Disciplining the Arrogant Maids
After the incident that would make even the cheeky maid blush once, Chloe—who had at least managed to slip into her undergarments—seated Viola across the table from her.
“I-I’ll k-keep this a secret. I w-won’t breathe a word outside…”
“I didn’t call you here to beg for that…”
“Th-then does that mean I can go blabbing…?”
“Are you insane?”
“S-sorry!”
What the hell does Viola see when she looks at me? Chloe sighed inwardly in genuine exasperation, but arguing the point would only deepen her embarrassment, so she let it slide for now.
“Do you know who Marian’s personal maids are?”
“Lady Marian’s personal maids? Why do you ask…?”
“I just want to confirm a few things.”
“W-well… Lady Marian has two personal maids.”
“Two of them?”
Two maids, and they still couldn’t help her get dressed, so she forgot her underwear and wandered out?
“What are their names?”
“Perona and Arona…”
“Similar names.”
“Yes, they’re sisters. From a family that was close to the Duchess’s house.”
“Ah, fallen nobles?”
“S-sort of…”
Daughters of a noble family that had been friendly with Rosetta’s side but had fallen from grace. As fallen nobles lording it over the lady of the Evergreen Grand Ducal House, they must have started believing they were still nobility themselves…
“Bet they’ve got rotten personalities.”
“Ahaha…”
People like that always had foul tempers by default. Even if they acted like nobles, few could touch them, so their minds festered like sewers. The constant stress of becoming commoners bred hysteria. Having missed the chance to correct their mindset as commoners, they looked down on the bastard-born Marian.
Maybe Rosetta even wanted that.
But leaving them like this wouldn’t do. Chloe was now assigned as Marian’s tutor, with full authority to handle anything related to her.
“What time do they go to her room?”
“Around 8 o’clock. They start preparing at 7:40 and head over.”
“I see. Then they don’t need to come tomorrow.”
“Pardon?”
“I plan to head out early tomorrow morning.”
“Th-then what should I do tomorrow morning…?”
Maids started their day attending to their assigned guests’ morning routines. Skipping Chloe’s would leave her schedule adrift, forcing her to watch the other maids’ reactions… Hard to just lounge freely.
“In that case… have you had any bad run-ins with those sisters?”
“Bad run-ins?”
“Just asking. Might be some good entertainment.”
“W-well…”
“Well?”
“They asked me to teach them dishwashing, and when I did, they said I was good at it and made me keep doing it… I’ve been washing their share for nearly ten years now…”
Viola confessed with a gloomy expression, and that grudge seemed qualification enough for Chloe’s planned “entertainment.”
“Then tomorrow morning at 8, leave the hallway window open right next to Marian’s bedroom door. The one by the spot where her room has a window. You know it?”
“Yes, I know it, but…”
“Come open it if you want the show. Or clean the break room or my bedroom and relax if you’d rather. Got it?”
“Um…”
Viola wanted more details but…
“Yes…”
…sensed it’d lead to complications and held back. After all, she’d seen Chloe’s embarrassing side. Sticking around might grate too.
The next day.
“Mm…”
Chloe clung to the outer wall by Marian’s bedroom window, peeking inside. Marian slept soundly, exhausted from yesterday’s outing, until two similarly featured women burst in soon after.
Those two…
They slammed the door roughly and shook Marian awake half-heartedly, just tapping her shoulder. Unthinkable for maids attending the grand ducal lady.
There are limits…
Even rough treatment had bounds. What the hell were these lunatics doing? Didn’t they know treating a child like that could stunt affection and breed severe depression? For noble children with little outside contact, maids were friends, adults, teachers. And these—personal maids, no less—treated the grand ducal lady like that?
Letting those bitches slide was madness. Marian’s characteristic sullenness might stem from nearly a decade of their relentless bullying.
Time for correction.
“Hey, get up. Time to change.”
“Ugh… I’m sleepy…”
“Change or we’re leaving you.”
“Fine… I’ll change myself…”
Ignorant wretches using informal speech too… The more Chloe watched, the less she liked it. Marian seemed habituated to their banter, confirming they were utterly deranged.
