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Chapter 7

Lightly? Throw herself away?

Alexa felt as if even her sorrowful tears had dried up. Her hollow eyes showed no emotion at all. A sigh, mingled with her voice, escaped as if she had simply let go.

"Right… a mere two hundred nets."

"……"

"While you were letting your sister be humiliated for that paltry sum, what were you doing? If you were a true noble, you should have slapped that man across the face—that would have been normal."

James was struck speechless. His eyes darted about searching for an excuse, but his drink-addled brain wasn't functioning properly.

"Th-that's why…"

If only she hadn't come dressed as a maid… His pathetic excuse made Alexa close her eyes tightly and turn away.

Dawn was breaking in the distance. She had to go back to work now. She hadn't slept a wink, let alone warmed herself.

Even if it was the tail end of winter, the cold couldn't be ignored. The biting wind seeped through the loose weave of her coat. She felt like she might be running a slight fever.

"See? You and me—we're perfect failures at being nobles."

She walked in the opposite direction of the house. After only a few steps, she turned back to see James staring at her with reddened eyes.

If she lashed out one more time, tears would surely fall from those pitiful eyes. How had they ended up like this?

His hair was a mess, his coat dirty, and above it, a single white thread hung limply from where a button had once been—torn off who knows when—swaying weakly in the wind.

Alexa turned away.

"…There's bread on the table. Eat it. I'll be back."

---

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

During that time, after finishing her maid duties, she would take sewing work from the dress shop to earn whatever small change she could. Her brother stayed shut in his room, showing remorse—but she knew how long that would last. The moment he got his hands on any money, he'd be running back to the gambling den.

'One hundred fifty nets borrowed from the dress shop lady. Five nets earned.'

That was quite a lot saved in a week, but worry weighed on Alexa. Today was the final deadline, and she had only managed to gather a hundred fifty-five nets—forty-five nets short.

"Alexa, I trust you, of course—but your brother…"

Those who had lent her money before each gave reasonable excuses for refusing. Only Laura, the dress shop owner, had handed over a substantial sum without asking any questions.

Alexa felt tears of gratitude welling up, but she gritted her teeth and held them back. She couldn't bear to appear as if she were playing on anyone's sympathy.

Unable to sit still, Alexa stopped by Laura's dress shop every night after work to help out.

Laura, who always worked late into the night due to the heavy workload, found Alexa's nimble hands quite helpful—but she didn't want to overwork the girl who barely got two or three hours of sleep.

In the end, Laura had to say, "I'm sick of hearing 'thank you.' Don't come back until you've paid off the debt," before Alexa finally stopped visiting. Though even as she left, she made sure to express her gratitude.

'Then the only option left is…'

One way to settle the remaining amount in one go was to ask for an advance from the viscount's household where she worked.

Of course, Laura would have lent her the money if she'd asked—but Alexa already had an outstanding loan of fifty nets from a previous settlement for her brother, and she couldn't bring herself to ask for more.

'I'm already grateful for this much. I'll have to figure out the rest myself.'

Alexa swallowed hard once more.

If all else failed, she'd cut and sell her long hair, or even sell the mansion itself. It would be a laughably low price, but it was only a matter of time—now or later.

That way, this mess would somehow be resolved.

'But if something like this happens again…'

The thought that next time she truly might have no way to stop herself from being sold off made her shake her head frantically.

'First, let me ask for that advance.'

It wasn't entirely hopeless. A few days ago, the bedridden old lady had pointed her out and praised her, saying, "That girl has such nimble hands."

That afternoon, after finishing her work perfectly, Alexa headed to the head maid's room.

By the door stood the head maid, nodding at something, and her right-hand maid, Jeanne—as always, hovering nearby.

It wasn't unusual to see them together, but Jeanne was eyeing her up and down with obvious disdain.

'She does that every time.'

As always, Alexa ignored her. Not out of intention—she simply had no time to entertain such things. Between exhausting work, worrying about money, and cleaning up after James, her days were already full.

Now, she had the awkward task of requesting an advance—she had no energy to care whether Jeanne looked at her straight or upside down.

Just then, the head maid greeted her in a gentle voice.

"Perfect timing. I had something to say to you as well."

Alexa looked up at the head maid.

She rarely spoke to her about anything outside of work—so what could this be about?

'Perhaps she's assigning me different duties starting tomorrow? Or maybe I've caught the attention of the higher-ups and will be given important work.'

The head maid was always sharp, checking for even a speck of dust and inspecting her undergarments before she left, suspicious of theft—but now she was even smiling?

If so… this was definitely a positive sign.

Thinking that her hard work hadn't been in vain, Alexa was about to step into the head maid's room—

"……!"

Jeanne shoved Alexa aside as she tried to enter first. Alexa frowned and watched her back.

'What's her problem, really.'

Brushing her bumped shoulder, Alexa finally stepped into the head maid's room.

The head maid closed the door behind her and leaned against the windowsill.

"Alexa McDonner."

"Yes, Head Maid."

The air was oddly cold. Alexa instinctively knew this was not the right time to bring up money, and waited with more deference than ever for the head maid to speak.

"It would be best if you didn't come in starting tomorrow."

"…Excuse me?"

She raised her bowed head in haste.

Had she heard correctly? A sudden notice of dismissal. Completely unexpected, Alexa tilted her head slightly.

"You're telling me to stop coming?"

"Yes."

Unable to fathom the reason, she racked her brain for any mistake she might have made.

Had the old lady been unwell? There had been no issues today.

The old lady under her care was not an easy person for the maids to handle—but she never acted fussy with Alexa. After all, Alexa was the only maid who tended to her so devotedly, even though she was practically neglected by the household.

No matter how much Alexa turned things over in her mind, no particular reason came to mind.

"Why…?"

"Why? Do I need a special reason to hire and fire a single maid?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

Head Maid Merrill let out a scoffing sigh and looked her up and down. Beside her, Jeanne, who had been glaring at Alexa, let out a suppressed snicker.

"Such nerve. Tsk."

As if there was nothing more to say, the head maid handed a coin purse to Jeanne. She took the lightly jingling pouch and dropped it onto Alexa's pale, stunned palm.

Utterly bewildered, Alexa looked from the pouch to the head maid to Jeanne with an expression of incomprehension.

"You really don't know?"

Jeanne's lips curled upward. She dusted off her hands.

"Telling you would only dirty my mouth. Just be grateful we even gave you this much."

Alexa slowly lowered her gaze to the meager pouch in her hand.

She didn't need to think long about what "dirty my mouth" meant. She simply couldn't believe that these false rumors had actually led to her dismissal.

"There must be some misunderstanding. I never did anything of the sort."

"Misunderstanding? Hahah, that's funny."

Jeanne let out a crisp laugh.

She had cut off a remark clearly directed at the head maid, but Merrill merely glanced at her as one would a spoiled child. Then she waved her hand, drawing Alexa's attention back.

"It seems you're well aware of the reason for your dismissal."

"No, I don't understand at all."

Alexa's hand tightened around the coin purse.

So they'd believe those baseless rumors without even verifying them, and blame everything on her? Surely not—

She looked the head maid straight in the eye. Merrill let out a short, resigned sigh and met her gaze.

"Do you really want me to say those words out loud?"

"I told you, I didn't do it."

"Everyone says it's true—only you say it's not. Fine, let's say you're right. But nothing changes. Do you have any idea how much everyone is suffering because of the stain you alone have cast?"

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