ripping her clothes in anger. Terrified they would be treated in much the same way one day, the maids would become extremely anxious upon witnessing her tantrums.
To avoid provoking Jubelian, Merilyn spoke cautiously. “I will help you change out of your clothes, Lady Floyen.”
Jubelian’s bright eyes, shining like sapphires, looked upon Merilyn with indifference. Merilyn gulped nervously. Did she say something wrong? Already?
At that moment, however, a subtle smile began to manifest upon Jubelian’s face in greeting, immediately drawing Merilyn’s gaze. She fixated on it, thoroughly charmed.
Lady Floyen was so beautiful when she smiled.
Merilyn was still staring blankly when Jubelian next spoke. “Why are you just standing there, Merilyn?” she asked. “I thought you said you would help me change out of my clothes.”
Lady Floyen’s smile had disappeared while Merilyn was occupied. Merilyn snapped back to her senses, and, realizing what she had done, turned pale with fear. If she hadn’t before, she probably got on Jubelian’s nerves somehow now! She erupted into a nervous sweat, her blood running cold. She couldn’t find the courage to lift her head.
“Actually, Merilyn,” Jubelian’s clear voice rang out, “you don’t have to help me. Just prepare a bath for me, please.”
Jubelian’s tone made Merilyn doubt herself. It didn’t seem like her lady was irritated or angry… She regarded the beautiful woman before her with suspicion. When their eyes met once more, a brilliant smile blossomed like a flower on Jubelian’s face, looking even more lovely than the last.
“Ah, and please prepare some products that’ll help me sleep for the bath. I’m tired and I want to go to bed early,” Jubelian added.
“Y-Yes,” Merilyn said. Although she stuttered, she was able to compose herself and reply in time. “I will prepare lavender scented ones.”
Why was Lady Floyen suddenly acting like this, Merilyn wondered? She couldn’t get used to it… if anyone had asked her what she thought of the lady, she would’ve said that she was an unfavorable person to serve, replying without hesitation. Although Lady Floyen had never physically abused her maids, she had done plenty of psychological harm.
“I’ll be waiting for the bath, then. Thank you,” Jubelian said, ending their brief conversation with grace. She walked past Merilyn and entered her room. Rather than a spiteful remark, she had given Merilyn an encouraging one.
Glancing back at the door her lady had left through, Merilyn staggered, her legs losing the strength within them. Sella, an assistant maid, rushed toward her. “Merilyn!” she cried. “Are you okay?”
Merilyn refused her help. “I’m fine. I will prepare a bath for Lady Floyen as she had requested.” In an attempt to calm herself, she began to give Sella instructions. “Please prepare some clothes for her.”
She had assumed Jubelian would be angry or upset… her lady was acting very strange today. The Jubelian she knew would throw tantrums when she wasn’t in a good mood, ruining everyone else’s mood in turn. It was as if she had become a completely different person.
The moment Merilyn had thought this, goosebumps began to dot her skin. She strove to compose herself once more. She shouldn’t think such useless thoughts. She just needed to her job well.
Nevertheless, Jubelian’s smiling face continued to plague her. Was it because she didn’t seem particularly energetic? Merilyn had even felt a little sorry for her.
Merilyn sighed at that, slapping herself in the face. Who was she kidding? “Wake up, Merilyn,” she scolded herself. She needed to stay vigilant before her lady.
✤ ✤ ✤
Taking a bath was always an enjoyable experience because useless, bothersome thoughts would scatter the moment I soaked myself in some warm, fragrant water. Unfortunately, today’s events had tired me out so much that a bath didn’t really seem all that appealing.
Should I just skip it? I had been thinking about simply going to sleep for a while now, but…
I quickly decided against it. I couldn’t skip it. The servants were probably doing their best to prepare it for me. Changing my mind at the last minute would be very inconvenient.
After realizing that I had been cruel to the maids in the past, I had wished I could start over from the beginning, but I knew it was already too late. Even if I began to shower them with kindness now, they would probably be wary, believing me insincere.
Nevertheless, since I decided to be at least a little nicer going forward, I continued to wait for my bath to be ready. Despite my determination, however, I couldn’t stop yawning.
I was honestly about to pass out. What could I do?
