The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 150

‘The Young Count must need some time too.’

Alfonso had been called ‘young count’ for the past few days, but Sheila still hadn’t gotten used to it.

Sheila changed into her nightclothes and finished getting ready for bed.

Since he had returned safely, she was at least able to sleep.

And for the first time in a while, she had a dream. In the dream, her older sister, Fabiola, appeared.

‘Sister? Is it really you?’

Sheila asked happily.

‘Sheila, come here. Let’s walk together.’

‘Okay! Sister!’

Forgetting it was a dream, Sheila answered excitedly.

Before she knew it, the place had become the garden path where she used to walk with Cedric.

Sheila tried to catch up to her sister walking ahead, but whenever she thought she had, Fabiola was already far ahead again.

‘Sister. Wait for me. You said we’d walk together.’

‘Come here, Sheila. I have something to give you.’

‘Something? What is it? Ah, what is it—!’

Sheila ran toward her sister, acting playful.

Then she saw what her sister was holding as she stopped in one place.

It was a familiar pair of shoes.

Huh, that’s…!

This dream continued from the one she had before.

‘My new shoes!’

They were the new shoes she had once taken off to cross water in a dream and lost. The shape was a little different, but in the dream, Sheila was certain they were the same ones.

‘Sorry, Sheila. I was the one who took those shoes back then. I needed to keep them for a while.’

‘Ah, I see. It’s okay. It’s okay, sister.’

Sheila replied with a bright smile.

If it was something her sister did, it didn’t matter what it was.

‘Now I’ll give them to you. They say good shoes take you to good places. Put on your new shoes and go somewhere good.’

As soon as she finished speaking, Fabiola disappeared.

Only the shoes were left on the path where she had stood.

‘Sister!’

“Sister!”

Calling out for her sister, Sheila woke from her sleep. The familiar ceiling came into view. Realizing she was in her room, not on the path, Sheila hurriedly ran out.

“Sister, don’t go. Sob.”

The dream had been so vivid that Sheila, just waking up, couldn’t tell dream from reality.

All she could think was that she had to follow her before her sister went farther away.

Sheila ran out of the mansion and toward the path.

Fortunately, it was a night with a full moon, and the moonlight clearly illuminated the path.

“Sheila!”

Someone called out from behind, but Sheila didn’t pay attention. Right now, finding Fabiola was all that mattered.

“Sheila!”

The voice calling her from behind grew closer little by little. After running for quite some time—

“Ah!”

Sheila’s body stumbled as she stepped on a stone. Having rushed out half-asleep, she was barefoot.

“Sheila!”

In that moment, her arm was pulled, and her body was drawn into a large man’s embrace.

“Let go! My sister…, my sister…! Sob!”

“Stop…, please stop. I’m sorry. This is my fault, Sheila.”

Cedric, who had caught her just as she was about to fall, kept apologizing.

In his arms, Sheila cried uncontrollably.

***

It was right after Sheila opened the attic door and ran out that the report came from the guard standing at the entrance.

“Miss Sheila just ran out in her nightclothes. Something seemed off….”

Before the report was even finished, Cedric ran out and began chasing after her.

As he left the mansion, the sight of Sheila running along the path caught his eye.

“Sheila!”

No matter how many times he called, Sheila didn’t turn back. She only cried out for her sister as she ran.

‘I heard she was all better, so… was that not the case…?’

Cedric’s heart sank.

One of the reasons he hadn’t gone to see her was because he’d been told she’d returned to how she used to be.

Even from inside his room, Sheila’s voice sounded as lively as before.

So why all of a sudden…?

Seeing Sheila out of her senses, his own reason went numb.

As he held her tightly when she almost fell, Cedric’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry, Sheila. It’s all my fault. Blame me. You can hit me if you want.”

If it meant she could come back to herself, Cedric would accept anything.

“My sister…, sob, my sister was here. But then she suddenly disappeared…, sob.”

Only now did a sense of reality begin to return to Sheila, and she started explaining why she had come out here. She realized her sister had appeared in a dream, but the tears wouldn’t stop easily.

“But…, sob, how did you come here…? All this time…, sob, you wouldn’t even see me, and yet…, sob!”

Sheila lifted her head from his arms and demanded an answer through her sobs.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry. I thought you were all better. I thought it would be better if I didn’t appear in front of you.”

Who are you to decide that on your own…?

Sheila pounded his chest, her voice filled with resentment.

“I missed you! I wanted to see you. Do you know how worried I’ve been all this time… how anxious I was!”

“I’m sorry….”

As if he had forgotten all other words, Cedric kept repeating his apology.

“You’re so infuriating, really, so in—, infuri—, really! Ow!”

Keeping rhythm as she hit his solid chest, Sheila suddenly cried out.

