Chapter 5

Elina, with a troubled heart, headed to Magnolia Hall inside the Valois mansion.

Around her waist was an apron to protect her dress from getting dirty, and in each hand, she carried a bucket of water and a clean cloth.

Several maids, neatly dressed in maid uniforms, followed her at a slow pace. They were in better condition than the young lady ahead of them.

What did they get paid for in this mansion?

She glanced back at the maids who followed her all day, passing through the corridor lined with white carpet.

In a way, she envied the maids who only followed the orders of Madame Rasiche.

They were nobles, albeit of lower rank than the Earl of Valois.

Unlike high-ranking nobles who always maintained decorum, they could freely do what they wanted and, most importantly, hadn’t made any rash mistakes like she had.

Why was that? Why was it so sad?

Elina lowered her gaze and hardened her face at the memories that surfaced.

Overturning a cup of tea was all it took to let go of everything she had endured and held on to until now.

The love she had so desperately wanted that day was something she hadn’t received for years.

The only love she had ever known was from her deceased parents, so long ago that she barely remembered it.

It was something distant from her to begin with, so why did she want it so badly?

Yet, despite these regrets, Elina couldn’t erase the man from her recent memory.

The warmth she received from him for the first time was too welcoming. She felt love from him for the first time.

A love she hadn’t received even when Madame Rasiche had been kind to her after her parents passed away.

The gentle touch that soothed her as she gasped for breath.

The man who repeatedly said he loved her.

Foolishly, she couldn’t forget that one night.

Even now, more than a month later. Both he and she were just one-night stands to each other.

It was just that kind of relationship.

A shallow relationship that couldn’t be taken further without responsibility….

She really wanted to be loved.

Lost in thought, she moved her steps and found herself in front of the specially decorated Magnolia Hall of the Valois mansion.

She pushed open the large door with force and set the water bucket down beside it.

Even though she had brought the right amount of water herself, it was heavy.

What was the point of thinking about him now?

Elina soaked the dry cloth in the water bucket and wrung it out.

As she entered the center of Magnolia Hall, the white marble floor, covered in dust for the past three months, greeted her.

The floor was purely for aesthetics, lined with intricately carved display cases.

Magnolia Hall, where the treasures of the Valois family were kept.

It was a place where the entry of servants working in the mansion was restricted due to the many precious items.

Knowing this, the maids confirmed Elina’s entry into Magnolia Hall and lingered in the corridor, watching her through the slightly open door.

Once the maids, who had been close by, moved away, Elina knelt down and began scrubbing the hard marble floor with the damp cloth.

As Madame Rasiche had said, Magnolia Hall was a place where outsiders couldn’t enter freely, regardless of other purposes.

The white marble floor itself was a symbol of Magnolia Hall, where only pure and noble things were enshrined.

Of course, prestigious nobles thought cleaning the floor was beneath them, so they only managed the display cases or statues.

Madame Rasiche was one of those prestigious nobles.

After the Earl and Countess of Valois died, she became the guardian of their young daughter.

Because of that, Elina was doing floor cleaning, a task usually done by the family’s unwanted youngest or a ward, without complaint.

The ivory statues and intricately crafted display cases she saw while changing cleaning spots were dust-free, having been cleaned frequently.

Madame Rasiche must have cherished and cleaned them daily.

It was well-known throughout the Valois mansion that she loved frequenting Magnolia Hall.

“Just a few more months… just a few more months.”

Elina murmured the same words, staining the white cloth with black dust. It was an unwanted task, but not difficult enough to refuse.

After two hours of scrubbing with a bent back, her neck, waist, and knees ached.

Thinking she might take a short break, she turned her head through the open door, but the maids who had been in the corridor were nowhere to be seen.

Where had they gone? 

As she craned her neck towards the door, an unexpected sight greeted her.

Apparently, standing still for hours had become difficult for them.

The maids, who should have been attending to the family’s only young lady, had brought a small chair to the edge of the mansion’s corridor and were chatting away.

