I vigorously rubbed the cloth with both hands. As I moved like tearing it apart, black water bubbled, and the cloth gradually turned white.

‘Ah, indeed, laundry is the best for relieving stress.’

My heart felt refreshed looking at the clothes becoming clean. As I was giggling at that, the maidservant beside me lightly hit my side and grumbled.

“Yeona, you go away. If you meet the young master again, he’ll scold you.”

“Oh, it’s fine. The young master must be very busy right now, what’s the matter.”

It’s already been five years since I inhabited my novel.

I made a joyful expression as I looked at the laundry as pure as snow.

‘I didn’t know, my talent.’

Why do they say that? For a talent to bloom, it’s important to be born at the right time. If one’s talent is pulling a rickshaw, they’d never be able to show it off in the modern era.

My talent was just that. Cleaning by hand better than a washing machine, perfect heat control without a gas stove!

‘It’s fun to do it sometimes, right?’

No matter the talent, if one has to wash dozens of outfits every day, it might be infuriating.

Thinking so, I was about to pick up some other laundry when my older sister who was washing with me quickly put away the laundry basket.

“If I make you work, I’ll get scolded. Just go there and watch.”

“Pfft.”

But if Danmokbi gets angry unnecessarily and it affects others, it’s not good, so I stepped back and sat on a rock, dipping only my ankles in the brook.

My peer maid, seeing me playfully splashing water, pouted her lips.

“I didn’t know Danmokbi was such a compassionate young master. If I had known, I would have said I’d take care of him.”

She speaks well, not even knowing if there were such direct young masters back then. I snickered and replied.

“If you abandon the people who were with you during hard times, you’ll be punished by heaven.”

“Kid, do you think you’re like a wife or something?”

My peer maid’s words earned her a scolding from an older sister around us.

“Shh, be quiet. You have to keep your mouth shut to work here for a long time.”

The child pouted but obediently closed her mouth. Certainly, making remarks about being like a wife to the young master was dangerous.

‘Especially if that young master is the precious child of a clueless household.’

Danmokbi’s martial arts improved day by day, and he had become one of the top experts in Jolgakseong. Naturally, the love of Danmoksu, who prioritized ability, gravitated towards Danmokbi.

‘Ugh, I wouldn’t be happy to receive such love. What meaning is there in conditional affection?’

Nevertheless, that much people’s attitude towards Danmokbi was extremely careful. It was only natural considering the master’s mood.

‘Thanks to that, my situation improved too.’

Since Danmokbi would become grumpy if I did even a little chore, I ended up being a maid living comfortably without doing anything.

‘It’s only a lower position, but it seems more comfortable than the young ladies of the house. They at least have to study.’

I was thinking that when I slightly lifted my foot to splash some water. A maid who was busily swinging a laundry bat asked.

“But Yeona, what’s with that cat? You always carry it around?”

The cat she pointed to was none other than Baekho. Baekho, claiming not to be a cat and disliking water, was lying far away on a wide rock where the sun shone well.

I answered calmly. Since my official duty was taking care of Baekho, I had only one answer.

“It’s a cat cherished by the young master.”

At my answer, Baekho glanced at me and then buried its head in its front paw again. The maid pouted.

“It sometimes seems to understand what I say.”

“It’s old.”

Old is an understatement. It’s a divine beast.

Fearing that if I dug more, I wouldn’t be able to touch it on the way back, I brushed off my spot and got up. As I was just slipping on my shoes, a running servant shouted from a distance.

“Yeona! The chief steward is looking for you!”

Oh no, why is that man looking for me?

I was getting bored with water games anyway, so I quickly picked up Baekho and ran to meet the chief steward.

The chief steward looked almost the same as always. Apart from his eyesight deteriorating slightly, causing him to wear glasses when writing.

And today he was just doing that, tapping the abacus while wearing his glasses. I energetically opened the door to the steward’s room and greeted him.
“Hello!”

“Oh yeah.”

Even now, when someone has come, he doesn’t even lift his head, as if he’s become familiar with me. I approached the steward with a pout and sniffed at his nose. Annoyed, the steward took off his glasses and became irritated.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m sniffing to see if I smell cigarette smoke.”

“When did I quit smoking and you’re still tormenting me with that!”

“Hehehe.”

A weakness once found is a weakness forever, isn’t it? I narrowed my eyes and smiled mischievously, and the steward sighed and put his glasses on the desk. Then he washed his hands and muttered.

“It’s a strange thing. I can’t stand the smell of cigarettes since that day.”