Chapter 049. St. Morian’s Day
A clear and sunny day without a single cloud.
The vividly spread blue sky was like a landscape where blue paint had been poured onto a huge canvas.
Dozens of people had gathered on the vast lawn stretching beneath it.
They were the maids of Elpengreen.
Today was the day for the outdoor work that happened once every few months.
Outdoor garden tasks usually fell under the gardener’s duties, but during periodic maintenance work, the maids in the mansion would be mobilized like this.
The fortunate thing was that the assigned tasks weren’t particularly difficult.
Following the gardener’s instructions, arranging newly planted flowers to match the existing design, removing debris accumulated in the fountain’s water path, or tidying the edges of the grass.
Most of them were miscellaneous chores.
Perhaps because of that, the mobilized personnel were mostly chamber maids or house maids.
They were the most numerous in the mansion, and their usual work was mostly such odd jobs, so they must have been selected for various reasons.
Deborah had also been mobilized for today’s work.
As she busily pulled out the uneven grass at the edges, Celine plopped down next to her.
“Ah, it’s hot, so hot.”
Seeing Celine wiping the sweat trickling down her forehead, Deborah chuckled softly.
Then, suddenly, her gaze unwittingly turned toward the noisy atmosphere at the back.
No, thinking about it, it wasn’t exactly sudden.
They had been gathering in small groups and whispering suspiciously for quite a while.
What on earth were they making a fuss about?
Finally, the curious Deborah cautiously opened her mouth.
“Over there, why are they being so noisy?”
Celine, who had been fanning herself with her collar to cool off, glanced at the back Deborah was pointing to and let out an “Ah—” in a peculiar tone.
“Why? It’s almost St. Morian’s Day.”
As if asking if she didn’t even know that, Celine furrowed her brows.
Ah, so that’s it— Deborah finally nodded.
‘St. Morian’s Day’
In the Kingdom of Ruvake, it was the day young men and women looked forward to most every year.
Originally, it was a day established to honor the noble sacrificial spirit of ‘Saint Moriana,’ who had given her life for her beloved partner, but as time passed, it had naturally transformed into a day for confessing love to one’s beloved.
The method of confession was generally the same.
It was to gift a single begonia flower, which held the meaning ‘I love you,’ to the other person, while asking them out on a date.
As a result, places where young ladies gathered became this chaotic about a week in advance.
Of course, for Deborah, who had no interest in such things, she hadn’t even remembered it.
She quickly lost interest and focused again on pulling the grass, but this time, an even louder noise came.
“Jeff seems to have a thing for you; he hasn’t given you any hints?”
“There’s nothing like that; you’re spouting nonsense that’ll cause trouble!”
“What’s wrong with that? Everyone pretends otherwise but secretly meets outside. Isn’t that right?”
“What’s wrong with that? Everyone pretends otherwise but secretly meets outside. Isn’t that right?”
“I don’t know; anyway, don’t say weird things.”
“If you’re not going to say it, why get so suspiciously serious?”
“W-Who’s being serious!”
A burst of noisy sounds continued back and forth.
Perhaps because Madam Charlotte, who usually supervised, wasn’t there, everyone seemed thrilled like fish in water.
“By the way, this time should be entertaining too.”
“Ah, that.”
Everyone nearby seemed to understand the giggling remark.
The response soon slipped secretly from someone’s mouth.
“Ludmilla, right?”
Ludmilla…? Why is Ludmilla’s name coming up here all of a sudden?
Seeing the puzzled Deborah, Celine next to her poked her side and whispered quietly into her ear.
“Every year around this time, Ludmilla’s mood swings from one extreme to the other.”
“……Why?”
“Well, she stays all excited until the morning of the day just in case, but then she flies into a rage when she realizes nothing happens.”
Robin, I mean Robin. At the secretive addition at the end, in case she might not understand, an “Ah,” dumbstruck sound escaped Deborah’s mouth.
‘Right, yeah. Ludmilla likes Robin…….’
Even hearing it again, it was an astonishing story.
That the vicious Ludmilla had someone she was so hung up on.
And that someone was Robin, who was completely different in temperament.
“Anyway, from the next day on, you have to avoid Ludmilla at all costs; if you get caught, heh— she’ll be like this for the whole day.”
At Celine’s gesture of drawing her thumb across her throat, Deborah unwittingly furrowed her brows.
* * *
“Um…….”
It was just as he was about to sign the documents.
At the sudden voice, Raymond’s gaze slowly rose upward.
And then he stared intently for a long while.
At that insolent face that always popped up at the perfect timing to interrupt.
Robin swallowed hard at the fierce expression asking what the matter was.
He seemed to hesitate for a moment, wondering if he should say it later, but soon opened his mouth again with a resolute expression.
“By any chance…… could I take the weekend off?”
“This weekend?”
“……Yes.”
It wasn’t particularly strange.
Holidays for servants in Elpengreen were given fairly to all, so Robin naturally had the right to spend the weekend off.
However, the problem was that Robin had hardly ever brought up such a request before.
It was only natural to be puzzled about what on earth would make him suddenly want to take the weekend off.
Then, suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
Raymond smirked, lifting the corner of his mouth.
“What, are you going to go make some ridiculous confession too?”
He had tossed it out suspiciously, but he hadn’t really thought it was true.
A woman? This guy who showed no signs of that usually—where would he meet a woman?
But the strange thing was Robin’s reaction that followed.
“No, that’s, well…….”
Haha, haha, at the sight of him creaking like a broken machine, Raymond’s brows furrowed deeply.
Thanks to Cecilia chattering nonstop since morning, he knew that ‘St. Morian’s Day’ was approaching soon.
But he never imagined that even his own aide, Robin, would get caught up in such foolish antics.
Raymond shot a pitiful glance at Robin, who was scratching the back of his head.
“Fine, get out.”
He had no intention of prying into his private life, and honestly, he wasn’t curious who the other person was.
Well, he probably met someone by chance somewhere.
But despite that perfunctory response, color bloomed on Robin’s face.
After thanking him profusely and bowing repeatedly before leaving the study, Raymond leaned back in his chair for a moment.
Whew—after staring at documents for a full hour, fatigue suddenly seemed to crash over him all at once.
Press, press, as he rubbed his brows with his thumb, the events at the breakfast table this morning suddenly came to mind.
-‘Oppa, Edward…… did he say anything else by chance? ‘
-‘What.’
-‘I mean…… like, coming here this weekend…… he really said nothing? ‘
He had flatly said he didn’t know to the indirect probing, but even if he did know, it wasn’t something he wanted to get involved in.
Offering flowers and confessing love—what childish nonsense.
Those fools who couldn’t even speak usually, borrowing such an opportunity to convey their feelings—how ridiculous—
The biting thoughts suddenly halted.
“……”
Right…… he didn’t need to look far.
Thinking about it, wasn’t there an unparalleled idiot right here in this world?
-‘Then, in a little while…… I’ll come back.’
She seemed momentarily flustered by the sudden change in attitude, but the woman soon got down from the bed, calmly bid farewell, and withdrew fromlap.
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By Anna 💓
