There is No Key to His Cage - Chapter 4.1
Bang-.
As he disappeared, her tense body gradually relaxed.
Curled up in a small ball, she stared blankly into space.
Fear had dried up her tears.
She was just thinking about what to do next.
Creak-
“Lady Elena, we’ve come to assist you with your morning routine.”
The maids he had mentioned arrived.
They were women dressed in black maid uniforms with white aprons.
Behind the door, a three-tiered cart was visible, loaded with clothes to change into and bathing supplies.
“Ah… It’s fine. Just go.”
She sighed, showing a reluctant response.
“We were instructed to assist you no matter what.”
An exasperating sound.
It was hard enough just being here, why did they keep bothering her?
As she lay still under the covers, the maids reluctantly pulled her hands, as if they had no choice.
“What are you doing?”
Thud-.
Elena glared at them, breathing rapidly.
“My lady, please… If we don’t assist you, we’ll be killed.”
The trembling maids pleaded tearfully, asking for help just this once.
It was like seeing herself trembling before him just a few days ago.
Right, what fault did these people have?
They were just working in that psycho’s house.
“Ha. Alright…”
No matter how much she disliked him, she didn’t want to cause trouble for others.
She didn’t want to be the same as that man.
“Thank you. Thank you, my lady.”
They bowed their heads in gratitude as if they had overcome a great hurdle.
Why were they so grateful for being allowed to serve her?
She got a sense of what kind of presence he was in this mansion.
“And please speak more casually.”
“…Okay.”
As she reluctantly nodded, the maids grasped her thin arms and helped her up.
One of them hurriedly prepared water in the bathroom, seemingly intent on washing her grimy body first.
“My lady, this way.”
The word ‘my lady,’ which she had never heard before, felt strange to her ears.
The maid led her to sit in front of a dressing table with a large mirror.
“Then, excuse me.”
Aquamarine-like blue eyes. Pearly white, smooth skin with curly light pink hair that fell to her breasts. A small face, large doe-like eyes, a straight nose, and dainty lips. The name of this woman in the mirror was Elena Helios.
“I’ll trim your hair a little.”
“Okay…”
She was not from this world.
An extraordinary person who crash-landed in the Estel Empire from South Korea.
This was the best way to define her.
“It’s done, my lady.”
The hair cut by the thin silver scissors looked as pitiful as her appearance.
The short strands of hair piled up, scattered on the floor.
“Thank y-”
“My lady, the bath is ready. This way.”
Before she could finish thanking the maid who cut her hair, another maid hurriedly called her.
Elena was moved to the bathroom like livestock being led to slaughter.
Inside the bathroom was a large window with a clear view outside and a large, curved bathtub.
The bathroom, decorated with lion heads, was excessively ornate.
Elena stood quietly in front of the tub, preparing to undress.
But the maid who followed her also stood still, not leaving.
“Aren’t you going out?”
“It’s our duty to bathe you. Come here. You need to undress.”
“Ah, no. It’s okay. I can bathe myself.”
Elena clutched her clothes tightly, bristling like a hedgehog.
The maids, lowering their heads, left as if they had no choice.
“Please let us know when you’re finished bathing, my lady.”
“Okay…”
Splash-.
“Hah…”
Her cold body, submerged in the tub, quickly warmed up as if a fire had been lit.
The water prepared by the maids spread a faint fragrance as if rose water had been sprinkled.
The opaque color rippled milky white as if horse oil had been poured in.
Elena, absentmindedly flicking the water, spoke while looking at her fingers beaded with clear droplets.
“How… did I end up like this?”
There are two types of people in this world.
Those with parents and those without.
She belonged to the latter.
She was born in a place called South Korea and abandoned at an orphanage right after birth.
She didn’t even know her mother and father’s names, let alone their faces.
The orphanage teachers were both God and parents to her.
She grew up cold and poor.
She was bullied but overcame it proudly, and always did well in her studies.
Because if she didn’t get a scholarship, she would be beaten.
At those times, she couldn’t walk the next day.
Thanks to that, she entered a good university, but her life was still in the gutter.
The scholarship she received under the name of excellent grades all went into the director’s bank account.
Also, to become independent, she secretly started part-time jobs from middle school, gritting her teeth.
But they say God is unfair to humans.
The director found the only bankbook she had hidden under the bed like a mouse, and she was beaten again.
It was her birthday, too.
So at 19, still an age that needed care, she left the orphanage.
A gosiwon, a semi-basement, a rooftop room – anywhere was fine.
She just wanted to escape the orphanage.
That’s how she had lived.
“It was hard. I often resented why I had to live such a life.”
Was it the gods’ prank, or a cruel fate?
