From the Tip of the Tongue of the Lowliest Maid - Chapter 1
“It’s Lord Theogrim!”
“Lord Theogrim!”
Midday in the plaza.
At the sound of excited voices, people’s gazes quickly converged in the same direction.
The young ladies gathered at the laundry site flung away the baskets in their hands and rushed over.
Startled by the sudden commotion, Arzeletta straightened her back.
Her long hair, tied back with a cord, unraveled in an instant and tumbled down.
As black and lustrous as expensive silk from the East, her hair shimmered beneath the pale sunlight.
The face she wiped with the back of her hand was fair and beautiful.
Eyes of a mysterious green, a forehead and cheeks pale as if transparent, and beneath them, lips red as roses.
Her breath, labored from strenuous work, slipped sweetly through her slightly parted lips.
Her cheeks, damp with sweat and water, were now tinged with a deeper shade of red at the name she had just heard.
Arzeletta turned her gaze in the direction the young ladies had run.
In the distance, at the center of the circle formed by the crowd, stood Theogrim.
A beautiful man, clad in white robes with a white face.
Mounted on a fine steed with pure white fur, just like its master, Theogrim was easy to recognize even from afar.
The most beloved person in this domain. The heir chosen by the great Lord Ragnar, God’s representative.
A man whose skin, fingertips—even soul—seemed to be white.
But among all the shades of white he possessed, the most noble was the silver hair, clean as snow.
The man’s hair glistened with a pure light, like the moon, like the stars.
Lord Theogrim, white and beautiful like an angel.
His vivid violet eyes were still as clear as the moment she had first seen them years ago.
No—having grown from a boy into a young man, those eyes were now even more refined, like a jewel that had been polished to shine brighter still.
The beautiful and dignified silver-haired youth was responding to the crowd surrounding him.
He was courteous, polite, and overflowing with warmth.
Even amidst the wild cheers directed toward him, Theogrim showed not the slightest hint of arrogance or excitement.
As if he had forgotten all the power and honor promised to him, his eyes were calm, like someone who lived only for duty.
He was the kind of man that every prince in fairy tales seemed modeled after.
That was Theogrim.
Arzeletta forgot what she was doing and stood there blankly, her eyes following Theogrim’s violet gaze.
Like a pitiful flower lifting its head toward the sunlight, her action was beyond her control.
“……!”
But the moment Theogrim turned his head and revealed the left side of his face, Arzeletta bowed her head as if struck by lightning.
Even for that fleeting moment, the fact that she had looked upon him with eyes of admiration made her heart sting.
To Lord Theogrim—pure, immaculate, flawless, the very embodiment of beauty and nobility—the only remaining ‘ugliness’ that clung to him like a stain…
It was…
“You wretched girl—!”
Clang!
With a sharp sound, something struck Arzeletta’s head and fell to the ground with a loud clatter.
“No shame at all. How dare you look at the young lord with those filthy eyes, how dare you!”
As the loud voice drew everyone’s attention toward her, Arzeletta quickly bent over and began scrubbing the laundry in haste.
Her cheeks, which flushed easily to begin with, now seemed as though they were about to catch fire.
To have her blushing face, which had looked upon the esteemed Lord Theogrim, exposed to everyone—it was unbearably mortifying.
This wasn’t the time to be dazed like this. There was far too much work to be done.
If she didn’t finish the laundry before sundown, she would suffer unbearable humiliation at the hands of the overseer.
Arzeletta, hastily bowing her head and scrubbing the clothes, suddenly inhaled sharply.
A sudden force yanked her hair, and she couldn’t even scream.
“Ah…!”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t hear, you shameless thing! Have you already forgotten that it’s because of you Lord Theogrim’s precious face was scarred?”
“You ought to live like a rat in the sewers, yet you dare lift your head and look at the young lord with pride?”
Splash!
The searing pain of her hair being yanked out nearly passed in an instant, and Arzeletta was shoved into the water.
As she fell so easily into it, the women gathered at the laundry site whispered and laughed, as though watching something amusing.
“Hff…!”
Struggling momentarily in the not-so-deep water, Arzeletta barely managed to regain her balance and rise.
She staggered slightly as she lifted her fully soaked body from the basin.
Barely steadying herself, Arzeletta immediately bowed her head.
Her shame burned so intensely that even her eyes ached.
