Dirty, Tired and Hard

In reality, Charlton felt more remorse than anger.

Knowing that Flora was a kind child, he had naively thought that his vague explanation would be enough to persuade her not to meddle in things.

Charlton was truly to blame for how things had unfolded.

Fortunately, Prince Ryan only didn’t want to see the blonde girl and didn’t mean to punish her.

Otherwise, Charlton wouldn’t have known how to beg the Crown Prince, who always meant what he said, to withdraw his order.

At this time, Charlton noticed the astonished expression on the blonde girl’s face and, thinking that she couldn’t accept the punishment, quickly comforted her:

“This is already the best outcome. Normally, you would have to receive corporal punishment, but His Highness didn’t issue such an order this time.”

The blonde girl was even more surprised.

“This… I really won’t be fired or executed?”

Charlton was stunned.

Immediately, he understood that Flora had been influenced by the rumors and mistakenly thought that she was going to be severely punished.

Then he thought of another thing, which was that Flora still chose to stand up even with this misunderstanding.

This was truly kind to an excessive degree.

Charlton couldn’t help but put on a stern face and said sharply:

“No, but you will be fined a week’s salary. If you dare to offend His Highness again, I will not tolerate it!”

Deducting her salary was actually a temporary punishment that Charlton had added.

But this didn’t mean that he was going to change his attitude and start targeting the blonde girl.

On the contrary, he was too worried about the blonde girl’s overly kind and impulsive personality.

He was afraid that if she encountered a similar situation again, the blonde girl would have a fluke mentality, eventually leading to an irreversible mistake.

So he decided to properly intimidate the blonde girl… As for the deducted money, he would secretly make it up to her later when she performed well.

“Please rest assured, I will definitely perform well in the future!”

But not only did the blonde girl not show any fear, but she also quickly regained her spirit and energy.

Charlton also knew that compared to being fired and sentenced, this small punishment was nothing, so he could only let it go and prepare to pay more attention to and remind the blonde girl in the future.

“Then go back to work. His Highness’s anger hasn’t subsided yet, so remember not to rashly appear in front of him recently.”

Charlton was about to leave, but after thinking about it, he added, “As for Yala, you don’t have to worry too much about her. I’ll go and plead for her.”

Even so, the usual outcome for maids who didn’t pass the test was that the death penalty was waived, but the living penalty was unavoidable.

Yes, at least half of the rumors outside were true.

Prince Ryan was so ruthless to those with evil intentions.

As for pleading for her… Charlton was just saying it. Considering what Yala usually did, she didn’t deserve any sympathy at all.

“Mr. Charlton, please wait.”

The blonde girl stopped him. “I have one more question.”

“Speak.”

“When you told Prince Ryan that time to go to the study, were those words only said to me?”

Now that things had come to this, Charlton didn’t think there was anything to hide and nodded decisively.

“Mr. Charlton, thank you for your care and concern all this time.”

“This is just my affirmation of your tireless efforts. Don’t think this is something that should be taken for granted!” Charlton admonished.

“I will keep it in mind… But Mr. Charlton, if there is another test next time, can you remind them all?”

Charlton froze.

“I think most of them can do this job well. What they lack is guidance and education… Please don’t give up on them easily.”

Looking at the blonde girl’s sincere expression, Charlton was silent for a while before nodding.

“I understand.”

“Thank you, Mr. Charlton.”

The blonde girl showed more joy and gratitude than when she knew she wouldn’t be severely punished, as if this suggestion was truly benefiting her.

Charlton turned around and left the storage room as if running away.

When he came to the hall and saw the maids working hard, he slowly stopped.

After observing for a long time, he sighed heavily.

When did he start to no longer have expectations for these children, or simply look at them with prejudice?

He said he wanted to select talented people from them, but with their approach of not trusting them and not carefully teaching them, even if they really found talent, would the other party willingly serve them?

Charlton already had the answer in his heart, and he quickly walked towards the dining hall.

But to his surprise, the person serving the black-haired boy in the dining hall wasn’t someone he had arranged in advance, but Yala Seke, who should have been severely punished.

“Remove her from her duties as a personal maid, and handle the other punishments as you see fit.”

The black-haired boy said indifferently, with no trace of joy or sorrow on his face.

But according to Charlton’s past experience, the black-haired boy should be in a very good mood at this time.

“Prince Ryan!”

The maid Yala quickly fell to the ground, but instead of thanking him gratefully, she kowtowed repeatedly and pleaded, “Please forgive Flora Haggia and pardon her crime of offense!”

Hearing this, the black-haired boy added another sentence expressionlessly: “Only punish her for the crime of trespassing in the study.”

Yala, who wanted to continue pleading, was stunned.

“As you wish.” Charlton quickly stood in front of her and said respectfully.

The black-haired boy left without looking back.

After that familiar but very unfamiliar figure completely disappeared into the corridor, Charlton turned around and asked urgently:

“Yala Seke, what exactly happened before?”

“Flora, why would you do such a foolish thing?”

As soon as Flora returned to her room, Heidi rushed over impatiently.

“I’m sorry… But it’s okay, I wasn’t fired, and I don’t have to receive any corporal punishment. I just have to be responsible for the kitchen and the work in the west wing’s remote residence.”

Seeing that the other party didn’t even care about the confidentiality that she usually valued most, Flora couldn’t help but feel a little guilty and quickly turned around to close the door, revealing her usual smile.

But she was also truly feeling extremely fortunate she couldn’t have imagined that the Crown Prince’s words about not wanting to see her could be interpreted in this way.

“How is this okay? Such hard work, can you really handle it?” Heidi said worriedly.

Flora was slightly stunned, then immediately understood.

The most hated workplace for maids was the kitchen.

The hardship, exhaustion, and dirtiness went without saying.

The dirtiness wasn’t the kind that could be avoided by covering your nose and paying attention to your movements, like in the bathroom.

The ubiquitous fumes and the strange smell of certain special ingredients… As long as you worked in it for an hour, your whole body would emit a terrible odor for the rest of the day.

This was unacceptable for most maids from noble families.

Normally, the kitchen should also be a place for chefs and apprentices. The maids would at most help bring the dishes out.

But the servants in the mansion other than the maids were also short-handed… So the maids had been taking turns to help in the kitchen before.

Therefore, taking over the kitchen work was undoubtedly a punishment in the eyes of ordinary maids.

“Don’t worry, don’t look at me like this. I’m in great shape!”

But Flora didn’t care about the dirt, exhaustion, or hardship. The smell could be solved by taking a bath at night, so it didn’t matter.

As for whether this would affect her appearance, she was a little worried about that.

But compared to being fired and hunted down, this punishment was already lenient enough, and she wasn’t qualified to ask for more.

She would just have to work hard to learn the techniques of skin care.

Anyway, she was only a woman for a year, so it wouldn’t have much of an impact.

In order to reassure Heidi as much as possible, she quickly switched back to her disguised state and, while speaking, slightly bent her waist to show off her healthy body, which was still quite curvy.