SWS CH 22

Chapter 22

Hatsen blinked a few times, then suddenly scowled.

“Hah. Don’t tell me more than one barrel overflowed and you emptied it?”

Since Hatsen had been injured today, the assistant had handled the cooking, so it wouldn’t have been strange. That assistant’s cooking skills were far worse than Hatsen’s.

But the assistant shook his head.

“That’s all of it.”

“What? You said you made stew for dinner, didn’t you?”

Hatsen had tasted that stew before. It was awful. So bad he’d felt guilty toward the servants who had to eat it. He’d even talked to the head chef about hiring a new assistant.

But now there were no leftovers? That made no sense.

“What kind of trick did you pull?!”

“A trick?”

“Be honest. There’s no way the servants ate all your food.”

“That’s harsh. But… I’ll admit it.”

“Then tell me properly. What did you do?”

Hatsen grabbed the assistant by the arm and demanded answers.

The assistant led him into the kitchen. A delicious smell filled the air, unlike anything Hatsen was used to there. The assistant handed him a bowl of leftover stew.

“Please try it.”

It looked like ordinary stew, but inside were lumps made from whole-wheat dough.

“What on earth is this?”

“Just try it first.”

“It’s huge.”

“You’re supposed to split it in half.”

Hatsen eyed him suspiciously, then used his spoon to cut the dough in half.

“What—what is this?!”

As the dough split open, the filling spilled out. Finely chopped ingredients in bright colors released a rich aroma.

“It’s minced vegetables and meat.”

“Vegetables and meat?”

They’d been packed together, so he hadn’t noticed, but now he could clearly see carrots, onions, and meat. All ingredients the kitchen always had.

Scooping some up with the spoon, the stew broth naturally followed.

He put it straight into his mouth.

“Wah!”

Hatsen’s eyes flew open.

They were completely ordinary ingredients, yet the taste was something he’d never experienced before.

Next, he tasted the stew broth. It was similar to what the assistant usually made, yet somehow different.

“How did you make this?!”

Especially this mysterious thing stuffed with ingredients inside the dough.

At his question, the assistant grinned.

“It’s good, right?”

It was so good it hurt his pride.

Good enough that the lack of leftovers made perfect sense.

“How did you make it?!”

“Hehe. I just made stew like usual.”

“This tastes nothing like usual! Your cooking was terrible.”

“That’s mean. I am officially your assistant, you know.”

“Just tell me already.”

When Hatsen pressed him, the assistant shrugged.

“Actually… the new maid made it.”

“The new maid? That’s strange. I never heard we hired anyone new.”

In Bloodymary, new hires happened only twice a year.

The maids hired last month had finished training long ago.

“I thought it was odd too, but she was with May, so I figured she transferred from somewhere else.”

“Where is that maid right now?!”

Where she came from didn’t matter.

What mattered was dragging her into the kitchen.

For the sake of good meals in the future!

***

I ran into Geti on my way back from dropping off my dirty clothes at the laundry room. She scolded me for being hard to find and came into the room I’d chosen.

“You really plan to use this room?”

“Yeah. It’s my room now. Is that okay?”

“Are you serious? You’re using this place?”

“Yeah.”

Geti was holding a tray of warm food.

She set it down with a stunned expression and looked around the room.

“But… this place was filthy. Every spiderweb had spiders on it. The maids gave up cleaning it.”

“No wonder there were so many spiders and webs.”

If it hadn’t been for Junel, I might have killed them all myself.

“Don’t tell me you cleaned all of this yourself?”

“Yeah.”

“No way.”

She covered her mouth, clearly shocked.

“Why are you so surprised? You told me to clean it and use it.”

“No, I mean—this building has tons of rooms. Why this one? Even the first floor has plenty of clean rooms.”

That was true, but those rooms were too much for me. Bigger than the apartment my former mother-in-law had given us.

“I’m comfortable here. Honestly, even this is more than enough for me.”

I only chose it because I was told to pick freely. Even this room was huge for one person. At least I’d gotten familiar with it while cleaning.

“I heard you like flashy things.”

“Did you investigate me?”

“No. Head butler Karl dropped a few hints.”

If the head butler said that, he’d definitely looked into me.

And it wasn’t wrong.

Before possession, Halara had lived flamboyantly as a femme fatale.

Empty on the inside, but to other villagers she must have looked extravagant and arrogant.

“I changed. After meeting Young Master Docep.”

“I really don’t want to hear that.”

This?

“Don’t hate the young master. You’ll regret it later.”

Docep supposedly had talent surpassing even the founding duke. He just hadn’t awakened yet.

“How could I dare hate him?”

“Then what?”

“I just don’t want to imagine you and the young master together. Among us maids, the young masters are… sort of symbolic figures.”

Geti clasped her hands and stared into the air.

I knew what she meant, but I didn’t want to hear it.

“As long as you don’t hate him, that’s fine.”

“Hey!”

“Wow. Dinner at ten o’clock.”

I slipped past her and looked over the food she’d brought. It was on a completely different level from servant meals.

I sat down like it was my first proper meal and enjoyed it, secretly sharing some meat with Junel.

“You should eat too, Geti.”

“I’ll eat at the main hall. I’m exhausted from looking for you.”

She complained while preparing to leave. I waved at her.

“You must be hungry. Go on.”

“I’ll show you around the estate tomorrow morning, so wake up early.”

“Okay.”

Geti left the room looking tired.

