Gloria looked calmly at Dona. She still couldn’t meet Gloria’s eyes.

Half a year was enough time for sincerity to be conveyed. During that time, Gloria had never scolded or shouted at Dona. Naturally, she hadn’t thrown things or acted violently either.

As the formerly fierce young lady truly became gentle, Dona visibly began to let go of her tension. She would smile occasionally and speak from her heart rather than just flattering to survive.

It was quite endearing. And satisfying too.

Dona was slightly younger than Gloria, and her original personality was lively, fitting her age.

Would the previous Gloria have known that a dimple formed on her right cheek when she smiled? Living with just the two of them in the spacious annex, she had enjoyed getting to know her lady’s maid.

After meeting Peter and borrowing his studio, she hadn’t seen her often, but Dona had faithfully served as the annex’s gatekeeper. Thanks to her, she could paint comfortably without the family knowing.

It was all thanks to Dona. She was a loyal maid, and Gloria thought she would become completely loyal if she was a kind mistress.

No, beyond such class-based thinking. More ambitiously, she had expected they might become something like friends.

“Are you really trembling because you’re afraid of me? Or have you guessed what I’m about to say?”

“Miss, I really don’t understand what you’re saying……”

“She asked if I enjoyed painting so much. But only you and Peter know the details of my painting. So I was going to ask both of you, but looking at you now, I don’t think I need to ask my teacher.”

“Miss……”

“How does the Duchess know a secret only three people in the world know?”

Of course, Gloria’s guess could be wrong. She might have been followed from outside rather than inside, or her information might have leaked to an information broker. Or someone in the art world might have recognized her.

But considering all possibilities, the most likely was the person right beside her.

“The Duchess threatened me with my painting. Did she send you to me for this purpose? Answer me, Dona. Did you tell her?”

Dona wasn’t good at lying. She wasn’t clever enough to make things up.

There was no defensive retort like ‘How could you suspect me!’

Dona was Dona.

“Miss, I’m…… I’m sorry. I……”

Dona fell to her knees at Gloria’s feet. Tears dropped heavily onto the rug.

“I’ll, I’ll explain everything. Miss, I’m sorry. Please forgive me just this once. Just once……”

Her words flowed steadily before gradually fading into sobs.

Currently, Dona’s mind was beyond desperate — it was miserable.

No matter how gentle she had become, Miss Gloria was still Miss Gloria.

Hadn’t she said so herself?

‘That’s because Miss said she would tear out my tongue and eyes and lock me in the basement forever if this leaked outside.’

Thinking that would soon come true, Dona began sobbing as if she were about to die.

This was even before Gloria had begun a proper interrogation.

“Dona.”

Her mistress’s voice came from above. It sounded like the voice from the judgment seat before hell.

“What I want to hear isn’t an apology. It’s an explanation.”

Gloria understood why Dona was trembling with fear, but she wanted to let her know it wasn’t necessary.

There was no need for forgiveness. She wasn’t angry.

No, she was angry. But not at Dona for deceiving her — she was angry at herself for not being more thorough.

‘If Dona is a card so easily discarded, she probably doesn’t know much about Isabel.’

Squeezing wouldn’t create information that didn’t exist.

She likely wasn’t an active agent for Isabel either. This was also Gloria’s hopeful thinking, but she decided to keep possibilities open as positively as possible.

‘I must have given her a lot of affection.’

Gloria inwardly smiled bitterly and extended her hand to Dona.

“First, get up. Let’s go back to the annex.”

“Miss, please spare my life. I have a sick mother and young siblings. Please. You can tear out my tongue, but please don’t lock me up. I need to work.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

Gloria said with a voice mixed with a sigh.

Seeing her genuinely terrified, Gloria made a shushing sound to comfort her.

“Really. Why would I hurt you?”

“Please don’t, don’t throw me out either. I’ll never do it again. I promise.”

“That…… depends.”

Dona’s trustworthiness would depend on how long she had been reporting to Isabel. She couldn’t simply keep her just because Isabel had discarded her.

She needed to consider how to use a maid who had lost her trust.

