Fortunately, Ribeta had never faced a life-threatening situation. She was careful and meticulous about everything, but she knew well that it was simply luck more than anything else.

For a slave, being lucky meant that. Not that she could avoid hard and dirty work.

Still, she worked hard at the tasks given to her each day. She moved her body silently without pouring out complaints or grievances. She believed doing her best at what she could do was better than doing nothing.

Perhaps all that effort had accumulated, and today brought remarkable good fortune.

‘It’s unsettling, but there’s nothing I can do. I have no choice but to think that way……’

Ribeta let out a small sigh and opened the door.

Along with the unpleasant creaking sound of the old door, a sharp voice flew at her.

“You’re planning to starve me to death, aren’t you, Ribeta.”

Melissa spat out venom before Ribeta could even say she was sorry.

“Why are you standing there like an idiot? Go get the food right now. If you came back late, at least move quickly!”

“I’m sorry. I’ll prepare it right away. Just wait a moment—”

“I’ve been waiting all this time! Just how much longer do you expect me to wait!”

Melissa threw a vase in a fit of irritation. Ribeta could have dodged it, but she didn’t.

That vase was one of the few decorations adorning this dim and dilapidated house. And that vase cost three times her daily wage. An item she could barely afford after working three days until her hands blistered.

The fallen Razey family was in a position where every penny mattered. That she had saved up her wages to buy a vase in such circumstances was purely because of Melissa’s tantrums.

“I can’t greet Alec looking like this. I’d rather die!”

Even after the family’s downfall, Melissa indulged in luxuries beyond her means, using her fiancé Alec as an excuse. She probably didn’t want to believe this reality of falling into ruin overnight……

With a thud, the vase that struck Ribeta’s head fell to the floor. Ribeta’s reminiscence was cut short.

Ribeta was drenched with the water that had been in the vase. Her hair became soaked, but she quietly picked up the vase. It was bitter that her first thought was relief that the vase hadn’t broken rather than the pain.

“I’ll prepare it as quickly as possible, Miss.”

“You’ve gotten really arrogant lately. You’re not thinking other thoughts, are you?”

Ribeta bit her lip.

Other thoughts. If she’d had time for that, she would have caught even a moment of sleep. But instead of saying that, Ribeta placated Melissa. Opening her mouth would only fuel Melissa’s anger, accused of talking back.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you? I’m sorry. If you just wait a little, I’ll bring out warm soup first.”

“Hmph, hurry up. I’m hungry.”

Ribeta quietly headed to the kitchen. While waiting for the soup to boil, Ribeta put her hand in her pocket. She had tried to show Melissa the payment statement to ease her anger even a little, but what she grasped wasn’t paper but a soft handkerchief.

“If it bothers you that much, you can keep it.”

Why did Count Ruperto, whose heart she couldn’t read, come to mind? And why did tears threaten to fall?

Ribeta hastily withdrew her hand and prepared Melissa’s meal.

After finishing the meal preparation and setting down the soup and simple food on the table, Melissa immediately scooped up the soup with a spoon. There wasn’t a single word of thanks or appreciation. Ribeta didn’t expect such words either. It was perfectly natural for a slave to prepare her master’s meals. Even if she herself went hungry.

Ribeta returned to the kitchen. Melissa’s mealtime was one of the few times she could rest at ease.

She crouched in the corner of the kitchen and took out the handkerchief she had carefully folded away.

‘It smells nice……’

Ribeta placed the handkerchief on one hand and carefully smoothed it with the other. It felt like touching a feather.

“How could I…… accept something of yours, Count.”

“Then throw it away.”

When she told the Count in the carriage that she couldn’t accept the handkerchief, he had answered like that. To throw it away. It must be a tremendously expensive luxury item that couldn’t even compare to Ribeta’s own body price, but to the Count, it must be a trivial thing he could discard anytime.

Yet why couldn’t I throw it away and brought this handkerchief with me?

“What are you doing?”

Ribeta jumped up in alarm. Melissa, who had been standing at the kitchen entrance, glared at her and approached. Ribeta tried to hide the handkerchief, but Melissa was faster. Melissa’s eyes turned vicious as she snatched the handkerchief.

“You, where did you get this?”

Instead of answering, Ribeta lowered her head. Then Melissa shouted.

“You got it from Alec, didn’t you?”

“No, Miss. That, I just happened to get it. Please give it back.”

“You just happened to get it? Ha!”

Melissa sneered.

There was no way a slave of a fallen noble family could ‘happen’ to obtain such a luxurious handkerchief.

She definitely got it from Alec. Alec said that to me a few days ago. That he’d take Ribeta with him after we married. He already has plenty of slaves at home, so why would he take another young female slave? That handkerchief must be some kind of token of promise or something, right?

Uncontrollable flames consumed Melissa. Ribeta’s desperate attitude trying to get the handkerchief back turned Melissa’s suspicion into certainty.

Ribeta, who had been a faithful and docile slave who had never once rebelled since childhood, was acting like this because she had something to rely on, didn’t she?

“How dare…… how dare you!”

Melissa threw whatever she could grab. When Ribeta barely dodged them, Melissa, furious to her core, took out a whip hanging on one wall. Ribeta turned pale.

“Lord Alec didn’t give it to me. Really. Why would Lord Alec give something like this to someone like me! Miss, please calm down!”

“If not Alec, how could someone like you have something so expensive! Did you steal it?”

“No, no. This is……”

Ribeta hesitated for a moment. No matter how bad Count Ruperto’s reputation was, there was no way Melissa, who had lost her reason and was agitated, would properly believe her words.

Moreover, even she herself didn’t understand why the Count had given her this handkerchief, why he had shown her kindness.

“Seeing how you can’t speak properly, you must have just said anything. Who are you to receive a gift from Alec! You seduced Alec first, didn’t you? Didn’t you!”

However, Ribeta finally opened her mouth. Melissa was aiming to restore her status through marriage to Alec. Rather than being suspected of seducing Alec, it was better to say she had received the handkerchief from Count Ruperto.

“Count Ruperto gave it to me.”

“What? Who?”

Melissa stopped abruptly with the whip raised high. Ribeta spoke, forcibly suppressing her fear and anxiety.

“Count Ruperto…….”

“……Ahaha, ahahaha!”

Melissa, who had been silent for a moment, burst into laughter. Ribeta flinched her shoulders and gripped the handkerchief even tighter.

“Hey, Ribeta. Put away such unfunny jokes. Count Ruperto gave that to you?”

“I know it’s hard to believe. But it’s true. And today I worked at Count Ruperto’s mansion—”

“Did you have a dream or something?”

Melissa, who had been laughing like a madwoman, suddenly stopped laughing and glared at Ribeta. Her face, devoid of laughter and expression, was eerie.

“If that story is true, Count Ruperto must have taken a liking to you, right? The Count likes pretty, lowborn things, doesn’t he?”

“Ugh!”

Melissa roughly grabbed Ribeta’s hair. Then she stroked her cheek.

“I wondered what to do with this pretty face…… So? What did Count Ruperto say? He’ll buy you? For how much?”

“The labor exchange I go to doesn’t do such things. I only cleaned the reception room.”

“If you’re going to lie, you should do it properly, Ribeta. Everyone in the capital knows what kind of person Count Ruperto is. You only cleaned the reception room? What do you take me for!”

Melissa, who had thrown Ribeta to the floor, smiled coldly. Before Ribeta could compose herself, the whip flew.

“Hngh……!”

The thin whip struck Ribeta’s back. At the sharp pain she felt after so long, Ribeta drew in her breath.