episode_0094

I had prepared all the gifts themselves, but I didn’t give them to either Emilia or Princess Elizabeth right away.

It would be more accurate to say that I couldn’t give them right away.

Because I had to wrap them secretly, avoiding Emilia’s gaze.

If I openly requested a luxurious box to hold the gifts, it might raise suspicion, so I asked for a suitable wooden box and cloth for decoration separately, with time intervals in between, and made the boxes at night.

Thus, the large and small boxes were completed.

The inside was lined with velvet, and the outside was covered with silk embroidered with butterflies and roses, neatly finished to create luxurious yet not too expensive gift boxes.

I put the dress in the large box, the necklaces in the small boxes, and kept the box containing the sapphire necklace aside separately.

Because I’m giving Emilia the dress and the ruby necklace.

After finishing the wrapping like this, the time was already Sunday night.

Not bad.

I was worried that the progress was a bit slow and that a catastrophe of giving gifts to two women on the same day might occur.

Fortunately, nothing that a total scumbag would do happened.

Of course, even if I give them separately, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m a scumbag, but I’m not a *total* scumbag.

At least, that’s what I decided to think.

“Ahem!”

Feeling a bit guilty for no reason, I cleared my throat loudly out of awkwardness and placed the box next to the desk.

Even if Princess Elizabeth tries to get closer to me, Emilia is still important to me.

It’s truly indecisive, but I have to act shamelessly.

Thinking that, I got up from my seat and headed to the bed, picking up the alarm clock placed beside it.

– Ting-a-ling-ling!

“… Good.”

Moving the hands here and there, and even confirming that the bell rings loudly, I set the alarm a little earlier than the time Emilia would come and carefully placed it on the table next to the bed.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep properly with my heart pounding like this.

_

– Ting-geu-reuk…!

“Hmm?”

The interior is still dark, as the sun hasn’t fully revealed itself yet.

A faint metallic sound of unpleasant feeling lingered in my ears as I was preparing with the other maids and butlers so that the townhouse could welcome a refreshing morning.

I wondered if I had dropped something, so I opened my eyes wide and looked around, but the floor was clean, and the other servants were busily doing their jobs.

Perhaps I just woke up, so I must be hearing things.

I moved my stopped feet again and headed to William’s room.

“Hoo…”

Carefully taking steps so that no sound could be heard, I arrived in front of the door, took a deep breath, checked my clothes, and then carefully placed my hand on the doorknob.

I used to be able to enter without any worries, but since hearing strange sounds from Master William on the weekend, I have felt a slight hesitation whenever I enter his room.

It’s not that I’m uncomfortable with Master William reading vulgar books.

He hasn’t shown any signs of it so far, but anyway, Master William is a young boy in his prime.

Rather, it would be strange if he hadn’t shown any signs of it at all until now.

That’s how worried Madam was.

Therefore, what I’m worried about is the unfortunate event of me barging in while Master William is ‘using’ those books.

Even if Master William sometimes acts like a fool, he’s not stupid, so I know that such a thing is unlikely to happen, but Master William is clearly a teenage boy.

Men in that period can easily be swept away by impulses, so I can’t let my guard down.

“Gulp…”

I swallowed once and put strength into the hand on the doorknob.

– Creak…

The sound of metal scraping faintly as the doorknob turned, the door gently slid back, creating a gap, and revealing the scenery of the room.

“…?!”

The first thing that caught my eye through the gap was the neatly spread blanket and the empty bed.

Could it be that he stayed up all night again?

Or, is he taking advantage of this gap to do something else?

A strange anxiety crept in, my heart pounded, and the strength in my hand pushing the door drained away.

But the door, once set in motion, did not stop and gradually widened the gap, revealing the rest of what it was hiding.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Emilia.”

The door opened completely, and Master William, sitting in a slouching posture on a chair, resting his chin on his hand, smiled and greeted me.

Judging from Master William’s complexion and the clean desk, it didn’t seem like he skipped sleep again and did something, unlike my worries.

“Master, what are you doing?”

Then the question remains as to why he is sitting on a chair in a strange pose.

“I’m setting the mood right now, so come in quietly.”

“Hmm…?”

Instead of answering, Master William gestured with his hand, urging me, who was standing blankly in front of the door.

I don’t know what’s going on.

But since he told me to come in, I went inside and closed the door.

“So, what are you doing? And what’s with that strange pose?”

At the word “strange pose,” Master William flinched his shoulders and widened his eyes as if shocked.

“… Strange?”

“Yes, it looks like a drunk person barely sitting on a chair.”

“Damn it…”

Master William, frowning and putting his hand on his forehead, took his chin off his hand and straightened his posture.

“Forget what you just saw.”

“I don’t think it’ll be easy to forget, but I’ll try.”

“Thank you…”

And Master William blushed and slightly lowered his head as if he was embarrassed.

Was that supposed to be a cool pose from Master William’s perspective?

