episode_0007

From the day Leo left, I cried every night.

Clutching his pillow and resenting him

“…”

I wanted to pour out curses, but in the end, I just swallowed them within.

[Die]

[Please die]

[It’s better to die than be happy without me]

[Should I go find you instead? You said it was the Northern Imperial Academy, didn’t you?]

[Yes, I’ll go find you and kill you, and then myself]

…..

[But I want to see you smile]

[I want to see you smile at me]

[But you’re not here with me now]

[Please… please come back]

And at some point, I accepted it.

That he wouldn’t come back

Although three seasons had changed since then, there was no news from him…

He had forgotten me

He had abandoned me

But I couldn’t just stay slumped like that.

So I tried harder.

Burying my sadness deep in my heart

Calming my anger, promising to deal with it later

And decided to put on a fake smile.

As if nothing had happened

With a cold, dry smile on my lips, devoid of any emotion, I wore the mask that suited me best.

That’s how I put my best effort into everything.

Enduring the urge to throw up from within

I never lost my smile in any situation.

Four years passed like that

I was promoted to the position of Deputy Head Maid.

Of course, it was an early age, but it was the consideration of the adults

who had seen me since I was young and had been fooled by my pretense.

And from that moment, I gained power far greater than I had imagined.

The right to command dozens of maids in the Heavenfield household as I wished

The right to control the secret information that came through the Heavenfield household

Immense information power and the authority to execute

After gaining that right

There was only one thing I had to do.

[I… want to see him]

————–

Seven years passed, and I turned 19, graduating at the top of my class from the Northern Imperial Academy.

My days over the past seven years were…

Training every day, moving, studying, and nothing else

There was no joy or happiness whatsoever.

There were minor deviations, but no major problems

Because it was merely the result of acting on orders

But if there was one thing that made me happy

Now that I had graduated from the Academy

Perhaps I could return home for a while…

Thinking such thoughts, I boarded the carriage bound for home.

———————

Late in the afternoon, a carriage arrived in the front yard of the Heavenfield manor.

A trunk engraved with a black-maned lion, the symbol of the Northern Imperial Academy, was lowered from the carriage, and soon after, the carriage door opened, revealing a young man with long legs and straight shoulders.

Leo. Having shed the look of a boy and possessing the perfect appearance of a young man, he quietly gazed at the full view of the manor. It was a landscape both familiar and strange.

Returning after seven years, this place was still magnificent, and the cold stone pillars and stone steps were just as they used to be. Only, he had changed.

“Whew…”

Just as he was about to compose himself and head towards the manor entrance, the door opened, and a woman in a neat black uniform quietly appeared.

I. At that moment. Felt like my breath would stop.

Neatly tied silver hair, sharp eyes, and an expressionless face. She gazed at him without her eyes wavering even once.

Sierra. From a maid to Head Maid, and grown into a woman. The innocent and warm appearance of seven years ago was hard to find.

She bowed with a polite gesture.

[It has been a long time, Master. I sincerely welcome you home.]

I was speechless for a moment and showed a slight hint of confusion, but soon replied with an expressionless face.

“Yes. It’s been a long time.”

Her eyebrow trembled ever so slightly. But she soon maintained a stern expression again.

[The interior of the manor is mostly the same as before. Please leave your luggage with the servants and rest first.]

“Okay, I’ll entrust it to you.”

She quietly nodded and turned her back, entering the manor. I gazed at her retreating figure, engulfed in complex emotions.

It felt like I had something to say, but my lips wouldn’t open easily.

I knew why she was treating me coldly. I knew. That the him who had disappeared without a word seven years ago… would be absolutely difficult to forgive.

—

In the evening, I was called to the drawing room. As I opened the door and entered, Sierra was already preparing tea.

A teacup on a silver tray, fragrant petal tea. Everything was perfect.

[I have prepared the tea that you used to enjoy, Master.]

“You still remembered that.”

[There must be no mistakes in the work of the Head Maid.]

A firm yet stiff tone.

Sierra avoided making eye contact with me and maintained a consistently polite attitude.

But in her attitude, I felt complex and suppressed emotions, different from before.

“Sierra. You… have you been well?”

She paused for a moment, then smiled politely again.

[Thanks to you, I have been well without incident. While being faithful to my role as Head Maid, that is. How have you been, Master?]

“Me too. I’ve been doing reasonably well. Though it wasn’t easy.”

A brief silence flowed. They looked at each other, but their gazes avoided meeting. It was as if a transparent wall stood between them.

She added as she poured the last of the tea.

[If there is anything you need, please just tell me anytime. However…]

“However?”

She raised her head and quietly wrote.

[I hope you don’t expect anything more than that.]

I couldn’t say anything. Because I felt her hatred for me within her firmness.

But I had resolved on the day I left this house.

That I wouldn’t be attached to trivial things anymore.

That I wouldn’t get hurt by giving relationships

“Yes, you know well. It seems you’ve grown quite a bit too.”

Words that I didn’t mean came out again, but

I had no intention of retracting them.

And I sat there quietly, gazing at the tea before me. Like the fragrant but somewhat bitter scent. Our reunion was also beginning.

—

That night, I returned to my room after a long time. A cool breeze blew in through the window that I had carefully opened. Familiar starlight was visible outside the window, but

I could no longer find comfort in it.

