Chapter 41
“Do things like that happen often among the maids?”
“Not really, but… hmm.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say she brought it on herself? I heard Eneka has a rather unique personality.”
“Unique? How so?”
“In a way that earns others’ resentment.”
He sure had a roundabout way of saying she had a bad personality. But even if her personality was terrible, did that justify treating her like that? If their personalities didn’t match, they could just ignore her. Why go out of their way to do something so tiresome?
Sissley had other business and left first. Luirene watched Eneka, who remained. Her short, curled, chocolate-brown hair tucked behind her ears, she squatted to pick up the paper, her profile calm. No—she looked almost dignified. As if to show she wasn’t intimidated at all.
One of the papers she was picking up fluttered to Luirene’s feet. When she picked it up, she saw a phrase written repeatedly. Between the letters, strokes were crooked, some parts pressed harder, and there were spelling errors here and there. It looked like the handwriting of a child.
“Give me that!”
A shrill force snatched the paper away. Eneka was right in front of her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to look.”
“You already saw everything, and you think an apology will make it right? Then why do we have police? Why do we have laws?”
Luirene began to rapidly understand Sissley’s explanation.
“…It may be a misunderstanding, but the paper flew toward me. It was unavoidable. If you’re upset, I apologize again.”
Eneka scowled and bit her lip. Strangely, she looked more upset now than earlier, when she had been surrounded by colleagues, her shoulder shoved, her paper trampled.
Luirene looked at the crumpled bundle of paper in her hand. It was familiar. When she first learned to write, she too had produced countless practice sheets like that.
“Um, excuse me.”
“Just try blabbing about what you saw today.”
The cold warning left Luirene without the courage to say more. Clutching the paper bundle—marked with footprints—as if it were more precious than treasure, Eneka hurried away on quick, short steps. Luirene rubbed her cheek uncomfortably and rushed toward the old lady’s bedroom.
She had intended to help if Eneka wanted it, but from her attitude, that seemed completely unlikely. Unwanted kindness was just a nuisance, so Luirene decided to pretend not to notice.
But strangely, after that day, she kept noticing Eneka. They say relationships start from awareness and recognition—apparently, even though they had passed each other often, she hadn’t registered her until this incident.
Moreover, the scenes she witnessed were mostly of Eneka being bullied or cleaning large areas alone, as if being punished. Even though it must be hard to endure such treatment in a group setting, her face was always composed. As if such things couldn’t hurt her.
Sometimes Luirene found her resting alone in the garden shade or behind the rear garden, always scribbling something. Probably the practice sheets from before.
When it wasn’t going well, she’d scratch the back of her head vigorously, making her already short hair stick up in spikes. Her unseen expression probably looked just as prickly.
“Sissley. Are you taking good care of the young master’s horse?”
“Of course.”
“I noticed the hay pile was untouched when I passed by yesterday.”
“…Managing the racehorse so it doesn’t get too fat is also part of a coachman’s duty.”
Having asked him over breakfast, Sissley tried to change the subject. Luirene tore off a piece of bread and spoke.
“Does the young master’s horse have a name yet?”
“Not yet. He said nothing suitable comes to mind, so I’m waiting.”
“The black coat was impressive. How about ‘Ebony’?”
“Ebony?”
“Yes. It means deep, dark black.”
“Hoo. The meaning suits it well, and it sounds good too. But what does it matter if I like it? It’s the young master’s horse—first, he has to like the name.”
“You could just pass the suggestion along.”
“Right, I’ll try mentioning it, I suppose.”
From his snickering, it seemed Sissley expected Hitaon to just sniff at it. Luirene, knowing something he didn’t—but not the ten things that came with it—smiled quietly and finished her meal.
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