It’s a little cute.

“So, why did you wake up so early today? At first, I was surprised thinking you stayed up all night.”

“I had something urgent to do in the morning, so I woke up a little early.”

“?”

Master William gestured me to come closer and turned his body slightly, fiddling with something placed next to the desk.

I was a little frustrated because Master William didn’t say anything properly and kept doing his own thing, but I approached Master William without complaining.

“Here, take it.”

When I approached within a step of Master William, he picked up the silk-decorated box placed next to the desk and handed it to me.

“Is it a errand? Who should I take it to? Or should I put it in the warehouse?”

“It’s not an errand, and it’s not for anyone.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s yours.”

“Of course, it’s Master William’s stuff.”

“What?”

“What’s wrong?”

Master William frowned, looking at me as if I was talking nonsense.

I blinked rapidly, looking at Master William in a daze.

“Ah, ha, haha!”

Master William, bursting into a hearty laugh as if he realized something a beat late, grinned and pointed forward with his finger.

I slowly moved my gaze, following the direction Master William’s finger was pointing.

If it’s this direction… me?

“It’s not that, I’m saying it’s something I’m giving to you.”

The moment I realized that Master William’s fingertip was pointing at me, Master William said that the owner of the box was me as if it were obvious.

“Yes?”

For a moment, my head couldn’t understand what Master William was saying.

But no matter how many times I repeated Master William’s words, the meaning of the words did not change.

Why?

The first thought that came to my mind was a question.

Because there was no reason for me to receive something from Master William.

It’s not my birthday, and there’s no reason for me to receive a special reward.

There’s a big event, but since I’m a maid, my job is to quietly follow Master William as usual and stick to the wall.

“… Why are you giving this to me?”

“I’ll explain after you check the contents inside.”

“Okay.”

I was so curious that I immediately put the box on Master William’s desk and opened the larger one of the large and small boxes first.

With just a little bit of force, the top of the box opens smoothly.

“… Clothes? Does it have Master William’s clothes in it?”

“Yes, take it out once.”

Following Master William’s instructions, I carefully took out the clothes.

A black dress with a large neck hole and a pair of thin straps covering the shoulders that was very impressive, a dark green shawl and a black leather belt, and finally, a blue hair tie, were the contents of the large box.

“You don’t have a dress to wear to the National Foundation Day event, wear that.”

“My maid uniform is enough.”

“It’s not enough for me. The maids and servants around you will be showing off, and I can’t let my employee be intimidated. Even the kids who are worse than you are dressing up and coming out, so Emilia, you have to show off your pretty looks too, right?”

“Ugh…”

My heart starts to race.

The gifts.

The fact that Master William was constantly paying attention to me while pretending to be indifferent.

The way Master William praises my appearance as if it were natural without changing a single expression.

I’m so happy.

“Thank you…”

“Thank you for what, if you’re that grateful, dress up pretty and come out during the National Foundation Day.”

Bowing my head and expressing my gratitude in a trembling voice, Master William chuckled and lightly patted my back.

“Yes.”

I shyly answered and carefully folded the clothes I had taken out back into the box.

“By the way, aren’t you going to open the small one?”

Carefully putting it in as if handling Eastern pottery so that the fabric wouldn’t get damaged even a little, and closing the box, Master William pointed to the small box placed next to the large box and said.

As if the dress was an appetizer and the small box was the main course, I chuckled at Master William’s subtly expectant look and picked up the small box.

“I’m going to open it now.”

I said that as if declaring it, and opened the top of the palm-sized box.

“!”

The moment the box opened and I saw the contents inside, I felt my heart drop.

A necklace that looked expensive even to me, who doesn’t know much about jewelry.

I immediately put the box down and looked at Master William.

“Master.”

“Why?”

“I think you put the wrong contents in the small box.”

“A necklace with a red jewel, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I put it in properly?”

“……”

I’m now about to explode because Master William is saying that even things that I would never have are mine.

A faint expectation for something I gave up on a long time ago is rising.

I know it’s not, but I keep seeing a glimmer of hope.

My heart wouldn’t listen.

“This is, too much to just be for appearances, isn’t it?”

I questioned Master William in a trembling voice.

Now, if Master William appears with a look of not knowing anything, as he always does, my broken heart will return to normal.

“……”

“Master…?”

But today, Master William just looked at me without saying anything and smiled.

The smile contained a meaningful aura, making my heart race so fiercely that I could feel the pounding even in my fingertips.

“… Master, what does this mean?”

“Think what you want.”

My head goes blank.

My head isn’t working properly.

However, Master William didn’t care what state I was in and added.

“Right now, I’m just giving it to you for appearances.”

This is a big problem.

The word “now,” which doesn’t have a reason to be there.

That nuance of saying that it will change later.

It drives me crazy.

“Got it?”

“……”

I don’t know.

But one thing is certain.

Master William is strange.

I could say that with certainty.