Meanwhile, after Zain was assigned to Lucerne.
Mimosa and Pansy wanted to go home, but their request was not accepted. This is because, as Carola’s maids, they also had to pay the price.
‘Elisha, what do you want to do with them? Because Carola tried to harm you, I’ll leave it up to you to deal with those close associates of Carola.’
Elisha thought about the patriarch’s words for a moment and answered softly.
‘It would be nice if we kept them employed. I heard that those two are from poor families. If you kick them out, their situation will be difficult. So if we kept them working and pay them, wouldn’t it be good for them too?’
Elisha smiled softly, and she continued.
‘But Carola’s maids are nobles. They didn’t do much besides wait on Carola, right? I can’t just give you those comfortable and elegant positions anymore. Nonetheless, I think they should be punished, even if it’s just for show.’
Elisha previously worked in the laundromat of the mansion. The laundry site was a small stream near Jacob’s outbuilding. The creek flowed up to the mountain near the Duke’s house.
‘Elisha, I cleaned up everything there so that people wouldn’t argue about the fact that you came from a laundromat.’
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe duchy’s people would at least make sure to give something to their loved ones. The Duke arranged the ‘collateral’ working at the laundry.
‘Patriarch, thank you so much, but… … . What happened to the collateral that used to work in the laundry?’
‘Those women belong to Jacob, so we cannot set them free. But they are not being treated badly.’
He said they were living quietly at a local temple sponsored by the Duke’s family, cleaning and serving at the temple.
And the Head promised that he would not let Jacob sell them. However, they would never be free. At least they avoided the future of being sold to the brothel so that it would be great luck for them. Even if that was it, it was like everyone was one step out of hell.
Elisha was sincerely grateful to the patriarch. She wasn’t so foolish as to go out of her way to help them when she wasn’t free herself. But if possible, she wanted them to be comfortable. Because she was once a collateral like them.
So when the lord asked Elisha to take care of her maids. She said this without hesitation,
‘I think we can send Carola’s maids to the laundry. The annex where I worked is closed. But they can do laundry elsewhere, right? Salary… … .’
Elisha removed her hand from her mouth and said,
‘One silver coin per day. We can give it to them like that.’
One silver coin was Elisha’s daily wage while working at a laundromat.
Gaju remarked,
‘You are so generous. A woman in our family should not be so weak-hearted.’
Still, the head of the family did not dissuade her. Thus, Pansy and Mimosa were forced to work all day doing laundry.
***
‘This is hell,’
Pansy sniffled and thought. There was a pile of dirty laundry in front of her.
“Mimosa, how did we end up in this situation?”
“It would have been different if you had let Zain attack Elisha. That’s why Carola fell!”
“Mimosa, how could you say that…… .”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmPansy was shocked by what she said. Together, they did the laundry until their hands swell, and Mimosa has been excessively grumpy these days.
She said very little and spoke as if she were being chased by something. Even when she spoke, she tended to raise her sharp teeth.
As for the Mimosa, her mind was confused.
‘I will become the wife of a high-ranking man in the future. Seed? Right. It’s good to be a Seed, once you have wealth, it’s possible to become a true noble!’
Mimosa gritted her teeth and rubbed the laundry. She thought there was no reason for her to be here. She defected from Carola’s side to Elisha. But Elisha said,
‘If the Patriarch finds out that you betrayed Carola, he won’t let you go. If someone betrays a member of the Cartier family their family dies, regardless of the reason. So I need a reason to bring you here. For the time being, hold your breath while working at the laundry. Then when the time comes, I’ll get you out of there.’
Mimosa had no choice but to believe. Besides, she was quick to notice. Although she was blinded by ambition, she knew Elisha hit the nail on the head. She knew the situation was unusual.
The Head strictly forbade Carola’s maids from leaving the mansion. She was trapped, so Mimosa had no choice but to trust and rely on Elisha’s words.
In the past, when they saw collateral workers working at the laundry, they would deliberately go over and kick the laundry and throw it into the water.
They were women who came from poor families and were noble in name only. So, he had a kind of inferiority complex towards women of noble status. This is because there were women of such great rank among the collateral that they could not even dare to look at them.
But unfortunately, now they were where the collateral had worked.