In truth, Gloria had lived as a commoner until now. She was never accustomed to employing, dismissing, or punishing someone.

That remained true no matter how much time passed. She had only pretended to be a noble lady, and Dona was more comfortable being treated with condescension, so that’s what she did.

So Gloria decided to consider her more humanely — not as a subordinate, but as a friend’s situation.

※※※

After calming the tearful Dona and returning to the annex, Gloria calmly listened to her story.

The content itself was concise, but since Dona stammered and added unnecessary details, the story became lengthy. Nevertheless, Gloria listened without interrupting.

To summarize:

She had a sickly mother and two siblings to support. She had no father.

Dona had become the head of the household and worked, but a maid’s wages barely covered living expenses. She couldn’t even take her increasingly ill mother to a physician.

At that time, Isabel approached her.

More precisely, it was a woman claiming to be Isabel’s physician. This woman delivered Isabel’s letter to Dona.

I will periodically send my physician to you. Tell her what you do in the Peyton residence’s annex and what you’ve seen. If you do this, I will provide not only medical treatment for your mother but also medicine.

Of course, you must not let anyone discover this. If you do, I cannot guarantee your mother’s safety.

In other words, Dona had been threatened both by Gloria at home and by Isabel outside.

‘Since Dona’s identity would be easy to investigate, finding her weakness would have been simple.’

Even in the annex, Dona’s tears didn’t dry up.

“I’m truly sorry, Miss. I tried to refuse, but I was so scared. And I can’t live without my mother. I shouldn’t have done it, but when you kept taking your anger out on me, I just, I just…… Of course, I know you were sensitive because of the Duke, but……”

“I see.”

“But after you changed, Miss…… You’ve been so kind to me…… I couldn’t do it anymore. It felt wrong…… Like I was betraying you. I’m not, not afraid of dying. Really. Please believe me, Miss.”

“That’s understandable.”

Anyone would feel that way. Of course.

They say when a boss is insufferable, employees might even want to hire a hitman. Selling information is relatively tame in comparison.

‘Though I never expected to become that boss.’

“So. Did you tell them everything about me?”

“N-no! Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. You never share your personal thoughts with me, and whenever the Duke visits, I have to leave, so I don’t know what happens. She thought I knew everything because I’m your lady’s maid.”

Even in this situation, Dona referred to Isabel as “that woman” to score points with Gloria. Certainly, being so fearful made her quite perceptive in these matters.

“What about the painting?”

“Th-that…… I deliberately kept it vague. Really. I didn’t mention Peter. I only said you were learning to paint from a commoner artist. I told her I didn’t know anything else.”

Listening to her, Gloria realized just how much Dona had actually revealed.

To be fair, Gloria had never officially gone out. She always wore worn commoner clothes whenever she went to the studio.

“But that’s a lie. If you’d been caught, your family would have been in danger.”

Dona looked up at her mistress in disbelief, amazed that she would worry about her family even now.

“Miss…… I truly…… truly did wrong. I’ll manage my mother’s situation somehow from now on. No matter how desperate I was, I shouldn’t have done it…… I’ll never do it again. Never……”

“That physician won’t be coming back anyway. Since I found out, which is essentially the same as her revealing it, she won’t harm your family. You’ve simply been discarded.”

She had used the information Dona provided as a weapon, so Dona had served her purpose. There was no reason to touch her family now.

Perhaps Isabel thought Gloria would dismiss or k*ll Dona herself. After all, she was a traitor.

“How much is your mother’s medicine?”

But Gloria had no intention of cutting Dona off now.

She couldn’t claim it wasn’t partly due to attachment, but that wasn’t the entire reason.

“If I pay for your mother’s treatment, can you be completely loyal to me?”

It was fortunate that Dona hadn’t betrayed her mistress purely out of self-interest.

Gloria was actually relieved that her circumstances were so common and pitiful.

Dona nodded vigorously, causing the tears on her cheeks to fly off.

“……Let’s visit your home tomorrow.”

Of course, until she regained trust in Dona, Gloria would need to see everything with her own eyes before making any decisions.