maid chapter 10

Daniel simply didn’t want to see Ellie wandering around in what looked like nothing more than a flimsy nightgown, but she had no way of knowing his true intentions. Pleased with the thought of having made a good friend, Ellie washed her face and hands with the lukewarm water. Then, she rummaged through her bag and pulled out the least wrinkled morning dress, a pink one with a small floral print. It was another hand-me-down from the Baron’s estate.

They should have just paid her a decent wage instead of giving her these things. But it was all in the past now. She was a maid at the Earl’s estate, and she would be earning more than double her previous salary!

As she put on a light morning apron, Daniel re-entered the room. He frowned again at the sight of the bright pink dress.

“You’re going to wear that?”

“What, is it strange?” Ellie asked, looking herself over. It wasn’t new, but it wasn’t torn or faded either.

Most employers allowed their maids to wear their own clothes in the mornings instead of the heavier black dresses. But in reality, it was far from “casual.” The clothes had to meet the homeowner’s standards and not offend the housekeeper or the other maids.

In that sense, Ellie’s dress was a definite no. Daniel shook his head firmly.

“You can’t wear something this flashy here. Don’t you have anything in pale green… or blue?”

“Um…” Ellie thought about the few clothes she’d brought. Even if the colors were slightly different, they weren’t that different from the one she was wearing.

The maids gathered in the hall every morning to receive their instructions. They didn’t have time for this. Daniel quickly bent down and placed her bag back on the bed.

“This won’t do. Let me see everything.”

As soon as Ellie opened the bag, Daniel started rummaging through it. Colorful fabrics were tossed about in his hands.

“Don’t you have anything besides these… horrors?”

“They’re all nice…” Ellie trailed off. From young girls to elderly women, everyone in her village had envied her, saying she always wore nice clothes because she worked at a nobleman’s estate.

Daniel’s fingers brushed against a particularly soft fabric. He pulled it out, and it turned out to be Ellie’s undergarments. He dropped the piece of cloth as if it had burned him and slammed the bag shut.

“Ugh, forget it. Then I’ll… no, wait a moment.”

“Huh?”

Daniel, flustered, abruptly left the room. Bewildered, Ellie opened her bag again and tidied up her jumbled clothes.

Daniel quickly returned, carrying a square basket.

“Move your bag.”

Ellie moved her bag aside. Daniel overturned the basket, and a pile of clothes tumbled onto the bed.

“Choose something from here.”

Ellie’s eyes widened. Dresses of all colors. She couldn’t understand. Where had he gotten all these clothes so early in the morning?

“Whose are these?”

“They belonged to maids who ran away,” Daniel replied casually. It wasn’t uncommon for maids to leave their uniforms behind when they left the estate. Especially with the decreasing cost of ship passage overseas, the number of women leaving service entirely had increased dramatically.

The leftover clothes were usually divided among the remaining maids. The fact that these were still here meant they were of such poor quality that no one wanted them. But Ellie’s eyes sparkled as she looked through the clothes.

“Wow, they left these behind?”

“Well, some of them couldn’t take them with them because they died.”

Daniel’s offhand comment drained the color from Ellie’s face. The light blue dress she was holding slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor.

“R-really?”

“Just pick something, will you?”

At Daniel’s urging, Ellie began to rummage through the clothes again, her earlier excitement gone. With a worried frown, she examined each piece meticulously, as if searching for bloodstains.

Daniel scoffed inwardly. Even if they were from a dead person, there wouldn’t be anything like that left.

Finally, Ellie changed into a pale yellow dress. By then, they were running late. They hurried down the back stairs to the basement.

As they rushed down the steps, Ellie kept glancing at Daniel. When they reached the first floor, she couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer.

“Is that… fashionable?”

“What?”

“That thing around your neck.” Ellie pointed to her own neck. Daniel touched his neck, feeling the neatly tied neckerchief.

Ellie distinctly remembered him wearing a different patterned scarf while working yesterday. And it wasn’t just Daniel; several other maids had also worn similar scarves.