Unbearable. Chloe scaled the wall, slipped through the wide-open hallway window.
“T-teacher?”
“Told you there’d be a show. Stay back, watch from there.”
She nodded lightly to Viola hovering nearby and entered Marian’s room.
“Ugh, back to work already. Such a pain.”
“At least we handle laundry. No scrubbing other people’s dishes—how great is that?”
“True, yeah…”
“Follow me.”
Right on cue, the bedroom door opened, and the revolting pair emerged. Chloe grabbed one by the hair, dragged her back inside, fixed her face toward Marian.
“Arona!”
“Ah, you’re Arona?”
“Ch-Chloe?”
Marian, hearing the commotion mid-change, dove into bed, burrowing under the covers. Progress not flashing her chest blankly like last time, but a noble struggling solo into frilly finery was the real issue.
“Sorry to startle you. See you later, okay?”
“Uh, yeah…”
“Out.”
“Eek!”
A tone 180 degrees from Marian’s. Chloe whispered coldly in Arona’s ear, yanked her head roughly, hauled her into the hall.
There…
“Ow, it hurts…”
“If that’s Arona, you must be Perona?”
“You crazy bitch, do you know who we are?!”
Perona shrieked, shielding the collapsing Arona—hair half-torn out.
“Yeah, trash who think they’re still nobles.”
Of course, their yapping held no fear for the clueless. Chloe kicked Perona’s jaw; she bit her tongue, spewing blood with a guttural hack.
Weakened as a woman, but not so frail against natural-born females.
“Know who I am?”
“Wh-who the hell are you, you dog—!”
Slap! Arona yelled in Perona’s stead, blood streaming, but her mouth snapped shut, cheek ballooning red.
“Ow…”
“Arona…”
And so, the grand castle’s hallway held only the two sniveling idiot maids, Chloe’s tale just beginning.
“Marian’s personal maids don’t know her tutor? Do you have brains?”
Thinking back, Chloe rarely crossed the sisters. As “personal” maids, they dumped work on others, cherry-picking easy tasks.
“Wh-what’s that got to do—! If the Duchess hears—!”
“Tell her.”
Slap! Another strike swelled Arona’s other cheek.
Rosetta can’t ditch me anyway. Caught an intruder assassin, built trust with Marian, solid plan to toughen her. Boot Chloe over slapping maids? Fuss over fallen-noble maids now? No way. Ironclad.
Anyway.
“Better do your jobs right. Think the Duchess will punish me for this? Or sell off the two maids who pissed off her prized tutor to a brothel?”
“Whuh…?”
Perona, still bleeding, gawked.
“Yeah, ex-nobles probably still virgins—fetch a high price. Cute enough faces too. I could even petition the Duchess to send you off. What do you say?”
Chloe had seized discipline—hair-pulling, kicks, slaps—but ironically, the sisters feared her hypothetical words most. Rosetta’s favoritism faltered, her five half-siblings gone. If Chloe pushed, they’d go meekly to the brothel, whoring eternally for scraps.
“Want a human life? Know your place, focus on maid work. I’ll check again soon. Treat Marian like this still…”
In this spot, their move was clear.
“F-forgive us…”
“W-we lost our minds and acted wrong… Please…”
Apology. Not noble exchange of goods, but commoner’s tearful plea from the knees.
Chloe scoffed incredulously.
“Still haven’t wised up.”
“Pardon…?”
“Who should you apologize to? Me?”
“Ah…!”
“What’re you waiting for? Move.”
“Lady Marian!”
“We were wrong!”
The fools bolted into Marian’s room…
Unexpected variable eliminated. Marian wouldn’t mope forever; she’d regain spark. And Viola…
“Th-thank you…”
“For what?”
“Because of me, those two…”
“Huh?”
She’d fallen into sweet delusion.
She handled those two on my word alone! So cool…
What a wild misunderstanding… But if she liked it, no need to correct. She’d be bummed learning she was Marian’s bonus.