The Count’s Secret Maid - Chapter 24

“Isabella, how’s Vincent doing these days? BEthan didn’t say anything about that to me. He looked fine just now, but…”

“He has improved a lot.”

“Oh my! I’m glad to hear that. I’m so glad.”

Violet let out a sigh of relief. Paula looked at her in wonder.

‘I heard she didn’t know about master’s condition but did she actually?’

Ethan explained in a small voice as if he had read Paula’s mind.

“Violet understands that Vincent has been seriously injured and is in remission. Since then, I had explained to her that similar things have happened several times, and the wound is too deep to heal properly and the aftereffects remain.”

“By the way, what kind of relationship do you have with her?”

“We are friends. The three of us have known each other since childhood.”

‘That’s why you came together.’

Paula nodded and saw a pretty face that looked desperate for something.

“Can I see Vincent’s face?”

“I’m sorry, Miss Violet.”

“Ah…”

The bright face was soaked with disappointment.

“When am I able to see Vincent’s face properly?”

“The master is concerned about Violet. He does not want to worry Violet, his fiancée, about how he is struggling. Please understand the heart of my master.”

“I know. I know it well. Still…”

The melancholy voice snapped. Clasping her hands on her knees, she twisted her expression as though she was about to start crying. Her face was covered with worries about her fiancé.

“Still, still…”

Then suddenly, her eyes caught onto Paula.

“Paula, hear my earnest request!”

She suddenly stood up and grabbed Paula by the hands. Paula was embarrassed when the distance between them suddenly reduced. She shifted her eyes around.

“Will you tell Vincent that I want to meet him, that I really, really want to meet him, that I’m okay with whatever he looks like, so he should let me see his face?”

“Uh, yes? What?”

Paula’s embarrassed face quickly turned to both sides. In the back, Isabella was drinking tea calmly, and Ethan was eating a snack next to her. She scanned those two alternately. She then realized. Those two people with their relaxed expressions have no intention of helping her.

The purple eyes in front of Paula gleamed. She was confused because she didn’t know what to do with the sparkle, but eventually, Paula nodded reluctantly.

***

“Master.”

He remained motionless at the squeaking door. Even though she approached him with a loud noise, he still did not respond much. The round figure lying close to the wall was still.

‘Is it just an illusion that I feel a strange sense of life from him?’

“Master, are you sleeping?”

“…”

“Violet asked me to deliver a message. I’ll recite what I heard. “Will you tell Vincent that I want to meet him, that I really, really want to meet him, that I’m okay with whatever he looks like, so he should let me see his face?” That is all.”

He was still unresponsive. When he heard that his fiancée came, Paula remembered his pale face. While she was hesitating, Ethan suddenly burst into the room.

“Yo, Vincent.”

At that moment, the pillow flew and struck Ethan’s face. Vincent, who sat up, was staring at the door.

“Get out.”

Ethan grumbled as he picked up the pillow.

“Don’t be angry. I couldn’t help it.”

“You said she wouldn’t come if I just wrote back to her letter.”

“I know. But Violet suddenly ran out saying she was going to come here. I tried to stop her alongside the nanny and it still didn’t work. You know it too. If she’s stubborn, she always commits to it and watches it until it gets done. That’s why I told you to keep replying to her letters.”

As Ethan grumbled, Vincent picked up the cup that was on the table this time. Ethan closed his mouth and quickly hid behind Paula’s back when he saw it. She looked back at Ethan, who acted in such a pathetic way.

“Madam, you were really cool just now. I’m so touched. I was so moved that I was just watching you run away holding Vincent’s hand. “Run, master!” Wow. That was so cool.”

“Don’t say that.”

Paula didn’t have to tell anyone how rude what he did just now was. Besides, a maid ran away holding her master’s hand. She covered her hot face with her bangs in embarrassment.

“Why? It’s so cool, Madam.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Don’t be shy. I almost fell in love.”

“Stop it.”

Vincent put down his cup and shouted at Ethan. Ethan stopped talking. As the murmur disappeared, there was a dark tension in the room. Vincent swept his face with one hand.

Sigh.

His deep sigh looked miserable.

Paula checked his condition and continued with her remaining words.

“Miss Violet said she would wait in the garden.”

“Well said… Send her back.”

“She is not going back. I think she has made up her mind.”

“Out.”

Vincent waved his hands, signalling he didn’t want to hear more and laid back on the bed. Paula glanced at him and pushed Ethan’s back. No one could comfort him now. Ethan reluctantly left the room with a regretful face.

As soon as she closed the door, Paula sighed. Ethan seemed to be pondering something for a moment. When she saw him like that, she remembered the conversations she had with Vincent, but for now, the immediate work came first.

“What were you going to do?”

“Madam, I feel wronged, too. I really didn’t know.”

Ethan looked really upset. Paula gave a disbelieving look.

