I trembled in fright as a low voice spoke.

“…will you be my mistress?”

Sally looked at the owner of the voice with a surprised face. Duke Esteban looked at her. He was dressed up and clean as if he had not just spent a heated night with her.

‘Mistress.’ 

If she becomes his mistress, she would never be able to have a proper wedding and would only be able to live in his shadows for the rest of her life. She will receive a lot of criticism and ridicule.

And yet, Sally was ecstatic. It didn’t matter if living like that would be very arduous and confining if it meant that…

She won’t have to break up with him.

She can continue to see him.

She can stay with him.

All of those things would make her so happy.

Sally accepted Duke Esteban’s offer without much thought.

That day, Sally became Duke Esteban’s mistress.

She did so not knowing that that was the beginning of her miserable life.

* * *

“Sally! Where the hell is this bitch?!”

Sally’s head jolted up at the fierce voice. Then Sally looked down at her two hands.

There was no ring in sight on her finger. Her milky white skin was covered in black dust.

“It’s different from that time.”

Sally whispered in a quivering voice.

This was her before she became Duke Esteban’s mistress.

Did God pity her miserable death and life as a mistress?

She was back to her 16-year-old self when she opened her eyes. She was delighted when she found out she had returned to being a lowly little maid working in a back alley.

She doesn’t need to live in a mansion, expensive dresses or shiny jewelry. Her past life was spectacular but lonely.

In the end, she failed to acquire a piece of her beloved man’s heart and died a lonely death.

None of the men who said they loved her came to help her. Their love was only fruitful in that moment of lust they felt for her. What good would it be to live such a vain life again?

“I will never let this life become like that.”

Sally clenched her fists. 16-year-old, the young girl vowed to not even give off the smell of a woman in order to avoid her past fate.

No one has seen her fair skin thanks to her daily efforts to cover herself in filth and dirt. Always dressed in ragged clothing and tangled hair, she looked like nothing but a dirty girl doing chores.

No one would have thought she would be an attractive woman. From now on, she wants to live a normal life without anyone’s eyes on her.

“Sally!”

Sally hurried out of the warehouse with an old broom as the irritated voice called out to her again. The old maid who was looking for her hurled curses at her, smacking her back.

“You were fooling around in the warehouse, you lazy bitch!”

“I’m sorry.”

All the maids who were the same age as her ignored her, so Sally always ended up doing all the cleaning herself, but the old maid did not know that. Sally bowed her head silently because she didn’t want to cause any trouble and stand out.

“Have the room on the second floor cleaned before sunset. If I see a speck of dust, there’s no dinner for you tonight.”

“Yes.”

The woman’s words were not an empty threat. She thinks of all young maids who don’t sell their bodies as rice-wasters so they would not get to eat if they crossed her.

(TL note: rice-wasters = 밥버러지 is a term that refers to a person who doesn’t work and eats a lot.)

Dinner was just a couple of potatoes and a tough piece of bread thrown at her. But this meal was very precious to Sally.

Sally hurried to the room on the second floor. The room on the second floor was the widest and best room in the store and was a place reserved for high-ranking or wealthy customers.

With the curtains down, the room was so dark, no beam of light could be seen. When she was about to draw up the curtains to clean the room..

“Leave it.”

“…?!”

Sally’s eyes widened at the voice heard from within the room as she thought there was no one here. She looked around and found a woman sitting in the dark corner of the room.

The woman, who looked like a bum hunched down, was Sarah. Sarah was the woman who came here not long ago.

“I’d like to be alone…”

The rest of her words blurred out as she contemplated whether to continue cleaning or not. Sally would be in trouble if she didn’t clean up now. If she doesn’t finish cleaning on time, a cane will come flying at her instead of dinner.

“I was ordered to clean up this room because an important guest is coming this evening.”

“Important guest…”

Sarah murmured Sally’s words absent-mindedly and tilted her head. Sally stood awkwardly staring at her, not used to Sarah’s behavior.

A little later, Sarah opened her mouth.

“That important guest is my guest. He is a baron and apparently, I am undeserving of him.”

She continued to grumble.

“Everyone’s just jealous that someone like me was able to get a noble man.”

Sarah murmured, biting her nails with a ferocious look.

“I know he is a nobleman, but he just does whatever he wants. Next time he comes onto me like that, I’ll swing a baguette and knock him out.”

Sarah, who was uttering insults at Sally with eyes that didn’t look sane, seemed to have come to her senses when she met Sally’s eyes. She looked at Sally with a flustered face.

“I was uttering all sorts of nonsense. Forget everything I’ve said.”

“…”

I thought I told a little girl that I didn’t even know yet.

Sarah became even more embarrassed as Sally continued to look at her with wide eyes. Of course, Sally was thinking something completely different in her head.

‘Yes, not all men are decent. There are a lot of men who think they can treat street women however they like.’

Sally has met all sorts of men in her past life.

Men who scare you with his intimidating way of speaking. Men who play mischievous tricks on you and giggles to themselves even if you hate it. Sally has gone through many things, but it was the hardest to deal with them.

‘There is a way to control them.’

It is not to just put up with them. It is to coax and lead them, sometimes roughly and sometimes gently.

Sally wondered if she should tell Sarah her advice.

‘But it would be surprising if a young maid knew these things. Like how would she know that? I also don’t want to attract any attention.’

Sarah’s face looked really aggravated.

Moreover, if Sarah really loses her temper and swings her baguette at the baron, she could be in really big trouble.

It was terrible to think about how brutal the madame would punish Sarah for committing violence to a noble client.

“I have some advice for that, miss.”

Sarah smirked at the young maid.

“What do you know?”

“Even though I’m younger, I’ve been here longer than you. I have a lot of knowledge from what I’ve heard around here. I’m sure it’ll help.”

Sarah looked at Sally with a look of bewilderment at her fairly convincing words.

*timeskip*

(TL note: the author didn’t put anything to signal a timeskip here, just a bigger space between paragraphs)

While wiping the floor, Sally paused and looked around the room on the second floor.

‘Did it go well yesterday?’ 

She was quite serious about teaching Sarah. She wasn’t worried about Sarah, but she is curious about if her advice worked.

“Dirty Sally is slacking off again.”

The other maids who were cleaning with her giggled and surrounded Sally.

“She’s so dirty I couldn’t see her.”

It was Lily, the leader among the maids, who led the vicious bullying.

“Can you see her?’

Lily kicked Sally’s bucket in front of her. The floor quickly became dirty when the bucket filled with wastewater spilled over. Lily and the maids laughed.

Sally looked at Lily with a tired face.

Being the leader of the maids, Lily was particularly annoyed with Sally.

She hated the way Sally didn’t react or tremble when she would point out her dirtiness. The way Sally looked at her calmly without crying or getting angry no matter how much she bullied her was annoying to her as well. She also doesn’t like that their names were similar.

“You girls…! I told you to clean! Not to f*cking make a mess!”

The old maid, who came to monitor us, saw the spilled water and screamed.