After waiting for another five minutes, I began to rethink cancelling the bath, but then I heard a knock at my door.
“The bath is ready, Lady Floyen,” a maid announced.
“Alright.”
I rose from my chair to head to the washroom. I was so sleepy that I kept resisting the urge to yawn, though, and when I finally gave in, tears began to flow down my cheeks at the force of it.
Ah, I was really, really sleepy. I doubted my capability to take a bath in this condition…
I raised my hand to wipe my eyes and gently rub the tears away. Suddenly, a voice called out to me.
“Lady Floyen!” Merilyn gasped. She was here with me, watching me in astonishment. It was quite an unusual look on her.
Oh no. Did she see me yawn? I probably looked like a hippo with my mouth gaping wide open like that. Well, that was embarrassing. I smiled as gracefully as I could while trying my best to keep my lips shut, compensating for my mistake.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “Did I look bad?”
Like a professional, Merilyn didn’t say anything about me yawning. Instead, she just adopted a careful, concerned tone, asking, “Are you okay?”
It was better to be honest with her since she was asking me like that. I guess I must’ve looked exhausted, so she was discreetly asking if I was still alright with taking a bath.
A few tears leaked from the corners of my eyes once more as I suppressed another yawn. “Actually, I’m really tired, so I’ll take a bath tomorrow. Could you help me change into some sleepwear?”
Merilyn nodded silently and began helping me into my clothes. For some reason, she wore a sullen expression.
Maybe she was upset that I made her prepare a bath for no reason and regretted the wasted effort... I had heard that it was easier to see things from someone else’s perspective if you had been in similar situations before. It might’ve been because of what I had experienced at my part-time jobs in the past, but I felt sorry for Merilyn since she had suffered all this time beneath what had been my influence.
I tried to explain further, hoping it would soften things up a bit. “It’s because… I’m very tired right now,” I said gently. “I really am.”
Her eyes widened at my excuse. She hurriedly lowered her head in deference. “It’s not a problem. Please rest.” She was probably still upset despite pretending that everything was okay.
“Thank you, Merilyn.”
Her legs seemed to wobble for a second, but I was so tired that I must’ve just been seeing things. As soon as Merilyn left the room, I collapsed onto my bed.
Ah, wow. Did I really end things with Mikhail today? I felt giddy and my body shook lightly with laughter. What a relief!
Although I felt sorry for Merilyn since I had probably upset her, I had at least done something good earlier. Because of that, I slept soundly.
✤ ✤ ✤
Late into the night, long after the moon had risen in the sky, the maids were chatting secretly in a garden full of white roses.
“Ah, I had a difficult day today,” one of them sighed.
“Same here…” nodded another. “Oh, but where’s Merilyn, by the way?”
“She’s probably being scolded by Lady Floyen.”
At that moment, the person in question appeared in front of them. “Merilyn!” they cried. The maids approached her with anxious expressions and bombarded her with questions.
“How was your day?”
“Are you okay?”
At Sella’s question, Merilyn recalled what happened recently and sighed. Jubelian had pretended to be okay… but… Merilyn had seen the tears brimming in her indigo eyes no matter how hard she tried to conceal them. She had worn an awkward expression and a forced, almost embarrassed smile. Jubelian used to bully the maids frequently, but seeing her reduced to something like that had Merilyn sympathizing with her nonetheless.
“No, there was some crying,” Merilyn eventually supplied.
The maids widened their eyes, astonished. Then, criticisms regarding Jubelian began to flow from their lips.
“Lady Floyen is really too much!”
“That’s right! She should’ve taken it out on Sir Mikhail, not you, Merilyn.”
Merilyn massaged her temples. It seemed like the maids had misunderstood her, seeing as they were trying to console her. “No, not me,” she corrected. “Lady Floyen was the one crying.”
One of the maids that had asked if Jubelian had thrown something at Merilyn amidst the clamor of criticisms, became startled by her claim. Her rabbit-like eyes widened with surprise. “What?”
“I went into her room after preparing a bath and saw her crying in secret.”
All of the maids frowned, suspicious. They knew what kind of person Jubelian was, so it was difficult to believe what Merilyn had just said.
“Did she really?”