Chapter 3

“YOU’RE ALL SO USELESS!”Diana the redheaded maid’s voice rang out inside the stone washhouse.

Three days had passed since the afternoon Rishe shook off her guard and came out to the well. Rishe was once again dressed to fit in with the maids. At Diana’s shout, she looked up without pausing in her work.

“Is even laundry beyond your capabilities? I asked you to wash these this morning, and now it’s past noon! Meanwhile, we’ve finished cleaning the entire first floor in a third of the time!”

“I-I’m sorry, Diana.”

The new maids went silent with shame. Among them was Elsie, the girl Rishe stood up for the other day. Rishe pulled her hands out of the soapy water, gently rinsed them, and said, “Let me help. What still needs to be done?”

“You again?” Diana rounded on Rishe. “I don’t know who you serve, but I’m amazed you have the time to do other people’s work. I wish I had so much free time.”

Huffily, she turned from Rishe. “Let’s just ignore these useless fools. Laura, Maya. Come on. If we want to be chosen as Lady Rishe’s maids, we mustn’t waste our time.”

Diana took out a slip of paper from her pocket, smoothing it out. “It looks like the new bedsheets for her palace will arrive today. We should inspect them to make sure everything is perfect!”

“Wait up, Diana!”

The two maids followed Diana out. Rishe waited for the door to close before turning to Elsie and the others. “Let’s keep working. If there’s anything too large and cumbersome, feel free to pass it over to me.”

“Th-thank you so much!” The new maids went weak with gratitude. One of them, a girl on the verge of tears, even fell into a full bow. Rishe muttered encouragement as she scrubbed some bedsheets.

Elsie, who was washing the sheets with her, wore a rueful look. “I’m so sorry for the trouble. We’re just not learning fast enough.”

“You haven’t been working here long, have you? It takes time to learn a new job, no matter who you are,” Rishe said as she kept scrubbing. “And it’s not like you’veneverwashed a single thing in your life before, right?”

Elsie nodded nervously.

Rishe had realized over the past few days doing the laundry that not all the newcomers were complete amateurs. They’d obviously done chores at home, or something similar. When set a specific task, they could perform it properly, but Diana’s complaints weren’t unfounded. They did take far too much time with laundry.

But it’s obvious why.“Do you know anything about Diana?” Rishe asked Elsie. “Like, is she from a well-off family?”

Elsie said, “I heard that her father was a business owner. She worked with him.”

“I heard that as well,” added another maid. “But he fell into debt and had to sell off.”

Rishe stopped scrubbing for a moment to consider this.

“Um, is something the matter?” Elsie asked.

Rishe smiled and shook her head. “No, nothing. Let’s just focus on getting these washed for the time being.”