"Cäcilia! Hurry up and wash these sheets!"
Annie, a fellow maid, shouted, throwing me some soiled sheets.
"They better be sparkling, or I'll have you punished."
"Isn't it too much having a kid washing all these clothes?" Fiona, one of Annie's friends, spoke. She was not speaking out of concern for me, but because she was unsure if I could get the clothes clean.
"Who cares?" She retorted, "She's a scullery maid, a few sheets won't hurt her."
She gave me one last disgusted look before she turned to the other maids. "Come on," she giggled as if she was a child. She motioned for the other maids to follow her. "Let's go play games with the guards."
The soldiers of the duchy were the only thing that interested Annie and her battalion of maids. Annie's 'sweetheart' was a soldier, so she always searched for ways to meet him. Since she was one of the maids who worked close to the Grand Duchess, she had enough power to free her from the majority of her duties, and terrorize other workers whom she did not like.
Especially me.
I couldn't help but wonder why these people liked beefing with a kid. I groaned in frustration as I stared at the bundle of clothes laid out before me.
'By the time I'm done, I'll be dead.'
There was no one else in the washing area but me. It was great, because I could freely brainstorm as I worked.
I placed the sheets in the water-lye mixture to soak. I took out the already soaked clothes and began padding it down with a wooden paddle.
It was a laborious task, and in order not to think too much about it, I let my mind roam freely.
I had unwillingly come to terms with the fact that I was not a main character. It hurt, remembering all that I went through the past five years.
'Compared to my villain's pain, I am far better off.'
I could not look at the negative side. This was a God-given chance; a chance to help my broken lead become a lead worthy of living to an old age.
But it would be damn near impossible to get close to him. Three days ago, I had managed to sneak all the way to the road leading to the annex under the guise of following a rat. From afar, I saw the house that confined my poor villain-lead. It was at the edge of the forest, old looking and of course, abandoned.
The people of the duchy, especially the Duchess, went out of their way to seclude him far away from the main house. The Duke did not care about internal affairs, and only sought out Alcestè when it came to giving him Witch's Seed poison.
He wasn't even assigned a maid!
And from what the maids had said earlier during breakfast earlier, the Grand Duke bastard had paid him a visit the previous night.
It was obvious he went to vent out his anger and hit my poor boy.
He was always like that; physically and emotionally abusing Alcestè to break him and turn him into a lifeless doll.
"It's a good thing he left the duchy this morning. Otherwise, I would have gone there and kicked him!"
It was just words. In truth, now that I realized where I was, I was deathly afraid of the Duke.
There's a difference in reading something and experiencing in real life; Alcestè's father is a complete menace!
If possible, I wished to never see his face.
There were only two ways to get close from what little information I gathered.
One is to visit him in secret, and try to help him any way I could.
But that had much more flaws. First of all, the head maid always has eyes on all the maids' movements, aka me.
We were not on good terms, and often, she found reasons to punish me.
If I were to constantly sneak in and out of the quarters, she would surely get wind of it, and I would not be able to escape her wrath.
'Let's just…keep that idea for later.'
The next one would be becoming his maid. In that way, I would be able to stay close to him without the need of hiding.
But I don't think these wretched people would allow it so easily.
If Alcestè barely even got the basic necessities, what would make them give him a maid?
And if I proposed that idea, the head maid would really have it out for me!
I recently came to learn through a fellow maid that no one in this estate should side with anyone other than the Grand Duke and his family. And that did not include Alcestè.
"Ha~"
I let out a disappointed sigh.
I don't remember transmigration being this difficult.
Is it because I am not a main character, that I have to face difficulty?
'Maybe it is the will of heaven… It is a sign, I should not interfere…'
"Not interfere my ass!" I shouted, throwing the paddle onto the ground, "I am here, and I will definitely meet my favorite!"
A fellow maid who appeared out of nowhere shouted back.
"What do you think you're doing?! Pick that up now! Tsk!"
I quickly apologized as she walked away, cursing me as she did.
'Ah…'
"Perhaps I should just finish this and go somewhere private."
Oh, Chul*, shed some light on this poor soul.
***
A few days later, the answer I had been looking for finally came to me.
"It seems that that illegitimate child needs a maid."
Oh, my lucky stars!
My prayers were finally answered!
A chance to meet Alcestè finally arrived.