episode_0006

Episode 6

“Cluck! Cluck! Is Alice there?”

“Yes, Mom, I’m here…”

In a shabby house, a blonde girl was nursing a disabled woman who appeared to have poor eyesight.

Although the mother and daughter had different hair colors, the girl naturally called the woman lying on the bed “Mom.”

“I have something I must tell you.”

“Mom…”

“Actually… Alice, you… Knock! Knock! Haa… You won’t let me talk.”

“Mom?”

“…Take this.”

“What is this?”

She handed Alice a ring with an iris design in her trembling hands.

“You must never lose this ring… When you become an adult, take this ring with you… Knock knock! Knock knock!”

“Mom! You don’t have to say anything more!”

“Sigh… Sorry, I’m sorry, really…”

“Stop talking!”

“Please… God, save this poor child…”

-Thud…

“Mom…?”

-Rustling…

When I opened my eyes and looked around, it was not the shabby house I had longed for, but a room behind barred iron bars.

And then I had that dream again.

She would rather have the dream from earlier been real and this moment a dream, but cruelly her senses kept reminding her that this moment was reality.

“Mom…”

-Hug…

The girl shed tears while holding tightly in her hand the ring with the iris flower engraved on it that her mother had left her that day.

The ring, strangely enough, seemed invisible to anyone but herself.

Thanks to that, the ring was not taken away by slave traders and loan sharks who came to collect debts.

Even while locked in an iron cage and receiving slave training that was no different from torture, he was able to endure it by looking at the ring and recalling difficult but happy memories with his mother.

Now the ring has become her only support.

Now all she has left are memories that fade with each passing day and a ring that sparkles in the darkness. If the ring had been lost or stolen, she probably wouldn’t have been able to endure it any longer.

-Ding ding ding!

“Everyone, wake up! Today, we have an important guest, so please be prepared and wait!”

Dear guest, is it possible that a nobleman has come again?

She remembered the pot-bellied middle-aged man who had been licking her lips a few days ago.

The man, who was debating who to choose between her and another girl, ended up choosing and buying the girl who was sitting with a bright expression, unlike his sad expression.

The reason was the creepy reason of wanting to see the beautiful girl, who was already looking sad, forcing a bright expression on her face, despair and distorted.

After the purchase was confirmed and the reason for the purchase was heard, the girl cried and rebelled, but soon her body went limp and she was dragged away by the managers and disappeared.

And when I thought that someone might come looking for me again today for similar reasons, the tears that had barely dried burst out again.

“Hmm…”

-Thump thump…

As the footsteps drew nearer, she hugged her knees and began to sob, thinking that if she showed the same listless, sad look as last time, the disappointed customer might pass her by.

-chin…

“That’s unpleasant…”

My heart sank at the boy’s soft voice as he stopped in front of her iron bars.

Even if he wasn’t sold to the boy today, the thought of being ‘re-educated’ by the angry manager for not acting like a slave made him increasingly fearful.

But after a while, surprisingly, he said he would buy me.

And he said it had to be him.

‘Why?’

“…I’m waiting.”

“…”

She couldn’t say anything.

He was wearing a mask so I couldn’t see his expression, but he told me to wait with a somewhat sad voice.

Strangely enough, when I heard his reassuring words in a slightly hushed voice, my trembling body and anxious mind felt calmed.

Afterwards, the manager came and told her that the contract had been formally signed and gently took her out of the building.

“Follow me.”

A middle-aged man who appeared to be a butler led her, and there was a boy waiting for her with his mask removed next to the carriage.

The small boy with black hair and bloodshot eyes looked a little younger than her, but he had an air of maturity that was unusual for his age.

The middle-aged man, who appeared to be a butler, said that from now on, she would be the exclusive maid of Lord Leon, the successor to the Duke of Normandy.

Alice secretly felt fortunate that she had not been sold to some evil nobleman.

‘Leon…’

That was the name of the person who pulled her out of that hell.

He was like a handsome prince from the fairy tales her mother used to tell her before bed.

That day was the day when the prince from the fairy tale saved the girl who was suffering in the den of evil villains, and it was the moment when the name ‘Leon’ was deeply engraved in the girl’s heart.

#

A month has passed since I brought Alice to the mansion.

