Chapter 39: Resentment
Morning arrived quietly.
The rain that had fallen through the night had finally stopped, leaving tiny droplets clinging to the mansion’s windows. Pale sunlight filtered through the curtains, giving the lounge a completely different atmosphere from the one it had only a few hours earlier. Broken conversations, old wounds, and the threat of murder had somehow turned into an uneasy silence that lasted until dawn.
Almost nobody had gone back to sleep.
Some of the maids had drifted off where they were sitting, exhausted after the emotional weight of the night. Others quietly cleaned the lounge without being asked, gathering torn cushions, straightening furniture, and folding discarded blankets. The mansion slowly returned to looking like itself again, though the mood inside it had changed completely.
I stood near one of the windows with a cup of coffee someone had silently handed me earlier.
The system hadn’t spoken since the hidden quest update.
For once...
I appreciated the silence.
Behind me, I heard footsteps.
"Couldn’t sleep?"
I turned.
Lila had changed into a simple black sweater and loose trousers instead of the clothes she’d worn the previous night. Without the expensive dresses and confident posture she usually carried, she looked strangely... ordinary.
"Not really," I admitted.
She stopped beside me and looked out the window.
"...Neither could I."
Neither of us said anything for a while.
Eventually she spoke again.
"I kept replaying everything Yuna said."
She let out a slow breath.
"I remembered more than I wanted to."
I glanced at her.
"...You really forgot?"
"I didn’t forget."
She shook her head.
"I buried it."
"When you grow up surrounded by people telling you that you’re always right, eventually you stop questioning yourself."
A bitter smile crossed her face.
"I convinced myself that everything I did had a reason."
"I called it discipline."
"I called it responsibility."
"...It was just cruelty."
There wasn’t much I could say to that.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway again.
This time it was Sasha.
She looked as though she’d spent the entire night thinking.
Without saying anything, she walked over to us and handed Lila a folder.
Lila frowned.
"...What’s this?"
"The employment records."
"You asked for them."
She opened the folder.
Inside were contracts, salaries, schedules, disciplinary reports, and years’ worth of handwritten notes.
Lila flipped through several pages before stopping.
"...Who approved these deductions?"
Sasha rubbed her forehead.
"Our estate manager."
"...And we signed them."
Silence.
Several pages listed fines for broken dishes.
Late arrivals.
Uniform damage.
Medical expenses deducted from wages.
Lila slowly closed the folder.
"...How many people left because of this?"
"I don’t know."
"And we never asked."
Sasha leaned against the window beside us.
"I always assumed if someone quit, another maid would replace them."
Another long silence followed.
Across the room, Yuna quietly sat by herself with both hands wrapped around a mug of tea. She hadn’t spoken since dawn.
Several of the other maids occasionally glanced toward her before looking away again.
Nobody quite knew how to act around her anymore.
She had nearly become a murderer.
She had also been a victim.
Both things were true.
The front door suddenly opened.
An older man in a gray suit stepped inside carrying a leather briefcase.
He stopped immediately after seeing everyone gathered in the lounge.
"...Miss Lila?"
Lila looked up.
"Good morning, Mr. Hayashi."
The older man bowed politely.
"I received your message requesting an emergency meeting."
"I came as quickly as possible."
"I’m sorry for the delay."
He noticed the unusual atmosphere almost immediately.
"...Has something happened?"
Lila looked around the room before answering.
"Yes."
"A great deal."
She gestured toward one of the empty chairs.
"Please sit."
The estate manager did as he was told, though confusion was written all over his face.
Lila placed the employment folder on the table.
"I’ve been reviewing household records."
He smiled professionally.
"Excellent. If there are any documents you don’t understand, I’d be happy to—"
"Who authorized locking employees inside storage rooms as punishment?"
The smile disappeared.
"...Pardon?"
"You heard me."
His eyes flickered briefly.
"Miss Lila, strict discipline has always been standard practice within households of this level."
"I didn’t ask whether it was standard."
"I asked who authorized it."
"...It became common policy several years ago."
"With whose approval?"
The man hesitated.
"...Yours."
The room fell quiet again.
Lila didn’t look surprised.
"I see."
She turned another page.
"What about wage deductions for medical treatment caused by workplace injuries?"
"Those are normal contractual—"
"I’m asking whether they’re legal."
Mr. Hayashi remained silent.
Sasha folded her arms.
"...Answer the question."
After several uncomfortable seconds, the older man sighed.
"...No."
"No?"
"They exist in a legal gray area."
Lila’s expression hardened.
"How many other gray areas exist inside this mansion?"
No answer came.
She closed the folder.
"Effective immediately, every disciplinary policy currently in place is suspended."
Mr. Hayashi blinked.
"...Miss Lila?"
"I’ll personally review every contract."
"Every salary."
"Every deduction."
"If anyone was underpaid..."
She looked toward the maids.
"...They’ll receive everything they’re were owed."
Several of the maids stared at her in disbelief.
One quietly whispered,
"...Is she serious?"
Another answered,
"...I think she is."
Mr. Hayashi adjusted his glasses.
"This will cost the family a considerable amount of money."
Lila met his eyes.
"We have more money than we’ll spend in ten lifetimes."
"That isn’t the issue."
"No."
"It isn’t."
She stood up.
"The issue is that we built comfort on other people’s suffering."
Nobody in the room argued.
Mr. Hayashi slowly closed his briefcase.
"...Very well."
"I’ll begin preparing revised contracts."
"Not revised."
Lila corrected him.
"New ones."
"And from now on..."
She looked toward every maid gathered in the room.
"...If anyone has a complaint..."
"I expect to hear it."
"No punishment."
"No retaliation."
"If someone in this house treats you like less than a person..."
Her gaze briefly met Sasha’s before returning to everyone else.
"...That includes me."
The room remained completely silent.
Not because nobody believed her.
Because nobody quite knew how to react.
Trust wasn’t rebuilt in a single conversation.
Fear didn’t disappear overnight.
Neither did resentment.
But for the first time...
The people in the room had been given permission to speak without wondering what it might cost them.
I looked toward Yuna.
She still hadn’t said a word.
Yet when our eyes met, she gave the smallest nod.
It wasn’t forgiveness.
It wasn’t happiness.
But it was the first time since meeting her that she looked like she was considering a future beyond revenge.
Maybe that was enough for today.