Conrad was flustered. From what his investigation had turned up, he’d heard she had taught herself everything without any proper education.
An Analysis of the Mechanisms and Principles of Pharmacological Reactions Acting Specifically Within the Dragonblood Body
Even so, something like this, at such a young age…? And an old book written in the ancient language, no less?
I knew she was no ordinary person, but isn’t this beyond that?
Well. One only had to see how she handled Jayden to know she wasn’t ordinary. And then there was the fact that she wasn’t afraid of Cain, a Dragonblood.
She may turn out to be a great blessing to this house.
Thinking that he’d have to give the maids strict instructions to look after her with even greater care, Conrad set off at once to carry out his orders.
As soon as I got back to my room, I took off my ruined clothes and changed into new ones.
Looking at it like this, my clothes really were a mess.
I hadn’t really noticed while I was wearing it, but aside from the tattered sleeve, it was stained all over with blood.
I’ll throw my shirt away… Oh. This, I need to hang up properly.
As soon as I’d come back to the room, I’d taken off Cain’s jacket so it wouldn’t get ruined.
Wow. But he really is big, isn’t he?
The shoulders were nearly twice as wide as mine.
No wonder I’d mistaken him for a knight when we first met.
It was then.
At the sound of a knock on the door, I stopped what I was doing.
“Yes, come in.”
The moment the door opened, a small bundle came charging at me at a frightening speed. The owner of this familiar silhouette was…
“Melody!”
“Mommy!”
The child came pattering over and threw herself straight into my arms.
“What’s this? Why are you so excited?”
“Hehehe.”
She usually got so gloomy whenever we were apart. Contrary to my worries, she seemed to have had a good day, because Melody’s expression wasn’t bad at all.
After greeting the child, I lifted my head slightly and saw two maids standing at the door.
They were blinking at me with very nervous faces.
I took Melody’s hand and went over to them.
“Hello! I didn’t get to introduce myself properly this morning, did I? My name is Viola.”
“Oh! Yes! Hello! I’m Becky!”
“H-hello. I’m… Marie.”
Youthful faces that looked to be in their late teens. Unlike Becky, who seemed lively, Marie shrank back a little as she greeted me.
“Uu-uu! Uu-ung! Uu-aa!”
Melody hopped in between the two of them and bounced around happily.
Hm. They both seem like good people.
We hadn’t really talked much yet, but the feeling I got from them was kind. More than anything, I could tell just from Melody’s face.
“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Becky. Miss Marie.”
When I greeted them with a gentle smile, both of them started and stared at me.
“Goodness. Please, just call us by our names!”
“Th-that’s right. It’s far too much—”
Marie’s face turned bright red with embarrassment, and she couldn’t finish. But I only answered calmly.
“Oh, how could I? You’ve done so much for us.”
“Pardon?”
Becky looked puzzled, as if she had no idea what I meant, but I meant every word.
Because I know how hard it is to look after a child.
It took stamina, of course, and you could never take your eyes off a child for a second. There were far more than one or two things to keep in mind.
And on top of that, Melody had aphasia.
She was on the quiet side, but she couldn’t have been easy to look after.
I looked down at Melody, still bouncing around beside me in high spirits.
This little rascal. However I look at it, she’s had an absolutely fantastic day, hasn’t she?
I smiled softly.
“I’ve never seen Melody enjoy herself this much. You must have taken such good care of her.”
“…Oh.”
“Thanks to you, I feel much more at ease. Please keep taking good care of Melody from now on.”
I finished slowly, putting my whole heart into it, and looked at their faces again.
Huh. Did I put too much pressure on them?
Becky’s mouth hung open, and Marie’s big eyes were brimming with tears.
Becky and Marie didn’t know what to say, so they only kept looking back and forth at each other.
Neither said it aloud, but both knew they were thinking the same thing.
How can there be someone this kind?
The person in question didn’t seem to know it, but for days now, Viola had been at the center of a rumor.
The rumor had first started with Susan, a maid who was seeing John the guard.
“You all know about Miss Squirrel?”
“Who’s that?”
