The Count’s Secret Maid - Chapter 20

My hands and feet were swollen in the cold weather. I endured the cold by rubbing my reddened cheeks with my hands. When I returned home with my body shrunken like that, my father greeted me. That devil’s son.

I didn’t know why he hit me. I got used to being beaten without knowing why. Crouching down was the only way I could defend myself. There were times when my younger siblings tried to stop our father and were beaten instead.

However, Alicia glanced at Paula and turned away. Alicia was the only one of her siblings who didn’t get hit. She was a child who was pampered and raised by their father. However, he only did that so he could sell her off for the highest price someday. But Alicia didn’t know that. That was why she was so arrogant.

Then, as the people who held my hand disappeared one by one, I was able to calmly endure the pain and sadness. I didn’t even need tears. The moment I realized it for myself, I woke up from a nightmare. Then I couldn’t sleep again.

Paula curled up in a corner and sat down. Then, as she leaned her head against the wall, she heard a familiar groan. She closed her eyes and listened to the faint sound.

Beyond that wall, he too was fighting. She was comforted by that sound. He may be angry, but she sometimes woke up from nightmares to hear his moans. She rubbed her reddened cheeks against the cold wall and shed tears to drive away the fear. Realizing that she was not alone.

“So, does that mean Sir Christopher’s family made you like this?”

“Yes.”

“Does Sir Christopher know?”

“Ethan doesn’t know. It must be good that he doesn’t know yet.”

Paula asked what he meant. She was so surprised that she stuttered, but the person, who was on the receiving end of her questions, was so carefree.

“I’m just guessing. But I’m not sure. That’s why he wanted to ask me. He doesn’t know if his family really made me like this.”

“So did you give him an answer?”

“He didn’t ask. He can’t ask.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not in a good condition.”

Paula was speechless.

“Even though he looks like that, he’s a kind guy to me. He couldn’t have pierced my wounds as I lost my sight and was terrified.”

Only then did she understand the reasoning behind Vincent’s behaviour of avoiding Ethan. But at the same time, she had her doubts. How did he know all of that?

“Why don’t you tell Sir Christopher?”

“Because I have no reason to tell him.”

Vincent lifted his eyelids. The emerald eyes, still cloudy but resolute, stared straight into the air.

“Sometimes you have to keep a secret.”

‘…’

The conversation ended with that. He was silent and Paula didn’t ask anymore. On the other side of her heart, a warning went off that she should not ask anymore. Since then, she had not mentioned the conversation again, nor had he added an explanation.

But, that didn’t mean it was not scary. Paula closed her eyes and every night she felt with her whole body what a dreadful burden it was, placed on her shrunken shoulders.

Secrets must be kept secret.

Pretend you didn’t see what you saw, pretend you didn’t hear what you heard and don’t say anything.

Recalling once again the conditions that must be met in order to work as a servant here, she was engrossed in serving her master today.

“Master, wake up.”

The round shape on the bed wriggled, but it didn’t come out. Even though he was a sensitive person, he would have noticed that she had entered earlier. Paula frowned and pulled back the sheet.

“You must eat.”

When his face was revealed, he grimaced and expressed his displeasure. However, his face was covered with sweat. It seemed like he had a nightmare yesterday, and he must have been overworked all night.

“You’ve been sweating a lot all night, so you’d better wash up first.”

Now the musty smell in the room was gone, and the number of objects rolling around on the floor has decreased a bit. Light streaming into a room filled with darkness became a familiar sight, like a daily routine. Lately, he had been eating well and leading a life of his own. But he was still uncooperative and wary when it came to people touching him.

“Get out.”

He grabbed the end of the sheet that had been taken away. However, Paula did not back down and held on with extra strength in her hand holding the sheet.

“I have filled the bathtub up with water.”

When she first came here, she couldn’t even imagine bathing him. However, due to the strange power struggles with him and the changes in the meantime, she could now ask him to wash.

“Please get out.”

Vincent let out a deep sigh. He was annoyed at the hand pulling the sheet. He seemed to be in a bad mood today.

“I’ll help you.”

“Like last time, right?”

“Well, then… I’ll go check the water temperature and come back.”

Paula took refuge in the bathroom. She had nothing to say about the incident last time: when she dropped him in the bathtub.

She checked the temperature by dipping her hand in the water, and after a while, she came out of the bathroom and approached Vincent, who was lying in a daze on the bed. When she carefully placed her hand on his body, he turned away. Ignoring it as it was a familiar reaction now, she lifted his limp arm and wrapped it around her shoulder. As soon as she pulled him, he got up and got down from the bed.

However, unlike his harsh words, Vincent was relaxed today. So Paula was able to take him to the bathtub more easily than expected.

Paula put his hand on the bathtub and he fumbled and touched it. She tried to button off his coat quickly so that she could wash him comfortably, but he stopped her hand.