Luckier than me.

Elina let out a small laugh of disbelief and focused on the remaining floor cleaning. No matter what the maids were doing, she had to finish cleaning here today.

Do they call me the Cinderella girl?

Elina remembered the maids gossiping about her a few days ago and tightened her grip on the cloth.

“I’m not some Cinderella.”

The title of her least favorite fairy tale came to mind, and Elina frowned.

She couldn’t understand Cinderella, who endured her stepmother and stepsisters and waited for a prince she met for just one day.

“I won’t wait for a prince like that girl.”

I have to create my own life. 

Elina’s future was already promising.

In just a few more months, once she inherited all her parents’ wealth, she could become one of the richest in the empire.

The current situation was only temporary.

***

The cleaning took longer than expected. The reflection in the window beyond the corridor showed the setting sun.

Though she stretched her legs and turned her bent neck from time to time, her whole body ached from the prolonged cleaning.

Elina must have set the cloth she had washed in the bucket down on the floor and stretched her bent knees at least ten times.

“Ouch!”

A tingling pain spread from her legs throughout her body.

The white apron she used to wipe the floor with the cloth left a round dust mark where her knees touched.

Using a good quality cloth, cleaning the slippery and hard marble floor was theoretically not that difficult.

However, cleaning the expansive Magnolia Hall, where the Valois family displayed their wealth and treasures, was not easy in practice.

Elina stretched her legs over the clean part of the floor and stood up, leaving the white marble-covered space for the first time in hours.

She could have exited more smoothly if her legs hadn’t wobbled with each step.

At that moment, Elina stopped moving slowly and clutched her lower abdomen, hidden by the wide apron.

“Ah….”

A familiar yet unsettling feeling enveloped her body.

She let out a small groan at the frown-inducing pain.

Biting her trembling lips inward, Elina removed her hand from her lower abdomen as if nothing had happened.

She gathered the water bucket and cloth left on the floor and stepped out of the door that had been open for hours.

Only after completely leaving Magnolia Hall did Elina turn her head to look around the hall one more time.

The floor shone so brightly from a distance that it seemed to sparkle, a testament to her hard work.

The maids, who had only watched the young lady for the first few minutes, were now engrossed in their conversations in the corridor.

Elina, untying the apron tied around her waist, walked confidently, and the maids, who belatedly noticed her, lifted themselves from the small chairs they leaned against.

“Finished already?”

Did they hope it would take longer, given that it was getting dark outside? 

The maids’ voices, blinking as they asked, were filled with subtle dissatisfaction.

“Tell Madame Rasiche it’s done.”

“Yes.”

“Oh, and tell her there’s dust left on the second statue from the left.”

Elina added, having noticed an uncharacteristic oversight by Madame Rasiche during her cleaning.

Even as she spoke, leaning against the stair railing with the somewhat heavy water bucket, Elina was cautious, worried the maids might see her.

The hand not holding the water bucket discreetly covered her lower abdomen, where she had lifted the apron.

She thought it might be menstrual cramps for a moment, but her instincts told her it wasn’t.

“What should we prepare for dinner?”

Fortunately, the maid, who had no interest in Elina, asked bluntly while picking up the chair she had been sitting on.

Why ask when you won’t give me what I want to eat anyway?

“Well… I’ll eat in my room, as much as possible.”

“As much as possible?”

“Yes. A lot.”

With the same answer to the puzzled maids, Elina climbed the stairs briskly.

Elina’s place was the attic at the top of the mansion.

A small, cozy room at the top of the mansion where children might dream of living after reading fairy tales.

Though it was an inconvenient place for a grown adult to live.

Elina’s steps quickened, eager to lay down on the bed. She would lie down as soon as she arrived, but she wouldn’t sleep.

She had to eat dinner today.

When she reached the attic, Elina almost broke her resolve. Because someone who spoiled her appetite had come to visit.

“Hello, Elina. Are you free tonight?”

It was Reynard, the only son of Madame Rasiche.