Episode 73
Isaac sat beside her with his usual composed expression, calmly and gently listing the things they needed to do going forward. He didn't forget to organize and relay everything he had witnessed and heard in chronological order to help her. Having written countless operation reports as a soldier, every explanation he gave was systematic.
He was very close. Sasha listened intently as his grating, low voice rang out harder than usual, and looked at his palm. A hand full of calluses. She recalled how Isaac had, just moments ago, subdued George Butler, pinning him down without hesitation.
The emotion that surged up inside her in that moment was helplessness. Even if he hadn't been a soldier with such skill, had he been a man of such a build, he would never have suffered as she had earlier. In the first place, the maid who had followed out of worry for her would not have rashly rushed in and suffered a humiliating rebuff.
Sasha recalled how George Butler had struck her cheek in a fit of anger without a moment's hesitation. It was a slap she had received countless times before, yet her upper body had swayed so violently that her entire body nearly spun around. And that wasn't all. She had tasted blood in her mouth.
As she looked at Isaac's imposing frame while he offered his advice, Sasha felt both intimidated and envious. Perhaps if she possessed such a formidable build and strength, or at the very least had been a man of the same sex as him, she would never have been slapped.
“Thank you for everything, Captain Pincher.”
Having already thanked him once earlier, Sasha expressed her gratitude again, but Isaac did not receive it very gladly.
“I should get going now. And Captain Pincher, if you knew such a good way to soothe anxiety, why have you been like that all this time?”
It was an innocent question. Isaac raised an eyebrow at her words.
“Consoling someone else is easy. The hardest part is persuading yourself. I had no one by my side to console me, and in that moment, my reason had fled—there was nothing I could do.”
Isaac replied with a face that didn't look particularly offended. Sasha stared at his face. Then, looking at Isaac, who was still worried solely about her, she answered.
“Then I'll stop you next time. We have to be together for the next year, after all.”
She said so while pressing down on her pricking, stinging conscience.
Just as you had done for me this time, next time I will console you.
“Then I really must be going. Thank you so much for today.”
After courteously thanking him, she rose from her seat and headed for the door. Before leaving, she turned to look at him once more, bent her knee, and offered him a noble greeting before closing the door and exiting.
Left alone, Isaac gazed after her for a long while, then picked up the ice pack she had left behind.
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“Miss Alison.”
The head maid, Miss Alison, who had been calling the maids over one by one to organize the chaotic second floor, turned her head in the direction of the voice with an annoyed expression. But only for a moment—the instant she realized the owner of the voice was her young mistress, she quickly walked over to Sasha.
“The swelling is still severe, I see.”
Miss Alison's face stiffened as she looked at Sasha's puffy, swollen cheek. Though she had been a master lacking in many ways, seeing her actually injured like this left her feeling deeply uncomfortable.
“I'll have a maid bring you a new ice pack.”
Sasha shook her head at Miss Alison's offer.
“The ice pack can wait. I can do that later. Rather, I have something I wish to ask Mr. Jason.”
“Mr. Jason is likely dealing with the police. He should be in the garden with the gardener, digging up the discarded flowers from before.”
Alison kindly explained and looked up at Sasha's swollen right cheek. Sasha, however, seemed to have no room to pay attention to such a gaze, and despite feeling Alison's persistent stare, she simply said without further comment, “I see.”
“Miss Alison, did you also know about that hidden door?”
“No. I saw it for the first time today. I only know of the two service passages that were used until twenty years ago.”
Alison answered Sasha's question honestly and immediately, saying she did not know. Sasha nodded in acknowledgment at her answer.
She spotted Jason standing off to the side. He had been giving orders to the servants, overseeing them on behalf of his master. When the head maid called him for Sasha, Jason turned his body with a slight air of annoyance, just as Alison had done earlier. Then, upon recognizing Sasha, he bowed his head respectfully, and soon after, cautiously observed her with a somewhat bitter expression.
