The Maid and the Master – 2

Emma’s sobs didn’t stop easily.

Perhaps feeling uncomfortable with the woman who was already dampening his back, Inho subtly leaned forward.

He was trying to avoid her without hurting her feelings, but Emma was quick to notice.

Emma, returning to an upright posture, stood next to Inho and gently wiped away her tears with her fingers.

“Master, I’m sorry. I’m being so foolish…”

“Ah, no. I’m sure you have your reasons that I don’t know about.”

“Please speak comfortably. No master speaks formally to their maid.”

“Really? Ah, should I?”

“Yes, please.”

Emma felt as if she were talking to a man of her age, not the usually calm and unresponsive master.

She cleared her slightly choked throat and began to clean up the scattered bottles.

“By the way, aren’t there any other maids…?”

Inho, watching Emma tidying up the dishes with a clatter, asked from behind her.

“Other maids, you say?”

Emma paused for a moment, then turned to meet her master’s eyes.

She raised her white hand and placed it on her chest.

“I am the only servant in this mansion, Master.”

“Why? It seems quite big…”

The master’s gaze, raising a question, lingered in the air for a moment. As if seeing something in the air, he stared at the empty space for a while.

“Dimensional Shift count 6… Cause of death, dehydration…”

Watching her master mutter incomprehensible words, Emma thought his illness had relapsed again.

“The other servants are just money-grubbing snobs.”

Emma said with hatred. Inho, taken aback by her strangely sharp voice, asked back.

“Snobs?”

“Yes. Snobs who ran away when the family fortunes declined.”

“Hmm…”

Inho stroked his chin. His unkempt beard tickled his palm.

“First of all, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t remember anything. Even my body feels strange.”

At the master’s clear words, Emma cautiously asked.

“Master, do you perhaps… remember how old you are?”

At Emma’s question, the master rolled his eyes.

He looked every bit the old man, but the spirit in his eyes was not that of an old man.

“Me? I’m… thirty-one.”

Like a student answering a teacher’s question, Inho also carefully answered Emma’s question.

“Ah… I understand. Thirty-one, you say.”

Emma nodded with a slightly flushed face.

“Rather than continuing to talk here, I will guide you to a more comfortable place.”

Emma showed her palm and offered her hand to Inho.

Inho stared at it for a long time, then placed both hands on his knees, using them to push himself up.

Emma’s eyes widened at the sight.

“Where should I go?”

“Ah… Ah, please follow me.”

A smile spread across Emma’s face, which had been blank for a moment, like a flower blooming.

Following Emma’s guidance, Inho returned to his room and sat in a comfortable armchair.

Emma, after excusing herself for a moment, brought some snacks, which looked like pudding to Inho, who didn’t know much about desserts.

He received a small spoon and took a spoonful, the soft sweetness spreading throughout his mouth.

Inho slowly took another spoonful, and in the meantime, Emma spoke about her master’s lost memories.

Emma, who opened her mouth for the first time, spoke in a gentle tone, but without stopping, she talked about what had happened for a full 30 minutes.

Emma’s explanation of ‘what had happened’ seemed to contain a lot of her own opinions, but Inho was able to grasp the general context.

‘A fallen noble… I guess.’

At first, he thought it was England in the 19th century, but after listening to the story, he realized it was a completely different world.

Just in case, he casually mentioned countries he knew, such as ‘America’ and ‘Germany,’ but Emma reacted as if she had never heard of them.

Fortunately, Emma saw him as a senile old man, so Inho thought he was very lucky that she didn’t suspect him even when he said nonsense.

‘But a novelist. Was the noble a novelist? Or did the novelist become a noble?’

Anyway, he was a successful novelist in his prime.

His books sold like hotcakes as soon as he wrote them, and he was even invited to the royal palace when he finished a series.

‘Well, you can’t keep doing well forever.’

As he got older, his popularity gradually waned, and he gradually became reduced to serializing articles in local weekly magazines.

Now, even that was pushed back, and he ended up retiring.

Anyway, as his income decreased, the family fortunes gradually declined, and he couldn’t afford to hire servants. One by one, they seemed to have left the mansion.

Emma seemed to regard that as disloyalty and betrayal.

“Considering the grace I received from Master, it is right to serve without pay for the rest of my life…”

Emma’s eyes flickered like a newly lit bonfire, as if she was resentful of something.

