The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 125

The next day, Sheila headed to Mario’s General Store with Jerry.

Mario’s wife, Cecilia, welcomed Sheila.

“Welcome. But who is this young man…?”

“Hello. I’m Gilbert, Sheila’s younger brother.”

Sheila looked at Jerry as he answered amiably.

The moment he opened his mouth, lies came out automatically. And quite naturally, at that.

“I heard my sister found a job, so I came to see.”

“Oh my, I see. You seem like a nice young man too. Come upstairs.”

While Mario attended to customers, Cecilia led Jerry and Sheila to the second floor.

When they went up, Louis, the son of the Mario couple whom she had met the day before, was there.

“Hello, Mr. Louis.”

When Sheila deliberately greeted him brightly, Louis dipped his head in greeting.

He was old enough, yet his social skills were terrible.

Without leaving any awkward gap, Cecilia cut in.

“Here, you can use this room. It’s not very big, but it gets good sunlight. It won’t be bad to live in.”

“Please speak comfortably.”

“Shall I? Oh hohoho!”

As Cecilia burst into loud laughter, Louis’s presence quickly faded.

“It’s your first day, and your brother is here too, so take your time coming down.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

After Cecilia went downstairs, Jerry closed the door and said, “Isn’t the son of this house a bit creepy?”

“They say he’s a writer. He seems quiet and nice, so what’s the problem?”

“Quiet, sure…. He’s not some kind of weirdo, right? Maybe I should’ve said I’m your boyfriend instead of your brother?”

“Do you think they’d believe that?”

After exchanging a few trivial remarks, Sheila told Jerry to leave.

“You can go now.”

“I’ve got nothing to do even if I leave early.”

“I do.”

Cecilia had said to come down slowly, but that didn’t mean she could actually take her time.

If you’re going to live in someone else’s house, the first virtue is to be mindful.

“If anything happens, contact me. If I sense anything strange, I’ll come let you know.”

“Alright.”

Sheila closed her mouth on the words she was about to say about being careful of being followed. That was basic for Jerry, who worked as an informant for the guild.

And she decided to ask him to repay the money to Molly a little later.

‘By now, everyone must be in an uproar, right?’

No one would have expected her to disappear like that.

Among the maids, all sorts of speculation must be going around by now.

She felt sorry for Molly, but it seemed better to repay the money after things had settled down a bit.

Thinking about how she had to leave without even saying goodbye to the coworkers she had worked with for over four years, Sheila felt bitter.

Even though she had tried so hard not to grow attached, the thought that she would never see the people she worked with again made her feel sad.

Forcibly shaking off the lonely feelings, Sheila went downstairs with Jerry, saw him off, and immediately began learning the work at the general store.

For the time being, Sheila planned to earn money here while looking for a town where she could settle down.

‘Once I find a suitable place, I should withdraw the money I have in the guild.’

Aside from a faint sense of bitterness, everything was going smoothly, as if she were being compensated for her past misfortune.

It seemed like her luck was finally turning.

***

Gabriel’s plan, which he had been excited about carrying out the inventory audit the next day, fell apart.

「Th-that is…, there was a false report. We’ve received orders from above to stop the audit at this point.」

The usually arrogant Gabriel’s expression carried embarrassment and regret.

Reading that expression, Cedric spoke.

「Is there a need for that? Please continue the audit.」

At Cedric’s words, Gabriel’s face brightened.

「Is that acceptable?」

He was the kind of man who planned everything thoroughly, so having his plans go awry had put him in a very foul mood.

But with Cedric responding like this, he now had justification to proceed with the audit.

「Of course. However, since it’s been determined to be a false report, all transactions will resume as of today.」

The thought of transactions resuming made his stomach twist, but he couldn’t object to that.

「Very well. However, even if it was at your request, the audit will be carried out thoroughly, so do not regret it.」

「What would there be to regret? I would also like a thorough audit. I intend to file a lawsuit against the one who made the false report for the losses incurred.」

Cedric said.

If the documents included a signed confirmation that the audit had been completed, it would serve as excellent evidence for the lawsuit.

「Of course.」

Unaware of what kind of request had come from above, Gabriel naturally didn’t know that the false reporter was the young lady of the Stacy family.

