Arasila thought calmly. What would happen if she refused the Duchess’s order and pushed back here? It might feel satisfying for the moment, but it wouldn’t be good in the long run.

The Duchess could use her attitude as an excuse to settle down in the mansion permanently.

If given an excuse, even Demian might not be able to do anything about his grandmother. Arasila had to prevent that, so she slowly bent down to pick up the basket.

Watching this, Audrey hastily interjected.

“Madam, let me…!”

“How dare a mere maid interject so impudently!”

The Duchess silenced Audrey with a thunderous rebuke. Arasila, holding the basket, signaled her maid with her eyes not to intervene.

In the end, Audrey had no choice but to bow her head apologetically and step back.

“Then, I’ll be going.”

“Wait. Since you might try to pass this task to someone else, go with my maid.”

Arasila nodded as she quietly observed the Duchess, who didn’t forget to thoroughly attach a watchdog.

She obediently moved to the laundry area behind the mansion with the Duchess’s maid. The maid, with an overbearing impression resembling her mistress, followed stiffly behind. She didn’t even offer to carry the basket out of courtesy.

She just watched with persistent eyes to make sure Arasila didn’t take a different path, and once they arrived at the laundry area, she acted like a guard watching over a prisoner.

“Since this is a dress the Duchess cherishes, please handle it carefully.”

Interference came immediately even for the trivial act of taking the dress out of the basket.

It wasn’t a tone a mere maid should use towards a lady, but the maid backed by the Duchess was unrestrained.

‘So different from our Audrey, who’s cute and kind like me.’

Arasila clicked her tongue inwardly while ignoring the maid’s words and carelessly dumped the dress into the water.

Cherished dress, my foot.

If it was really such a dress, she wouldn’t have entrusted it to Arasila even as a joke. Just looking at the slightly faded lace on the sleeves, it was clear that she had handed over an old dress that wasn’t worn often.

Rolling up her sleeves in earnest, she began washing the dress with clumsy skills. As a noble lady born and raised in a prestigious family, it was the first time in her life doing such a task.

She had never had her hands in water for so long in her life except when bathing.

However, Arasila successfully finished the laundry by skillfully using magic secretly from the maid intermittently.

“It’s done, let’s go.”

“…Understood.”

The maid, who had been examining the dress with sharp eyes for any faults, retreated. Thanks to the use of magic, Arasila’s work was flawless despite it being her first time doing laundry.

After hanging the dress and returning, the Duchess was not in her room. Audrey, who remained in the empty room, spoke softly with an unpleasant expression.

“The Duchess went to the dining hall. She said for you to come there as soon as you return, Madam.”

Arasila let out a hollow laugh. If she had been told in advance, she could have gone straight to the dining hall without the trouble of coming here. It was clear that the Duchess hadn’t given any notice just to make things difficult for her.

Soon composing her expression and posture, she went down to the dining hall. In the grand hall, unusually heavy with silence today, the Duchess was seated at the end of the long oval table.

“Tsk tsk, how can you be so slow? I thought I would die of hunger waiting for you!”

As soon as Arasila appeared, the Duchess shouted loud enough to make the hall resound.

“I’m sorry. I’ll start the meal right away…”

“Bring the food.”

The commanding tone, as if addressing a lowly servant, was not directed at the maids standing around. The Duchess’s eyes and mouth were precisely aimed at Arasila.

In other words, she was ordering Arasila to bring the food.

Arasila, who had been standing still for a moment looking at the Duchess, began to move towards her while maintaining eye contact. The Duchess, not backing down, met that gaze and said,

“You have no manners and don’t know how to be respectful in front of your elders, so I must teach you a lesson like this.”

It was a statement that conveyed her intention to thoroughly break Arasila’s spirit.

Arasila quietly raised her eyes and looked around. The maids with lowered heads looked more uncomfortable and at a loss than her, as if sitting on pins and needles.

Phew. After letting out a short sigh, she walked towards the kitchen. Passing by the awkwardly standing servants, she pointed to the tray with food on it.

“Should I take this?”

“Huh? …Yes, yes, Madam.”

The chef hurriedly came running, bowing and holding out the tray.

Arasila delivered the trays one by one to the Duchess. The Duchess, who had started eating with satisfaction, frowned after a while at the continuously piling food and said,

“I’ll get indigestion, bring it more slowly! I told you to show respect for me, but are you only thinking about getting this over with quickly?”

While Arasila couldn’t even eat as she was busy moving the food, it was just absurd for someone comfortably seated and only cutting their food to say such things.

Swallowing her exasperated feelings, Arasila slowly brought the food. The Duchess ostentatiously cut the meat into small pieces and leisurely savored the taste as she put it in her mouth.

“Pour the water too.”

“…”

The urge to pour the water jug over the Duchess’s head instead of into the glass arose, but Arasila endured this time as well.

