What did she want from me? Was my face truly so unpleasant that everyone who looked upon it immediately felt the urge to strike it?
I lowered my eyes with a weary sigh, people seemed determined to dislike me before I had even opened my mouth.
"Why have you come back?" Lady Arcenna suddenly asked.
I lifted my head, my brows drawing together in confusion. What did she mean by that? Where had I gone in the first place?
I had only just arrived in her chamber, unless she was referring to some earlier occurrence that I, unfortunately, knew nothing about.
Then I thought of something and stared at Lady Arcenna in shock.
Could she… see me as her runaway former spouse?
I immediately recoiled at once, clutching my chest protectively. How in Heaven's name could she possibly think I resembled her former spouse?
I am a small, innocent-looking young woman, whereas her former husband was a grown man, and although I had never seen the fellow myself, I was quite certain that a man capable of running away with half the Westwond fortune had to possess a considerably more imposing appearance than mine.
Then what in the world was she looking at?
"Very well," Dorothea said calmly. "She has settled down now."
I looked at Lady Arcenna, then slowly turned my eyes toward Dorothea. Settled down? I looked back at Lady Arcenna, eyes still widened with flaring nose.
To me, she definitely still looked unresolved as though she might spring from the bed and sink her fingers into my neck at the slightest provocation.
Especially since she was still staring at me.
"Let us take her to the bathing chamber," Wendy said. "She must have her bath before breakfast."
She then turned her attention toward me, and her eyes immediately dropped to my neck. I instinctively lifted a hand toward it, though most of the marks were hidden beneath the high collar of my servant's uniform.
"How are you?" Wendy asked.
I stared at her and raised a brow.
What do you think?
Perfectly well, perhaps?
I was thrown upon the floor, nearly strangled and publicly defeated by a mad noblewoman. Aside from those minor inconveniences, I was flourishing.
Wendy seemed to understand my expression without requiring an answer. "Perhaps you should remain a little behind for now. We would not want her temper to flare upon you again."
"As if," Anneliese scoffed.
She looked me over with undisguised contempt. "Just look at her. Who would not wish to chop her head off? Her face practically cries out for annoyance. It looks like the backside of a pig."
"You..." I began but stopped myself almost immediately.
Anneliese raised one brow.
I slowly lowered my hands and forced a smile upon my face, then nodded as though she had said something perfectly reasonable.
Her words alone were enough to make my hair turn white and shorten my remaining years.
"So, let us begin," Dorothea interrupted, apparently deciding that it would be wiser to rescue me before I committed a crime. "You girls should come along and observe."
I released a sigh, while Manor and Clara nodded obediently behind me. Manor looked considerably worse than before, her eyes fixed upon me as though she had only just discovered that I possessed two heads beneath my hair.
Clara appeared more composed, though she continued to stare at me with a cautious expression.
We followed them into the bathing chamber, where Dorothea and Anneliese immediately began preparing the bath.
Noble households, naturally, possessed proper bathing tubs fashioned for their comfort, along with various scented soaps, oils, cloths, and other conveniences that servants such as myself rarely enjoyed.
Servants generally made do with basins, buckets, and whatever warm water could be carried from the kitchens or heated for the purpose.
I looked upon the large bathing tub and sighed inwardly.
The nobility truly knew how to live.
There were moments when I genuinely wondered whether working at Westwond Mansion possessed a single benefit beyond receiving a roof over one's head.
Anneliese and Dorothea rolled up their sleeves and began their work. They carefully removed Lady Arcenna's outer garments until she was left in her undergarments, and, to my great surprise, the lady did not resist them in the slightest.
She remained remarkably obedient while they guided her toward the bath, allowing them to wash her without another sudden outburst.
For the first time since entering the chamber, I began to think that perhaps this task might not be quite as dreadful as I had imagined.
Then Lady Arcenna suddenly glanced toward me.
I immediately reconsidered.
Her eyes lingered upon me for several moments before she returned her attention to the bath.
I slowly lowered my head, attempting to make myself smaller, and then took one careful step backward.
When she looked at me again, I took another step, gradually shifting behind Wendy in the hope that her considerably taller frame might serve as a suitable shield between myself and the lady who had nearly strangled me.
Wendy looked down at me and merely shook her head, though thankfully she did not move away and leave me exposed.
Soon enough she instructed us throughout the process. She explained which things were to be prepared first, how Lady Arcenna preferred her bath, what must be avoided, and which signs might indicate that her temper was beginning to change.
I listened carefully, committing each instruction to memory.
Yet despite the peaceful appearance of the bathing chamber, every few moments lady Arcenna's eyes would return to me, and each time they did, my courage seemed to shrink a little further inside my chest.
Perhaps I had been too quick to think that the task would be simple.