Chapter 1: Young Maid (Part 2)

“Oh my….”

The Duchess of Etterland had a hobby of visiting orphanages, where she would visit the poor and young among her subjects and extend a helping hand. Among them, Lizbeth had initially been pushed aside by Adam, the most privileged child in the orphanage, before being snubbed. The Duchess of Etterland was distributing bread in the courtyard when she found Lizbeth crouched in the backyard, hiding with a battered body.

“You are the prettiest, you must come with me.”

The Duchess of Etterland spoke as if she had foreseen the unhappy future of a poor woman whose only possession was beauty. With emerald eyes, Lizbeth was especially beautiful. And so Lizbeth became the Duchess of Etterland’s maid. Her bed was more comfortable than the orphanage, and there was an abundance of food. Of course, just like in the orphanage, the people of Etterland were not as welcoming. Except for one. The young lord of Etterland, Bieren.

“Ah!”

As Lizbeth was bringing flowers from the gardener to the Duchess’ vase, she discovered a thin snake slithering around and, in her shock, overturned the basket, tumbling over. Flowers scattered around her. However, Lizbeth didn’t dare to pick them up. She couldn’t muster the courage to flee either. She was afraid that the snake was poisonous.

“Oh no.”

Then she heard a creepily low male voice. Lizbeth turned her head to follow the source of the voice and then blinked in disbelief. She had never seen such a handsome man in her life, especially not one so large as to cast a shadow in front of her. His pitch-black hair fluttered in the wind blowing across the field. Bieren, wearing a loose pocket shirt, looked down at the maid with an air of arrogance.

“No separate flower garden, I see.”

Bieren muttered to himself as he looked at Lizbeth. She had scattered various flowers as if she had transferred a flower garden and sat trembling among them. Ironically, in his eyes, it was not the pretty flowers selected by the gardener that stood out, but only Lizbeth. She was dressed as a maid, so it was likely she was a maid, but she was a maid he had never seen before. If there was such a face, he would not have lived unknowingly. Moreover, her reddish hair was as bright as flower petals, and her emerald eyes sparkled as if jewels were embedded in them. Her long maid’s skirt fluttered, revealing her hip bones. It looked so slender that it seemed like he could wrap his one hand around them with ease. 

“There’s a snake over there, you better get away from it.”

Lizbeth belatedly warned Bieren. It wasn’t the time for her to be entranced by the man’s appearance. Bieren, belatedly following Lizbeth’s gaze, spotted the snake, pressed down on its head, and picked it up. Lizbeth opened her mouth in alarm.

“If you hurt yourself….”

“Me?”

Bieren retorted with a tone of incredulity. Even if she didn’t know him, he wondered if a grown man who could quickly grab a snake was likely to get hurt. However, Lizbeth, with a truly worried expression, opened the flower basket wider and said,

“Here, give it to me. I’ll dispose of it in the woods.” 

She planned to put the snake in the sturdy woven basket and run to the forest to release it. She had to get deep into the woods and then run back out. Despite this plan, her spine froze as Bieren approached with the snake in hand. 

What if the snake jumped out of the basket? 

Tears threatened to fall.

“It seems you’re more concerned about yourself than anything else.” 

Bieren sneered as he observed the trembling young maid. It was presumptuous and outrageous of her to worry about others when she was so afraid of snakes. It was hard to believe she had entered his household as a maid with such innocence and stupidity. Bieren took another step closer, eager to see Lizbeth in distress, and in that moment, he felt a pang of guilt. Her teary emerald eyes caused ripples in his otherwise calm lake-like heart. 

“…I’ll take care of the snake.”

He turned away from Lizbeth’s weeping face, and for a moment, he was tempted to see the young maid begging at his feet. He wondered if it would make her cheeks flush if he tugged her by the hip bones peeking out from beneath her skirt, but as the thought crossed his mind, he tightened his grip on the snake’s head.