Excited, Gabriel led his subordinates toward the inventory warehouse.

Regardless of whether it was a false report or not, he still believed there was no company that could get through his thorough audit unscathed.

At the very least, he intended to extract a fine.

That was how someone like him, a noble, kept the gentry who flaunted their wealth in check.

He knew Cedric was a viscount of the Beloica Kingdom, which only made him dislike Cedric even more.

In his eyes, Cedric was nothing more than a traitor who had abandoned a noble’s honor to chase money.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to stop the audit?”

After Gabriel disappeared with his subordinates, Rufus asked.

“It’s better to finish it this time. If we stop here, we’ll have to undergo a regular audit soon anyway.”

Regular audits were conducted once every four or five years.

If this audit was completed now, it meant they wouldn’t have to deal with it again for the next four years.

“If you understand, then check on the client shipments. I’ll go myself.”

Since transactions had resumed, he intended to personally visit the clients as the president and take responsibility for the delayed deliveries.

“I’ll prepare it right away,” Rufus said.

Even after hearing that Sheila had run away, Cedric was handling his work more rationally than ever.

But Rufus failed to notice. The faint madness that flickered in Cedric’s eyes.

***

Two weeks had already passed since she started working at the general store.

Working at Mario’s General Store was more physically demanding than she expected. Compared to Chandler’s General Store where she had worked before, this place was larger, so there were more goods to handle and more work to do.

But Sheila actually liked that.

The busier she was, the less time she had for idle thoughts.

Sheila constantly kept herself moving, not only doing cleaning and managing goods but also taking on tasks the Mario couple didn’t even ask her to do.

It became common for Mario and Cecilia to leave the shop in her care and step out.

Ding-.

“Welcome.”

As a customer entered the shop, Sheila greeted them brightly.

“I came to buy a clothesline.”

At the words of the elderly woman, Sheila climbed a ladder and took down a clothesline from a high place.

Sheila placed two types of clothesline on the counter.

“There’s a thinner one like this, and a slightly thicker one. Which would you like?”

The old woman fiddled with the clothesline and said, “Thicker looks better, but will it tie well?”

At the customer’s concern, Sheila tied a knot at the end to demonstrate.

“Of course. It’s softer than it looks, so it ties like this quite well. If you knot it twice, it won’t come undone either.”

At Sheila’s explanation, the old woman took the knotted part and tugged at it a few times.

Watching the knot tighten, Sheila thought,

‘If we’re talking soft, the red rope in the punishment room was really soft.’

Sheila recalled the red rope that started at her neck, was tied with knots along the way, and passed between her legs.

And the way her body had changed into something obscene as it was bound in all sorts of ways.

‘It probably won’t happen again.’

Even just remembering it made her body heat up without her realizing it. When she first saw herself reflected in the mirror, it was nothing but shock, but now she found herself missing that image….

“…How much was it? Miss!”

“Ah! Yes?”

Startled by the old woman’s question, Sheila snapped back to her senses.

“So how much is this thick rope?”

“It’s ten leras per bundle. Very affordable, right?”

“Then give me two bundles of the thick rope and some clothespins too.”

“Yes!” Sheila replied briskly and brought out the clothespins.

The old woman carefully examined the clothespins in the basket as well.

Watching the clips open and close, Sheila once again fell into the same train of thought.

Binding her breasts to make them stand out, then clipping clothespins onto the tips.

“Give me twenty clothespins.”

Sheila quickly snapped out of her thoughts and calculated the total.

“Then altogether, it’ll be two denises (=24 leras).”

“Here.”

When the old woman handed over two denises, Sheila added a few extra clips and said, “I added three more as a bonus.”

When she first started working at the shop, Cecilia had told her to include one or two small items as a bonus for customers who bought several things.

“Young lady, you’re good at business.”

The old woman, who looked like she had just come from the market, rummaged through her basket and held out a piece of fruit.

“Here, have one. It’s something special, but I’m giving it to you because you’re pretty.”

“Really? Thank you!”

Sheila accepted it without refusing.

“Please come again!”

Sheila saw the customer off with a bright smile until the very end.

Then, as she was putting the items she had taken out back in their place, she felt a sharp gaze from somewhere.