I glanced at it briefly, then turned my gaze away again.
“Did training go well?”
“Yeah, we sparred consecutively for the first time in a while. Of course, I won every time!”
The guy spoke with a thoroughly excited face.
Then he soon whispered in my ear.
“Thanks to that, I have more things to teach Lilian.”
I-is that so?
I couldn’t bring myself to say thanks out loud.
“Ugh, it’s hot!”
While I was awkwardly dodging the conversation, the guy stepped a little away from me and began fanning himself with his hand.
Now that I looked, his face was drenched in sweat.
“Are you that hot? If I’d known, I would have brought something more!”
“It’s fine. If I go splash some water on myself, I’ll cool down quickly.”
The guy shrugged as if it were nothing.
Still, that’s not how it feels to the person watching.
I decided to rummage through the basket in my hand just in case.
But at that moment.
“Oh my, there’s our youngest here!”
Someone came up behind the guy and put an arm around his shoulder.
Quite forcefully, with a thwack.
“Ugh, what are you doing!”
Yashin grimaced and pushed the other person away.
But he stubbornly kept his arm around Yashin and pulled him in.
“Aren’t you going to wash up? Hmm?”
“I’ll go soon! What’s wrong with you?”
“What do you mean what’s wrong? I’m here to drag you away because you’re needlessly bothering the maid.”
“I’m not bothering her! Lilian and I are ‘same age’ friends!”
“Oh, our youngest made a friend? This is huge news!”
The knight skillfully dragged Yashin away while giving me a nod.
He was someone I’d run into a few times before.
‘I’m not particularly interested. There are faces I’d rather not see.’
It was Anna’s biological older brother, whom she had mentioned when explaining the knight order last time.
His name was Noel.
‘The more I see him, the more they resemble each other.’
At first, I was surprised because their overall impressions were completely different, but looking closely, their features and personalities were similar.
Especially that strong-willed side.
‘What? I resemble him? Don’t say such horrible things!’
‘Not him, my brother. Anyway, because I resemble someone, my personality is like that—’
‘Enough, don’t act like you know me!’
‘Ha! I have and always will, little sister.’
The two absolutely refused to admit it.
When I happened to learn of their relationship recently, their reactions were extremely intense.
They bickered so much about not acknowledging each other.
‘That’s exactly why I think they resemble each other even more.’
Only the two of them didn’t realize it.
Recalling that chaotic day, a laugh escaped me without realizing it.
That was when.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”
At the familiar voice, my head turned reflexively.
There stood the owner of the voice, the Grand Duke, looking at me with a rather displeased expression.
“Pardon?”
Asking if I was enjoying myself out of nowhere. What was?
I blinked unconsciously and asked back.
At that, the Grand Duke pointed with his finger at the spot where Yashin and Noel had disappeared.
“You looked quite close with that guy.”
Here, ‘that guy’ seemed to refer to Yashin.
However, I couldn’t tell whether the Grand Duke’s words were simply stating what he saw or were sarcastic.
As I was inferring his intent, the Grand Duke lightly curled up the corners of his mouth and spoke.
“Anyone watching would think the two of you were reuniting after 11 years.”
Hmm, so it was sarcasm after all.
I subtly straightened my posture.
It felt like this conversation was going to drag on.
‘What is it? Does he not like me being close with Yashin? Is Yashin that precious a subordinate? No, more importantly, why 11 years? Usually people say 10 years, don’t they?’
It didn’t make sense in many ways, but for now, I calmly held out the water I had brought.
It was my way of telling him to drink some cold water and cool his head.
“……”
The Grand Duke glared at it for a moment, then gulped it down.
He must have been thirsty.
Swiish—
While I was at it, I held out a towel too.
At that, the Grand Duke accepted the towel with his remaining hand and handed me back the half-drunk water bottle.
‘Hmm, he seems to have calmed down a bit now.’
Checking his condition, I quietly placed the water bottle into the basket.
And at last, I began explaining my friendship with Yashin.
