The Royal Deal

Chapter 50

Someone gestured to her, she instantly shut up leaving Amethyst’s question unanswered.

Nobody seemed to be willing to speak up, so Amethyst tried to fish out the information. “Well, this leaves me no choice. Since you weren’t aware, I must punish you all for embezzlement.”

“Madam! Please we know nothing about it!” The few maids chorused.

“This place is too worn down for you to be unaware.” Amethyst sniggered.

“We only know that the person in charge of this place is Sir Dajal.” The most flustered one blurted out.

“Yes, that’s right. Even when we raised a request for maintenance he said that there were no funds … ” said another.

“If not he would just brush us off and ignore us— ”

The word punishment must have scared them. As each of the maids added on to the other.

So it really must be Dajal. Unless these ladies are lying … She couldn’t come to a conclusion without gathering the facts and evidence, but something was fishy for sure. A woman’s intuition is never wrong!

“I am not here to punish you all. I am here to help. If you do not tell me the truth then I cannot help you.” She declared.

“You will help us?!” The maids thought they had misheard. No one had been bothered about their plight until now, so one couldn’t blame them for being skeptical.

“Yes.”

“You won’t be able to.” Someone dared to be forthright.

“Why… do you think that?” Amethyst was surprised.

“You can only say that because you don’t know Sir Dajal.” There was some resentment and resignation in the voice.

“What do you mean?”

“At first…we weren’t always like this.”

“Then?”

“We tried to protest and rebuked but— ”

Noticing the hesitation, Amethyst urged on. “Oh my…. please tell me what happened in detail.”

“Madam— ”

Amethyst smiled compassionately and laid bare the truth of the matter. “Maybe you don’t trust me yet because I am new to this place, but I don’t think telling me what happened will put you in any situation worse than it is now.”

The maids only looked at one another as if trying to come to a decision. Then finally the oldest of the lot opened her mouth.

“Madam, my name is Roman.”

“Yes, Miss Roman. Please can you tell me what happened?”

“Before I begin, I must tell you I’ve worked here, body and soul, for the last 10 years,” Roman said with feeling.

“I see. You’ve worked for quite some time.” Amethyst politely remarked.

“Yes, Madam. When I first had my interview here, I had several batch mates. But now they all work in the main house.”

Amethyst acknowledged with a nod, urging her to continue.

“The only factor that determines whether you work here or in the main house is money. I only found out later that the amount of work you get corresponds to the amount of money you bribe the interviewer with. And the interviewer is Sir Dajal. If he is unsatisfied with the amount he receives, he deducts it from that month’s pay or allocates you to a different work location.

Bribery. Ha, to think that such things exist even in this place!

Amethyst felt her blood boil … No matter where it was all the same!

“So according to you, that bastar… no, Dajal receives bribes and exercises his authority on personnel transfer.”

“Yes. Not only that but he is also embezzling all the money sent for the monthly maintenance, clothing, and accommodation.”

“It seems to be the case. Just by looking at the situation here… but why hasn’t anybody said anything? That’s what I’m more curious about.”

A frown formed on Roman’s face. She couldn’t help wonder … Was she another typical noble lady? Just how much would she be able to help us? Can we trust her?

Since she had come all the way to visit them out here, she decided to bet on the small glimmer of hope.

“We did.”

“You did?!” Amethyst was taken aback. “When?”

“A year since coming here, a friend I had been working with couldn’t tolerate it any longer and spoke to the higher-ups. But… the lord chose to believe Sir Dajal’s words over us. Then Sir Dajal… fabricated a story, said she was an immoral woman and incriminating her as a thief who stole and sold goods from a noble family. He whipped and punished her until eventually kicking her out… And my friend… no longer could stand the injustice… and took her own life—”

Roman seemed to recall this incident from a decade ago as though it was something that had happened only yesterday. As such, she was unable to continue any further.

If it happened ten years ago, then it was definitely before Alexcent had become the owner of the mansion.

“What a bloody piece of trash!”

“Madam?!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop myself—”

Lunia and the maids seemed astounded as they had never expected such words from a noblewoman and looked at her blankly. Amethyst blushed and apologized.

Yet another maid seemed to have gained the courage and started to add on.

“Madam, actually that is not all.”

“Is there something else?”