episode_0089

“Even Lillis… there was no need for her to suddenly go upstairs without even listening to the explanation….”

Isabel Grace, a mid-level maid of the Blackwood family.

Sweeping the unfinished hallway alone, she muttered to herself while reminiscing about her friend who had just gone upstairs.

Thinking about Lillis Rosewood, her closest friend and colleague who had gone up with some misunderstanding between herself, Edan Young Master, and her.

Isabel had no chance to intervene right after Lillis went up, as she heard a knock on the door upstairs, followed by Edan Young Master’s voice along with the sound of the door opening.

“Still, by now, the misunderstanding should be cleared up, right?”

The proposal Edan Young Master made to her about becoming his ‘exclusive maid.’

Isabel was worried that she misunderstood the proposal and went up thinking she was being asked to become ‘Edan’s exclusive maid.’

It was a fact that she had received a proposal to become Edan Young Master’s exclusive maid and come to the academy with him, but it was a slightly different proposal from becoming Edan’s exclusive maid.

“It was about being Lillis’s exclusive maid after she entered the academy….”

After Lillis entered the academy, it would be difficult for her to solely perform the duties of Edan’s exclusive maid.

While it would be advantageous to be able to work and assist together during work hours, being an academy student was not a leisurely position to take on other maid duties.

Edan was also worried about this and wanted to take Isabel along with him, in addition to his exclusive maid Lillis.

While Lillis would be working as Edan’s exclusive maid at the academy, Isabel would be left at the dormitory to take care of separate tasks such as cleaning, laundry, or meal preparation.

“But Lillis suddenly asked me if she became Edan’s exclusive maid…. There’s no way Edan would choose someone else as his exclusive maid instead of Lillis….”

It was a well-known fact among the servants that Edan had personal feelings for Lillis.

He had made it clear to the servants to keep it a secret, so everyone was keeping silent about it.

In fact, any servant who had seen Edan and Lillis together a couple of times could almost sense the feelings Edan had for his exclusive maid.

Only the oblivious maid Lillis Rosewood was unaware of this fact.

“…Still, it’s fortunate that Lillis’s actions were just a misunderstanding.”

When Lillis initially asked her to reject the proposal, Isabel felt her heart sink.

The statement that could only be imagined as possibly thinking of herself as Lillis’s closest friend was enough to hurt Isabel’s tender heart.

Fortunately, through the subsequent conversation, Isabel quickly realized that it was a misunderstanding, but Lillis had already gone upstairs to face Edan without resolving the misunderstanding.

Nevertheless, once she started talking directly with Edan, Lillis’s misunderstanding would surely be cleared up before long.

Thinking that way, Isabel finished sweeping and quietly went downstairs to empty the dustpan.

…What would happen next in her upstairs, Edan’s bedroom.

The innocent maid had never even imagined what was about to happen.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

-Knock, knock, knock.

“Master Ethan.”

-Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.

“Master Ethan. Master Ethan.”

“A maid?! A maid?”

“May I come in for a moment?”

“Just a moment! Wait for 1 minute… no, 30 seconds!”

“…Understood.”

One, two, three….

Internally, she clenched her fingers as if counting down, waiting to signal Ethan that he could come in.

At the same time, she thought of several ways to persuade Ethan in her mind.

‘…First, I should apologize for not being a good enough exclusive maid until now.’

Although there was no guarantee that Ethan would forgive her for being a greedy maid who only thought of using him, it was better to start by asking him to choose her as his maid rather than directly choosing Isabel.

And then, she would promise to fulfill her duties as an exclusive maid in the future.

She would also promise to stay by Ethan’s side as much as possible at the academy to take care of him.

‘…Honestly, Isabel might be better at being an exclusive maid and taking care of Ethan.’

It was probably why Ethan had initially wanted to choose Isabel as his exclusive maid, not her.

In the end, the only possibility of capturing Ethan’s heart using something that only she had, not Isabel, was her skills and personality in her work.

If the only thing that Release, who was inferior to Isabel in work ability and personality, could offer was…

-Click.

“Y-You can come in, maid….”

“…Excuse me.”