It seemed she knew the annex dining hall food was bad too, if she was going all the way to the main hall.

“This is tasty too, but those pouches you made earlier were way better.”

Junel set down the meat he was eating and shook his head.

“That’s called dumplings. The skin was rough since it was whole-wheat, but it tasted good, right?”

I’d used whole-wheat flour meant for bread since there was no regular flour.

“Not just good—top-class! The best food I’ve eaten in a hundred years!”

“Thanks for the praise. I’ll make it often.”

“I’m so happy! Following you was the right choice!”

Korean food really was the best.

Western food was fine, but the variety was limited and got boring quickly.

Korean food had endless variety, never got old, and tasted great.

I remembered how happy the maids and attendants had been eating the dumpling stew earlier, and smiled.

I’d just adjusted the seasoning of the original stew. I couldn’t waste food.

The stew combined with the dumplings had created a surprisingly delicious dumpling soup—even I was impressed.

“I think I’m cut out for business. Seeing people happy feels so good.”

I almost thought I should’ve become a maid from the start.

“You should keep cooking! Letting that talent rot would be a sin!”

“Would that really be okay?”

“Of course. You’re going to save this family anyway, so do whatever you want!”

Well, it wasn’t like I was squandering the family fortune.

“It’s all about making a living!”

Hehe, I hugged Junel and smiled.

Junel, clearly in a good mood, purred and snuggled into me.

***

At the same time, in the main residence—

After finishing a simple breakfast alone in her room, Francesca looked out the window and sighed once more.

Karl entered and poured tea into her empty cup as he reported.

“The knight who left with Young Master Helbern has returned.”

She turned sharply at the awaited news. Dark circles sat under her eyes from a sleepless night.

“Helbern? The letter?”

“He said it may take some time to persuade Sir Nilsen.”

Helbern persuading someone?

She wasn’t sure he was capable of logical persuasion, but at least it bought them a few days.

“At least Helbern helped. That’s a relief.”

“But if the first young master finds out, he may send another knight.”

“Keep an eye on Nikolai.”

“I already have people watching him.”

“Thank you, Karl. You finally sound like a proper head butler.”

At her praise, Karl bit his lip hard. He looked like he might burst into tears. It had been so long since he’d been complimented.

“I’ll continue to serve the family with my life! Sob.”

Francesca handed him her handkerchief and asked,

“And the girl?”

“Ah, Miss Halara. I suppose we should call her the young madam now.”

“Yes. Even if she’s a commoner, she entered as Docep’s wife. We should treat her with enough dignity that the servants don’t gossip.”

Francesca had brought Halara in saying it was fine if she disliked her. She had no intention of nitpicking or tormenting her now.

If Halara hadn’t been pregnant, if she hadn’t met Docep, none of this would have happened.

How she lived here now was up to Halara.

“Who’s assigned to her?”

“Geti. She hasn’t been in the main house long, but she’s quick, so we assigned her.”

“I see. Since she’s from the main house, the girl may have a hard time.”

Geti was ambitious, though capable. She likely disliked a commoner entering the family.

But Francesca wouldn’t personally train the maid. She hadn’t brought Halara in out of affection.

***

Despite telling me to wake early, Geti showed up at seven.

Without a phone, I’d asked Junel to wake me, but I’d woken up earlier than him.

“This is the main house.”

By the time it was nearly noon, I’d toured the estate with Geti.

The place I stayed was called the annex. The Bloodymary family lived in the main house.

The main house was a complete maze.

On top of that, Geti had given me an uncomfortable dress in the morning. Maid uniforms were far better for movement.

Calling it a dress felt excessive, but calling it a simple one-piece felt wrong too.

An awkwardly pretty but uncomfortable outfit.

I was ready to give up sightseeing altogether when—

“Fools of Bloodymary, stuffing a legendary sword in a storage room.”

“Halara! There’s a secret forging recipe of a swordmaster family here! Let’s take it!”

Junel kept discovering hidden treasures around the estate, so I couldn’t stop.

I should grab them while no one’s looking.

Unused rooms meant abandoned treasures.

Business capital… ahem.

More importantly, they were needed for Docep’s awakening.

He was the protagonist, after all.

To prevent the family’s destruction, his strength was essential.

Even the combined power of the duke, Nikolai, and Helbern hadn’t stopped it.

“Hey!”

While I was walking around with sparkling eyes thanks to Junel’s intel, Geti suddenly stopped and stared at me.

“It’s Halara, not ‘you.’”

“I’ll remember.”

“So petty.”

Whenever I thought of her name, I thought of jajang-flavored ramen and got hungry.

As I pouted, she suddenly asked,

“Where was the eighteenth room?”

The eighteenth room… the one next to the sword recipe.

“It used to be a study. Full of old books no one reads anymore.”

Rooms eighteen through twenty-one were all packed with books.

“…Then room thirty-two?”

“That was Young Master Helbern’s wardrobe.”

The psycho’s room I planned never to enter.

“Right.”

Geti muttered.

“Well, if you couldn’t even remember that, you wouldn’t be human.”

“Compliment me.”

“At least teaching you wasn’t pointless. If you didn’t know, I was going to make you do another round.”

Whew. Thank goodness.

Thanks to Junel’s info, I avoided suffering.

If she’d made me go around again, I would’ve run away.

“What are you doing this afternoon?”

I really wanted an easy afternoon.

“No schedule yet.”

“So… rest?”

“Yeah.”

I stared at Geti suspiciously.