“It’s just that Yashin is younger than me, so he feels like a little brother. Well, he’s so kind and innocent that I guess I’m more drawn to him—”
Clench.
The white towel in the Grand Duke’s hand was mercilessly crumpled.
I unconsciously stopped speaking, and soon he asked back in a thoroughly delinquent tone.
“Don’t tell me your taste is for younger ones, Lily?”
W-what a terrible thing to say—!
I was startled and waved my hands frantically.
“Absolutely not!”
Yashin may be big, but in reality, he’s a year younger than Lilian.
In terms of my original age, the gap is even bigger.
No matter how much he’s an adult by this world’s standards, with the mind of a modern person who lived in the 21st century, I could never accept that.
When I vehemently refuted it, the Grand Duke regained his calm face.
“Well, of course. Lily has higher standards than she looks.”
“Me?”
What kind of compliment was that at this timing?
Unable to understand the context, I habitually tilted my head.
At that, the Grand Duke answered as if it were obvious.
“You like me, don’t you?”
Then of course my standards are high.
For a moment, I was speechless.
His tone was as if he were stating a very obvious and universal truth.
At that, I muttered with a dubious expression I couldn’t quite hide.
“What kind of conclusion is that?”
“I think it’s a very reasonable and valid inference.”
“Where on earth is it reasonable!”
It was so absurd it was ridiculous.
But even in the midst of this, the Grand Duke still pressed me with a confident face.
“If not, then don’t tell me the part about liking me was a lie from the start?”
Sting.
That pricked my conscience a little.
Sensing danger, I quickly decided to salvage the situation.
“O-of course it’s true that I’m in unrequited love with you, Your Highness! But that’s different from this.”
“In what way?”
“W-well, overall, the feeling is somehow—”
“Lily, why do you deny yourself so much? Is your taste really for younger men?”
“I told you it’s not……?”
I gritted my teeth and forced the corners of my mouth up as I answered.
I’d felt this before, but our employer had a real talent for saying irritating things.
The Grand Duke, who had been watching my reaction for a moment, crossed his arms and stepped back slightly.
“Hmm—”
Again, those eyes.
The eyes that try to dig out whether the other person’s words are true or not.
At first, that gaze was so suffocatingly scary.
Even now, whenever I meet it, it gives me chills.
‘But I’ve learned to adapt too!’
I glared with both eyes wide open and faced him.
In his vivid red eyes, Lilian’s face was reflected.
How long did that go on?
“Your Highness, it’s an urgent document, so I need you to check it immediately—”
The adjutant Dylan approached with quick steps.
Then he soon looked back and forth between the two of us and asked.
“……What are you two doing?”
Whoosh—
The Grand Duke and I, who had been glaring at each other, turned our heads simultaneously.
It was the moment this ridiculous war of nerves came to an end.
‘Good thing, my eyes were starting to hurt!’
For the first time, I was glad to see Dylan appear.
Meanwhile, the Grand Duke lightly swept back his hair and asked.
“What document?”
“Ah, it’s about the donation event recently proposed by the Imperial Palace—”
Soon, the Grand Duke headed to his office to handle the urgent documents as the adjutant had said.
Of course, I, his personal maid, did the same.
Tap, tap.
Dylan, who was following along, slowed his steps and whispered to me.
“What happened, Miss Lilian?”
“Who knows. What do you think happened…….”
I answered in a soulless voice.
Honestly, I wanted to ask that myself.
‘Why is the Grand Duke acting like that?’
I shook my head at his utterly incomprehensible behavior.
At that, Dylan, perhaps also concerned, offered me a light word of comfort.
“Don’t worry too much. He’s always like that occasionally.”
Dylan, saying that, looked quite accustomed to this situation.
Well, he was someone who’d been kicked out for his breathing being bothersome.
I asked back, just in case.
“By any chance…… do you know why he’s like that occasionally?”
“That, I don’t know.”
Yes, thank you for the honest answer.
I turned my gaze away and secretly swallowed a sigh.
Dylan’s follow-up remark, telling me to just let it be, was of no help at all.