In the meantime, Alice had to receive some essential training as the Duke’s maid, and I also had other training, so we didn’t have much opportunity to see each other for a while.

Even if we do meet, is it just a coincidence that we run into each other while walking around the mansion?

Of course, I was a bit more active in walking around the mansion, but it wasn’t because I cared about her.

Today, as usual, after finishing all my morning classes, I was resting for a while in my room and was about to walk around the mansion under the pretense of taking a walk when Alfred came to my room with Alice.

“Master Leon, I brought Alice with me as your exclusive maid. From today on, Alice will be by your side as your exclusive maid.”

“Please take good care of me, Master.”

“Alice is the Duke’s maid, but since she is a slave, she is called Master instead of Young Master. If that makes you uncomfortable…”

“No, it’s okay, thanks Alfred, you worked hard.”

“Yes, I understand. Then, take good care of your master, Alice.”

“Yes, net!”

Alfred left, leaving Alice and I alone in the room.

“Then let’s start by cleaning and organizing the room!”

“Yeah.”

Alice opened the window to ventilate the room and began to thoroughly clean the dust in the room, using dry and wet rags alternately.

The sight of her standing on tiptoe and wiping away dust from high places with her small body that hadn’t fully grown yet reminded me of my younger sister from my previous life and was quite cute.

“Alice.”

“Yes, master!”

I wanted to give him something because I was proud of him for working hard and sweating while cleaning.

“Eat this.”

“That, that’s…”

I handed her the snacks that were on my table and sipped my black tea.

“You won’t be able to eat this kind of thing well, so eat when I give it to you. I was born a commoner like you, so I never had a chance to eat this kind of thing. And delicious things are more delicious when shared.”

“…Thank you.”

Alice, who had been struggling between reason and instinct for a while, eventually gave in to the sweetness in front of her and took a bite of the snack I had given her.

“Eat slowly because no one is going to take it from you. Of course, keep it a secret from everyone else?”

-Nod, nod!

Alice, whose mouth was full of sweets, could not open her mouth and only nodded.

“I will continue to ask for your help, Alice.”

“…Gulp! I’ll work hard, Master!”

After all, young children need to be lured with food.

The slightly wary look on my face from the first day has already disappeared, and the way he looks at me has already changed.

How can you innocently accept and eat food given to you by others? What will happen to you in the future?

I think I will have to ‘educate’ myself on this.

‘Hehehe, I’ll raise you slowly and carefully according to my taste. No, I’ll train you.’

I will make this innocent slave Alice live a comfortable life and make her follow only me, so that she will never think of betrayal.

It’s not that I take care of you because I think of my sister.

It’s just one of the processes to make her my loyal hands and feet through cruel education that leaves no blood or tears behind.

Jeong Eun won’t give it to you.

##

“I don’t like it.”

“Me too, sis.”

“Not only are the commoners treated as family in our dukedom, but now he even brings in lowly slaves to use as his exclusive maids.”

“The mansion is getting dirtier and dirtier, and it smells so bad that it feels like the place is wafting everywhere. ”

Tania and Serena were not happy with Leon’s actions, which included relying on the authority of his father, the Duke of Normandy, to claim heirship.

But Leon’s previous actions made them and the other people in the mansion not treat him carelessly.

Even their father, the Duke of Normandy, doesn’t seem to reprimand his actions, but rather protects him.

“How could Dad leave us, his own children, and protect such a commoner?”

“That’s because we’re not men. Surely, even 10 years ago, women could inherit titles in the kingdom…”

“Then why did it turn out like that?”

“I heard the new king changed the law of succession when he ascended to the throne?”

“Umm… I don’t really know about that.”

Serena shook her head as if her head hurt just from hearing it.

“Anyway, Leon’s shoulders are rising higher and higher, so I have to do something about it…”

“Because of what happened last time, and because of my dad, I can see that he’s directly harassing Leon…”

“If Leon doesn’t work out, how about that guy’s exclusive maid?”

“That blonde who dares to work as a maid in a duke’s house, a dirty slave?”

“If you harass that maid and kick her out, what can Leon do? There aren’t many people in the mansion who think well of Leon, and now you’re bringing a slave with you.”

“Good idea, sis.”

“You too? Me too!”

Today, as usual, Tania and Serena began to plan to protect the Duke from Leon.