What Remains in the Damaged Place - Chapter 22

Hardy seemed to be naturally warm-hearted, standing by while Lirette tidied herself up. After wiping off most of the stains on her apron and washing her sticky hands, Lirette straightened her back.

“Thanks. I’ll wash this towel and return it to you.”

“Sure, give it back whenever it’s convenient.”

“But is it okay for you to be here like this? Shouldn’t you be working?”

“I’ve been assigned to a larger team today, so it won’t be a big deal if I slip away for a bit.”

Lirette learned something from Hardy’s words—if you’re assigned to a big team, you can bend the rules a little. She tucked that useful bit of information into the back of her mind.

Since they couldn’t stay away for too long, the two quickly reentered the mansion through the back door.

“Brilline, look.”

Lirette, still fiddling with her damp apron, raised her head when Hardy tapped her shoulder. She spotted the head maid in the distance, walking towards her. Behind her, with her hands clasped together and her shoulders slumped in shame, was Hayley.

The moment Lirette saw them, she realized that Hayley’s misdeed had been discovered.

“Brilline, we’ve been looking for you.”

“What’s the matter?”

Lirette feigned ignorance.

“Hayley said that you weren’t feeling well and asked her to take over for you. Is that true?”

Hardy, standing beside her, discreetly nudged her arm.

The meaning was clear. If she didn’t want to get into trouble and end up in Hayley’s bad graces, she should handle this wisely.

If she was going to carry out her plans, she needed to stay out of the spotlight. To avoid any unnecessary problems, Lirette followed the silent advice.

“Yes, I twisted my ankle while going down the stairs… so I asked Hayley to take over.”

The head maid scrutinized Lirette with a sharp gaze, her eyes narrowing as if trying to detect any hint of a lie. Lirette held her ground and calmly met the head maid’s stare, not wanting to give herself away.

After a moment, the head maid sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“Alright, I understand. But don’t let this happen again. If you think something might interfere with your work, don’t switch tasks among yourselves. Report it to me first.”

“I will.”

“Even if you meant well, this can’t just be overlooked. Both of you need to write a report on the situation and submit it by the end of the day.”

The head maid turned and left, her busy demeanor making it clear she had no time to linger.

A report after just one week of working.

Suppressing a deep sigh, Lirette noticed Hayley glaring at her with a look of pure malice, as if blaming her for the situation.

Lirette couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly. How could she act so shamelessly after causing all this trouble?

Before Lirette could say anything, Hayley turned on her heel and stormed off.

“Hayley…!” Hardy called after her in a worried voice, but Hayley didn’t look back.

Despite following Hardy’s advice, Lirette couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

***

Sometimes, the worst-case scenario you hope to avoid ends up becoming a reality.

The word “luck” had long disappeared from Lirette’s life. At this point, she wondered if she was cursed, as if every misfortune possible had attached itself to her.

Still, perhaps it was a sign of how busy her new life was—Lirette had regained some of her lost appetite since starting work as a maid.

After all, with the amount of physical labor she was doing, her body naturally craved energy. Besides, meal times were one of the few moments of rest in her otherwise hectic day.

And so, the long-awaited lunch break arrived.

“…”

Her meal, however, was nothing but burnt scraps. The food on her plate looked so unappetizing, it seemed certain to give her a stomachache if she ate it.

Just a short while ago, she had been starving, her stomach growling loudly. But the sight of the blackened food quickly killed her appetite.

Unable to tolerate it, Lirette carried her plate back to the serving station.

“Excuse me, but this seems a bit too burnt.”

“Hmm? Oh, I see. Well, that’s because you came too late.”

“Is there nothing better?”

The man in charge of serving scraped the bottom of the large pot with his ladle and dumped more food onto her plate. It wasn’t any different from what she already had—just more of the same burnt mess.

The only difference was that now the burnt smell was even stronger, and Lirette grimaced slightly.

“You don’t have much time left before work resumes. You should eat quickly,” the man said, pointing to an empty table as if urging her to sit and eat.

With no other choice, Lirette returned to her seat, picked up her wooden spoon, and half-heartedly stirred the food around before sipping some water.

She had lost count of how many times this had happened.

Time and time again, she was forced to shovel down meals like this, rushed and unsatisfactory, because of the endless workload.

Of course, there was a clear reason behind the sudden increase in her workload.

“Hey, could you do me a favor? Something urgent came up…”

“Brilline, right? Can you take care of this for me?”

“I’ll be right back. Just hang in there a bit longer!”

At first, Lirette thought they were genuinely in trouble and needed her help.

But over time, she noticed that the same people, all assigned to the same tasks as her, kept disappearing with the same excuses. It became impossible not to realize the truth.

It was all deliberate.

The tasks assigned by the head maid usually required two or three maids working together. The large cleaning areas Hardy had mentioned were special cases.

However, for the past few days, Lirette had been handling her assigned tasks all by herself. She was now responsible for jobs meant for two or three people, which naturally took her twice as long to complete. As a result, she was always late for meals and often ended up with burnt scraps for food since she was one of the last in line.

“Sigh.”

A deep sigh escaped her.

The Duke’s words about “bringing trouble on oneself” painfully resonated with her today.

After some hesitation, she pushed the plate away.

No matter how hungry she was, she didn’t want to eat food that would surely upset her stomach. After filling up on water, she stood up. Barely a few minutes had passed since she came down, but it was already the end of the meal break.

Just as she rose, holding her uneaten plate, someone walking behind her bumped into her hard.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

The impact threw her off balance, and her hand slipped. The plate she was holding tipped over, and the leftover food splattered all over her apron.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened to her, and instead of being startled, she felt more exasperated.

Lirette set down the plate and brushed the sticky remnants off her apron. The sensation of the food sticking to her palms was unpleasant.

“Are you okay?”

The sickeningly sweet voice rang in her ears.

Without fully raising her head, she saw Hayley, staring down at her with a smug expression that contradicted the concern in her words. The audacity of her face made Lirette feel like laughing out loud.

It had become clear to her that Hayley was the source of all the inexplicable misfortunes happening to her recently.

Even after Lirette had lied to protect her from the head maid’s wrath, what part of that had rubbed Hayley the wrong way?

“You should watch where you’re going,” Hayley added.

Seriously?

Coming up behind her with no warning, and she still had the nerve to say that.

Afraid that responding would only make things worse, Lirette kept silent and walked toward the kitchen door. She could see the other maids gathered after finishing their meals, subtly moving away from her.

Since Hayley had started acting hostile, it seemed the rumors about her influence were true—no one had spoken to Lirette since. Not only did they avoid talking to her, but they also treated her as if she were some kind of plague to be avoided at all costs.

“…”

Lirette fixed her gaze on one of the maids.

The maid, noticing the stare, flinched, her shoulders trembling. Sunlight streaming through a nearby window highlighted the freckles scattered across her face.

It was Hardy, the maid who had approached Lirette by the water tap.

Lirette moved toward Hardy, intending to return the towel she had borrowed the other day. Unlike their previous interaction, Hardy hesitated and quickly snatched the towel from Lirette’s hands without saying a word before hurrying away, as if she were afraid someone might see her talking to Lirette.

It was as if Hardy feared she’d face the same bullying if she were caught associating with Lirette.

It was the same today.

Hardy blended into the group of maids, doing her best to hide from view, clearly anxious that any association with Lirette might land her in trouble too.

‘It was a miracle she spoke to me by the water tap.’ Lirette thought dryly as she resumed walking. She could hear snickers and mocking laughter behind her as she left the kitchen.