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Chapter 41
Fortunately, Mrs. Marcella wasn’t that fussy a guest. In fact, she disliked having even the cleaning maid enter her room, as if she were hiding some secret.
So, in the mornings, it was enough for me to tidy up the room somewhat under Mrs. Marcella’s supervision and then leave. Outside of that, I was not allowed anywhere near her room.
Anyway, once the new guest began staying at the Plenigan estate, the house briefly regained its liveliness.
Even though Earl Penwood was an honored guest of the Plenigan estate, he could not compare to someone as famous as Mrs. Marcella. Moreover, everything she said was fascinating and astonishing.
“From the moment I first stepped into this estate,” she said while having tea with Helen, Catherine, and Delia.
That day, we were gathered in Mrs. Marcella’s room in the east wing, so I was the one serving tea.
(Melissa Noma was present, but Lucy had been excluded as usual. It seemed everyone still did not consider Lucy part of the household.
Eugenia was also absent, but that was likely her own choice. When she heard Mrs. Marcella was visiting, she had scoffed loudly.)
“I felt it. A strong energy I had never felt anywhere else. It was like….”
Mrs. Marcella trailed off on purpose, placing both hands on her temples as if in deep thought. Everyone waited eagerly, dying to hear what she would say next.
“…It wasn’t an evil presence. If it were the energy of a spirit, it would feel murky. But this was something more noble and pure—something like dignity or grace.”
When she judged the suspense had been built enough, she continued. Helen slapped her knee.
“It must be! The spirit of our great-great-grandmother Alice Noma resides in this estate. She was always worried that her descendants would act against the dignity of the Plenigan family!”
“Her presence is stronger in the east wing than the west wing,” Mrs. Marcella said in a solemn voice.
“And it is particularly strong on this second floor.”
“Oh my!” Delia almost knocked over her teacup in shock.
Mrs. Marcella smiled as if it were nothing.
“And among the rooms on this floor… that direction, and that direction.”
Everyone looked where she pointed, astonished. She had accurately indicated the direction of the study and the room of Lady Alice Noma.
At this point, anyone would think, “What an amazing fortune-teller!”
But I simply smiled bitterly inwardly, knowing that if someone was skilled enough at crafting expressions and improvising stories, this level of trickery was nothing.
It was well known that when the Plenigan family invited Mrs. Marcella, they had already explained the situation of the estate to some extent. The strict, tradition-obsessed atmosphere of the household—especially its oppressive rules toward women—was also widely known in the area. She had likely done her research before arriving.
Moreover, Mrs. Marcella had been questioning the servants as soon as she arrived. She even asked me things like, “I heard there is a painting by Lady Noma somewhere in this estate. Where is it? Can I see it?” and “Is Lady Noma’s room kept locked? Who holds the key?”
“If I had known, I could have pretended to be a fortune-teller instead of a maid,” I thought bitterly.
While I was thinking this, Mrs. Marcella lifted her crystal ball dramatically and said,
“The reason for the recent misfortunes in this estate is exactly what you suspect.”
“Is it… Lady Alice Noma’s curse?” Catherine asked nervously.
Mrs. Marcella did not answer. She stared into the crystal ball. Just as everyone was growing anxious, she suddenly spoke.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves!”
“Eek!” Delia screamed.
Even I, who had been watching her theatrics with mild amusement, was startled. Her voice had changed—now sounding like an old woman in her seventies.
“No matter how wealthy or powerful a family is, it can fall in an instant! I warned you, but the girls never listened!”
Mrs. Marcella raised her head and looked at the women sitting around her. Her gaze was so sharp that even I stepped back in surprise.
“There are four paintings left!”
“Then… does that mean four more people will die?” Helen asked, trembling.
The next moment, like a marionette whose strings had been cut, Mrs. Marcella’s head dropped forward.
“Lady Alice… Noma?”
Helen called cautiously, but there was no response. The three women of the Plenigan family sat frozen in fear.
Finally, Helen managed to gather herself and spoke.
“Lady Alice Noma… is that you?”
At that moment, Mrs. Marcella’s body twitched.
“Oh, she just left,” she said, catching her breath.
“Did I say something just now?”
“You said there were four paintings left…” Helen answered, confused.
Mrs. Marcella smiled awkwardly.
“I didn’t expect Lady Alice to enter my body so suddenly. It seems this place is very close to where her energy is strongest. When a spirit enters me, I don’t remember what I say. At that time, the spirit completely controls my body and voice.”
“But she said there are four paintings left!” Delia shouted in a trembling voice.
“What does that mean? You must know, don’t you?”
“If we interpret it simply, it could mean there will be four more misfortunes in this estate,” Mrs. Marcella said after thinking.
“But fortune and misfortune are not fixed. All energies move and can be changed. That is why fortune-tellers exist—to help people like you.”
“I will do anything if it means no more misfortune happens here,” Helen said firmly.
Watching all this, I felt completely unimpressed. Her acting ability was impressive, yes, but if you looked closely, she was just saying vague, predictable things.
“She’ll probably start selling rabbit feet or horseshoes at an outrageous price next,” I thought. “A textbook scam using fear.”
But Mrs. Marcella behaved differently than I expected. She did not sell rabbit feet or horseshoes. Perhaps those were too obvious, beginner-level tricks.
She also did not directly demand money elsewhere. While she did accept small payments for reading fortunes from visitors who came to the estate, the amounts were minimal and caused no burden.
“Still, a famous fortune-teller is different.”
Within a few days, even Amy and Carol became completely fascinated by her. She occasionally read fortunes for the servants without charging anything, which made her very popular among them.
“My fortune said I should be careful about gossip. Apparently I’ve been scolded a lot for talking too much. She even mentioned that Mrs. Pierce reprimanded me recently—it felt like she saw it herself!” Amy said excitedly.
I was unimpressed. Anyone could figure out Amy’s talkative nature in five minutes. Of course she would get scolded eventually.
“Hey, Ellie, aren’t you going to get your fortune read?” Amy asked.
“No… I’m afraid she might say something bad,” I replied.
“But you won’t get another chance like this,” Carol added.
They seemed disappointed that I was wasting a free opportunity.
Soon after, rumors spread that Mrs. Marcella had made a prediction about Earl Penwood’s marriage.
At a gathering where guests from the neighborhood were also present, she looked at his face and declared:
“You will likely marry someone of a different social class.”
The Earl simply shrugged it off, saying times had changed and class distinctions were less important now. But the prediction sparked excitement among the estate’s female servants.
Earl Penwood was handsome and polite, and already popular among them. With legal marriages between nobles and commoners now allowed, the idea was even more thrilling.
This also affected the Plenigan family. According to Carol, the elders were apparently considering actively pushing for a marriage between Delia and Earl Penwood.
“The Plenigan family really is persistent,” I thought with a hollow laugh. It had not been long since Jane died, and yet such talk was already happening.
In truth, whatever Mrs. Marcella said had nothing to do with me. So I continued my work while quietly searching for traces of Aileen left in the estate.
But because of something Mrs. Marcella said, my workload increased in an unexpected way. It wasn’t that she targeted me personally—it was just that I happened to be assigned to the second floor of the east wing, where Lady Alice Noma’s presence was said to be strongest.
