Chapter Forty-one

“ I’ll take care of them, your Highness.” Sofia bowed. Valerie rushed to stop her, but before she could come close, Sofia poured out the contents of the bleach on the clothes.

“Valerie … “

“ Lady Lily … “

“ Mira … “

“ Enough is Enough! “ Sofia yelled in anger. The room was silent for a moment. Valerie watched her clothes destroyed by ' a mere maid' as she would always address Sofia. She bent over and began throwing the clothes at Sofia. Sofia also retaliated and the two clashed. Lady Lily and Mira came in between the fight to separate the two ladies. Lady Lily pleaded with Sofia to stop and she did but after venting more of her anger on Valerie.

“ This will be the last time, you’ll work for this lady here. “ Sofia was addressing Lady Lily and Mira. “ Now, let’s leave this stinky room. “ Sofia said and headed towards the door, Lady Lily and Mira followed suit. 

The loud bang of the door, from Mira made Valerie’s heart skip. Valerie looked down on her clothes which had changed to a different look, really disgusting to the eyes. Tears dripped down the corners of her face as she examined her favourite clothes. She then, walked to the full-length mirror and took a close look at herself. Her face looked messy with strands of hairs which pulled out from the hair pack. Anger, hatred and envy rose in her as her view irritated her the more. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she made for the door after selecting few of the destroyed clothes. 

… 

…

The atmosphere in Sofia’s personal maids' ( Lady Lily and Mira) room was an awkward one. Sofia sat on the soft bed with her hands clasped together on her laps. Her heart rose up and down with an accelerated pace as she thought of the aftermath of her actions. Lady Lily and Mira sat on the chairs in the room. No one spoke to each other. The silence was becoming too much for Mira to keep and she just let it off.

“ Ma’am, I’m really sorry to say this but I feel so scared after what happened in Valerie’s room. You know she’s evil and can cause us harm. “ Mira expressed with great fear which lay within her heart.

“ I’m ready to fight for it. “ Sofia answered with boldness. She really don’t care what her actions will cause her. All she knew was that, she was tired of keeping quiet and pretending that everything was okay.

…

...

Valerie headed straight to Smith’s room. She let tears freely flow down from her eyes and with the destroyed clothes which hung over her shoulders and some which lay on her palms, she walked heavily to Smith’s room, ignoring the whispers from the servants she came across.

“ Why does she look that way? “ A maid said to the other in slow whispers.

“ I don’t know. Maybe we should tell Ma’am Eva about it. “ The other suggested. 

They walked off to meet Eva still gossiping on their way.

…

…

Andy saw a lady approaching his Master’s bedroom. He squinted his eyebrows trying to figure out who she was from a distance. Realization dawned on him when the lady drew closer. He was shocked for words, Valerie looked extremely scary in those looks. Red face, messy hair and some clothes which looked like rags. And, her footsteps were nothing to write home about.

“ I want to talk to Daddy. Is he in ? “ Valerie asked immediately she came into Smith’s attendant room. 

“ Yes, he … “ But Valerie had already walked off into Smith’s room, so ,he was left standing and wondering what happened to Valerie.

Smith was stunned to see Valerie so messy and crying. He sat up on the bed and called Valerie to come closer. Valerie was hesitant to do so. She just squatted down with her head pillowed on her laps and tears dripping on her dress.

Smith got out of bed and went to get her up. He pulled her to the sofa in his room and sat beside her as he tapped her back in consolation.

“ It’s ok. “ Smith kept on telling her. Valerie was excited inwardly to see her ploy working on Smith. She purposely, lean to the side on Smith’s shoulders, earning more soothing words from Smith. She gathered herself after a while and sat ready to pour out all the venom that occupied her heart.

“ My Daughter, I want you to calm down and explain all that happened to you. “

Valerie let out an evil grin. This was a great opportunity to ruin Sofia forever. “ She destroyed my clothes with bleach because I ordered her and two other maids, Lily and Mira to wash them. When I questioned her for her actions, she began to beat me angrily. The other two, Lady Lily and Mira joined and they defeated me.” Valerie broke down into tears again. 

Smith was touched by her narration. He patted Valerie’s back again before making a quick call, 

“ Bring me Sofia, with Lady Lily and Mira. “ He ordered.

Smith quickly stood up and took Valerie with him, out of the room to the attendant room.

Lady Lily and Mira, including Sofia were in the room when they heard a heavy knock on the door.

“ Ma’am “ Lady Lily panicked. Mira’s face turned red and she clasp her hand on her chest. She could hear her heart beat so loud. Lady Lily quickly made for the door when she heard the second bang on the door.

“ The three of you should step outside, now!.” A security guard ordered. Mira started crying at the stance. Cold sweats broke from her forehead as she slowly headed out of the room. The three was dragged along to Smith’s attendant room after they had closed the door. 

They were made to kneel down as soon as they came face-to-face with Smith. Smith felt that Sofia’s presence was irritating. He ordered the guards to put them in a room without food or water for three days. They guards did as commanded.

“ Do not worry my daughter. I’ll make sure to punish them if this repeats in the future something like this or similar to this happens. “ Smith assured Valerie as soon it was only both of them in the room. He gave orders that Valerie be taken care of and the destroyed clothes should be replaced.

…

…

Sofia sat down on the bare floor as there wasn’t any chair in the room. Her facial expression was blank with no feelings attached. Whatever the result might be, she wasn’t concerned about it and was ready to do worse things than she earlier did.

Mira was crying because of the pronounced starvation on them. If it was possible for her to rewind the hands of the clock, then she would. And she would have prevented Sofia from getting on Valerie’s nerves.

“ Who would save us now? “ Mira cried out in pains. 

Lady Lily was silent, just like Sofia who deafened her ears to the cries of Mira.

… 

…

The Smiths residence became a discussion arena. Different maids and guards in different positions within the main building were discussing about the incidence. Most of the were against Smith’s actions. 

Eva and Sarah also heard the news. They also discussed it in their room.

“ I told you, that lady is evil. “ Eva told Sarah. She get easily annoyed with anything that relates to Valerie.

“ You can’t do anything about it. Or, what can you do? “ Sarah asked Eva.

“ I really don’t know.” Eva drawled in disappointment.

“ You can still help them out by giving them food secretly. But, the question remains, how do you lure the guards at the post to let you in? “ Sarah was trying to help Sofia out. She also loves the lady’s character.

An idea struck in Eva’s head. “ Maybe, I’ll need to tell Young Master Albert. “ Eva suggested.

“ Great! “ Sarah exclaimed. “ All you’ll have to do is it to meet with John and tell him to send words to Young Master, Albert and bob’s your uncle, she’ll be out. “ 

Eva was so happy to have a friend like Sarah. “ Thank you so much. I’m out.”

Eva left in search of John. She searched everywhere and couldn’t find him. So then went to Albert’s place. The security guard informed her that Albert left the house a long time ago. 

“ What happened? “ Sarah asked Eva as soon as she returned. Her facial expression was dim and it proved that all wasn’t right.

“ Young Master, Albert left the house a long time ago and hasn’t returned till now. “ Eva said in annoyance.

“ Chill, girl. He still lives here. You’ll do that later on. “ Sarah tried to cheer her up.

“ What irritates me is that, I’ll be going to the boutique with Valerie again. I really don’t want to. At least I can’t easily forget what I passed through that day. “ Eva complained.

Sarah laughed at her attitude. “ Let’s have a walk within the residence. I don’t feel like staying indoors.”

“  Let’s go.” Sarah said as she pulled Eva out of the room.