Snap- 

Bieren Etterland, the heir to the Etterland Duchy, lived a life where he ruled without needing to kneel for anyone. It never occurred to him to use his position to do anything in this life, but when a young, pretty maid showed him a moment of presumptuous kindness, he imagined sitting her between his legs and making her cry. Despite never living a life where he toyed with power for the sake of a pretty maid’s legs, such thoughts came to him.

“Ah….”

Bieren sighed as he found the snake with its head smashed off in his grasp. 

Ah, that maid was a curse to him. 

He killed the snake, but he was not satisfied. From the moment he had laid eyes on that maid, he had indulged in lust.

* * *

After completing her training, Lizbeth was summoned to various places and she learned who the man was. Lord Bieren, the young master. The man was not just a noble but the young master of this estate. 

Bieren. 

Lizbeth silently repeated his name to herself. The dashing way he carried the snake was like something out of a fairy tale. He was like the knight who came to the rescue of the princess in the old fairy tale books donated by the noblewomen.

Lizbeth was not a princess, and yet Bieren had saved her from a snake. Maybe that’s what true chivalry is like. A person who shows mercy to the weak. Whenever she thought of him, her heart couldn’t settle.

One day, as she was cleaning the windows, Lizbeth spotted him outside the window, galloping towards the mansion on horseback. Leaping from his horse, Bieren looked up and locked eyes with Lizbeth through the window.

“Huff…” 

Lizbeth held her breath and unconsciously hid behind the wall. It felt as if she had been caught trying to spy on her master. Since then, whenever she spotted him coming around the corner, she instinctively hid. Despite needing to rush to her master and properly greet him, she couldn’t help but hide whenever she saw him. She felt like her appearance would be a mess from cleaning all morning. Her hair would likely be dusty, and her face… it felt like it would blush crimson.

“Lizbeth, you are to clean the Lord’s study today.”

Lizbeth sucked in her breath at the order from the housekeeper. Her heart leaped at the thought of tidying up the things her master had touched in the study. Embracing her swollen heart, Lizbeth made her way to the study, knocking on the door and hearing the man’s voice on the other side of the door.

“Come in.”

Lizbeth froze in place. Opening the door, she sucked in a breath as she spotted Bieren. She quickly bowed her head in greeting. Bieren was busy with documents in the study. Without looking up from the pile of papers, he spoke.

“Don’t worry about me. Focus on what you need to do.” 

Bieren knew that Lizbeth had been stealing glances at him and avoiding him. Whenever he caught her secretly looking at him, he got a knot in the pit of his stomach. If they happened to make eye contact, her cheeks would flush as if her face was on fire. The roses scattered around the maid on that day seemed to be as red as her flushed cheeks.

There were many times when he felt the urge to call her and confront her. He suppressed countless urges but finally summoned Lizbeth to clean his study.

“But the dust will fly around… I can’t clean in your presence, Lord Bieren.” 

Lizbeth spoke with a red face and hesitated lips as she did back then. Bieren wanted to correct her habit of not keeping her lips still. But if he left anything to be, it would naturally be corrected over time. Bieren suppressed the rising emotions. He felt like grabbing her, who blushed and pouted every time, might fix things. Today, he didn’t have to fight against vulgar impulses that tormented him.

“…I earnestly request that you kindly leave your study for a moment.” 

Lizbeth followed a maid’s polite tone. He seemed more distant and difficult than when he caught a snake for her on their first meeting and occasionally stealing glances from the sidelines was the only thing allowed. When Bieren didn’t respond to her, Lizbeth involuntarily raised her head to look at him but quickly lowered it again when their eyes met. He was looking at her. 

“I’m not going to be gone for three days anyway, so you might as well do it now.”

Bieren casually spoke while looking at Lizbeth’s face, which couldn’t meet his gaze. The young maid seemed to like him excessively. Bieren knew that. He wanted to suppress her audacious feelings by wielding his position. What he wanted wasn’t some soft, innocent thing. He just wanted to lay the pretty maid down and release the heat rising under her skirt.

“If you’ll excuse me, then.”