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Chapter 37
“Be careful? Be careful of what?”
I couldn’t organize my thoughts at all.
“Even if she found out that Ian and I snuck into the Plenigan estate while hiding our identities, there’s no reason for Eugenia to be the one who has to be careful. If anything, it should be Ian and me.”
But no matter how long I stared at the paper, the sentence—Be careful of these two—didn’t disappear or change.
“No… more than that, what bothers me is…”
I’m in charge of cleaning Eugenia’s room. She obviously knows that I come in and out of her room frequently.
So there’s no way she thought I wouldn’t see this. Eugenia isn’t stupid.
“That means… she left this here on purpose for me to find.”
Then wasn’t this a warning? A warning to Ian and me—that she knows who we are, so we should be careful.
But even that felt off. From what I had seen of Eugenia so far, she didn’t seem like the type to speak in such a roundabout way. If anything, she would have stood us in front of her and bluntly asked, “Who exactly are you two?”
“Or maybe she thinks we’re suspicious, but doesn’t have solid proof yet, so she’s testing us like this?”
I might be just a maid, but Ian is known as a noble guest in the Plenigan estate. If she accused him without evidence, it would be a huge offense. So maybe she was approaching carefully.
“Wait… what if my whole line of thinking is wrong?”
Right now, I’m hiding my identity and sneaking around, so I’m overly sensitive about being exposed. That’s probably why I can’t take the sentence at face value.
“If you read it as written, it means Eugenia needs to be careful of Ian and me. Maybe she has secrets of her own she doesn’t want discovered. Since I clean her room and Ian is staying right next door, maybe she thinks we’re a risk.”
That explanation made sense… but something still pricked at me like a thorn. What exactly was Eugenia trying to hide?
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Maybe playing detective just isn’t my thing.”
Grumbling like that, I left Eugenia’s room. As if perfectly timed, Edward was just coming out of the study.
And just as perfectly, Eugenia had just come up the stairs and appeared in the hallway.
“Eugenia Jenkins!”
The moment he spotted her, Edward’s face turned red as he shouted. He looked like he might spit lightning from his mouth. He had already been furious, and it seemed he’d been waiting for someone to take it out on.
“What on earth are you wearing, walking around like that?!”
“What’s wrong with how I’m dressed, Uncle Edward?”
Eugenia replied innocently, as if she had no idea what he meant—though it was obvious he was talking about her outfit.
Since arriving at the Plenigan estate, I had never once seen Eugenia in women’s clothing. It seemed all the clothes she brought were trousers. She was wearing them now, too.
“That outfit! Don’t you dare show yourself to the villagers dressed like that!”
“What’s so terrible about these clothes?”
Eugenia exaggeratedly looked down at her pants.
“These were made by Priscilla, the costume designer from our troupe. She’s amazing—meticulous and incredibly fast. You can barely even see her hands when she works!”
“I’m not here to listen to your nonsense! I heard you’ve been going to the village tavern dressed like that!”
“Oh, you heard?”
“‘Oh, you heard?!’ Is that what you say right now?!”
Edward stomped his foot.
“How can a woman shamelessly go into a tavern? Have you no regard for the family’s dignity?!”
“Uncle, as I’ve told you many times, I’m not a Plenigan, I’m a Jenkins—”
“Silence!”
Edward’s thunderous shout cut her off.
“If it weren’t for you, none of this would have happened in this house! It’s because you put strange ideas into Jane’s head that she died! Jane’s death is all your fault!”
“What?”
The color drained from Eugenia’s face. Edward pointed at her harshly, as if he might stab her with his finger.
“And yet you walk around with that shameless face! So who’s next? Who are you going to influence this time? Delia? Are you planning to get her killed like Jane too?!”
“Uncle!”
“And what about Aileen?! She saw how you acted and got ideas—insisting on going to university! Did you tell Anne stories about fooling around with men dressed like that too? And Anne disgraced the family name and died as well!
You might as well have killed them all yourself! And yet you feel no shame—how much more do you plan to disgrace this family?!”
