The Status Effect Count - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Status Abnormality Earl 013
Anne had no idea what it meant to serve a nobleman.
Of course not—she’d never served one before in her life.
But she wasn’t worried it would be difficult. How much harder could it be than cleaning or laundry?
The ace of the maid corps—the sort who could finish in a flash what would exhaust several others. Anne Marita had quiet confidence in her own abilities.
You just stand nearby and do what you’re asked, right? Easy.
Or so she’d thought, for a very short time.
‘There’s a fishy smell in this water. Where did he have it drawn from?’
‘The sheets need changing. My back is sore. What do I prefer? Well, everything you’ve brought so far is dreadful. Fetch something else.’
‘The curtains should be drawn back. No, it’s too bright. Close them again. Isn’t it rather dark?’
And where, pray tell, is this employer who isn’t fussy, never complains, and is kind to those below him? Madam Chamberlain?
Though the Count spent most of his time confined to his bedroom, Anne couldn’t fathom why he needed so many things.
This one is good. No, wait—that one will do. Bring me something else without being asked. None of it suits me.
She would barely manage to find something matching his countless demands, only for him to declare the first thing was better after all.
‘Who exactly is this man without complaints, so meek and mild!’
Her activity today alone exceeded the whole of the past month combined.
And why did the bedroom have to be on the second floor of all places!
Jack, the apprentice butler, looked bewildered as he held the item Anne had requested.
“You alright?”
“Gasp, gasp… gasp. Gasp. I’m… gasp.”
Anne stood at the staircase landing, breathing hard.
“You seem unusually busy today? Why all this running back and forth?”
She’d been rushing so much that even the servants who usually pretended not to see Anne had begun to remark with puzzlement.
“My… my lord says he needs it. Gasp, gasp.”
Jack glanced down at what he was holding.
“A cushion with red trim?”
Anne nodded.
Any delay and he’d click his tongue and ask her to fetch something else instead, so she had to hurry back.
“That’s strange. According to my information, the Count doesn’t usually make these sorts of requests. Anyway, here you are.”
Jack lifted one side of his glasses and handed her the cushion.
“Perhaps he’s grown irritable from fatigue.”
Or perhaps he’s simply tormenting me!
Anne couldn’t voice the rest. Somehow, from what the tray had revealed, the Count still suspected her—so why would he keep her so close at hand?
Ah—the Count meant to keep this suspicious girl nearby and torment her!
‘As if I’d lose to him.’
Anne gripped her trembling legs firm and, cushion clutched to her chest, climbed the staircase again.
* * *
“My lord, I’ve brought the cushion you mentioned.”
As Anne entered the bedroom with her arms full of cushion, she saw Natan holding a long scabbard like a sword, breathing steadily.
‘Oh….’
Anne knew nothing of swords, but she could see that his posture was upright and proper.
Despite his light clothing, the man before her looked every bit the perfect knight.
‘No, rather than a knight….’
A warrior.
The gaze of the man fixed on empty air was sharp as a blade.
Someone who kept watch over everything around him and drove it away. It felt like the impression one got from someone who’d barely crawled back alive from war.
‘But—is he allowed to move like that?’
Sweat poured from between Natan’s loosened shirt like rain.
Though simply maintaining the posture seemed to tax him, Natan remained motionless for a long while.
The man with that keen stare slowly lowered his hand.
“Leave it there.”
Natan didn’t turn his head, only pointed with the tip of the scabbard at the sofa’s footrest.
Scattered beneath it lay the cushions he’d rejected several times over.
‘The fruits of my labor….’
Anne gazed sorrowfully at the scattered cushions, then carefully placed the new one she’d brought on top of them.
After a light wash, Natan returned and settled onto the sofa, resting one foot on the cushion at the footrest, then with a soft hum, crossed his legs.
Please, let this one be it…!
“Not bad.”
“Yes!”
Anne let out a cheer before she could stop herself.
“…….”
“……Ahem.”
I wondered if the faint bewilderment crossing her face came from my foot falling asleep.
