‘No, wait a moment…….’
As I waved back in response, I suddenly realized my mistake. That was not how a maid should greet someone presumed to be a guest of the Grand Ducal estate.
“Oh! Hello!”
I belatedly lowered my hand and bowed my head. At that, a small laugh escaped the fairy-like woman’s lips.
What on earth did that laugh mean? As I rolled my eyes and pondered, she had already come to stand before me.
“You seem like a face I haven’t seen before……. Do you work here?”
“Ah, yes!”
“Your name?”
“It’s Lilian.”
Ahh—
She parted her lips as if she knew something. But soon she smiled nonchalantly and spoke.
“How adorable. It suits you, that name.”
“Th-thank you.”
What was that? That reaction earlier?
Feeling a peculiar sense of curiosity, I threw out a light question to open the flow of conversation again.
“Are you perhaps a guest of His Highness the Grand Duke?”
“That’s right. Though I did arrive a little earlier than my appointment.”
She answered as if it were nothing. But in truth, it wasn’t something to gloss over so lightly.
A guest who could stroll through the garden—located quite deep within the Grand Ducal estate, not even the reception room—at that. Without the master’s permission, it was nearly impossible.
‘The Grand Duke’s lover? Or his fiancée?’
Either way, it was an opportunity for me.
I felt a pang of guilt at the thought of using this fairy-like person, but today marked the third day already. I couldn’t delay the report any longer.
In the end, I opened my mouth to dig up something, anything.
“Um, may I ask the young lady’s name?”
“Pardon?”
She blinked for a moment at my question, then suddenly burst into laughter. Her clear laughter spread through the garden.
‘W-why is she laughing?’
I stared at her with utterly bewildered eyes. Then she explained in a voice still tinged with laughter.
“Ah, I’m sorry. It’s just been so long since I’ve been called ‘young lady.’”
And then, a moment later. Having fully composed herself, she elegantly extended one hand and continued.
“Call me Madame Brandt. I run a salon in the capital.”
A sparkling diamond ring was snugly fitted on her ring finger. Good heavens, so she was already spoken for!
“I apologize, Madame.”
“It’s fine. It’s nice to hear ‘young lady’ after so long.”
Whether she truly meant it or not, Madame Brandt was fondling her ring with a thoroughly satisfied face.
‘Thank goodness.’
Whatever the process, the other party seemed to hold goodwill toward me. It didn’t seem to be merely because of the ‘young lady’ remark, but I couldn’t very well dig into that right now.
Then, shall I try to find out something else?
“What brings you to the Grand Ducal estate, Madame?”
I smiled brightly and brought up a light topic of conversation. But from her mouth came an answer I hadn’t expected.
“Hmm, it’s a sort of patron management.”
Patron?
It was a story I was hearing for the first time. Kindly, Madame Brandt even added an explanation for it.
“His Highness the Grand Duke is the greatest patron of our salon. He typically sponsors promising emerging artists and intellectuals. Sometimes he also invests in artworks or unique inventions.”
“I see—”
“You could say it’s the refined hobby of a wealthy noble lady, perhaps?”
She winked playfully as she spoke. I nodded as if chiming in.
That was when it happened.
“What are you doing here.”
At the cool voice, both our gazes turned at the same time.
There stood the Grand Duke of Pellium, the very man who had been the subject of our conversation.
* * *
Returning to his office, Raymond recalled what had just happened.
‘I-I was just going to work! P-please, the two of you carry on your conversation!’
At his appearance, the small maid had flinched in surprise and disappeared into the garden. As if she were a child caught doing something naughty.
‘How irritating.’
While he was away, she had gone and gotten herself hurt, and upon seeing him after his long-awaited return to the estate, she’d looked as startled as if she’d seen a demon. Even at a lightly tossed joke, she’d huffed in a way unlike her usual self.
‘That’s a relief. It was troublesome having to find a new maid every time.’
‘You—!’
Ah, that had been quite amusing.
Lilian, who couldn’t say a word back to him and only pressed her lips together. As that pale face came to mind, Raymond found the corner of his mouth curving up without his realizing it.
Before him, Madame Brandt held out some documents.
“These are the sponsorship papers you mentioned. He’s a painter with quite severe ups and downs, but you managed to recognize his talent.”
“……”
“Your Highness the Grand Duke?”
At her prompting, he belatedly reacted and swept back his hair.
“Ah, I was just lost in other thoughts for a moment.”
Taking the documents, Raymond slowly read through their contents. Then he soon picked up his pen and began signing page after page.
Press.
Having finished by stamping the family seal at the end, he handed the documents back to her and asked.
“What do you think of her?”
At first glance, it seemed he was asking about the subject of these sponsorship papers, but he wasn’t. His attention was now entirely elsewhere.
Having noticed this, Madame Brandt answered honestly.
“She was cute.”
An innocent face that couldn’t hide its expressions at all. And yet, eyes that were determined to find something out.
Lilian matched Madame Brandt’s taste—she liked cute girls. She even wanted to hire her as a model for her salon.
“Is that all your impression amounts to?”
Whether her answer was thoroughly unsatisfactory, Raymond raised one eyebrow. At that, Madame Brandt added one more remark.
“Hmm……. She also gives off the feeling of wearing clothes that don’t quite fit her.”
In truth, this was what especially stimulated Madame Brandt. A girl harboring a secret unknown to others was all the more interesting.
But her greatest patron was cold.
“That’s not enough. While you’re at it, I’d like you to look into that maid once more.”
At the instruction disguised as a request, Madame Brandt cast him a sidelong glance and grumbled.
“Every time we meet, you give me work. You’re so demanding.”
“With Lord Brandt away from his post, I have no choice but to rely on you, his wife.”
“Oh my, do you remember that you’re also the main culprit who separated me from that husband of mine?”
“Separated, you say. I’d like that corrected to ‘granted Madame Brandt a brief taste of freedom.’”
Raymond demanded the correction with a brazen face. In the end, she burst into laughter.
“Well, it’s not wrong.”
Even as she said this, the Brandts were a couple so affectionate that people around them found it tiresome. Knowing that, Raymond could make such jokes.
“I’ll send word as soon as news of Lord Brandt arrives. He has a needlessly stubborn side, so he won’t send word to you either until his mission is complete.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
She bent her knees slightly in gratitude.
As Raymond said, her husband was a man who was sometimes infuriatingly upright and rigid.
* * *
“Ugh, I’m exhausted…….”
Having returned to my room after the grueling day’s work, I massaged my aching body this way and that. Was it because I’d been especially tense today?
‘Well, I did run into an unfamiliar guest and even the Grand Duke.’
Especially when the Grand Duke appeared without warning, I really thought I would faint!
Still, I managed to retreat fairly naturally and successfully delivered the snack to the gardener. Eating some of that snack was a bonus.
“Today, I can write something at least!”
I clenched my fist hopefully.
How many sleepless nights had I spent these past few days, fearing I might get stabbed in my sleep? Even a professional part-timer occasionally falls from a tree when exhausted. The mistake I made while washing dishes earlier was all because of this too.
I was tired, but since I couldn’t delay any longer, I sat down at the desk for now. I planned to make up something appropriate based on the conversation I’d had with Madame Brandt.
Then I paused, my body stiffening. The reason was simple.
“How do I send this……?”
I had run into a rather realistic problem.
