Chapter 27

 Ella didn’t answer. She just put down her glass and smiled faintly. Larque, accustomed to the girl’s silence, didn’t press for an answer. Instead, he quickly emptied his plate. Ella took a bite of each of several dishes. As she ate, she completely forgot that she wasn’t observing proper dining etiquette. How many times in her life would she have such an experience? Not all servant girls who received the master’s favor would receive such generous treatment. She too was just having a special experience……

 Larque quietly emptied his plate and then looked at his servant girl sitting across from him, nibbling like a squirrel. She seemed so engrossed in eating that she didn’t even realize he was watching her. Her constant use of the fork, apparently not knowing how to use a knife, was excessively cute. He had never thought of sharing a table with a lowborn, so Ella’s appearance could have been unpleasant, but he felt nothing of the sort.

 He unknowingly smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth, and moistened his throat with wine. After a while, Ella, feeling full, put down her fork. Then she stared blankly at him. Her awkward expression was quite adorable. He beckoned to her. Ella, who came waddling over, looked at him with a dull expression. Larque took a napkin and wiped the seasoning that had smeared beside her lips. Her white face turned red again.

 “I’ve given you many things today……”

 Larque poked Ella’s cheek. The girl blinked rapidly. He rang a bell to call a servant. A servant outside the greenhouse bowed his head. Ella stared at her master.

 “Bring her in.”

 Bring her in? Who was he asking to bring? Larien? Was he bringing in Larien? No, it probably wasn’t Larien. If he were going to invite his sister to the meal, he would have called her before the meal. Besides, he had said he wasn’t close enough to his sister to dine with her. Responsibility. That was the only thing, he had said. Ella stood still, watching the entrance to the greenhouse.

 “This is the last gift I’ll give you. I hope you use it well.”

 “What kind……”

 Her heart pounded. It was a different kind of pounding from before. She tried to suppress the unpleasantly vivid beating pulse. Was he going to give her an animal? Since he said ‘bring her in.’ But what good use would there be for a living animal? If it were a horse or hunting dog, he wouldn’t give it to her…… Ella stared anxiously at the entrance. After some time passed, a sound of dragging came from the corridor. Goosebumps rose on her earlobes. Eventually, what appeared, dragging along the corridor floor, was a woman in rags.

 Missing one arm and one eye. Ella covered her mouth and collapsed to the floor. She quickly covered her mouth to avoid screaming, but she couldn’t suppress her trembling breath.

 “Oh my. You’re surprised. It’s alright. With time, you’ll get used to its grotesque appearance.”

 Larque lifted the girl who had collapsed. After kissing her pale cheek, he stroked her head. Though she was clearly frozen, even that was lovely. How sweet and adorable servant girls could be. He caressed her soft cheek with the back of his hand and then turned her chin toward him.

 “Master……”

 “I’ll give that to you.”

 “What, what……”

 The girl couldn’t properly continue her words. He sat the repeatedly staggering child on his thigh and wiped her forehead.

 “There’s nothing to be surprised about. I merely punished her.”

 “But, but the lady is……”

 “It’s only natural to teach a lesson to those who don’t know their place.”

 It was a chilling voice. Unlike Ella, who wanted to vomit as if wondering when they had ever sat face to face and looked deeply into each other, he was as calm as a still surface with not even a breeze blowing. Her head was spinning.

 “That is now your ‘dog.'”

 Dog. A dog? How could a person become a dog? Ella trembled, unable to control her staggering, disheveled breath. Despite the time spent adorning her from head to toe, she was now a mess. Her skirt was wrinkled, and the plump puff was crushed, looking unsightly. But the man, finding her just pretty, held her and gestured to the person who had become rags.

 “Isn’t it satisfying?”

 The man asked. Ella, who had been squirming in his broad embrace, suddenly stopped moving. The girl who had been pushing away the man’s firm chest raised her head. Sharp, smooth chin. The red lips above it…… She couldn’t look any higher. Ella stopped her gaze at those lips. Did he say satisfying? What? She didn’t know what was supposed to be satisfying.

