On the way to the snake

"Countess wants to see her, what are we gonna do? She's dead!" A panicked voice reached Daisy's ears, and she frowned in displeasure. So she gave Mellie the poison cake?

"Shut up, Dorothy! If necessary, I'll put your head in the mud and beat it so that you look like her! What crossed your mind to give her poison?" The other woman spoke in an irritated voice, and Daisy heard the clank of keys. She had to check which one was good. It wasn't a good time to try to escape since Mellie had nothing in her memory to help her after she got away. No place for a injured, hungry girl to hide and live.

Daisy had to get more information first so she could figure out exactly where to go and how to get out. But right now, she didn't let her mind wander and focused.

"I just brought the food as Miss Marigold had recommended! You know very well what she does with the disobedient maids! The last one she cut off three fingers because she added too much sugar to her tea! I didn't dare to argue with her!" The panicked maid said, and Daisy finally heard the padlock twist.

"You should have used your head. Why do you think this damn thing is kept alive? Our master sees a use for her. As soon as she finds out you gave her the poison..."

"Don't! Please don't tell her! I can't be in debt any more! What if... " Both maids fell silent and dumbfounded when they saw a girl sitting in the middle of the room, staring at them with eyes filled with fire and sharp but silent alertness.

With her hair tousled in all directions, obscuring a part of her face, all malnourished, weak and dressed in rags, she sat alert in the center of the room, staring at them intently, and she had such an aura that the maids felt shivers down her spine as if they had seen a ghost.

The Mellie they knew always looked at them blankly, and when they came, she waited for it to end. Always meek, quiet and cowardly. She didn't even dare to look up too many times. Who... who was the girl in front of their eyes?

Daisy saw two maids. The one holding the bunch of keys was middle-aged, with dark blue hair tied back in a tight bun, and mean brown eyes. She was fat, and her hands were so large that she only held the whole bundle in two fingers.

The other maid was tall and slender with pale brown hair in a ponytail, freckles, and green eyes. She seemed to be about twenty years old, but her hands that she placed in surprise to her mouth were full of small scars.

"It lives! For once, I'm glad for your stupidity, Dorothy! You could screw up even such a simple job! Great!" The delighted fat maid slapped Dorothy on the shoulder so hard that Dorothy almost fell down.

The young maid at that time, however, didn't have time to look at the fat woman, because she was sure that the child wouldn't survive after such a strong poison.

Dorothy was in charge of fetching the food, so of course she was the first to discover Mellie in a pool of her own blood and vomiting about a week ago. She personally checked whether Mellie was alive, and when she wasn't breathing, the young maid panicked so much that she didn't dare to tell anyone about it, thinking that they would blame her! She was fairly sure that no one would ask for the second miss of the house, because everyone wished her death, until today when Countess suddenly demanded to see her!

So she had no other option than to tell the Head Maid - Katherine - what happened, she came with her and helped her come up with a plan to solve it, but... suddenly Mellie came back to life?

Daisy at that time watched carefully every step of the fat woman who was getting closer and closer to her and gripped a piece of the mirror in her hand, tucking it a little more into her sleeve.

The maid didn't hesitate to grab the child by the rags and lift her so forcefully that Daisy dropped the piece of the mirror, feeling all her strength let go of her.

"It hurts!" She started screaming and kicking trying to muffle the sound of the mirror falling down and she stood on it with her bare foot to cover it. When she succeeded, she quieted down, saving her strength.

"No respect for elders. What are you looking at, Dorothy? Get your little brains moving and be useful for something." The woman tossed the keys while she pulled Daisy across the floor to the exit.

Daisy tried to keep up and at least to get to her feet as her knees were scraping the floor and the skin was coming off very easily. Unfortunately, the fat woman was walking so fast that Daisy didn't have a chance, and she only kept a piece of her rag so that she would not suffocate her.

"Won't the floor get dirty in this way?" Dorothy asked looking at the bloody stains left by the knees of the girl dragged across the floor.

Kate turned and looked at the stains on the floor closely. She pursed her lips into a thin line and frowned in displeasure.

"You're right." She just said, then grabbed Daisy around the waist and tossed her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The girl pursed her lips with all her strength, feeling like a thick arm digging into her ribs, which weren't in the best condition.