Anne lowered the hand she’d started to raise and smiled demurely.
“I’m so glad it pleases you, sir.”
“I think the cat’s already out of the bag. How long do you plan to keep up this act of decorum?”
“Me?”
Anne dropped her pretense entirely.
Natan leaned back with his arm propped at an angle, then opened his mouth.
“……You were scrubbing my face quite vigorously, as I recall.”
He showed no sign of letting up his teasing.
Anne pursed her lips, then turned to face him with an innocent, wide-eyed expression.
“Me?”
“You said you’d even apply cleanser.”
……Did I say that? I suppose I did get rather absorbed while washing, but still.
“You claimed you’d only wash my face, yet you seemed intent on removing everything else.”
His casual tone left me momentarily at a loss for words.
When comprehension finally dawned on Anne, her face flushed crimson like an active volcano.
“I—I never did any such thing!”
That couldn’t possibly be true.
Yet when she ransacked her memory, all she could recall was herself scrubbing frantically, following the hallucinatory images that kept flickering before her eyes in rapid succession.
What did I do to my master? How—how did I wash him?
While Anne struggled through her confused recollections, Natan continued.
“You really…….”
Me? Anne swallowed hard.
Natan turned his head quietly to face her. His deep blue eyes, like fathomless wells, seemed to reproach her.
“Handled me rather roughly.”
……What?
“In all my life, I never thought I’d be scrubbed down like that—as if I were some beast. I genuinely wondered if what you were holding was a towel or a cleaning brush.”
Anne winced.
She had, in fact, once scrubbed a man with an actual brush.
Anne’s eyes darted about wildly. This must never, ever come to light.
But—
[Perna the Countess
※Status Abnormality—31 days until death]
His life had been extended!
The date written at the end of the nameplate had increased, had it not?
She had checked several times, and there was no mistake.
Anne instinctively grasped that this was the result of completing that “Quest” from yesterday.
‘But I can’t very well tell him the truth.’
Anne complained inwardly. This time, he might suspect her of being mad rather than a killer.
Natan suddenly rose from his seat and headed toward the bed.
Anne hurried to the window and drew the curtain shut.
As the heavy drape completely covered the window, the room grew so dark that one could scarcely see a hand before one’s face.
So he’s going to sleep now. That means there won’t be anyone else to run errands for.
This time, Anne allowed herself a silent cheer of relief.
But Anne’s relief came far too soon.
“The water’s lukewarm.”
‘This…… wretched employer!’
Anne ground her teeth, venting her unheard grievances only in her mind.
“What was that you just said?”
“Nothing, sir. I’m just—catching my breath. I was running about!”
Anne exaggerated her labored breathing theatrically.
“My, it seems I’ve made quite an unreasonable request of you.”
Natan spoke in a smooth tone, though his face wore an air of excessive indifference as he lay half-reclined on the bed.
‘I can’t even curse at him for being so beautiful.’
Anne squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
Even ill, his beauty showed no sign of diminishing. The count, half-sprawled across the bed, resembled a lithe black panther.
“Yet you said yourself that you held deep loyalty to me—that you would cure me and earn your wages.”
Natan’s lips curved upward at a diagonal angle.
“Surely a simple errand like this—fetching and attending—would be easy enough for you?”
“Yes. Of course…….”
Ann clenched her teeth.
Easy for her, if only he didn’t keep making her run back and forth to torment her!
Natan seemed satisfied with her docile reply.
“Then, could you fetch water again? With lemon and thyme floating in it.”
“…….”
“I can’t hear your answer?”
“Understood!”
So much for not being difficult!
Ann silently screamed the complaint she’d already made countless times today as she took the cup from him again.
* * *
The door clicked shut.
Moments later, the sound of quick footsteps echoed down the Hallway.
Once silence settled completely, something dropped lightly from above the ceiling of the darkened Bedroom.
Natan spoke without looking in that direction.
“Use the door, Perna.”
“Too much trouble.”

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