After using her as a serving maid throughout the meal, the Duchess finished her meal elegantly and stood up. The napkin she casually tossed fell at Arasila’s feet.

“Hmph, the taste was nothing special. Tell the kitchen to prepare food to suit my palate from now on.”

The Duchess left the dining hall haughtily, leading her maids. Arasila, who had been going back and forth between the kitchen and the hall all this time, could finally sit down in a chair.

She rested her forehead on her interlocked fingers, elbows on the table. Her legs ached terribly from standing so long, but the burning anger in her stomach hurt even more.

“I’ll prepare your meal, Madam.”

Audrey, approaching cautiously, softly announced. However, Arasila waved her hand in refusal.

“I’ve lost my appetite.”

If she ate anything now, her stomach might get completely blocked. And watching the Duchess eat had thoroughly killed her appetite.

Feeling the petty intention to make her suffer over food, she felt too disgusted to eat.

With a deep sigh that seemed to come from the soles of her feet, Arasila stood up. There was no need to stay in the dining hall now that the Duchess had left.

“I want to rest. Let’s go to my room.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Audrey quickly guided the tired-looking Arasila to her room.

While her mistress buried herself deep in the sofa, she examined Arasila’s hands with a worried face.

Although magic had been used, her hands, which had been flawless before, were slightly reddened from doing laundry and carrying food.

“You’ve really had a hard time, Madam.”

“No, it’s you who really have a hard time, doing this kind of work every day.”

If it was this tiring just doing it for a short while, how much harder must it be for the maids who have to do the same work every day without rest? She sincerely felt that their hard work was amazing.

Arasila straightened up and gently grasped Audrey’s shoulders.

“I’m always grateful, Audrey.”

“Ah, no, Madam.”

Audrey’s cheeks flushed shyly. It felt somewhat embarrassing to receive such unexpected gratitude for work she was supposed to do anyway.

Arasila smiled softly and leaned back on the sofa, lost in thought.

It was still more than ten days before Demian would return. Even when he came, it wasn’t certain if he could immediately drive out the Duchess.

So instead of just enduring the Duchess’s tyranny while waiting for her husband, she needed to set her own trap for the Duchess.

After pondering deeply on what to do, Arasila finally spoke.

“Audrey, spread rumors about today’s events within the mansion. Exaggerate it greatly. Say that the Duchess has completely crushed my spirit, that I’m very upset, and that it seems I cried alone in my room even though I didn’t show it.”

“What…? But if we do that, your reputation…”

If word spread that Arasila, the mistress of the mansion, had been overwhelmed by the Duchess, some servants might start to look down on her.

And the Duchess and her maids would surely strut around with increased arrogance.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind. Spread it thoroughly so that not a single person hasn’t heard it.”

But that was exactly what Arasila wanted. Originally, to turn a crisis into an opportunity, one must be willing to accept some losses.

“Even if I lose a little now, I’ll gain more later.”

A fresh smile appeared on Arasila’s lips.

Although she didn’t know what the scheme was, Audrey, knowing that her mistress usually smiled like that when she had some plan, decided to silently obey the order.

After the hand washing and dinner service, Arasila became noticeably docile and compliant. The maids gossiped that she even cried in secret, which was very satisfying for the Duchess.

Yes, the young thing was just all talk.

No matter how she might have bested the Duchess, she would find it difficult to do so against herself.

Still, she didn’t let her guard down and continuously badmouthed Arasila, picked faults, and nagged her.

She didn’t hesitate to make personal attacks to undermine her self-esteem and crush her pride.

“How can a woman’s bottom be so heavy? Tsk tsk, you should lose some weight.”

“Don’t think of flaunting your maiden family in front of me! Once married, a woman belongs to her husband’s family!”

“My, my, how can you be so full of yourself? Don’t waste your energy on unnecessary things, focus on your household!”

“You are short-sighted and lacking, so just follow my words. That’s your role and duty.”

No matter how high and mighty they acted at first, when exposed to the Duchess’s way of speaking for long, a hundred out of a hundred would crumble.

For the Duchess, who already had the experience of crushing two of her son’s wives like this, the young Arasila was an easy target.

Where was the sharp-tongued girl who used to talk back? Arasila’s dramatically reduced speech proved this.

Just a little longer like this, and her spirit would be broken, and she would tremble in fear of her.

The Duchess, who was enjoying the pleasant imagination of having the impudent young woman under her feet, suddenly frowned.

“Ouch!”

The mansion’s maid, who was kneeling at her feet trimming her nails, had accidentally touched the sensitive skin under her nail.

To exert her influence over Arasila, the Duchess deliberately had the mansion’s maid, not the one she brought, attend to her.

It was to clearly show who was above their mistress, while simultaneously lowering Arasila’s authority as the lady of the mansion.

“You, what are you doing to the Duchess!”

The Duchess’s maid, who had been watching from behind, rushed over. The young maid trembled in fear.