The Status Effect Count - Chapter 3

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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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Abnormal Status Count 003
Anne quickly lowered her head.
Any woman could serve as a maid regardless of birth, but a lady’s maid was different.
Those who moved in such close proximity to the nobility’s daily lives were almost always minor nobility or semi-nobility.
No matter how low their rank, the wall between stations was rigid enough that a single word from a lady’s maid could see Anne’s life hang in the balance.
The lady’s maid spoke with the confident tone of one who found Anne’s deference perfectly natural.
“The storage room is completely out of new duvet covers. Towels too. The master says it’s urgent, so go check right away.”
“Pardon? But the bedding supplies should be… well stocked?”
At that, the lady’s maid’s face twisted with irritation and she snapped sharply.
“Are you saying I’m lying?”
“My apologies! I’m still new here…”
Anne quickly bowed her head. She lowered her brows and arranged her features into an expression of innocent contrition.
In this mansion, nothing mattered more than bedding.
The Count, whom one rarely saw, changed his bedding two or three times a day.
Not even once a day, but multiple times whenever the mood struck—swapping out duvet covers and pillows—and Anne simply couldn’t fathom the reason, though well, he was nobility now, so perhaps it made sense.
As frequently as he bathed, the quantity of towels used daily was considerable.
Anne’s employer appeared to possess an extraordinary obsession with cleanliness. A man who walked with death from the battlefield, fastidious to this degree—it didn’t quite fit, somehow.
The task weighed so heavily that even the Head Maid, usually negligent in her duties, was exacting about anything related to the Count’s bedding, hounding her subordinates relentlessly.
So it made no sense that supplies would run short…
But before the lady’s maid could grow angrier, Anne bolted toward the storage room.
Just as Anne had expected, freshly laundered bedding was packed densely inside.
The maid who had been organizing the bedding looked surprised at Anne’s sudden entrance.
“What is it?”
“I was told that the main hall’s storage room is completely out of new duvet covers.”
The maid’s face lit with understanding, and she began busily gathering up a basket.
“Here. Take these to her.”
“Pardon?”
The maid spoke matter-of-factly.
“That’s what she’s asking for. She does this often. The lady’s maids find it bothersome to come all the way down here.”
At this casual explanation that it was natural to foist unpleasant work onto subordinates, Anne found herself at a loss for words.
‘Well, what can I do? I’ll just do as I’m told.’
Anne swallowed her sigh and took the basket, but then she paused.
“Um… but am I allowed to go into the main hall as a maid?”
The main mansion where nobility moved freely was not a place one could easily enter without permission.
“Of course not.”
“Then…”
“So don’t let anyone catch you. If the Head Maid finds out, you’ll catch hell.”
‘But I was given this task!’
The injustice of it burned. This isn’t even something I chose to do!
But that was the life of the lowest rung.
To have wrongs that aren’t your fault become your fault. To deftly extract yourself before paying the price. Sometimes to endure a state where you can neither withdraw nor advance.
With no choice, Anne sighed heavily as she headed toward the main mansion.
‘Please let the Head Maid be busy!’
That was all she could pray for.
‘It’s so massive…’
The main hall of the mansion, which Anne entered for the first time, was a place better described as grand than merely ornate.
The ceiling soared impossibly high, and everything in sight bore such intricate craftsmanship that it gleamed with evident value.
Especially the spiraling staircase rising upward seemed so polished underfoot that stepping on it felt like courting disaster. And that wavy bannister, soft as a frozen wave!
Anne scrambled up the stairs without daring to grip the rail or plant her feet firmly.
“Why did this take so long?”
The lady’s maid standing before the bedroom door showed her irritation.
“My sincerest apologies!”
Anne laughed nervously and offered insincere apologies in a stream.
No one spits at someone who’s smiling!
Even the belligerent drunk who used to spit at her and grumble about bad luck would swallow his spit if she flashed him a bright enough smile.
So she smiled all the prettier!
The lady’s maid’s expression shifted subtly—the tactic was working beautifully again.
“…Fine. It’s fortunate the master hasn’t finished his bath yet. Go change the sheets right away.”
“Yes… yes?”
Anne’s head snapped up as she mechanically nodded, registering the words that had just been spoken, tilting her head at an angle.
Did I mishear?
“Why are you standing there gawping at me?”
“No, I… you mean me?”
At her counter-question, the Lady’s Maid’s imperious expression crumbled slightly before she spoke again in that same brazen tone.