“I’ll take care of it, so get out.”

“Are you sure?”

When Paula asked, surprised by his unexpectedly docile cooperation, he nodded and slowly began to take off his clothes. She stared blankly at it until she saw him take off his shirt and drop it on the floor before she came to her senses.

‘What’s going on?’

Paula quickly bent down and picked up the pyjama top he had taken off. He was about to take off his pants when he suddenly stopped moving.

“If you don’t go out, I know how to not bathe.”

“All right.”

Tsk.

When she clicked her tongue and got up, Vincent’s face turned stern as he heard the sound. She thought he was going to say something, so she put his clothes on the floor and quickly got out of the bathroom.

And she pretended to walk in one spot, making a thump, thump, footsteps sounds. When she slowly reduced the sound of her footsteps and stopped, she heard the sound of water shortly after. He went into the bathtub.

‘What’s really going on?’

Even though she was surprised by his innocent attitude, she decided to focus on the things she had to do right away. When he was washing, the room must be cleaned.

As always, Paula put the messy things in the back of the room and changed the bedspreads, sheets, and pillowcases with new ones. Then she dusted every nook and cranny, swept the floor, and wiped the dust off the furniture. When the room was somewhat clean, she went to the bathroom proudly.

After taking a bath, Vincent was changing his clothes. She took a towel from a nearby set of drawers and dried his dripping hair. She quickly patted his hair with a towel to get rid of the water, and he politely accepted it this time.

“The sheets have been changed. You may go now.”

After some time, once his hair was dry, she held onto his forearms and supported him. He slowly walked over to the bed and sat down. Then she noticed that the button on his shirt was out of place.

She thought he was well dressed today.

Paula laughed lightly and unbuttoned his button again, buttoning his shirt from the bottom up.

“Meal.”

“Yes? Ah, ah, yes meal. I will prepare.”

Paula went back to the door and brought over the silver platter. After holding it for a while and hesitantly, she knelt down in front of Vincent. She placed a silver platter on his lap and took a spoon of porridge and put it in his mouth. Then Vincent calmly accepted the porridge and began to eat it.

He had an upset stomach once last time, but now he emptied the bowl. The change pleased Paula, and she looked at him happily as he was eating. He emptied the bowl clean again today. Now she thought it would be okay to prepare food with small chunks in it now.

After taking all of his medicine, Vincent laid down on the clean bed. He pulled the sheet up to his neck and turned to face the wall.

“I’m going to bed.”

“Yes, I’ll wake you up at lunch.”

Paula left the room satisfied with the laundry and empty dishes she had collected in advance.

“The master is eating well these days.”

“Yes, his meal was completely finished today.”

Paula showed the empty bowl to the cook. The cook was moved and shed tears. The kitchen maid helping her happily joined the conversation.

“I think we can start serving rice grains now.”

“I’ll prepare well tomorrow!”

Paula shook her head and left the kitchen. Then she went out of the annexe and waited for Renica.

But today Renica was not alone. She was with Isabella.

“The master seems to be in good shape lately.”

“Yes, he eats well, and just now he took a bath himself. Throwing things and tantrums are still the same, but much less than before. Last time, he came down from his bed and walked for a while.”

Paula spoke clearly in a low voice that only Isabella could hear. Last time, it was a step, but she also informed Isabella that he had gone out of the room. Hearing that, Isabella’s surprised face came to mind. She didn’t react as loudly as she did, but she knew that the curl of her eyebrows was an expression of her own surprise.

“That’s a big step forward. You worked hard. I look forward to your continued support.”

“Yes.”

After a short conversation with Isabella, Paula approached Renica. She took the laundry basket from her and handed Paula a basket of new sheets and clothes. After that, Paula said goodbye and went back into the annexe.

Today, Paula had more time than she thought because Vincent was kind. It had been a long time since they had a scuffle. After fighting with him all day, she became exhausted, looking at the annexe. As a result, today was the first time to look around the inside of the annexe like this.

The interior of the annexe was generally neat. She heard that the maid came to the annexe to clean at a certain time. So Paula didn’t have to care about anything else, she just had to focus on her master, and that was what Isabella told her shortly after she came by.

Thanks to her, Paula’s only cleaning area was the master’s room. In addition, the place where Paula stayed was the room right next to Vincent’s, and the only places she went to were the kitchen where she went to get a meal or the back door to hand over laundry.

‘It looked like this.’ Paula looked around the mansion excitedly, looking around the ceiling, which was still far away even if she tilted her head to the fullest, and the interior, which was so wide that she couldn’t fully look around even if she walked around all day. It was her first time in a place like this, so it was full of novelty.

Then, she climbed a large staircase in the centre and looked at the frames on the wall one by one.