“Uncle, words have consequences.”
Though sparks seemed to flash in her eyes, Eugenia’s voice grew quieter instead. It seemed she became calmer the angrier she was.
“I never influenced anyone. The Plenigan family was simply due for change. Aileen, Jane, and Anne—they all did what was right.
And Jane died in an unfortunate accident. It’s tragic, but accidents can happen anywhere.”
“Don’t give me that nonsense! If you hadn’t dragged her to that party, nothing would have happened to her!”
Edward seemed even more enraged by her composure.
“Fine—you say you’re not a Plenigan, but a Jenkins! That filthy Jenkins blood! It’s that filthy blood that’s tainting our Plenigan family!”
“If Jenkins blood is so filthy, why didn’t you stop my mother from marrying into that family? And even if their influence has declined, the Jenkins family is still quite respectable in their region. Didn’t you approve the marriage because of that?”
“I don’t want to hear another word! As soon as Jane’s funeral is over, you are leaving this house!”
Edward stomped again.
“I won’t watch a woman disgrace the family any longer! And I won’t let you influence Delia too! If you truly care about your relatives, leave immediately!”
“Uncle.”
Despite his ferocity, Eugenia didn’t shrink back at all. She met his gaze head-on.
“I’m not going anywhere. I believe staying is what I must do for the sake of the Plenigan family.
You only care about appearances and reputation. Are you really worried about Delia? Did you ever grieve for Jane, even for a moment?
You just don’t like women stepping forward. If you truly cared, you would think about what they want—what they wish to do.
Suppressing them, shouting at them—that’s what you want. You always talk about ‘the family,’ but are you really thinking of the Plenigan family?
For the family? In my eyes, your outdated mindset is what’s destroying it! The one who drove Jane to her death isn’t me—it’s your stubbornness!”
“I said shut up!”
Edward suddenly raised his hand and swung it toward her face.
Smack.
A harsh sound echoed through the hallway.
Startled, I instinctively turned my eyes away the moment he raised his hand, so I didn’t see Eugenia get hit.
But when the sound rang out, I quickly looked back—and realized I wouldn’t have seen her get hit anyway.
“Penwood… Count?”
Edward’s hand remained lowered after the strike as he muttered in a daze.
At some point, Ian had stepped between them. Judging by the red mark on his cheek, I hadn’t imagined the sound.
Now that I thought about it, they had been shouting right in front of Ian’s room. Even with good soundproofing, there was no way he hadn’t heard.
He must have hesitated to interfere in a family matter, but when things escalated, he stepped in—just in time to block Edward’s hand. The perfect timing of the day belonged not to Edward or Eugenia, but to Ian.
Edward looked completely stunned. He didn’t even think to check if Ian was alright or apologize—he just froze. I remembered that he only acted strong toward family members; in reality, he was weak-willed.
“Ahhh! Count, are you alright? Your face is red! We need a cold compress—quickly!”
Since neither Edward nor Eugenia reacted, I stepped in, deliberately making a fuss.
Only then did Edward come to his senses and grab Ian.
“Count! Are you alright?!”
“I’m fine. There’s no need to worry.”
Ian smiled reassuringly, but with his cheek reddened, it only made him look more pitiful.
“I’m ashamed to have shown you such disgrace… Ellie, be quiet! Count, I sincerely apologize. I didn’t mean to do that! I truly don’t know how to apologize…”
“No, I understand. I should apologize as well for interfering.”
“No, no! I’m terribly sorry. Ellie, what are you standing there for? Go prepare a compress! Eugenia, we’ll talk later. Count, I deeply apologize.”
After bowing repeatedly, Edward finally retreated, glancing nervously around. He probably couldn’t bear to stay any longer out of embarrassment.
Eugenia looked at Ian for a moment. She didn’t ask if he was alright, nor did she apologize.
“So I heard you’re too clumsy to even dance… I guess that’s not true.”
With that, she gave a playful wink and slipped into her room.
But I knew that what she really meant was thank you.
And if I understood it, Ian surely did too.