“Of course I meant you. I’m not feeling well today, so I can’t work. The other girls are all busy too. You’ve got nothing to do, so you’ll have to help me. That’s what maids do, isn’t it?”
The Lady’s Maid glanced nervously at those around her as she made excuses. She seemed determined to push Anne into the Count’s bedroom.
This was definitely not how things were supposed to go.
The Count’s enormous door swung open. By then the Lady’s Maid had already retreated far beyond the threshold, urging Anne forward.
“Get in! If the master sees us, he’ll be furious.”
“Does the Count dislike seeing maids?”
“I don’t know. He’s been locked in his room lately and hates anyone coming near. Finish what you need to do and get out before he’s done washing up.”
The Lady’s Maid’s manner toward her employer was far too frightened to seem appropriate.
As Anne hesitated at the threshold, the Lady’s Maid came up behind her and shoved her forward. Then—bang—the massive door slammed shut before her nose.
Ugh, she’d nearly smashed her face.
Anne let out an inward sigh.
Living as a junior maid was truly difficult.
‘No, think of it this way—fifteen silver coins!’
Her spirits lifted again.
Anne picked up the basket of bedding with renewed determination.
Though it was midday, the bedroom was oppressively dark. Heavy curtains sealed off the window entirely.
The flickering light from a wall-mounted candelabra was all the illumination the room had.
The faint glow was nonetheless sufficient to reveal how vast and ornate the space was.
Anne whistled low. Even the visible furnishings looked extraordinarily costly.
‘Goodness… just one corner of that ceiling frame could fetch a year’s living expenses…’
‘Is that actually gold? I’d love to bite into it to test it…’
‘Just look at this carpet… I wonder what something like this costs?’
She was still lost in such thoughts when—
“Ugh!”
Through the stale, unventilated air came a stench so sudden, so vile, so overwhelming that it stabbed straight through her nostrils.
‘What on earth is that smell?’
It was so foul her head began to spin.
Anne frantically rummaged through her pocket and drew out a clip, clamping it across the bridge of her nose.
‘Ah… a bit better.’
Anne slowly surveyed the room from all angles.
It was ornate, immaculate even…
So what was causing this reek?
For someone who’d grown up in the countryside and experienced every manner of foul smell, this odor was entirely unfamiliar.
The closer she moved toward the bed, the stronger the stench became.
Anne approached the bed cautiously.
The luxurious bed was in complete disarray, as though someone had leapt from it in a sudden panic.
The bedding wasn’t even straightened, despite the sun being well past its zenith!
Anne was about to exclaim in distress when she noticed something.
What was this? Something greenish was caked thickly all over the duvet cover.
Instead of touching it, Anne brought her head only slightly closer.
“Ugh!”
She recoiled in horror.
There it was—this strange greenish mass was the source of that indescribable stench.
The lumps hadn’t soaked into the fabric but sat in beads upon it, releasing that abominable odor.
The deposits covered not just the duvet but the bed sheets and pillow as well.
“Why would something like this be on the bed…?”
At first glance it resembled tree sap not yet hardened, though the greenish hue was peculiar.
What was more, this strange substance trailed from the bed down across the floor in scattered drops.
Like the spoor of something passing through—one bead at a time.
The trail led toward…
‘The bathroom?’
The bathroom entrance bore the heaviest concentration of these strange deposits.
Only one person would be using the bathroom attached to this bedroom.
‘Has the Count… fallen ill?’
They’d said extra hands were urgently needed, yet the maids had done nothing but idle about—and the Head Maid hadn’t stopped them. The Lady’s Maid trembled at even entering the master’s chambers…
‘No, surely not…’
Anne immediately shook her head and rejected the absurd speculation.
That’s far too much of a leap. He probably just spilled something on himself, or got some dirt on his clothes and stepped inside to clean it off.
“Just do my work well. Just do my work well.”
She nodded to herself, murmuring the words like a prayer.
Entangle yourself with no one.
Especially not with the Nobility.
‘This heat…!’
By the time she’d stripped the soiled bedding and sheets, sweat was pouring down her face.
Changing out the foul-smelling bedding in that cramped, airless darkness was backbreaking work.
When she finally managed to fit fresh sheets onto the enormous bed—three times the size of her own body—her legs nearly gave out from under her.
‘But I did finish it perfectly this time, didn’t I?’
Anne regarded the pristinely arranged bed. The sight was so flawless that she almost wished someone else were there to witness it.

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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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