SWS CH 21

hapter 21

She flinched slightly when she saw my face, then scanned me from head to toe.

“Hm? A new maid?”

She asked after looking at my old, shabby clothes. Honestly, I did look worse than a maid.

Still, I didn’t know how I should introduce myself.

I wasn’t formally married to Docep, and I couldn’t exactly say I was his mistress like Geti had.

I’m a woman who decided to live with Docep for now because the Duchess told us to try living together. Maybe she’s hoping the young master will change a little if he lives with me?
There was no way I could say something like that.

“Uh… something like that.”

“What do you mean, ‘something like that’?”

“I’m looking for cleaning supplies.”

“What? Then you really are a maid. What is the annex head maid doing, leaving you like this? Did she go hang around the main house again… Honestly, if she’s going to be like this, she should just give me the head maid position.”

The maid grumbled to herself, then sighed deeply and motioned for me to follow her.

She led me to a laundry room piled high with dirty clothes.

Rummaging through a corner, she pulled something out.

“Maid uniform. Put this on.”

She called it a maid uniform, but it was much higher quality and softer than my clothes.

As expected of a ducal house. Even the maid uniforms were well made.

“Cleaning tools are in that room over there. Since you’re new, want to start with the first floor? You do know how to clean, right?”

“Of course. Cleaning is my specialty. You don’t have to worry.”

“Then please take care of the first floor.”

“Thanks.”

The maid left the laundry room carrying a rag.

I quickly changed into the maid uniform. If I was going to be covered in dust anyway, this was better. In fact, it was so comfortable I almost wanted to take a few extra sets.

“Perfect. With this outfit, I can clean without holding back.”

Seeing that the weather outside had brightened, I cheerfully gathered a bucket and cleaning tools and headed out.

***

Before the morning dew had dried—

Only the knight commander, Moldorf, remained in the quiet training grounds.

He was tidying up alone before the apprentice knights arrived, then sat on a tree stump and polished his sword.

He had repeated this routine for over twenty years, but today his movements stopped when he heard unexpected footsteps.

Alert for a moment, Moldorf’s expression changed to shock when he recognized the face of the newcomer.

“…Young Master Docep?”

Clang!

Startled, Moldorf dropped the sword he was holding.

Standing there was Docep, the second young master of the Bloodymary family.

The man he thought would never return. The one he wondered if he’d even see again before dying.

The Bloodymary Ironblood Knight Order.

Among them, the Third Division.

It was a training ground that prepared apprentice knights for real combat.

The Bloodymary young masters were trained here as well.

When Nikolai, Docep, and Helbern turned five, the Duke personally entrusted Moldorf with their training.

But Docep stopped appearing once he turned thirteen.

The reason was simple.

He had no talent for swordsmanship.

While his brothers awakened their sword aura around age seven, Docep never did. The gap in skill only widened with time.

He lost to Nikolai and Helbern repeatedly, and by the time he was thirteen, he was even defeated by ordinary apprentice knights.

One day, after being seriously injured in a spar with Nikolai, Docep stopped coming to the training grounds entirely.

Moldorf had gone to Docep’s room many times to persuade him, but the door was always firmly shut.

That was ten years ago.

And now, ten years later, Docep had returned on his own.

“Long time no see, Moldorf.”

He greeted him, surprisingly politely.

“…Why are you here?”

As Moldorf asked in disbelief, Docep stepped closer and picked up the fallen sword.

“I’ll be blunt. Become my sword instructor again.”

“Sword instructor…?”

“Yes. I’m going to take up the sword again.”

In truth, Docep had never once let go of the sword. And he didn’t truly need an instructor.

Even if he returned.

But the knight order was necessary.

The one who would destroy this family was someone strong enough to defeat a 9-star Duke and 8-star Nikolai and Helbern.

Whoever that enemy was, he would need many capable knights to face them.

Halara, the beginning of that destruction, had appeared. And now that he had placed the changed Halara by his side, it was time to move quickly.

For that, he needed Moldorf, who was trusted by everyone.

“I need you.”

Docep looked straight ahead.

His aura was completely different from the defeatist child he once was, and Moldorf momentarily forgot to breathe.

“It’s been a long time since I was here.”

Docep calmly looked around, as if reminiscing.

“Are you serious?”

It was a heavy, solemn question.

Rumors said Docep had recently been wandering around drunk, getting into fights with mercenaries. And just because he was a young master didn’t mean they could simply accept someone who had abandoned the training grounds.

In response, Docep reached for one of the wooden practice swords stacked beside Moldorf.

“Then test me.”

“What kind of test?”

“The test to enter the knight order. If I’m coming back, I should take it properly. Don’t you agree?”

Docep adjusted his grip on the wooden sword.

There was no hesitation. No inferiority complex.

***

After finishing a round of cleaning, I stepped into the hallway and focused on the faint smell drifting through the air.

“When do we eat… I’m starving to death.”

“I am too. But you won’t actually die.”

“I mean I’m starving enough to die.”

“Wait. I’ll find something soon.”

Junel, clearly low on energy, slumped against my shoulder.

Geti still hadn’t shown up.

She probably couldn’t find me, but I couldn’t wait any longer. If she wasn’t coming, I’d have to go myself.

Sniff, sniff.

Before long, I found the kitchen.

“This is it.”

Following the smell and the noise, I threw the door open. A rush of delicious aroma hit me.

The hunger I’d barely been holding back surged forward.

“I’m saved.”

The kitchen was busy preparing meals. There were many servants, but I didn’t see Geti.

Seeing maids and attendants eating, it seemed this was the servants’ dining area.