 Should she thank him for making a severely beaten woman into a ‘dog’? Was that really what he was asking? She didn’t know. If he had stopped at just beating her for punishment, she might have been secretly glad. But that, that. She looked at Victoire, who had literally become grotesque. Just looking at her made her eyes sting.

 Ella bit her lip, unable to look directly at the woman. The woman literally had a leash around her neck and was dragged by a servant’s hand. The dragging sound on the floor would have been the sound of the woman’s knees wearing out. Ella held back the tears that were about to burst out. The place where one arm had been cut off was empty. What would that crushed cross-section look like? She didn’t want to imagine it. At Larque’s signal, the servant grabbed the woman’s hair and pulled it back.

 Ella looked at the bloodied Victoire with clenched teeth. Her once neat black hair had been cut by half an inch, and her face, not just her eyes, was swollen from who knows how many beatings. Moreover, the branding…… The brand mark embedded in her forehead. Blood flowed from the mark that was clearly a burn. Ella gasped faintly and lowered her head.

 She couldn’t bear to look anymore. Ella trembled with her head bowed. A gentle hand patted her back. Though it was a comforting touch, it made her nauseous. If she ever became useless, could she be mangled so mercilessly?

 “Ella.”

 “Please treat her. She looks like she’s in a lot of pain.”

 “Raise your head.”

 She raised her head at her master’s command. The gray eyes were fierce.

 *** 

 When she opened her eyes, it was morning. Ella buried her face in the familiar blanket and took a deep breath. The blanket, imbued with the man’s scent, was as smooth as his sleek skin. She stretched out her arm and felt the empty space. Not long after, the closed bedroom door opened. After a maid drew the curtains and left, other maids entered and nudged Ella.

 “You need to get up. Ella. It’s already noon.”

 Anna woke her with a kind voice. Ella got up from her bed, covering her bare chest with the blanket, and rubbed her eyes. The man’s place, who had not given her time to sleep last night, was now occupied by a wrinkled blanket.

 “The master……”

 “He’s already in the study. He ordered us to take care of you at dawn. Now get up and have breakfast.”

 “What about the baby?”

 “The young master is with Baroness Laerik.”

 Baroness Laerik was the title referring to Eselmund’s wet nurse. At Anna’s words, Ella looked at the terrace bright with morning light. The velvet curtains fluttering in the breeze and sparkling in the transparent sunlight created a very beautiful scene, but it gave no impression to Ella, who was without her son.

 After being so rude to Larque, she probably wouldn’t be able to see the baby for a while. He wouldn’t let her meet him. Wasn’t he the man who always demanded her obedience using that as leverage?

 “Ella.”

 Anna gestured to her as she tightly gripped the blanket, trying to suppress her anger. Ella came out from under the blanket and stood before the maids. The maids personally dressed Ella. When a skilled maid lightly lifted her long hair and fixed it with pins, young maids approached and tied her chest with quality fabric.

 Even though she was a servant girl of low status, she was still the Duke’s woman, wasn’t she? Since the master had obtained an heir from her womb, there was a need to treat and care for her. Ella looked at the hem of her dress that fell in a perfect curve. The beautifully pleated sky-blue dress was incomparable to the dresses she wore on the battlefield. Ella shuddered as the silk brushed against her skin.

 Since conceiving Eselmund, maids had always attended to her. Of course, even before that, whenever she woke up in the Duke’s bedroom, maids had taken care of her. It was a familiar routine, but Ella nevertheless didn’t forget her status. The reason she tried to wear cloth dresses and live in the east wing where servants resided. The reason she deliberately maintained etiquette that even the master didn’t demand was for the day when he would abandon her. Whether she was abandoned or she left him. Because the catastrophe would come someday.

 “Are you in any pain?”

 Anna asked. Ella looked at the woman and nodded. Her face, which was beginning to show wrinkles, gave a more modest impression than in her youth.

 “Head maid, it’s ready.”

 Two maids who had been setting the table called for Anna. Ella looked at the two young maids who were arranging her skirt. She was in the same situation as them. Yet sometimes she found it laughable that she was leading them and receiving their service. What must they think of her?

 “As you may have heard, there’s a banquet at the palace this evening. I heard it’s to celebrate the safe return of the knights.”