maid chapter 24

Ellie, fast asleep. Her brown head bobbed precariously, threatening to fall forward. A round, wet spot marked the open pages of her Bible.

Daniel frowned. How incredibly annoying. He would have preferred not to notice, but now that he had, he couldn’t just ignore it.

Sighing deeply, Daniel straightened Ellie’s Bible and gently pushed the back of her head against it. Thump. Her head rested securely on the book’s spine.

Daniel turned back to Ian, who was biting his lip, desperately trying to stifle his laughter. Daniel scowled, and Ian quickly wiped his mouth, composing himself.

Just then, the priest concluded his sermon.

“Let us pray.”

Daniel and Ian quickly clasped their hands in a pretense of prayer. Murmurs of prayer filled the air. Under the cover of the noise, Daniel delivered his final message.

「Tell ‘Goat’ we need more bait to get results.」

「Yes.」

Their meeting concluded, Ian discreetly moved to a seat across the aisle. He had more freedom of movement than Daniel, disguised as a maid, but it would still take time to receive a reply.

Hymns filled the chapel once more. While everyone sang, Ellie remained with her head bowed, as if lost in prayer. At this rate, she’d be sleeping on the floor next. Daniel stealthily reached out and pulled the Bible from beneath Ellie’s head. She jolted awake.

“Whoa…?”

Her strange cry pierced through the organ music, causing several people in the front row to turn around. Ellie’s face turned as red as an apple.

She glared at Daniel, who feigned innocence. He had, after all, done her a favor by preventing her from slumping over during the sermon.

The service soon ended. As people began to leave, Ellie hesitated to stand. Rubbing her forehead, she glared at Daniel.

“What is this…!”

“What?”

Ellie pointed at her forehead. A long, red mark stretched across it.

Daniel simply shrugged. It was her own fault. A fitting mark for an irreverent churchgoer who slept during the service. Ellie, her face crumpled, tried to cover the mark with her hair.

Outside, the sun was high in the sky. It was time to return to their duties. Workers, denied even a Sunday respite, hurried back the way they had come.

The Stoner family’s staff followed suit. Ellie, about to join them, suddenly stopped. She looked around, and Daniel asked, puzzled,

“What is it?”

“Is there a mailbox nearby?”

Ellie continued to scan her surroundings as she spoke. She had assumed it would be easy to find one in such a busy area, but the large red box was nowhere in sight. Daniel replied indifferently,

“Not around here. You’d have to walk quite a ways.”

“Oh…”

Ellie sighed in despair. Disappointed, she trudged towards the manor.

Daniel exhaled, a sigh of frustration. He truly wanted nothing to do with Ellie. It wasn’t that he wanted a bad relationship with her. He simply wished they could pretend the other didn’t exist. But every single one of her actions grated on his nerves. He reluctantly asked,

“What are you sending?”

“A letter… I promised my siblings I’d write every week.”

Ellie pulled the envelope from her Bible. She had been scribbling in it morning, noon, and night, whenever she had a spare moment, and it was quite thick.

A letter filled with longing and affection. The concept was foreign to Daniel. He had no one to exchange letters with.

While he couldn’t understand her feelings, he knew the answer to her question. Not all maids were in his position. He offered a simple solution.

“If it’s a letter and not money, ask Anderson.”

Ellie tilted her head, utterly confused. Daniel continued, his tone slightly exasperated.