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Chapter 4
“How do you become good at your job?”
Before entering the mansion, Claire had once asked Angela for advice about working life.
“It’s not difficult.”
Angela confidently gave her three rules.
First, always honor a contract. Trust is everything.
Second, place the employer’s safety above all else.
Third, don’t just look at the trees—look at the whole forest. Enemies can exist anywhere.
Claire listened carefully, nodding with an impressed expression.
‘Good. I memorized everything.’
What Claire failed to realize, however, was that Angela had spent her entire life as a mercenary specializing in bodyguard work—in other words, someone from an industry very far removed from an ordinary workplace.
“Get out. Leave. Disappear.”
Those were the words Claire heard most often while attending Theodore, and also the commands she ignored most often.
“Excuse me.”
After wrapping the wildly thrashing Theodore tightly in blankets like a cocoon, Claire remained beside him until he calmed down.
Once restrained, Theodore glared at Claire with bloodshot eyes filled with murderous intent. But rather than fear, Claire only felt pity.
‘My eyes hurt just looking at him.’
It would probably feel better if he blinked more.
After thinking for a moment, Claire quietly reached out and closed Theodore’s eyes with her hand. His shrieking only grew louder.
‘Hmm.’
Claire began repeatedly opening and closing Theodore’s eyelids at a steady rhythm.
‘He’s so weak that I can’t just ignore little things like this.’
For a brief moment, Claire remembered a raccoon suffering from an eye infection. Deciding she should endure a little extra effort for the raccoon’s eye health, she continued.
About ten minutes later, she finally felt Theodore’s body relax.
“…That’s enough, so move your hand.”
A hoarse voice filled the room, sounding as though he had given up on something. Claire shrugged and withdrew her hand.
“Yes.”
She rolled Theodore across the bed and unwrapped the blanket restraints.
Theodore stared at her with narrowed brows, clearly looking like he had much to say. In the end, though, he merely sighed and rubbed his face.
“Does your head hurt?”
“Forget it.”
Claire poured him a glass of water and handed it over. His hair was damp with sweat from struggling inside the blankets.
Theodore accepted the glass and drank it all in one gulp before returning the cup and staring silently at Claire.
It had already been a month and a half since Claire began serving him.
That was the longest any servant assigned to him had ever lasted.
“Would you like another glass?”
Theodore shook his head and lay back down.
‘It would be nice if he got up and exercised a little.’
Claire clicked her tongue inwardly while staring at his thin neck. As she grew used to caring for Theodore, she had naturally begun noticing patterns in his madness.
‘When the madness isn’t acting up, he’s lethargic, but otherwise normal.’
Theodore suffered attacks around three times a day. Calling them attacks barely felt accurate—what Claire witnessed was closer to a violent explosion of uncontrollable emotions.
Like a massive dam filling to its limit before collapsing and flooding everything around it repeatedly. A truly self-destructive condition.
‘It’s like he becomes a completely different person.’
The Theodore Claire usually saw was exhausted both mentally and physically, somewhat irritable, but not someone who genuinely wanted to hurt others.
But whenever the madness consumed him, he transformed into a beast overflowing with naked killing intent, as though another personality had swallowed him whole.
‘At least he returns to normal quickly once he’s restrained.’
Whenever Claire subdued him and waited a while, light would gradually return to Theodore’s clouded blue eyes, and he would become obedient again.
Just like now.
“Would you like me to wipe away your sweat with a damp towel?”
“I said forget it.”
His voice was terribly rough after all the screaming. Theodore turned his back toward Claire, who sat in a chair beside the bed, then remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“So it’s been a month and a half since you arrived.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Claire quietly watched his back. She could feel his ragged breathing gradually calming down after the episode.
“You’ve watched this miserable state for over a month and still haven’t left. I suppose you really are desperate for money.”
Claire’s eyes filled with alarm.
‘But I’ve only received my first month’s pay so far.’
Warning bells rang loudly inside the head of Claire, who had planned to work here for at least six months.
“It isn’t that difficult. I can continue working here from now on as well.”
At those words, Theodore’s shoulders tensed slightly.
Curling himself up while clutching the blanket, he closed his eyes and spoke.
“Leave before you get hurt.”
No.
