The Obsessive Maniac Is Trying To Confine Me - Chapter 166

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 166

‘This is exhausting.’

I feel like I’m going to die.

It’s already been a whole week since I started working at the estate.

How did it come to this? I foolishly tried to deceive Rihardt, and now I’m running with every ounce of strength I have just to get home before him.

But my efforts were in vain.

Today, Rihardt had already arrived home first.

“My lady, where have you been until now… Why are you sweating so much?”

What a disaster, coming home later than Rihardt.

For a whole week I had been coming home first, so why did he return so early today?

“Huff… I was just exercising a bit…”

“…Exercise, you say? It’s quite windy today though?”

“Haa… Exercise doesn’t discriminate based on weather.”

“Is that so?”

Rihardt nodded dubiously and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat beading on my forehead.

“Exercise is good, but it would be better to do it when the sun is up. As you know, my lady, the atmosphere in the village has been unsettling lately.”

“Ah, because of the disappearance cases?”

Today while working, I heard the maids chattering about the disappearance cases.

It’s scary to hear that people have been vanishing from the estate too.

‘But that’s that, and I still need to work. I have to make a living…’

Such a grim reality.

“It would be best to refrain from going out for the time being.”

“I understand.”

Listening to Rihardt’s words with one ear, I threw myself onto the bed.

Ugh, I’m so tired!

“I’ll prepare dinner, so rest for a bit.”

“Mmm, okay…”

I slowly blinked my drowsy eyes and looked back on everything that had happened.

【My name is Chelsea. I’ll show you around this place from now on.】

As soon as the housekeeper assigned me my workplace, she passed me off to another maid.

The maid who introduced herself as Chelsea took me around various places and showed me the interior of the estate.

The estate was so vast that we couldn’t see everything, so we only looked around the area I was assigned to.

【The precautions you absolutely must follow are…】

Chelsea also told me about behaviors that the higher-ups disliked and moments I needed to be careful about.

It was quite useful information, so I tried to commit everything she said to memory.

【I’ll give you one more warning. Since this is your first time working as a maid, you probably don’t know, but even though all maids might look the same to you, we have our own hierarchy among ourselves.】

It wasn’t particularly surprising news, since every group has a leader and those who follow them.

【So you don’t make mistakes and get into trouble. I’ll tell you whose moods you need to watch out for here.】

I don’t know if she just liked to talk, but at this moment, Chelsea was truly a kind maid.

Chelsea’s eyebrows twitched as she slowly observed the maids.

I turned my eyes to where Chelsea’s gaze was directed.

A brown-haired maid was walking toward us with her chin raised.

Unlike the other maids who were moving busily, she alone walked at a leisurely pace.

Whether by coincidence or not, an interesting glint appeared in the woman’s eyes when she spotted us.

【Oh my, Chelsea. Who’s that beside you?】

【Hello, Hanna. This is a new girl who started today. Her name is Rose.】

【Ah, the one Peret introduced?】

At that moment, the corners of the woman called Hanna’s mouth curved up smugly.

【What’s your relationship with Peret? What kind of connection do you have that he got you a maid position?】

Is she asking me right now?

‘More importantly, who is this Peret?’

I hastily searched through my old memories.

Right, Sian got me this job through a man named Peret.

【I don’t know him.】

【You don’t know him? Then why did Peret introduce you?】

【Someone I know went through Peret…】

【Someone you know? Who’s that?】

【Just a woodcutter…】

【What?】

An expression of disbelief spread across Hanna’s face.

Even with that expression, I had nothing more to say.

【Are you messing with me right now? Do you know how hard it is to work as a maid in this estate? And yet just a woodcutter…】

【Why are you all being so noisy!】

I was flustered by Hanna’s barrage of questions, but luckily the housekeeper, who noticed the noisy situation, gave us a warning.

Hanna backed away from me with a look of lingering resentment.

【Well, Lord Anri is calling for me, so I’ll be going now.】

After Hanna left, I could hear the surrounding maids whispering.

So right now, this is…

‘Am I like some kind of nepotism hire?’

It seems like this man named Peret who got me this position is quite an important person.

How does Sian know such a man?

【I told you earlier, didn’t I? Even among maids who all look the same, there’s a hierarchy.】

Chelsea said as she handed me the cleaning tools she had brought out.

【Be careful of Hanna.】

【…】

【She caught Count Ascent’s eye and became arrogant… Anyway, even the housekeeper watches her moods.】

【…】

【If Hanna targets you, just bow your head immediately. She’s the type who tries to break you down more if you say anything back. There have been plenty of girls who suffered more for talking back to her.】

I nodded my head.