Cedric didn’t seem hurt at all, while her own hand was starting to ache. Even so, she kept hitting his chest until he grabbed her wrist.

“Stop. You’ll hurt your hand.”

Sheila glared at him, still breathing hard.

“I’ll let you hit me as much as you want later, so for now let’s go inside. Is your foot alright? You hurt it earlier.”

At Cedric’s question, Sheila nodded.

“Let me see.”

“I’m fine.”

Her foot didn’t hurt at all now. She had stepped on a sharp stone while barefoot, but it didn’t seem to have injured her enough to tear the skin.

Hearing that she was fine, Cedric supported her back and legs and lifted her up.

Startled, Sheila wrapped her arms around his neck and said, “P-put me down! I can walk!”

“Without shoes? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Ignoring her lightly, Cedric started walking.

Now that she had come back to her senses and realized she was barefoot, she couldn’t insist any further.

“But… there weren’t any shoes there earlier, right?”

“Shoes…?”

“It’s nothing.”

Even knowing it was a dream, Sheila asked just in case, then quickly corrected herself.

Having seen her run out barefoot from the start, Cedric let out a small laugh and kept walking.

The faint smile that brushed across his face made Sheila’s heart flutter.

‘Seriously, being so handsome for no reason….’

She tried to blame his looks, but she knew better than anyone that it wasn’t just because of that.

The man she was seeing again after so long felt completely different from before.

“That’s enough, just leave.”

“Don’t come near the presentation ceremony.”

“Ah, I suppose there is one thing that changes. Starting tomorrow, there won’t be any whipping maid wages. Taking responsibility for what she got wrong today is your duty. Or are you hoping for extra pay? Of course, if you want it, I can give it to you. Ten solids, twenty solids. If you ask, I’ll end up giving it to you anyway.”

Before, he had been so sharp that she couldn’t get close. It felt as if an invisible wall surrounded him. But now that wall no longer existed. As if he was telling Sheila she could step into his space whenever she wanted.

For a while, neither of them spoke. Just being able to touch each other now felt like a dream.

As they entered the Calley mansion where everyone was asleep, memories of all the times she had run into him throughout the estate flashed through Sheila’s mind like a panorama.

The day she witnessed Ebony and the butler’s tryst on the first-floor terrace, the time she ran out on the second floor and collided with Cedric, the days she watched the construction site with complicated feelings after hearing he would move into the third floor upon returning from studying abroad….

Then Cedric quietly opened his mouth.

“From the very beginning, you were the only one I saw.”

He recalled the moment he saw her receiving training as a new maid while coming down the stairs.

“Hearing that you planned to work in this estate for a long time put me at ease before I left to study abroad.”

Also the day he overheard her talking to a fellow maid named Ebony on the second floor.

“I built a punishment room for you and ended up dragging you into it.”

“You perverted young master.”

“I regret that day.”

After those words, both of them fell silent again.

When they reached the third floor, Sheila spoke again.

“Please put me down now.”

“It’s fine.”

Still holding her, Cedric walked straight to his room.

While Sheila was flustered and stammering, the guard who spotted him opened the door.

“No need to stand guard anymore. You may go in.”

“Yes, Master Cedric.”

At the unfamiliar way he was addressed, Sheila became flustered again as the door closed.

For the first time in a while, the two of them were alone together in his room.

***

“Your foot seems fine. That’s a relief.”

After setting her down in a chair, Cedric wiped her foot with a damp cloth and examined it as he spoke.

Sheila didn’t reply.

Since entering the room, their conversation kept cutting off, and an awkward tension lingered between them.

Neither of them knew how to begin speaking, and they only watched each other.

It was Cedric who spoke again, gently running his hand over her foot as if reluctant to let go.

“I’ll take you back to your room.”

Cedric held out his hand. If she stood, he meant to carry her back to the attic. Otherwise, the foot he had just cleaned would get dirty again.

At that moment, Sheila took his hand, looked up at him, and said, “I wanted to say thank you.”

Seeing Cedric look at her without understanding, Sheila continued, “My brother….”

After going to the guild before, Sheila had realized it clearly. She was grateful she could go about freely without committing any crime.

That she could live the rest of her life honestly, without guilt, was something she was truly thankful for.

In the end, his words had been right.

What Sheila had truly wanted was that kind of ‘complete freedom.’

“As you said, if I had killed him with my own hands, I would’ve lived with guilt for the rest of my life. I was prepared for that, but…. After actually going through with it, I also thought I might not be able to bear it. Even so, back then, I didn’t have any other choice. Thank you. For pulling me out of that abyss. I couldn’t punish him for what he did to my sister, but he was punished for trying to do the same to me, so I think he got what he deserved. Don’t you think?”