“Ah…… so that shape was a hydrangea.”
Unlike other noble families who drew realistically reproduced symbols, the emblem of House Eseldor consisted merely of four geometric shapes, so she had wondered whether it might be a kind of ancient script she did not know. But when she traced the outline of the pattern, the emblem of House Eseldor did indeed resemble the silhouette of a single hydrangea with round petals spread in all directions.
“Of course, it is a form transformed far more simply than a real hydrangea, so it is not easy to recognize at a glance.”
“No, to my eyes it looks sufficiently like a hydrangea.”
Afraid that the butler did not believe her words, Ayesha added an explanation.
“The scar on my body is also shaped almost exactly like this pattern. I had a fever when I was very young, you see.”
It was something from when she was one or two years old, which she herself could not even remember. It was a common childhood illness, but the symptoms had been severe. Her fever soared and blisters rose all over her body, and everyone in her family expected that Ayesha would not last long.
“They thought I would surely die soon, but fortunately my fever broke and I survived by good luck. My skin healed cleanly as well. But just one thing—only the part where my blisters burst as I tossed and turned remained as a scar. My parents said the shape the scar left looked like a hydrangea, and so they named me Ayesha. My hometown is a place very famous for hydrangeas, you see. There is a very large and beautiful colony of hydrangeas there.”
Since few children safely pass through infancy amid all sorts of illnesses and accidents, newborn babies usually lived without names until they were about two or three years old. Ayesha, too, only received a name after she had overcome her illness.
“What a truly remarkable connection. I, who bear the name of the hydrangea, have come to the manor of the hydrangea.”
Ayesha tried to loosen the stiff atmosphere with a bit of banter.
“You called it a remarkable connection. You have been emphasizing connections since a while ago, miss.”
But the butler chewed over Ayesha’s banter in a subtle tone. Then, with a rather stern face, he addressed her.
“Miss.”
“Yes?”
“As the butler of this manor, I must guard against any guest who visits this place harboring improper intentions, so I will tell you in advance.”
Suddenly, she snapped to attention. Ayesha awkwardly let the smile she had been forcing crumble.
“Ah, yes. What is it?”
“You said you are a spirit medium, did you not? What kind of work does a spirit medium do?”
“Well…… a person who finds and communicates with spirits.”
“So you have come to find spirits. Is there perhaps something else you have come to find?”
What is this, how did he know?
Stung with alarm, her heart dropped with a thud. Ayesha hurriedly looked back on her words and actions.
She had not done anything particularly suspicious, but she could not tell where she had been caught.
“Young and pretty ladies know very well what their strengths are. At the risk of being rude, I have seen many people like you, miss, during my time as a butler.”
Ah, so that was what he meant.
The head of the house, Kirix Eseldor, was a man who was young, handsome, wealthy, and even of noble status. Compared to him, she was a woman who had approached him in far different circumstances, with the profession of spirit medium, which was difficult to prove in reality. From the perspective of the butler who was practically responsible for managing the manor, the appearance of a strange woman could hardly be welcome.
The butler had not seen her as a reporter. He had seen her as a woman. Specifically, as a woman who might possibly seduce Kirix Eseldor.
No, even so, this was far too great an overestimation.
She was in a position of coming to swindle in order to sell an article. From the beginning, this was not a situation in which she could develop a personal relationship with Kirix. She had neither the intention nor the confidence to do so.
“I even advised the master that it would be better not to invite you, miss.”
At the baseless misunderstanding, Ayesha regained her composure.
“But the lord currently feels a desperate sense of crisis over the spiritual matter. And what you just said does feel like a real rudeness to me, who has done my work honestly.”
“I apologize if it was an impertinent interference. The master also often points out to me that I have a stubborn side. This old man has devoted the greater part of his life to House Eseldor, so I cannot easily abandon the habit of doubting first. Then I will take my leave, trusting that you have not spoken falsely, miss.”
As soon as the butler left the room, Ayesha pressed a hand to her forehead.
The old man had merely wrapped his words in courtesy out of politeness—his saying he would trust her was in fact synonymous with saying he did not trust her.
This was bad.
Honestly, the easiest way to obtain information in a manor like this was to build familiarity with the servants. But since the butler who oversaw the manor did not trust her, if she carelessly probed the servants, the contents would flow straight into the butler’s ears. Rather than conversation, she would first be watched in her every movement. Servants all over the manor would be acting as the butler’s eyes and ears, monitoring her.
Wow, what am I supposed to do about this?
Had she perhaps set foot in a place she should not have?
So this was why the swindlers had given up the job and fled. The butler was no ordinary stickler.
A belated realization washed over her, but it was already too late. Ayesha lamented under her breath.
“Good heavens, no wonder I felt like running away without looking back……”
Now that her plan to use the servants had fallen apart from the very start, only one method remained.
To collect material for her article by facing Kirix one-on-one.
And with the busiest and most difficult person of all, no less.
Perhaps the unease she had felt earlier had been the last warning sent by her intuition. The days she would spend in this manor already felt dizzying.
***
Unexpectedly, she met Kirix Eseldor again at the breakfast table the next morning.
That morning, Ayesha slept in for the first time in a long while. It seemed the unfamiliar bed had kept sleep from coming easily. During the arduous journey, she had slept well enough even curled up in the narrow, hard, cheap bed of an inn, but now that she had arrived at her destination and lay down on a soft bed, her body could not adapt to the comfort.
Her heart pounded as if she had sprinted a hundred meters, so she tossed and turned all through the dawn, and only when the sky was turning bluish and brightening did she finally fall asleep. Having dozed off like that and then startled awake, the sun was already high in the sky.
“Goodness! What time is it?”
As she hurriedly rose and drew back the curtains, Ayesha was confronted with the view of the manor spread out below the window.
“Wow……”
Her vision cleared in an instant, and an exclamation burst from her on its own.
The garden, soaked through with the rainwater that had poured down all night, glittered in vivid deep green. The sky, too, was piercingly clear as if it had never rained at all. It was a scenery that filled the heart simply by gazing at it without doing anything.
“It would be perfect to read a book here with a cup of coffee.”
Conveniently, there was also a long bench by the window. Ayesha buried herself deep in the backrest. Without even looking in a mirror, she twisted and tied her hair with familiar hands and looked around outside the window.
“The garden is really huge. There is even a glass greenhouse here.”
It was a garden far broader and more splendid than the rumors had suggested. She could not tear her eyes away, and only after wasting quite a long time did Ayesha ring the bell to call a servant.
“I would like to wash up—please prepare the bath.”
“Yes, miss.”
Because she had happened to invite the butler’s suspicion the day before, it was difficult to treat the servant warmly. At most, they had exchanged only awkward greetings. The servant also brought hot water to the bath and then quickly disappeared.
Perhaps they had been instructed not to engage in unnecessary conversation with the suspicious spirit medium—Ayesha guessed on her own.
It would be a lie to say that a corner of her heart was not somewhat uncomfortable. But the unpleasant feeling was only brief. This picture-like manor bewitched its visitor in every place the eye rested. The bedroom was the bedroom, and the bathroom was the bathroom—each was extraordinary.
On the marble surface with its faint glow, marble of different colors had been cut at regular intervals and inlaid, and however it had been constructed, there was not a single flaw. Of course, all of it was in hydrangea patterns.
She might not have noticed otherwise, but after hearing from the butler that the hydrangea was the symbol of House Eseldor, she could see how many hydrangea patterns this manor was wrapped in. The family’s pride in itself was truly enormous.
