As I laid out each answer one by one, Emily’s gaze, which had been sharp like an arrowhead, slowly softened. After hearing all my answers to the end, her face looked much more relaxed.
“Well, since you want to apologize that badly… I’ll accept it for now. But that doesn’t mean I’m completely over being angry, so don’t get too happy about it.”
Her tone was deliberately blunt, but it was Emily’s way of saying she would forgive me. Without realizing it, the corners of my mouth turned up slightly at her words. Seeing my expression, Emily also let out a faint laugh.
Just when we were about to savor this moment of reconciliation, someone walked over with angry footsteps, stomping heavily.
When I turned my head, it was Ralph entering the kitchen with an awkward gait. He cursed roughly as he walked, stopping intermittently because his crotch seemed to hurt.
Then he spotted me talking with Emily, and Ralph’s expression twisted with rage.
“Ha…!”
He glared at me with a face that looked ready to k*ll me right then and there. My body instinctively shrank back at Ralph’s menacing aura. If other people hadn’t been around, he probably would have grabbed my hair and shaken me until his anger subsided.
The only fortunate thing was that he didn’t openly reveal himself to be a scoundrel in front of people.
He started to say something while looking at me, then clenched his fists and bit his lips hard. Then he unleashed all his displaced anger on other people.
“Don’t you all have enough work to do? What are you doing instead of working! You could trim one more vegetable instead of staring at me!”
At Ralph’s shouting, everyone who had been looking turned their heads away. Whether they weren’t questioning his awkward gait, they made annoyed expressions like they were thinking “here he goes again with his nonsense.”
I also returned to where I was supposed to be under Ralph’s murderous glare. As I walked toward the vegetable basket in the corner of the kitchen to finally start working, Ralph seemed to get even angrier at this sight and let out a thunderous shout.
“Even an earthworm would be faster than you! Move quickly if you don’t want to be kicked out right now!”
This was about the level I had expected. Worried about provoking Ralph’s anger further, I said nothing and quickened my pace. However, Ralph began getting angry while nitpicking everything from how I held the knife to the direction I trimmed vegetables and the time it took to prepare them.
“Is this your first day working? No it’s not! Even a 5-year-old kid would work better than you!”
“Nothing changes no matter what I say? It’s not like you’re a blockhead or anything. You just keep trimming vegetables without any break time!”
“If you’re going to work like this, you might as well go be a street wh*re! You don’t need to work, just spread your legs well – that would be perfect for someone like you.”
He constantly called my name whenever I did anything. With “Eliat, Eliat” at the end of every sentence, my ears were about to get calluses. I’m not lying – even taking a long breath became grounds for Ralph to scold me.
I silently did what I had to do to avoid provoking Ralph, but when his excessive venting continued, Emily, who couldn’t stand it anymore, spoke up.
“Head chef, if there’s a lot of work to do today, I’ll help.”
“Look at her stepping up because she’s friends with her. Worthless girls.”
“……”
“If you don’t want to get the same treatment, don’t interfere and just stay quietly in your corner doing your own work.”
“But this is too much…!”
Worried that Emily might get caught in the crossfire, I quickly stepped in front of her. Hoping she would understand my concern, I spoke calmly.
“Emily, I’m really fine, so don’t worry about it. The head chef is right – this is all because I can’t work properly.”
Of course, I wasn’t without my own sense of injustice. I was the victim to begin with, yet I had to endure his venting, and crucially, I wasn’t bad at my work.
Just a few days ago, Ralph had personally praised me, saying there was probably no one in our estate who trimmed vegetables as well as I did.
The proof was that the vegetables piled high in the basket, which made Ralph’s earlier words about my slow vegetable-trimming hands unbelievable, were now starting to show the bottom.
Despite my dissuasion, when Emily stubbornly tried to add another word, I firmly shook my head. Angry Emily bit her lips hard and turned her body away without saying anything.
‘From Emily’s perspective, it must be hard to keep watching me get Ralph’s anger taken out on me.’
Even after I finished trimming all the vegetables, Ralph’s tyranny continued. He would pointlessly order me to move heavy objects around that even the strong men in the kitchen would have trouble lifting, or he would find trivial faults to mock my parents.
