Chapter 39
Arzeletta bowed her head quickly and packed the pile of laundry into the basket.
Once work began, Arzeletta had no room for other thoughts. It wasn’t just a threat to scare her—that maid truly did beat her. Far more than the number of stains.
Her head throbbed. She was completely dazed. Arzeletta groaned as she walked, carrying a laundry basket larger than her own body.
It had been a week since the nightmare-like night Exion had shown her.
Since then, every night, Arzeletta had been tormented by nightmares. Nightmares in which Theogrim appeared in pain.
Even amidst the chaos of everything, she had to at least finish today’s work.
Carrying a mountain of laundry that seemed on the verge of collapsing, Arzeletta walked toward the deserted lakeside. The memory of what had happened with the dead man made her afraid, but more terrifying than that was the beating waiting for her now.
The blow she had taken from the old maid left her head spinning.
“Ah…!”
Dizziness hit. In that moment, Arzeletta’s body tilted. The mountain of laundry spilled out onto the ground.
Before she could even register what she had collided with, her body tipped forward. Arzeletta tumbled onto the spilled laundry.
No, she almost did. In that instant, a strong force grabbed her waist and lifted her upright before she could fall.
It was a force as firm as stone.
Arzeletta shook her head. Her long black hair fell over the laundry.
“Are you alright?”
A low, refined voice reached her. From the polished and trained tone alone, it was unmistakably that of a noble.
To spill filthy laundry in front of a noble—Arzeletta felt her heart stop.
“I-I’m so sorry. Please forgive me…!”
Arzeletta immediately apologized, bowing her head deeply—and then drew in a sharp breath.
It was because of the golden crest engraved on the man’s elegant leather boots.
“……!”
Arzeletta held her breath and slowly lifted her head.
And when she confirmed the man’s face, all color drained from her pale complexion.
Still held by the arm, Arzeletta couldn’t even step back and covered her mouth with one hand.
At first, she hadn’t recognized him. He was too big, too dark… too imposing.
“L-Lord… Ragnar…”
The man standing before her like a towering fortress was none other than Ragnar von Rosenburg. The Great God’s proxy and the highest authority in this land.
Ragnar, standing like stone, furrowed his brow. Perhaps he was displeased by the overt display of fear and terror on her face.
Or perhaps it was simply that the person he had gone so far as to lift up with his own hand was such a lowly being—one whose mere touch was unpleasant.
Arzeletta slowly came to understand the situation.
That she had run into Lord Ragnar at the lakeside with her own body, and had spilled filthy laundry on him. That the lord himself had helped her up.
Realizing the situation, her body began to tremble. Her shoulders shook as if from cold. Seeing Arzeletta’s frightened face, Ragnar narrowed his cold eyes and released the wrist he had been holding.
“The woman who left a scar on my successor’s face.”
At Ragnar’s words, as cold as his gaze, Arzeletta immediately dropped to her knees. She bowed her head and pressed her entire body to the ground.
“I-It was a mistake, my lord. Please, forgive me…”
Arzeletta felt as though her lips were frozen in fear.
There was no way Ragnar would look upon her favorably. She was the one who had left an indelible scar on the face of the successor he had obtained with great difficulty. The very reason the entire domain despised her.
He was the one who had left her to be hated and slandered by everyone, from the highest place.
To Arzeletta, Ragnar was the most terrifying being in the world. He embodied the full weight of all the hatred directed at her, and his authority and power were so overwhelming, it felt like he could crush her to death with just a finger. She could barely breathe.
She had never even stood face-to-face with him until now.
Why was he in a place like this? And alone, at that.
“Laundry worker.”
Ragnar nudged Arzeletta’s laundry basket with his foot as he spoke.
“The woman who scarred the sacred face of Del Rose.”
“F-For-forgive me…”
“There should be a laundry place within the castle. Why did you come all the way out here?”
Ragnar lifted Arzeletta’s chin with his foot. Arzeletta’s light green eyes quivered.
“Answer me, lowly woman.”
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