Light and Shadow - Chapter 5

Getting help from the monastery was crucial to swap Anna and Edna. That was why Viscount William opened the door to his deeply hidden safe and filled his pockets with gold coins while sporting a stiff expression. The viscount, who prided himself on his quick, calculative nature, did not doubt that he would reopen the family path again through Anna just as long as he bore the risk at hand.

Having concluded all his preparations, Viscount William solemnly told the people of the castle that Anna would be heading to the monastery to clear her body and mind. Anna paid a warm farewell to the viscount couple while pretentiously weeping. Edna followed after the tearful Anna into the carriage. Jocelyn shed a fake sea of tears up until the carriage was way out of sight and William left in haste as if he could no longer withstand the pain of goodbye.

“She was that headstrong and yet, she eventually ended up leaving. To think that the calculative Lord had no idea that the late king would lose. But well, at least he gets to preserve both his lifeline and title by offering up his daughter. It’s a relief that Anna has her parents’ best interest at heart despite being so stubborn. We all narrowly missed getting kicked out of here.” Mumbled Lotta brazenly.

Then, another maid chimed in. “But why did she take Edna of all people with her? Didn’t Anna originally hate Edna? Why did she have to take that child when she had her starved and beaten at the slightest provocation?”

Hearing that, Lotta muttered maliciously, “Isn’t it obvious? She undoubtedly took her to torment her. She’s just a tool for her to vent her anger on. When I think of it that way, I do feel a little sorry for Edna, but it’s much better than us going. Miss Anna’s temper is no ordinary thing.”

Agreeing with Lotta, the maids respectively voiced their sympathy for Edna, who was taken as a scapegoat.

“She looks so fine despite everything, I wonder how she came to be so stupid. I can already imagine how much Edna will be whipped.”

“That’s that, but did you see the color of Edna’s eyes? It was an abstruse brown color that’s hard to put in words. I think it was mixed with a little bit of gold.”

“No way! To me, they just sound like rotten, cold eyes. They were an unfocused, somber black.”

“No, they’re not! They were golden when I saw them.”

As the maids started squabbling over Edna’s eye color, Lotta immediately cut their conversation short. “It’s noisy. What does the color of Edna’s eyeballs matter when she’s already gone? Come on, let’s go get dinner ready instead. Miss Anna is so fickle that we never know when she might decide not to marry again, so some of you should start with cleaning up her room first. If the lord sees you like this, he’ll have you flogged at once.”

Disgruntled, the squabbling maids scattered at Lotta’s rebuke and returned to their work. As Lotta said, Viscount William was a man who put whip before thought upon seeing the maids engaged in such chatter.

Lotta was suddenly reminded that she bathed Edna earlier. It was surprising that no one in the castle had seen Edna properly to the point that the maids went as far as to have a dispute over the color of Edna’s eyes. She was always hiding herself well under shabby, oversized clothes so, naturally, no one knew how good her body shape was. Maybe she, too, wouldn’t have known had she not bathed Edna today.

She had a fleeting moment of wondering why Edna had not washed often. Edna couldn’t have done it purposefully as a means to protect herself because her brain wasn’t possibly capable of such a complex though. Be that as it may, she would be able to sleep soundly for the time being in the absence of Edna’s gruesome sounds of punching and screeching.