Daisy felt her head spinning, the whole pose was even worse than before, but she tried not to show it. The two maids weren't interested in her anyway, so she could look around as much as she wanted.

A few yards from the door that led to the attic, there was a spiral staircase leading downstairs, and everything around it was dark and dimly lit, as if there was rarely anyone visiting. Dust hovered around, but at least it didn't smell like feces.

"Ah, the noble Countess looked really great today, don't you think, head maid Katherine? She was wearing such a beautiful red dress that accentuated her waist! Do you think the rumors are true? About the fact that she's pregnant?" The young maid's lips didn't seem to withstand the silence, and she couldn't stop talking.

"It's truly admirable that despite such a great curse that fell on this house, our master is still so compassionate as to let the source of evil live! I think that all the time the noble Countess spends in the temples certainly protects her perfectly, right, head maid Katherine?"

"Oh, I have heard rumors among servants that the noble Countess is going to hold a banquet in memory of the previous Count Claritas? Ah, such a terrible story only reminds me in whose presence I have to breathe." The young maid looked over her shoulder at Diasy, who was looking around curiously, pretending that she had no interest in the conversation.

Katherine had successfully ignored it so far, but eventually she was fed up with the young maid looking for death and looked at her in disgust.

"I can see why you got hired here, peasant girl. No thought, skittish as a hare and obedient as long as it has a job. The perfect servant for a young lady Marigold to play with and calmly throw out." The woman spoke calmly, and Dorothy's increasingly pale face didn't disturb her at all. She just stared down at her, a stern look so sharp that even Daisy focused.

"You're at Claritas County home. I know you're new, but you've certainly heard the rules here. No gossiping about the family, no mindless wandering in the corridors, no talking while working. We must not mention what we see in this house and what we hear is a mystery. And who does his job badly..."

"Never comes back. I know." Dorothy put in, dejected by the harsh rebuke, but obediently fell silent as she thought about her fate.

She was only twenty, she should be at home with her husband and give birth to children, and she didn't even have a boyfriend in her life, her sister is terminally ill, and her parents have put the whole family in a great debt. She would have to work for free for the next twenty years for the Claritas family, who pledged to pay for their debt.

"You may be new, but you know the rules. Good. And don't call me by name. I'm not your friend." Kate nodded happily, then smiled proudly, enjoying a higher position in the household.

"You aren't the only one whom the noble Countess Claritas has chosen to help, so don't think that you're special. Half the servants in this house work hard to repay the generosity of Countess Claritas. In such difficult times, when other nobles are hiding in their houses, when the plague is raging, Countess goes to the church and hospitals to help! She makes huge donations despite rising taxes, and... " Kate's voice was loud, as if she wanted everyone to hear her, and she knew that the walls of this house had ears. She didn't hide her praise, especially when they stepped out into a busier corridor, where various servants were silently cleaning vases, sweeping carpets, wiping windows, paintings and arranging flowers.

Daisy was thoughtful at the time. Rising taxes and a plague? This is quite early in the history. If she was right, Rosalie should have found the magical spring by now but she was still struggling with injustice in her village. And her mother was blamed for the plague.

"Ah, head maid Rocus, the chief butler was looking for you to discuss certain matters relating to the last incident." The maid grimly bowed respectfully, casting Dorothy a suspicious glance and straightened only when the head maid allowed her.

"Is this about the incident where the groom was kicked by a horse and broke half of his jaw? I heard about it." Dorothy said a bit annoyed at the sight of such an unpleasant look in her direction, even though she had done nothing wrong.

Both Kate and the newly arrived maid looked at her intently but said nothing, each busy with their own thoughts. Short sentences changed and moved on.

Daisy blinked in surprise as Mellie saw the alleged incident from her window as the stables were to the rear of the house. Only that the young man was so severely beaten by some knights who weren't honorable and beat him several against one as much as possible until he lost consciousness and carried him away.

Daisy wasn't interested in this story, but she was a bit curious about who and why would want to get rid of the poor groom. From the words of the maid, she could tell that nothing escaped Countess's eyes here. Could this guy do something that didn't appeal to the great Countess?