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“I’m sorry, m’lady.” she said, “But I couldn’t stand the sight of him being so harsh on you. I just don’t know if he had spread rumors that I hit him—”
“Rosalynn.”
The maid shut her eyes at Deatrice’s heavy tone and immediately knelt down. “I won’t do it again! Please don’t send me back! I’ll be more careful in the future. Just please, don’t tell me to leave!”
Hearing her earnest plea, Deatrice was silent for a long time. Then she spoke, “Rosalynn, stand up. Summon the people who hurt you.”
“Yes, m’lad—I’m sorry?”
“Those who hurt you, bring them to me.”
Rosalynn blinked a few times for a moment and blankly stared at her mistress, then she nodded her head and hurriedly turned to leave the room. Shortly thereafter, four maids came in, looking into each other’s eyes and feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
Deatrice eyed them for a long time before opening her mouth. “My maidservant denotes my presence, thereby holding the same status as me, and to harm my maidservant is to harm the safety of the mistress of this household.”
The air suddenly turned a few degrees colder as she glanced at them expressionlessly.
“Perhaps she may have done something, but that does not excuse your unpleasant actions towards her—because only I can discipline my servant.”
The maids were already frightened silly by Deatrice’s cold attitude when they suddenly heard her say.
“All of you shall be punished severely.”
A maid plopped down on her knees and pleaded, “M-madam! It’s all a misunderstanding!”
“What am I misunderstanding, then?”
“Anna fell down and pushed me. It was then that I bumped into Miss Rosalynn and hurt her by accident!”
“Oh, really?” Deatrice slowly looked her up and down, “Where is Anna?”
“M-madam, it is me.”
Deatrice watched one of the freckled maids speak out clumsily with her knees half-bent. “Who else has seen you fall over, other than the ones here?”
“T-that is… there were four of us in the laundry room…”
“Then explain to me how you fell down.” she said, resting her chin against the back of her fingers.
“I-I lost my balance trying to get a bottle of detergent, which was in a high position—”
“Hm.”
Deatrice had a bored expression on her face, and she lowered her hand. “It appears I won’t be able to understand the situation properly if you simply narrate it to me. Why not re-enact the scene again for me to see? You, the tallest one, take on the role of my maidservant.”
“Yes?”
“Re-enact the scene of the accident,” she crossed her arms and scanned their expressions, “as Rosalynn.”
Because of Deatrice’s spectating attitude, the maids looked at each other. Soon, they understood what she wanted and to happen and slowly settled down.
Then they began their performance.
“So, t-this was where the laundry rack was positioned…”
Rosalynn coughed to hold back a smile that threatened to show on her face. Instead, a frown took its place.
“M-miss Rosalynn was standing like this. And I… I hit the rack and lost balance. Then, I fell and stumbled against her.”
Afterwards, they pretended to fall, and while they lied haphazardly on the ground, Deatrice gazed at them sullenly and said, “Again.”
“Madam?”
“I didn’t understand, show me again.”
The simple chain reaction wasn’t too complex for something to be incomprehensible. Obviously, Deatrice had only wished to see them make a fool of themselves for a second time.
The maids reddened in shame, but they had no choice but to compose themselves and pretend to fall yet again. When they regained their balance, they glanced back at her.
“Was that enough, madam?”
But a cold voice rang out once more.
“Again.”
That was the start of their torment.
The servants had to stand back in line and pretend to fall over whenever they heard that unfeeling voice repeating the same words over and over again in quick succession.
After the fifth time, they were already getting dizzy.
Rosalynn was the only one who could stop the situation, but she had only listened to her master say the word ‘again’ multiple times with her eyes half-closed.
How long do they have to do this?
One of the maids had a weak heart and was already in tears.
In reality, it wasn’t difficult for her to pretend to fall, but hearing the madam’s unforgiving tone made her feel so frightened and ashamed, like being cornered in a bleak room with nowhere to go and no choice but to follow.
The girls have already managed to fall on their butts more than ten times when an abrupt knock sounded from the door. It sounded so beautiful that it felt like they were granted amnesty from the heavens.
With Deatrice’s indolent reply of acquiescence, the butler appeared. He was here to inquire as to why there was a servant shortage in the kitchen.
Soon he saw four, red-faced maids on the floor. He turned to Deatrice and asked calmly, “Madam, why are they like this?”
But no one answered and the butler asked again.
“Madam, did the maids do something wrong?”
Deatrice gave him a brief explanation, “My maidservant was hurt. I called them here to show me how exactly she had gotten hurt.”
“Is that so?” Seeing the flushed complexions of the maids and their disheveled clothing, the butler surmised that they must’ve done it repeatedly for quite a while already.
He tried to appease without offending her. “Matters regarding servants, especially punishments, fall within the responsibilities of a butler. The madam shouldn’t trouble herself for such a trifling matter. Allow me to handle the situation and I shall punish them accordingly.”
“But the victim in the incident is none other than my personal maid. By acting against her, are they not challenging my authority?”
“Madam.” the butler called out.
He didn’t want to escalate the situation any further, but seeing Deatrice’s uncaring gaze, he knew things could spiral out of control from here if he didn’t move quickly.
The butler kicked out the four servants. “Go out, to the servant’s quarters.”
“Yes, sir!”
Wiping their tears, the maids immediately scurried out of the door. After they were gone, the butler bowed his head deeply once more.
“Anger is not good for the madam’s health. Please do not worry, I shall strictly educate these maids until you are satisfied.”