After that, I followed Chelsea around, diligently dusting and wiping away the thick layers of accumulated dust.

A whole week had already passed like that.

During that week, I reflected on Chelsea’s words and followed the precautions she had mentioned, so I didn’t encounter any particular problems.

However, I was a bit worried since Hanna seemed to dislike me. Still, there hadn’t been any direct confrontations yet.

I hoped things would continue to be this peaceful in the future.

I closed my drowsy eyelids as they were.

A sweet smell wafted to my nose, suggesting Rihardt had prepared a meal, but I was too sleepy to eat and fell asleep.

* * *

Hanna was a maid who served Anri closely.

She was originally someone with a strong desire for power.

One day while doing tasks assigned by the lord, Count Ascent visited this estate.

She saw Anri’s arrival at the estate as an opportunity and hovered around him, eventually earning Anri’s ‘selection.’

After running several difficult errands for Anri, the other maids around her began to watch her reactions.

However, she was now feeling a sense of crisis.

“…Strange.”

Lately, Anri had been frequently covering his nose with his palm and muttering continuously.

As if protecting his nose from a foul smell, he would occasionally… no, frequently raise his hand.

“…Lord Anri, are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

Worried she might fall out of Anri’s favor, Hanna cautiously approached him.

However, Anri shook his head as if it were nothing.

“I’m fine now.”

“That’s a relief…”

“More than that, I’m bored. This place is truly very tedious.”

Anri muttered while sitting by the window with his chin propped up.

His eyes seemed moist, as if lost in melancholy.

“Hanna, don’t you have any interesting stories?”

At Anri’s grumbling words, Hanna smiled faintly and began talking as if she had been waiting for this.

Anri often got bored when he had nothing to do, and whenever that happened, Hanna would tell him about the day’s events.

Anri, who found estate life boring, would listen to Hanna’s stories.

Today, Hanna similarly shared various incidents like complaints.

“Oh, and recently a new maid came to the estate. It was strange. She came in with Peret’s recommendation, but she said she didn’t know Peret.”

Anri, who had been half-listening while looking out the window and nodding lazily, belatedly turned his attention to Hanna.

“A maid came in?”

“Yes. She apparently came in through a recommendation. She’s a girl who’s never even worked as a maid before, so I wonder why…”

As Anri focused on her story, Hanna unconsciously let out the resentment she harbored toward Rose.

“Such a thing happened.”

“I worked so hard to get into the estate, but that girl… It’s unfair. While some people worked so hard for that position, a girl who only knows how to make blank expressions…”

“I know how hard you worked. But that child got what you wanted in one go.”

You must have been upset, Hanna.

With those words, the concentrated displeasure melted away like snow.

“But Hanna, what’s the name of that child you mentioned?”

“She’s a maid named Rose.”

“…Her name is Rose?”

…Huh?

Hanna, who had been talking, felt something strange.

Anri had taken an interest in Rose.

This was absolutely not the direction she had wanted.

She tried to dismiss the unpleasant feeling, thinking it was just her imagination.

However, the conversation with Anri continued to flow toward stories about Rose, and finally…

“Hanna, bring that child to me.”

It was truly an unwanted direction.

* * *

It was when I had just arrived at the estate for work.

“Rose, can you come see me for a moment?”

Hanna called for me from early morning.

Since Chelsea had told me to be careful of Hanna, I tried not to show my nervousness and followed her out.

“Do you happen to know Count Ascent?”

As soon as we entered a deserted area, Hanna suddenly threw out an unexpected question.

“What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden? There’s no way I would know the Count.”

“…Right. There’s no way a girl like you would know the Master.”

I was offended by her subtly dismissive words, but I wisely kept my mouth shut.

“Hanna, so what’s this about?”

“I’m not the one with business.”

Hanna led me up the stairs, looking as if she didn’t want to.

The upper floor was surely where Count Ascent was staying…

My brow furrowed automatically since he was someone I didn’t want to get involved with.

Rihardt had said he owed nothing to the Ascent family, but I was in a state of half-disbelief regarding his words.

I asked with an anxious heart.

“Um… where are you taking me?”

When Hanna stopped in front of a room I had been watching, I couldn’t help but look at her in surprise.

The place I had been unconsciously keeping an eye on to avoid any chance encounters.

In front of Count Ascent’s room.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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