Each time, I barely managed to calm my boiling insides and endured these moments of patience and pain until it was finally time to finish.
Even though he had tormented me all day long, Ralph still looked resentful. I easily ignored Ralph’s gaze and finished cleaning up with Emily. Just when we were about to leave the kitchen, Ralph gritted his teeth and spoke to me.
“Eliat, it’s not too late even now. If you want to apologize for what you did today, don’t leave and stay in the kitchen. But if not… you’ll need to steel yourself for what’s coming.”
Sincerity seeped through his chilling words. My footsteps heading outside hesitated for a moment. But I left the kitchen with Emily without looking back. Behind us, I heard Ralph’s cursing along with a loud sound like he was throwing something, but I walked steadily without caring.
Emily, who hadn’t said a word since earlier, finally opened her mouth for the first time when we reached the garden.
“That bastard Ralph was always annoying, but… why is he being so unreasonable today? Did you do something to get on his bad side?”
“Well…”
I told her about what Ralph had done to me, leaving out what happened with that man. Emily’s face gradually darkened as she listened to me, and later she trembled with clenched fists, muttering the same words like a parrot.
“That crazy bastard…! He’s going wild without knowing his limits? This won’t do. I need to castrate that son of a b*tch right now…”
Emily spent a long time thinking about how to orchestrate things so he would naturally become a eunuch.
Ridiculous plans came up like pretending to accidentally spill boiling soup on that area while working, or getting herbs that would disable reproductive function and mixing them into water, but I found Emily’s appearance both touching and cute, so I just smiled quietly without saying anything.
“Why do you keep smiling? I’m not joking – I’m serious.”
“I know. That’s why I’m grateful for everything.”
“Since we don’t know what that bastard Ralph might do, stick close to me from now on. You must go to the bathroom with me and eat with me too. Got it?”
“Yeah, I got it.”
Just when it seemed like our conversation was ending, Emily suddenly looked at me with a serious face. Seeing her squint her eyes while looking at me, anyone could tell she had something she wanted to ask. Since she was just moving her lips without saying anything, I spoke first.
“What? What are you curious about this time?”
“Will you tell me if I ask?”
“Let’s see?”
“…Where did you go tonight? We promised each other because of the rumors about the estate. We said we’d never wander around at night no matter what happened.”
“Well…”
Actually, this was what I was most worried about. Knowing Emily’s usual personality, she wouldn’t care about harm coming to herself and would try her best to help me somehow.
Of course, I was truly grateful for that feeling, but I didn’t want to be a burden to Emily anymore. When I kept hesitating, Emily, who couldn’t wait any longer, asked again.
“Well…?”
“Just… it’s nothing special. I really needed to use the bathroom at dawn, so I went to take care of business.”
“…But it took too long for that, didn’t it?”
“My stomach hurt a lot. Since I was taking a big one, naturally it took longer than usual.”
Emily let out a hollow laugh, perhaps feeling like my words sounded like excuses. And unlike before, she stared at me with eyes that had turned cold.
“Oh, really? So you’re saying you were late because you urgently needed the bathroom and were taking care of big business? But then what about the dirt stains and fallen leaves on your clothes? Why would someone who only went to the bathroom come back with those?”
“……”
I couldn’t say anything in response to her pointed observation. I kept my mouth shut since further excuses seemed meaningless.
Anxiety arose that we might fight again just after making up. As I nervously bit my innocent lips while watching Emily’s reaction, she let out a long, deep sigh.
“Eliat, tell me honestly. Something happened, didn’t it?”
“…No, nothing happened.”
“Can you say that while looking straight into my eyes?”
Emily’s blue eyes rippled like the sea as they caught the light. Pure worry seeped from her gaze as she stared directly at me. That made it even more impossible to tell her the truth. I couldn’t let you get dragged into this because of me alone.
“Yes, really nothing happened.”
“…If that’s what you insist, I won’t ask anymore. Is that okay?”
Distrust still dripped from Emily’s eyes as she looked at me, but fortunately she didn’t ask anything more.
A cool autumn breeze blew into the garden. Scattered leaves fell rustling and rolled across the ground. Silence settled in, deep enough that we could hear the rustling sounds. We sat there without saying anything for quite a while.