“What should I do now?”

“First of all, let’s appease Violet. Even if she looks strong, she is soft and simple inside, so if you soothe her well, she will go back.”

“What if she doesn’t go back?”

“Then, um… I’ll have to think about it.”

In the end, there was no real countermeasure.

Paula headed to the garden alongside Ethan. Violet sat kneeling in front of a field of purple flowers. Her soft, long fingertips swept the buds.

“Miss Violet.”

The gaze looking at the flowers turned around and landed on Violet. Her face brightened quickly and she quickly scanned the surroundings with her eyes. Paula didn’t have to ask who she was looking for.

“What about Vincent?”

“He won’t meet you.”

“…I see.”

She became sullen. Then Paula shook her head when she saw the sad woman.

“I’ve told him many times, but he told me to tell you to go back.”

“Yes, I knew it would be like this. It’s all right. Thank you for telling me.”

Violet tried not to show her disappointment even though she seemed to be very disappointed. On the contrary, Violet smiled kindly as if to soothe Paula instead. She was such a nice woman.

She examined the purple flower bed again. Paula gazed down at her.

“Ethan, can you help me if you don’t mind? I want to make a bouquet. I thought it would be nice to put it in Vincent’s room.”

‘What an angel!’

She was like an angel, making a bouquet of flowers for someone who didn’t reply to her letters properly and didn’t even bother to meet her even when she personally visited.

She snapped the flowers while Paula admired her inwardly. Violet had colorful flowers in her arms. Ethan understood what she wanted. Then he rolled up his sleeves and crouched down beside Violet. Then he followed her and plucked the flowers, although his actions seemed too insincere. Paula was frowning and joined in on picking the flowers.

“You can’t bend it like that.”

“What?”

“It’s better to bend the end like this. It’s better to bend it as long as possible to make it look pretty when you organize it later. It’s cleaner to cut with scissors.”

Explaining how to do it to Ethan, he skillfully picked a purple flower. The eyes of the two people reached Paula.

“I like these flowers, but with only these big buds, the bouquet will look rather distracting. Small flowers make it prettier… Especially if you place them on the side… With flowers like this.”

Paula picked some mist flowers and placed them around the purple flowers she just picked. A small but quite worth seeing bouquet was made. When she handed it to Violet, her eyes sparkled.

“Oh, my God, you’re doing a great job. How pretty!”

“That’s too much of a compliment.”

Violet looked at the bouquet, amazed, and Ethan clapped his hands next to her. Paula didn’t expect to be praised for making only one bouquet.

She lived in a small village, but sometimes there were events. The number of events was rare, but it was held on a fairly large scale every time. Therefore, whenever events were held, people took to the streets and sold food and goods.

Of course, making and selling these bouquets was quite lucrative, so flower merchants had women make bouquets as a side job. The sideline was largely up to women, but she was a person who wouldn’t fall into it.

The money earned at Uncle Mark’s bakery was far from enough to cover the cost of living. It was because of her sister, Alicia, and father, who were always luxurious. Third, playing luxury with the money Paula earned seemed to be their form of entertainment, and her father quit tenant farming early and lived gambling and drinking.

In the end, she was doing housework and earning money alone, so taking on a side job was a must. Thanks to it, it was very easy for her to make a bouquet of flowers. There was competition in simply making bouquets. The price someone paid would depend on how much more colorful and less crude the bouquets you made were. Fortunately, the bouquets she made were quite popular.

When Paula was embarrassed, Violet took the bouquet preciously and looked around.

“It’s pretty. It’s so pretty.”

Paula’s neck shrank more at the ecstatic gaze.

“How can you make it so well?”

“I’m flattered.”

“No! I think Paula is good with her hands. I envy you.”

Violet was sullen again and buried her face in the flowers.

Paula opened her eyes wide.

“Actually, I am not good with manual dexterity. I’ve been learning and making things since I was young, but I don’t have any talent. Even the tutor gave up.”

“Well, you’re not good at it.”

Ethan chimed in without any notice. Violet, whose eyes sparkled for a moment, punched Ethan in the side. Paula didn’t even know something happened because of the very fast hand movement. She watched Ethan groan, clutching his side.

“To Vincent, I’m a fiancée who is not good at many things. That’s why he doesn’t want to meet me. Because he can’t trust…”

Paula took her eyes off Ethan and looked at Violet. A pensive face turned to tears. She was in a dilemma because she didn’t know what comfort to give, but suddenly she heard a shuddering sound. At that moment, the purple bouquet in her hand crumpled brutally.

‘What did I just see?’

Paula rubbed her eyes because she thought she saw something wrong, but the bouquet was still broken.

“Bad boy.”

Paula cleaned her ear because she thought she heard hallucinations this time due to the swear words that popped out of Violet’s elegant mouth.

‘Hmm. Did I have a hard time taking care of my master?’

***