“No, listen! John says Sir Conrad told them to report it if Miss Squirrel ever showed up! Because His Grace the Duke is looking for her.”
“So who is Miss Squirrel?”
“How should I know!”
At first, everyone had believed it was an exaggerated rumor. It was hard to believe, for many reasons, that His Grace the Duke had given such an order.
A man who looked upon women as if they were stones, looking for a woman? And what on earth was with that adorable nickname?
But not even a day later, everything changed.
Miss Squirrel had finally revealed herself. And had suddenly come to stay at the ducal residence, no less!
She’d been hired as a personal pharmacist, but she was being treated completely differently from the predecessors who’d worked here before her.
Even Conrad had gone so far as to ask them to take special care of her.
If even the particular Sir Conrad is looking after her that much, there has to be something more to it!
He seemed kind on the surface, but in truth he was an extremely cold man. Otherwise he could never have served a Dragonblood duke for so long.
Countless guesses flew back and forth among the servants.
And then Becky and Marie had been put in charge of looking after her child.
“Hehe.”
“Hello, Miss Melody. Shall we go exploring the residence together today?”
“Uu!”
Melody was an incredibly lovable child. Looking after her was fun, but at the same time, their curiosity only kept growing.
They’re family, so they must look alike, right? Then she must be a real beauty…
Seeing as how Melody was this cute.
But Viola, meeting her in person, was beyond anything they’d imagined.
“Are you both all right? Did I put too much pressure on you? If so, I’m sorry.”
“No, no! It’s nothing like that!”
“Th-that’s right! If anything, we’re just so—hic!—so happy.”
Even Marie, who usually spoke slowly, cried out in a rush at that moment.
“Then I’m glad.”
Viola’s gentle eyes curved softly as she smiled faintly. Her curly pink hair swayed a little.
Wow…
The exclamation escaped Marie before she knew it. She had truly never in her life seen anyone whose smile was so beautiful.
Grace flowed from even her smallest movements. As if she couldn’t hide the noble manners that had become second nature to her.
Having met Viola face to face, the two maids could finally be sure which of the rumors was true.
She has to be a princess from some kingdom after all!
She was simply hiding her identity because of some complicated circumstances. She’d entrusted herself to the ducal house for her own safety!
Once their thoughts had gone that far, they were so overwhelmed by the honor that they hardly knew what to do with themselves.
Marie cried out in a rush, quite unlike her usual self.
“B-but still… please speak to us casually.”
“But…”
Becky hurriedly chimed in.
“Miss Viola, please? We’ll get in trouble!”
The two of them waited for Viola’s answer, their eyes sparkling.
Meanwhile, under the assault of their gazes, Viola squeezed her eyes shut.
Ugh. I’m weak to this sort of thing.
When she opened her eyes, Becky and Marie were still gazing at her imploringly.
Melody, apparently thinking it was a fun game, had joined in from below, too.
In the end, she had no choice but to nod.
“Phew. All right, then.”
Yay! We did it!
The two maids looked at each other and clapped.
“Thank you! We’re so happy.”
“Th-that’s right!”
To be this happy over something so small. It almost made her feel bad for refusing until now. Viola smiled warmly.
But at that very moment—
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
What Becky was pointing at was a piece of clothing hanging in the wardrobe. She must not have closed the wardrobe properly after hanging up Cain’s jacket, because its door was open.
“Isn’t that the Duke’s coat?”
“You have good eyes—”
At the formal speech that slipped out of habit, Becky’s eyes drooped.
Ahem. Viola gave a small cough and corrected herself.
“You’ve got sharp eyes, Becky, don’t you? That’s right. I spilled something on my clothes earlier, so he lent it to me.”
Then she scratched her cheek a little, embarrassed.
In truth, it had been to hide how blood-soaked she was, but if she said that in front of Melody, the child would faint dead away.
So she had no choice but to gloss over it.
But Becky and Marie misunderstood it in a completely different way.
“Oh, I see!”
The two nodded as if they understood, but in truth, they didn’t at all.
Oh my goodness. Did you hear that? The Duke lent her his coat himself!