So the moment had finally come. Claire bit the inside of her cheek in despair.
‘Is this… dismissal?’
Unlike her expressionless face, her eyes trembled endlessly.
‘Was I actually not good at my job?’
Doing her best to hide her panic, Claire spoke carefully.
“If there’s something lacking in my work, I’ll correct it.”
“Hah. You really don’t understand, do you?”
Theodore irritably sat upright. His bloodshot eyes turned toward Claire.
“I’m telling you to leave before there’s bloodshed. I don’t want to deal with dragging away a corpse.”
“What?”
Claire was genuinely shocked. Her calm expression finally cracked as her lips parted slightly.
The problem wasn’t Theodore’s fierce attitude. What he had just said contained a deeply strange implication.
In the end, Claire could no longer hold back the confusion filling her heart.
“How exactly would Young Master be able to hurt me…?”
Did this raccoon seriously think it could injure her?
Thinking that, Claire carefully examined the skinny raccoon from head to toe. He didn’t seem feverish, but the things he said were surprisingly adorable.
‘In this condition, I could probably handle ten of him without difficulty.’
Only then did Theodore notice the pity in Claire’s gaze, and his face immediately turned red.
“You, you…!”
Frowning deeply, Theodore tried to say something, but soon lost his words altogether. He smacked his own forehead before collapsing roughly back onto the bed.
“Get out! I’m going to sleep!”
‘Then I guess the dismissal talk is canceled?’
Before Theodore could add anything else, Claire quickly stood up. Just before leaving the room, she glanced back toward the bed.
The raccoon buried in blankets somehow looked unusually dejected.
‘That was careless. I thought we’d gotten a little closer.’
Her opponent was a small, sickly, sensitive raccoon.
Resolving not to lower her guard and to become an even more thorough maid, Claire quietly closed the door behind her.
“You.”
“Good evening, Lady Isabella.”
While transporting Theodore’s dinner, Claire encountered Isabella in the hallway. Ever since their first meeting, Isabella had occasionally come looking for her, though usually without any real reason.
“You’re still wearing that shabby apron while visiting my brother? What if you spread germs to him?”
“I wash it clean every night. I even have a spare one, so there’s no need to worry.”
Originally, she had two spare aprons, but she had torn one apart while wrapping Isabella’s feet before, making it unusable.
Remembering that day, Claire glanced briefly toward Isabella’s feet. Thankfully, today’s shoes appeared to fit properly.
“And. And…”
Apparently wanting to criticize something, Isabella grabbed the hem of her skirt while darting her eyes around.
‘But she can’t find anything to criticize. Because I’m an excellent maid.’
Claire looked down kindly at the red baby raccoon with all its fur puffed up. The siblings of this household truly resembled each other—sharp-tempered, yet harmless.
‘How is this family part of a margrave house?’
Is the empire’s border even properly protected? While Claire entertained the rude thought absentmindedly, Isabella finally lost patience and suddenly kicked toward the trolley.
“Oh dear.”
Snapping back to attention instantly, Claire pulled the trolley away in one swift motion. At the same time, Isabella stumbled after missing her target, and Claire caught her arm to steady her.
“Lady Isabella, this is Young Master’s meal.”
“So what?!”
Isabella dug her nails into the wrist Claire used to hold her arm.
The small hand trembled from how hard she was trying to squeeze, yet Claire’s face remained perfectly calm.
‘It doesn’t even itch. Truly the grip strength of a baby raccoon.’
“Young Master’s dinner time is very soon. Would you help me safely deliver his meal to him?”
Easily removing Isabella’s hand with a single finger, Claire searched her pocket and pulled out a piece of candy.
Plop.
The candy dropped into the child’s small hand.
‘This is a bribe.’
Though it was a humble bribe, Isabella stared silently between the candy and Claire before finally clutching it tightly and stepping back.
“I-I’ll let it go this time!”
Snorting indignantly, Isabella hurried away down the hallway. Claire watched the scene with amusement before pushing the trolley forward once more.
‘Good thing I saved the candy Angela gave me. Still…’
Keeping her face pointed forward, Claire shifted only her eyes to the side.
A separate corridor connected to the hallway where she had met Isabella.
Someone was hiding there, watching.
‘Why are they spying on her?’