“It’s only natural since you can’t pay them.”

Inho chuckled, and Emma widened her eyes as if she was dumbfounded.

“Master is still kind as ever. Even when you were younger.”

“I don’t think I’m such a nice person.”

Inho scratched his cheek, averting his gaze at the direct compliment.

“It seems like people who say that are never not nice.”

Emma said seriously, and Inho’s face turned even redder.

“Master, I-“

Emma, who was looking at him with affection, took a deep breath and was about to open her mouth when.

-Ding-dong

The sound of a doorbell, which could only be heard in wealthy homes, rang, and Emma’s gaze turned to the gate beyond the window.

Following Emma’s gaze, Inho also turned his head.

“A guest?”

Inho muttered, seeing a young man standing in front of the gate.

-Creak

Suddenly, something seemed to go wrong.

When Inho turned his head to find the source of the sound, Emma was looking at him with a calm expression.

“He’s the son of the owner of the nearby general store. He often comes for door-to-door sales. He’ll leave if we ignore him.”

But unlike her words, the young man continued to linger in front of the gate.

-Ding-dong

“Emma! I know you’re in there! Come out!”

Despite the distance, the young man’s voice reached the second floor.

“It doesn’t seem like sales are his only purpose?”

At the master’s innocent question, Emma bit her lower lip slightly.

“Ah… I buy things often, so I think he calls me like that.”

“If you don’t have anything to buy, it’s better to go and tell him you don’t. He doesn’t seem like he’ll leave easily.”

“…Yes. I understand. Then, excuse me for a moment…”

Emma bowed and left the room.

Inho looked at the young man outside the window with a pleased expression.

“He lives so diligently. It’s good to be young.”

After a moment of silence, Inho chuckled.

“Is my mind aging as my body ages? I think it was better when I was middle-aged. I have no strength in my whole body.”

Inho laughed self-deprecatingly, evaluating his own body with a shake of his head.

“I told you not to make a fuss when Master is awake.”

Emma opened the gate slightly and snapped at the man.

Hans smiled kindly despite Emma’s attack.

“But this is the only way to call Emma. You don’t come to the general store often.”

“That’s because I don’t have anything to buy.”

“Liar. You’re worried about me, aren’t you? Tell me honestly.”

“I’m just annoyed.”

“Geez, Emma can’t be honest either.”

Hahaha, Hans laughed, and Emma bit the inside of her cheek hard, managing her expression.

“Anyway, what’s the matter? If you say you just came to see my face, I’ll call the police.”

“It’s nothing much, it’s just that the village festival is coming up soon.”

“So?”

“Do you have someone to dance with?”

“Shouldn’t you ask if I’m even going to dance first?”

“Eh? Aren’t you coming to the festival?”

“I’m not going. Why would I go there?”

“But… you promised to dance with me.”

“Huh?”

The first crack appeared in Emma’s firmly fixed mask.

As if she had heard something she shouldn’t have, her face was half bewildered and half angry.

“Why at the general store back then, when did I ever say I would dance?”

Regardless of her reaction, Hans was desperate.

“So, how did I answer back then?”

“You said ‘when the busy work at the mansion is over.'”

“I’m busy these days because there’s a lot of work. Well, goodbye.”

“Wa, wait a minute!”

Hans’s arm roughly came through the closing door and grabbed Emma’s shoulder.

Emma’s face contorted.

“Is it because of Divine Doctor Inho? Is that why you can’t go out?”

“Why are you suddenly talking about Master?”

“Don’t play dumb. I know that Divine Doctor Inho is on his last legs…”

Slap!

Emma slapped Hans’s hand with her palm.

Taken aback by the unexpected action, Hans withdrew his hand, and Emma didn’t miss the opportunity to close the door.

Bang!

The iron door closed with a loud noise.

“Don’t speak carelessly, Hans.”

Emma warned in a low voice, then turned and returned to the mansion.

“Emma! I won’t give up!”

Emma gritted her teeth hard, hearing Hans’s voice from behind.

-Grind, creak

Emma, who had entered the house, headed to the second floor, rubbing the grabbed shoulder vigorously.

“How dare that dirty guy touch my body? Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting. Only Master can touch my body… only Master…”