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Chapter 35
2-1. Sure, you have skills now, but nobody ever said you can use them as you please.
Translated by Yonnee
I saw something terrible in the countess’ room, so I felt so much relief the moment I saw Emily and Catarina’s faces when I returned to the kitchen.
Emily took the tray from me and looked at me with worried eyes. She seemed to know exactly why my face had become as white as a sheet.
Wiping off the cold sweat that was trickling down my forehead, I opened my lips to speak belatedly.
“Emily, have you seen how it is? Inside the… the Madam’s room.”
“Yeah… I’m sorry I couldn’t come with you, Hilda. I actually fainted back then, even before I entered the room. Right at the door.”
“And Emily was bedridden for days. Every time she closed her eyes, she screamed while thinking of that red room. But… It took you a while to get better, right, Emily?”
“I was just so terrified. It’s scary just thinking about how it looks.”
Her downcast eyes trembled uneasily. Indeed. Even someone like me, who knew that this place wasn’t real, trembled just after seeing it. But how much more frightening and terrifying would it be for someone who thought that this was all real?
“Has the… Has the Madam been like that ever since she lost her senses?”
“Yeah. She’s been like that ever since. But where do you think she got that goat from? Even when someone takes the goat’s corpse from the room, it’ll soon come back after a while. It hasn’t been long since the Madam moved rooms, but then all the wallpaper has gone red with blood already, and there are crosses everywhere, too…”
“She moved rooms?”
“Yeah. Once she’s made her room that way, we’ll have to clean it up of course, so we’ll move her things to the next room while cleaning up. But even in the next room, she’d bring a dead goat and paint the entire room with blood. Her room right now is the last one on the left wing of the second floor. All the other rooms are just like that…”
“We can’t help but talk about it even though we keep it at a hush.”
Catarina sighed deeply.
“I went to the village a few days ago and the boutique owner auntie said something to me. There’s a terrible rumor going around about the Madam.”
“What should we do?”
Emily asked with anxious eyes.
“I hinted at it with Miss Leticia about it little by little. The Count also seems to know about it to a certain extent. There’s no way he wouldn’t know when that kind of rumor is being spread like that… I guess that’s why the Madam is being moved to a different residence soon.”
“What? The Madam’s being sent somewhere else?”
“Yeah. The Madam isn’t in her right mind, so they’re trying to focus on her treatment in a much quieter place. But if this story gets spread, then there’s going to be a lot of malicious talk. So, let’s just be quiet. Pretend you don’t know.”
Catarina whispered, lowering her voice to the quietest she could speak.
Indeed, if the count were to remain in the manor while only the countess was going to move to a different residence, then rumors saying that they had a bad relationship would naturally follow. Since there were already some rumors saying that the countess wasn’t of her right mind, then the other story would easily gain traction.
“Anyway, Hilda, you must have been very surprised. Miss Leticia told me to tell you that you can go and get some fresh air at the village.”
“Can I go to the village now?”
My eyes widened, wondering why it was as easy as pie now. Even if the town map was opened, I thought it would be hard to go out unless I got a holiday or something.
“Mm-hmm. She said that it must have been hard because you had to see the Madam. Besides, let’s just say that she was also pleasantly surprised to see the work you did in the garden this morning. She complimented you a lot and said that you can take some time off for the rest of the day. Ah! It’s awkward to say this now, but it would be really great if you could also run a few errands.”
“Isn’t that great, Hilda?”
Emily clasped her hands together as she looked at me with a very proud expression… Somehow, I felt shy, and so I laughed awkwardly.
I took note of Catarina’s errand, then, it didn’t take long until I then went to the village. Since this was a magnificent count’s residence, there were also many magnificent carriages available for use. The countess apparently gave me special permission to use one of them.
Was this the power of favorability points? I relaxed as I watched the scenery pass by quickly through the carriage’s window.
Yesterday, it felt exactly like I was hanging by a cliff, but today, I was sitting in a gold-gilded carriage with a dedicated driver as I was going leisurely to the village.
I can’t believe all this was from the power of a pillow.
As I watched the shining blue scenery pass by while listening to the sound of the horses’ hooves, both the tension inside me and my body’s posture gradually loosened.
I don’t know if it’s because I’d adjusted too well to my small lodgings in the last few days, but I stuck to one corner because it felt awkward being in this expansive carriage interior that could possibly just be as wide as a room.
However, as time went by, I eventually sat down while sitting back relaxedly. My legs weren’t feeling cramped, and I had my arms behind my head.
Going to the village inside a carriage like this with a dedicated coachman, it very much felt like I was riding an expensive luxury car just to go to the supermarket. Besides that, even if the road we were passing through was an unpaved road, the carriage didn’t shake as much as it passed over jagged stones several times, so my butt didn’t hurt at all.
The ride was ever so smooth. This was the feeling of being a successful servant.
“Hilda! We’re here! Come out now!”
Feeling a bit proud of myself, I got off the carriage and entered the village.