| Chapter 33

After a week and one more day had passed, I began to feel anxious. The mansion’s servants weren’t particularly worried, saying that Kirhin often left the mansion for two weeks or even a month under the pretext of studying the ways of the world, but I was different.

I knew that this outing of his was related to Damian and involved some danger.

“Isn’t there any way to contact my brother?”

Maya, who had brought tea in response to my muttering while struggling to turn the pages of my book, answered in a low voice.

“I asked the butler, but he said he doesn’t know where he is. He said we should just wait for the letter he’ll send when he’s coming back.”

I smiled faintly at her.

Maya always prepared tea for me as I read in the living room at this time. Since I didn’t want to show Nina that we were particularly close, we were trying not to show our friendliness.

“You can go from 3 o’clock, Miss. It’s the servants’ break time. It’ll be quiet.”

“Thank you, Maya.”

After checking the time, I headed to the kitchen storage with her. Maya would keep watch to make sure no one else was coming.

Thanks to her, I could leisurely explore the storage room, which was incomparably larger than Mrs. Almon’s house. The amount of ingredients was enormous and all quite fresh.

There weren’t many types of tea leaves, so I could memorize them all in a day. I took small amounts of tea leaves and tried to distinguish their scents in my room every night, and studied by reading books about which teas to enjoy at what times. And I used the time Maya kept watch for Nina.

It was on the second day of going in and out of the storage that I discovered the stairs leading from the left end of the storage to the front of Nina’s room. Interestingly, Nina, who had been using a different room until a few years ago, had moved to this room for some reason.

I climbed the stairs, keeping an ear out for Maya’s presence outside the storage.

At this time, Nina always gathers the maids to check on the morning’s work and give instructions for the afternoon. This meant her room was empty.

Pushing open the heavy wooden door, I looked around the room that had now become quite familiar. This place was better than not only the storage I used at Mrs. Almon’s house but even Mrs. Almon’s room itself. It was spacious and clean, and even had a faint scent of perfume.

That point was unexpected. Servants usually don’t wear perfume, and Nina didn’t seem like someone who would enjoy such things. And that question was connected in the same context with the glamorous negligees filling one side of the wardrobe.

There were negligees that I couldn’t imagine being worn by a woman who always dressed impeccably with buttons fastened up to her neck.

Seeing clothes made of material so transparent it was like butterfly wings, revealing everything underneath, in lustful and sticky red colors, with designs where the skirt was completely split so that lifting just the top part would expose everything, I learned another lesson about the duality of human nature.

In the deepest part of the wardrobe, there was also a wooden box. Inside were several smooth, elongated objects in the shape of batons. They varied greatly in size and length.

I could guess their purpose. They had appeared in ‘Where the Night’s Curtain Sings’.

Thinking it would be good to read quickly while Kirhin and Damian were away, I had already finished that entire shelf. They were suitable books for whiling away the sleepless hours, perhaps due to drinking too much tea at night.

Through those books, I was able to learn how flexible and mysterious the human body can be, but in Nina’s case, I found it strange. These objects were said to be for self-pleasure, so why would she need such glamorous clothes?

“Does she have a lover?”

In ‘The Poet of Wet Lips’, written by the author of ‘Where the Night’s Curtain Sings’, there’s a story about a poet who can’t perform as a man due to a childhood accident and his lover. To prevent his lover’s heart from changing, the poet makes love using objects modeled after the bodies of fourteen men.

All the tragedy begins when the wife of one of the men who modeled for the objects comes looking, and I couldn’t take my eyes off that chaotic scene, rereading the same part several times. I even remembered the nicknames the poet’s lover had given to those objects. It was a masterpiece comparable to ‘Highlund’.

Feeling my face flush a little, I shook off the stray thoughts and started opening the drawer I hadn’t checked last time.

From what I’d learned so far, Nina was surprisingly passionate about her nightlife and owned eight expensive perfumes. There were rings and necklaces with quite large pearls, rubies, gold, and obsidian, as well as dozens of IOUs from other servants. The amounts were not small.

“Does a head maid receive such a high salary?”

I frowned. Though I didn’t know much about head maids in noble households, it seemed quite luxurious. Outside this room, she always appeared plain, wearing no earrings, necklaces, or any accessories.

Lost in thought, I moved my hand and discovered that the last drawer was locked. I tried to force it, but the lock was very sturdy.

The key.

Where could the key be?

“Meow. Meooooow.”

Suddenly, a cat’s meow sounded as I was trying to look for places I hadn’t seen before. This was Maya’s signal that time was running out.

I bit the inside of my lip and stood up. Still, it wasn’t bad. Today’s harvest was discovering something I needed to find.

I could feel it instinctively. The key to the drawer was probably kept on Nina’s person. She’s cautious by nature.

And that key might be her ‘dead rat’.

Closing the door, I quietly descended the stairs while holding up my dress hem. My mind was already busy trying to find a way to obtain that key.

* * *

The night air languidly enveloped everything. The sound of wind through the window cracks seemed sharper than yesterday.

“Miss, really. You don’t take your eyes off the book even at this hour.”

I looked up, entrusting my neck to the hands applying medicine. Maya was smiling with her lips pursed.

“Do you like books that much?”

“They’re interesting. I can learn things I didn’t know. Can you read?”

“No. My father told me to learn, but my head hurts just looking at books. It seems not everyone can read books. All done now. You’re almost healed!”

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. If you need anything, just let me know.”

“I should sleep now. You go rest too.”

When I spoke softly, Maya smiled in response and left the room with quick steps. Left alone, I closed the book and rested my chin on my hand. Nina and Kirhin were taking turns driving me crazy.

As I stared at the darkness outside the uncurtained window, suddenly there was a knock at the door. Thinking it might be Maya, I raised my voice cheerfully.

“Come in.”

But the face that opened the door was different. I frowned as I watched Laurel enter the room naturally with a slight smile.

“What business do you have at this hour?”

“I thought I’d apply some medicine, but oh my, has Maya already been here?”

Her tone was calm, but the fact that she specifically mentioned Maya aroused a strange sense of caution. As I silently stared at her, Laurel lightly shook the medicine bottle in her hand.

“I just thought we were becoming too distant. Kirhin personally asked me to take care of you, but with just two hours of literature lessons a week, I can’t really know your condition, can I?”

I could have pointed out how she immediately switched to informal speech when we were alone, as if it were natural, but I didn’t. I thought I needed to watch what she wanted to do.

I just yawned slightly and frowned.

“Nothing special, and I’m tired. It would be better to talk tomorrow since I want to sleep.”

“Why are you tired? From sneaking in and out of Nina’s room?”

The hair on my body silently stood on end. As I slowly turned my head, I saw Laurel sitting leisurely in the chair by the window. Her attitude seemed comfortable, as if it were her own room.

“I saw you twice. Coming out of that room, I mean. You’re careless, Lucy. You should be more aware of your surroundings.”

Her brown eyes shone brightly under the flickering lamplight. I inwardly clicked my tongue.

The room given to Laurel is on the opposite side of Nina’s room. Strictly speaking, she’s my private tutor, so she doesn’t need to do servant’s work and has no reason to go in and out of the storage. There’s no way she could have seen me by chance.

“…It seems I’m not the only one interested in Nina.”

At my retort, a smile appeared on Laurel’s face. She put down the medicine bottle on the table and spoke.

“I know what you’re thinking. You’re clever, so you must know that Nina doesn’t like you. That’s why you’re trying to investigate Nina, right? Using the naive Maya.”

I had no intention of answering. I was just curious about whether Laurel would choose me or Nina. It seemed the answer was already decided, given that she came to me first.

“I’ll help you.”