Many things had happened to me during those seven years, and I too had changed a lot.

I didn’t know if it was the right direction, but I was just changing.

————–

The sky was clear and quiet, but the air inside the manor was strangely heavy.

Leo had woken up at dawn and was standing by the window. Gazing at the garden through the cold window pane, he mulled over last night’s conversation.

Sierra. She who was now the Head Maid. She who no longer looked at him with warm eyes, and who responded with polite greetings and a distant tone. That felt somehow strange and made a corner of his heart ache.

“Is that child… still hating me?”

He muttered without realizing it and massaged his forehead. His time at the Northern Imperial Academy had been far from smooth.

Training, evaluation, survival. There, he had become a much colder and quieter person than before.

The reason he had returned here. Graduation and returning home, he hadn’t thought beyond that.

And he thought that way

That it would be much better if Sierra hated him

Since he was going to have to leave again anyway

And it was obvious Sierra would get hurt again

He just intended to remain as a bad person now.

The night grew deep. Not even a quiet footstep could be heard in the manor corridor.

The Head Maid of the Heavenfield household, Sierra, stood alone by the window until late at night.

In a stance as rigid as stone, she was quietly breathing while gazing out the window. A day had passed since Leo returned.

Her heart was still beating quietly, but the feeling was not sweet.

She quietly walked down the corridor

And knocked on Leo’s door.

Knock knock

‘What is it’

Knock knock knock

Only then did Leo realize that the person at the door was Sierra.

“Is that Sierra, come in.”

…

“Okay, so what is the purpose of your visit?”

I was confused.

What could be the reason for visiting so late at night?

And Sierra took out a small notebook from her pocket and began to write.

[I missed you, Young Master]

And

She burrowed right into my arms.

“???”

“Wha… What are you doing?”

And she wrote small words in the notebook within my arms and pushed it in front of my face.

[I really, really missed you]

I quickly regained my senses and asked.

“What do you think you’re doing right now, Sierra?”

“This doesn’t seem like an appropriate behavior for a master and a servant.”

“And have you forgotten what you said this morning?”

That remark, about not expecting anything more

I pretended it was nothing, but it felt like a long line had been drawn in my heart.

But why now…

[Night makes people honest, and I am too]

“Heh heh”

And she laughs foolishly.

Saying that look is cute

What? Cute? Not at all, this is just an illusion caused by meeting after a long time.

~ Leo thought and said.

“If you cling any longer, I’ll forcibly remove you.”

[Try it, I won’t let go even if I die]

[And Master, you wanted me too, didn’t you?]

[You can do whatever you want]

[Because I am. Your Master’s personal maid]

My cheeks naturally flushed.

At that time, full of youthful vigor, he had been holed up in the Imperial Academy.

It was impossible for him to be resistant to such an attack

Sierra swallowed a small laugh and subtly slipped her hand under Leo’s clothes.

“!!??”

And for him, frozen and unable to resist, she began to gently caress his

waist, moving up to his belly, and back.

“Any… Any more of that and… I’ll call the Head Maid! Up to this point, I might forgive you for the sake of our past relationship, but…”

[I am the Head Maid, though?]

Oh, right.

[But?]

[Oh my… What will you do if you don’t forgive me?]

[Surely you wouldn’t tie up this frail maid…]

[And take her to your bedroom after that…]

“Ugh…”

“That won’t happen. So let go right now!”

Before I knew it, she was hugging me from under my clothes.

Her hands were completely trapped around me.

“Wuuahaeo… Wuuuua!”

I don’t know what she meant, but it must have been something like

“You’re too much, to refuse this cute maid…” Something like that, probably.

When did she become so cunning?

At that moment, she

Rested her head on my chest and began to smell me.

“Wha… What are you doing!”

“Sighhh, Inhale… Haaah”

“Stop it right now! I haven’t showered yet!”

At those words, she removed the hands that were hugging me.

[Ha… Leo’s scent is so good…]

“You’re not even using honorifics anymore.”

[Oh right, Master, do you want me to call you that?]

“It doesn’t particularly matter.”

[Okay, right now I’m not your maid, but your childhood friend Sierra.]

“Even so, don’t act too insolent.”

“Shall I kick you out?”

[Go ahead and try]

[I am the Head Maid now]

[I’m the highest-ranking person in this manor after you]

Sigh…

“This is troubling.”

[What’s troubling?]

“You are.”

[Why?]

I was dumbfounded by her innocent look, as if she didn’t know anything.

“Anyway, really go now, it’s late.”

“If we’re caught together at this hour, it’ll be awkward for both of us.”

[Oh my, I actually like it?]

“Heh heh”

“What?”

[Just kidding]

[Well, shall we stop here for today?]

[Look forward to tomorrow too, because I’ll come find you again]

[Mas.ter?]

And she left the room.

“It feels like a storm just passed…”

“I didn’t know her personality would change like that…”

“Still, I’m relieved I wasn’t hated as much as I thought.”

It was a misunderstanding.

“…There was a good scent.”

“I should ask her what perfume it is tomorrow.”

“Speaking of which, my heart keeps pounding, is it because I’m nervous?”

Thinking it might be an arrhythmia, I decided to visit the family doctor tomorrow before falling asleep.