“Oh? You’re that girl from earlier. You came to eat too.”

“Huh?”

“Bowls are here.”

Geti wasn’t there, but the maid who had shown me the cleaning supplies earlier was.

Her hair was tied in twin braids, and she handed me a rough wooden bowl.

“Come here.”

She ladled a generous portion of stew into it. I took the bowl and sat at a table in the adjoining dining room.

The table was piled with bread, and she said I could eat as much as I wanted.

“Unlimited bread? This is great.”

As expected of a ducal house. The benefits were decent.

I took a bite of bread.

“I don’t know what you mean, but you won’t be able to eat much.”

I immediately understood why.

This wasn’t white bread, but bread made with whole wheat and rye. Dry and dense, the kind that sticks in your throat.

Honestly, even better.

Here, whole-grain bread probably wasn’t considered good food, but back in my day, whole-grain bread cost twice as much as white bread.

And it was healthier.

As I chewed happily, enjoying the unique flavor, the maid widened her eyes in surprise.

“I’m May. What’s your name?”

“I’m… Lara.”

I shortened Halara to Lara, just in case.

“Lara? That’s a pretty name.”

May showed no suspicion at all.

“Yours is pretty too.”

“My name? It’s super common.”

May shook her head and poked at her stew. I followed suit and took a spoonful.

At a glance, it looked similar to food sold in the market, but the contents were completely different.

Potatoes, carrots, onions, plus corn, peas, and pumpkin—ingredients considered high-end at the market.

It was a nutritional powerhouse stew.

So why was May barely touching it?

“Ugh.”

The moment I tasted it, I understood.

“Why is it seasoned like this…?”

“Ugh! My taste buds are ruined! Did they give us garbage?!”

Junel spat and rinsed his mouth with water.

“You’ll get used to it. It was never amazing, but all the skilled chefs were moved to the main house.”

“Aren’t there maids who can cook well?”

“They’re all in the main house too. Anyone good at cooking is valuable.”

“Then shouldn’t they just hire a new chef?”

“To get a really skilled chef, they’d have to bring someone from outside. But apparently there was a spy who infiltrated as a chef before. Since then, they try not to hire new people.”

May whispered quietly.

It made sense, but the taste was still terrible.

Using ingredients I couldn’t even afford at the market to make food like this…

No wonder all the maids and attendants were so slim. It wasn’t just the hard work. The food was a bigger issue.

“Still, eat a bit. I’ll show you a place to rest afterward. If you exhaust yourself on the first day, you’ll burn out fast.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You look like you worked really hard.”

May pointed at my clothes. White dust clung all over the black maid uniform like cat hair.

“Haha. It was pretty dirty.”

“That dirty? The first floor near the entrance is cleaned often. There shouldn’t have been much to clean…”

Actually, I’d been cleaning my room on the third floor, but there was no need to explain.

“Haha. It’s my first day, so I tried to find things to clean… Maybe that’s why. I’m really hungry and dizzy. I want something tasty.”

Whole-grain bread wasn’t enough.

When you’re hungry, you need something truly satisfying. That was why I’d planned to sell filling food at the market.

“I’m starving… Lara, shouldn’t we just find that Geti or Jetty or whatever and demand a proper meal?”

That might have been the best option, but there was no guarantee Geti would bring decent food.

Besides, I was a K-possession type. Western food wasn’t really my thing.

“May, can I use the kitchen?”

“Huh? The kitchen?”

“I’m actually good at cooking.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I was planning to sell food at the market later.”

That wasn’t all. I didn’t have a Korean food license, but there was no Korean dish I couldn’t make—thanks to my husband who ate three meals a day.

“You don’t want to eat this either, right? I’ll make us a proper meal.”

“Oh… yeah. Anything but this is fine. I’ll report it to the head maid.”

Since May also disliked the food, she agreed easily.

“Perfect.”

***

The Bloodymary annex kitchen head, Hatsen, returned to the annex late.

“Chef, did your treatment go well?”

An assistant who had just finished eating spotted him and approached, glancing at Hatsen’s injured arm.

“Yeah. I need to wait a few more days.”

“Oh dear. That’s what you get for pushing yourself with cooking research.”

“What do you mean, ‘pushing myself’? Was I wrong to try harder? Everyone keeps saying the annex food is bad, so I wanted to properly learn to cook this time!”

His cut hand already hurt badly, and the assistant’s words only irritated him.

“Just leave it. At least the food here isn’t trash like what servants eat in other noble houses.”

“What kind of nonsense is that? Servants aren’t people? They deserve to eat terrible food?”

“I’m just worried about you. Compared to other families, the servants here are treated well. Their pay is decent, so they buy tasty food outside.”

That was true.

Unlike other houses that fed servants with discarded ingredients, Bloodymary used fresh supplies. The workload was heavy, but the pay was good. That was why no one complained much about the food.

“That’s the problem! So much food gets thrown away every day! I’m ashamed to even face the main kitchen chef. The food here is worse than street junk food!”

Hatsen found this deeply humiliating. Though he was a chef, hardly anyone enjoyed his cooking.

Unlike the main kitchen with abundant ingredients, the annex had limited supplies, making good food harder to prepare.

He had even cut down on sleep to research recipes, only to hear this.

Clack, clack.

Hatsen strode to the back of the kitchen and opened a wooden barrel.

“Look at this! See how much food gets thrown out every day!”

It was the food waste bin.

Normally, it would be overflowing.

“It’s… clean?”

“What?!”

But something was strange.

There was almost no leftover food.

There was some—but only a tiny amount.