“How is Miss Maud?”
“She is being treated well in the infirmary.”
The moment she saw Jason, Sasha asked after the maid who had accompanied her and Butler and suffered a rebuff. Jason looked quite surprised that Sasha had memorized a servant's name. Just as Miss Alison had often pointed out, Sasha seemed to look after the servants well at a glance, yet she kept them at a great distance. The fact that she had never once asked for their names was proof of that.
After that, Sasha quickly took control of the situation. The shock had been temporary, and thanks to Isaac's help, she had also calmed down, allowing her to judge things far more rationally than before.
But Jason and the other servants were not the same. They could not understand her.
“...As one who serves you, I am deeply ashamed and sorry to find myself saying how fortunate it is that you are safe. But, my lady.”
Jason tried his utmost not to wound his master as he cautiously continued his question.
“Why did you not signal us earlier...? There is nothing more pointless than saying this now that matters have come to this. ...We were, in many ways... greatly troubled in our hearts.”
Sasha answered Jason's valid question without expressing much regret.
“Because I thought I could resolve it alone.”
“...”
“It wasn't like the time with Jeffrey, where I acted without any plan. However, once I actually confronted Mr. Butler, he turned out to be a man who exceeded the bounds of common sense in many ways. Still, the reason I didn't call for you all is...”
Honesty was the best policy.
“...as I said before, it was because I thought I could handle it alone. No matter how twisted his affections were, I never imagined he was someone so mentally unhinged.”
Sasha had used her head and succeeded in sending Mr. Butler out into the hallway. The second floor had happened to be rather quiet at the time, so there weren't many people around. If she had truly known that he would suddenly fumble along the walls in the hallway, find the hidden door, and shove both her and the maid inside...
She would have screamed at the top of her lungs, feigning ignorance, as if begging to be killed.
“...You thought you could resolve it alone? Good heavens, my lady. Even if that were so, and precisely because it were so, you should have left the matter in our hands. That is why we are here.”
“...”
“We would never dare blame you, my lady. Never.”
“I know, Jason. From your perspective, you want to ask why I couldn't trust you.”
Sasha murmured in a cold voice as she walked down the hallway. At her reply, which struck right at the heart of the matter, Jason quietly closed his mouth. Now that the situation had come to this, he understood all the more why they were reacting this way. If something had truly gone wrong with Sasha, the blame would have fallen on them as well.
And the fact that Sasha did not trust them was a problem in itself. For it was no different than denying the very reason for their existence.
But how could she possibly explain? That she wasn't the true master of this mansion to begin with, so it felt awkward to command them as if it were only natural. And though she no longer held any lingering resentment, the detached, bystander-like attitude she had seen from them in childhood had unconsciously etched a deep-seated distrust of them into her heart.
As they neared the infirmary, Jason quickly stepped forward and opened the door for her. Sasha climbed a flight of stairs, opened the door, and entered the room. The maid, Miss Maud, who had been lying down, raised herself to welcome her.
“My lady. I am so glad you are safe.”
“Miss Maud. Please address her properly as 'my lady.'”
“Ah, I apologize. My lady.”
Sasha looked at Jason, who was behaving so inflexibly even at a time like this, with slight surprise. Then she watched with some puzzlement as Jason let out a low sigh and ran a hand over his face.
“We are deeply ashamed of ourselves for this incident, my lady.”
What did they have to be ashamed of?
“It's all right, Jason.”
That they felt slighted by her was absurd to begin with—Sasha started to explain this for their sake, but closed her mouth. For upon looking at them anew, every single servant's eyes looking at her seemed as hurt and disappointed as Jason's had been.
She found herself about to apologize again, but quickly stopped.
It was a somewhat strange feeling.
Just... a bit strange.
“My lady.”
Then a servant's voice called out from behind.
“Mr. Teo has returned. He says he has something urgent to tell you alone.”
Sasha's face stiffened.
Then, as if she understood, she soon nodded.
“Very well.”