Read Novel Full Chapter 873: Wait for your turn
Chapter 873: Wait for your turn
The married woman’s lips pressed together. The rebuke stung, but not enough to erase the number still glowing in her mind.
It was a figure so large that it made her chest tight every time she thought of it.
At the same time, Sera finally lifted her head a little and her eyes flicked toward the far end of the corridor before settling back on Julian.
“Young Lord,” she said carefully, “perhaps this much noise is unwise. The corridor is not private.”
She was right. Footsteps could still be heard from the main hall. Any steward, knight, or supervising attendant could turn the corner and find them in such a mess. But Julian only looked faintly amused by the warning, as though the risk of discovery was simply another form of entertainment.
“They are enthusiastic,” he said. “Why interrupt them?”
That only poured oil on the competition.
“Young Lord, I am the prettiest.”
“You are not.”
“I am the softest.”
“I am the tightest.”
“I know how to use my mouth better than any of you.”
“You do not know that.”
“And you do?”
The argument grew messier with each passing second. Their voices tangled over one another until it was hard to tell who was arguing with whom.
One maid stepped forward, then stopped, realizing there was nothing she could actually do to prove her claim. Another twisted her own sleeve in frustration. A third looked one breath away from listing every act she was willing to perform.
Through it all, Julian stood at the center of the chaos, letting them bid their way toward winning him.
**
For ten full minutes, the corridor belonged to their desperation. Some argued with reason, listing their looks and their youth as though beauty alone could settle the matter. Some argued with hunger. Others argued with the pride of women who had already crossed too far to retreat now.
Then, at last, he raised his hand.
The effect was immediate. Every voice died almost at once.
Julian looked at them with mild satisfaction. The corners of his mouth curved a little.
“Since all of you are so enthusiastic,” he said, “I will choose every one of you.”
Relief washed over their faces at once.
“Are you sure, Young Lord?”
“Thank you so much…”
The gratitude was genuine. For a moment, the thousand gold no longer felt like a cruel prize dangled above a single winner. It felt, briefly, like something they might all actually win.
Then Julian continued.
“But not now.”
Their expressions changed again.
“For now,” he said, “I only need one more. The rest of you will come to my chambers tonight.”
A thick silence followed, broken only by the distant echo of footsteps somewhere deeper in the castle.
The promise still stood, but it was delayed, and delay was its own kind of cruelty. Being chosen later was better than being discarded outright. Still, it was not the same as being taken first, and every woman in that corridor understood the difference.
Julian turned his attention to the older maid, studying her the way one might study something unexpected.
“What is your name?” he asked.
The woman flinched as every gaze in the corridor turned toward her. For a moment she seemed unable to find her voice at all. She swallowed hard, her fingers tightening in the fabric of her skirt.
“Mi… Mira,” she said.
“Mira.” Julian repeated the name slowly. “A nice name.”
He let the pause stretch just long enough to make her uncomfortable. The longer he looked at her, the more visible the conflict became on her face.
“I will give you five hundred more,” Julian said, “if you come with me now.”
Five hundred more.
On top of the thousand.
Shock widened every pair of eyes around her. One maid’s mouth fell open, forgetting to close it. Another stared at Mira as though she had been lifted onto an entirely different scale of fortune, one none of them had access to. Even Sera’s carefully composed expression slipped, just for a fraction of a second, before she smoothed it over again.
Mira’s thoughts tangled, refusing to settle into any single shape.
Fifteen hundred gold.
With that much, what could she not buy.
A decent house with walls that did not leak when it rained. Fine clothes, without patches sewn over patches. Nutritious meal. No longer the need to labor under someone else’s command. And most importantly, a future that finally belonged to her.
Those things would no longer be just a dream. They would be real, solid enough to hold.
Her heart pounded violently, loud enough that she wondered if the others could hear it too.
Around her, the other maids recovered from their shock and began to object.
“Young Lord, that is not fair…”
“She is married!”
“Why her? You said one more, from among us…”
“I spoke first!”
The complaints rose from every side, thick with envy. A moment ago they had been grateful simply to be included, but now the thousand gold, and the promise of later, no longer felt like enough.
Julian did not raise his voice.
He simply looked at them, his gaze moving slowly across the group.
The look alone was enough. The protests died beneath it, and one by one the maids lowered their eyes again.
Julian turned his attention back to Mira.
“Well?” he asked.
She opened her mouth.
For a moment, no sound came out.
Then a flush bloomed across Mira’s face.
“Okay, Young Lord.”
Julian smiled.
“Good.”
He did not miss the envy that spread across the other maids’ faces.
He turned back to the rest of the group.
“You know where my chambers are, correct?”
They nodded at once, some more stiffly than others.
“Then wait for your turn,” he said. “When you are called, you will come to my chambers.”
No one argued this time.
One by one, the maids bowed again, swallowing whatever complaint or plea still sat on their tongues. Sera remained quiet among them, already marked as the first chosen. Mira stood apart now, the flush still visible in her cheeks.