Ethan ushered her into the room with a somewhat urgent look, as if there had been some commotion inside.

She followed Ethan into the room quietly, as if they were going to have a conversation.

As usual, Ethan sat at the table on one side of the room, gesturing for her to sit on the opposite side.

“You came to talk to me, maid?”

“…Yes.”

“Let’s sit down and talk first. If the maid came to me in such a hurry, it must be something urgent.”

“……”

Ethan gestured for her to sit down at the table and raised his hand towards the opposite seat.

Normally, she would have sat down and talked to him face to face without much thought after he gave his permission, but in her current situation, she couldn’t simply accept his offer.

-Sigh.

“……”

“M-Maid?!”

Without saying a word, she lowered herself, kneeling on the floor and bowing forward to convey her apology for not fulfilling her duties as an exclusive maid.

“I am truly sorry for everything up until now, Master Ethan.”

“M-Maid?! What are you doing, get up!”

“During the past 3 years of serving you, I have failed to properly understand what you desire, wasting time. I have no words to express my regret.”

“Why are you suddenly saying all this…?!”

“I do not know if this apology can appease you, but as a humble maid, this is all I can offer. Please forgive me.”

A sincere apology, spoken with her head bowed to the ground. There was no guarantee that this deep bow of apology would be accepted, but it was the only way she could think of to apologize.

The most sincere apology that I could express, whether it works or not, was the first thing I had to do.

“What is the maid talking about? I have no idea! Can you sit down and talk first since I’m asking you to? Huh?”

“No. I cannot get up from this seat until I receive forgiveness from the young master.”

“I don’t even know what I need to be forgiven for…! I need to know what I did wrong to ask for forgiveness!”

“To put it simply, the three years I spent as the young master’s exclusive maid were all my fault.”

“So why does the maid suddenly have to apologize for that…!”

As I lay on the floor without any sign of getting up, Ethan, who had come down to the floor with me, lifted my shoulders that were stuck to the floor in an attempt to get me up.

His strength, which had grown considerably over the three years, was enough to lift me from the floor.

“Maid, get up. I’m not angry with the maid, and I don’t even know what the maid needs to be forgiven for.”

“You don’t need to force yourself to say such things for my sake, Young Master Ethan.”

“I’m not forcing myself to say that…”

“If you really haven’t disappointed the young master, why did you ask about making Isabelle the exclusive maid instead?”

“Isabelle?”

Ethan showed a slightly flustered reaction to my sudden questioning.

Seeing his reaction, I quietly confirmed in my heart and mentioned the conversation I overheard between Isabelle and him.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“But on the way back from the meeting with the master, I accidentally overheard the conversation between the young master and Isabelle in the hallway.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

As soon as he confirmed that I had overheard the conversation with Isabelle, he couldn’t hide his confusion.

Indeed, he had tried to keep it a secret from me and make Isabelle the exclusive maid.

Because I hadn’t properly supervised Ethan over the past three years.

“I will be even more faithful to my duties as the young master’s exclusive maid in the future.”

“Maid, you’ve been doing a good job so far.”

“Then even more! I will work even harder and not neglect my duties as the young master’s exclusive maid!”

“I’m sorry, Maid. I never thought that the suggestion would hurt your pride so much…”

“Just this once is enough. So please, could you please hire me as your exclusive maid one more time?”

“What?”

“I know very well that I have many shortcomings compared to Isabelle. Not only is Isabelle superior to me in performing household chores, but her bright personality that makes everyone smile is a virtue that I do not possess.”

“Wait, Maid. Can we not organize the conversation again…?”

“Please don’t embarrass me. Even after entering the academy, I do not want to give up my position as the young master’s exclusive maid.”

“So, I wasn’t, I wasn’t really trying to make Isabelle my exclusive maid…”

“If you make me your exclusive maid again, I can offer you things that Isabelle cannot.”

“Things that Isabelle doesn’t have… Wait a minute?”

As Ethan, who didn’t understand my story, hesitated for a moment, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards my chest.

Something that Isabelle didn’t have, but Lillis did.

It was the pitiful and vulgar body that only Lillis possessed.