apter 3

The other maids turned pale and were frightened, but Lily wasn’t. Lily lowered her eyebrows, looked as sorry as possible, and put her hands together.

“Sally made a mistake again. I’m sorry I should’ve looked out for that.”

“Sally again? You keep causing trouble every day. You really need to be scolded today.”

The maid huffed up and approached Sally. She grabbed Sally’s wrist with her rugged hands, and a voice came from upstairs with the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs.

“Sally! Sally, where are you?”

The voice was full of joy and affection. Sally was a little surprised because the voice was so different from the usual irritated and mocking voice that called to her.

Soon, Sarah appeared with a bright face. As soon as Sarah saw Sally, she ran down the stairs and hugged her little body tightly.

“Oh my God, you cute thing!”

The maid next to me gasped.

‘I can’t believe she’s hugging that dirty Sally. It’s no different from hugging trash.’

Whether or not she knew what they were thinking, Sarah went to kiss Sally.

“Doing what you said worked. He treated me very politely and didn’t play around.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

Sarah looked at Sally with curious eyes, thinking how did a maid who only does chores know such a thing. The speaking skills Sally taught her were sophisticated and refined.

“Sally, from now on you are my personal maid.”

“What?”

Sarah glistened as Sally looked at Sarah with surprised eyes.

“The madam has given me permission. From now on, stay with me.”

Popularity was power for them. The madam giving permission means that Sarah has earned a decent position in the store.

“So you guys! If you keep bothering her, you’ll die by my hands!”

Sarah said bitterly, glaring at the maids around us. The maids were dumbfounded.

She was on dirty Sally’s side. Sarah, who had aristocratis guests, was an untouchable opponent for them.

“Let’s go to my room first. I have your share of breakfast ready.”

Sarah grabbed Sally’s hand with a smile. Then, Sarah angrily kicked an empty bucket of water.

“What is this?! Clean this up immediately.”

The empty bucket rolled to Lily’s feet. She couldn’t express her resentment and just bit her lips tightly.

—

With Sally’s hand in her hand, Sarah leads them to the new private room assigned to her this morning. The room was small, but it was decorated with high quality and cute furniture.

The round table was set up with two meals. Sarah sat Sally down and said.

“Come on, eat. You didn’t have breakfast, did you?”

Just as she said, I starved this morning. I was hungry and the soup on the plate looked very sweet, but I couldn’t lift a spoon easily.

Sally was wondering how she could refuse to become Sarah’s personal maid.

She was working as a maid because there was no way out of the back alley, and she wanted to keep as far away from the people here as possible. Because she was afraid of how they would react if they found out about her real appearance

“What’s wrong? You don’t like the potato soup?”

Sarah asked naively. If I refuse her favor, that loving face may turn grim, but I have to say it.

“Miss, I want to be a regular maid.”

“What?!”

Sarah stopped lifting the piece of bread to her mouth and looked at Sally with a confused look.

Sarah thought Sally would dance around with a broom when she heard that she would become a personal maid, but Sally’s reaction was very glum, not happy.

Sarah folded her arms with a serious face because she didn’t expect this reaction, even though she looked different from other kids.

“Do you like to clean up? I’m good at messing up my room. I’ll give you plenty of messes to clean up.”

“That’s not it.”

“Are you afraid I’ll torment you? I’m not that kind of person. Don’t worry about that. I relieve stress by eating.”

“I have never thought of that.”

“Then why?”

Sara looked at Sally, confuzzled as she couldn’t understand why.

Sally realized that Sarah really wanted her. She decided to be honest because she didn’t think Sarah would give up easily.

“I don’t want to sell laughter to men.”

(Note: to sell laughter is an idiom for doing work similar to a hostess or prostitute)

“Who said you’d do such a thing? I’m just asking you to be my personal maid.”

“I will stand out more when I’m with the lady. If that happens, the madam will pay more attention to me.”

“Pfft! You’re funny, why would the madam…”

Sarah took a closer look at Sally. A face covered with black dust and severely tangled hair. But the thin lines of her face hidden beneath all that stood out.

Sarah grabbed Sally’s hair with her fingertips in surprise.

“Huh.”

Sarah gasped.

Sally’s exposed face was dirtied with stains, but she isn’t as ugly as people think she is. No, if you have eyes, you’ll be able to tell that her face is, in fact, quite beautiful.

“What the hell? Why do you live like that when you have such a perfect face?”

Sally pulled back and slipped out of Sarah’s grip. Then she flattened her tangled hair over her face again. Before long, the poor little girl of the past has returned.

Sally looked quite determined with her lips pressed tightly together. It was unlike that of a young girl. She didn’t seem to be acting just out of childishness or stubbornness.

Seeing this, Sarah became perplexed.

‘Oh right. The children working here aren’t doing it by their own will.’

Most of the shop’s maids were street children who had been sold off by their parents or were homeless. Once they step into the store, they are stuck here.

When they reached a certain age, they would become a member of the store regardless of their will.

If the madam knew she had such a pretty face, the madam would never let her go so she could understand why Sally is acting like this. But even so, she couldn’t give up easily.

Sarah really wanted Sally.

‘How do I seduce her?’

This greatly troubled Sarah. Should I coax her into eating something? No, I don’t think that is going to work out. Should I threaten the madam? No, that would be too evil.

Sally was surprised to see Sarah agonizing with an arduous face.

‘This is my problem. I have to do something, whatever it takes.’

That part moved Sally’s heart.

‘Would this person be alright by themselves?’

Sally hasn’t opened her heart to anyone since returning to the past. Her memories of being hurt by countless people in her past life made her defensive.

Sally decided to take a step closer to Sarah.

“Why do you want me to be your personal maid?”

“Because you’re smart.”

Sarah knew well that she wasn’t clever herself.

“You know a lot of things that I don’t know, so I thought it would be good if you could help me. I want to be famous and make a lot of money. Both of my parents are sick, and my siblings are still very young. This is the only way to earn enough money to support my family since I’m not educated.”

It was such a straightforward answer. And that was the answer Sally wanted.

A girl who’s been sold like Sally can’t easily escape the store. The information network in the back alley was very quick, so it’s not easy to escape.

The best way is to pay a ransom to leave the store.

As a maid who can’t even get a proper meal, she doesn’t have any chance to save up enough money, but being Sarah’s personal maid, that would be different.

‘I’ll have a chance to earn more money than I ever did as a regular maid. Then the day I escape from here would come closer, right?’

“I’ll be your personal maid.”

“What? Really?”

Sarah raised her hands, unable to hide her joy. Sally said, looking at Sarah, who was as happy as a child.

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Sure, tell me what it is.”

Sally doesn’t have much time left. When she turns 17, it will be difficult to hide her features due to the rapid growth period.

If it catches the eyes of the quick-witted madam, obviously, she would dress Sally up and make her sell laughter regardless of Sally’s will. Just like in the past.

But Sally didn’t want to live that life anymore.

To do so, Sally needed strong armor, not weak armor, such as dirt or clothes like this.

“Please let me keep this appearance.”

“That’s not difficult to do. You may keep this appearance when you’re with me.”

Sarah’s beauty shined through as she smiled brightly. This was no fluke to win the hearts of noblemen.

There is ambition behind that smile, but there was no twisted hidden agenda. Pliable enough to carefully listen to the words of a young maid.

Sally’s help will make her famous. And the greater she becomes, the less the madam could do anything to Sally.

Sarah will be her beautiful and strong armor.