episode_0163

I don’t know which part moved her, but Elizabeth didn’t leave the portrait for a while even after hearing the explanation.

“Hmm…”

With her arms crossed, wrinkles on her forehead, and eyes narrowed like threads, she carefully examined the part of the portrait that depicted me. For some reason, I felt a sense of unease that if I touched Elizabeth now, I would hear strange things, so I couldn’t bring myself to approach her easily.

“Excuse me, Miss Sarah?”

“… Yes? Yes, please speak.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

I wondered if she was always interested in paintings, so I glanced at Miss Sarah after about 10 minutes, but from her also looking at Elizabeth and the painting alternately with a flustered face, I could tell that what she was doing today was just strange.

“Sorry, I was stuck on the painting for too long.”

It was about 20 minutes later that Elizabeth took her eyes off the portrait.

Perhaps realizing that she was too openly absorbed in the painting, Elizabeth blushed faintly and lowered her head slightly, fidgeting with the hem of her apron and offering an apology to us, who had quietly waited for her.

“No, well, I’m glad you seem to be enjoying it.”

“… You’re not teasing me, are you?”

“Teasing? Why?”

I was flustered, but was there something to tease about?

She didn’t say anything strange, and it’s perfectly normal to look at a painting for about 20 minutes.

People often get hooked on something.

I could empathize even more because I could stare blankly at a maid outfit for hours.

It’s not for nothing that I chose a maid outfit first.

“If that’s the case, that’s a relief…”

Seeing the expression on my face as if I didn’t genuinely understand, Elizabeth made a reluctant expression and moved on appropriately.

Then, turning her head quickly, she looked around the interior of the study, which she hadn’t seen while she was engrossed in the portrait.

“… The study isn’t as big as I thought. I thought it would be about twice this size.”

“Until last year, it was only used in winter. Most of the time, I live in the territory, so I didn’t keep that many books here.”

“Hmph… I see…”

Because he caught the eye of His Majesty the Emperor and His Royal Highness the Prince Consort and stayed in the capital for a long time, he’s stuck here this year. In the past, he would have casually come up around October, attended the New Year’s event, and then returned to his father’s territory.

“Then, what do you want to see first?”

“Hmm… Even if you say that, I still don’t know what’s here.”

“That’s science, that’s crafts, the bookshelf in the back is philosophy, that’s magic books, this is novels, and finally, this is religious books and history books.”

“It’s quite full-fledged for its small size.”

“It’s easier to find things this way.”

A total of only 10 bookshelves.

To exaggerate, the study is so small that you can see all the bookshelves at a glance, so you can find them quickly even if you just cram them in, but it still feels good to do it this way.

It feels like being in a small library, and it’s comforting just to see things organized systematically.

“How many books are there?”

“I put about 700 books on each bookshelf, so 7,000… a little less than that.”

“You’ve collected quite a lot, you must have spent quite a bit of money.”

“I don’t have any other hobbies besides that, if I didn’t hunt or ride horses, I could build a mountain out of books.”

The price of one horse is roughly thirty books, and you can buy thirty more books with the annual maintenance cost of one horse.

But what if it’s a horse that’s docile, strong, and has a good pedigree, like those for riding or carriages?

Then the difference widens even more comfortably.

“Then, which one would you recommend among these?”

“Hmm…”

I slowly looked at the bookshelves and thought carefully about what would be good.

First of all, I excluded crafts and philosophy, and religion and science weren’t that appealing either.

I enjoyed reading them all to some extent, but they weren’t exactly my favorite fields. They were not at the level I would recommend.

“History… no, the novel section would be good.”

In the end, I chose novels after much deliberation.

Then, Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, glanced at me, and opened her mouth.

“Novels? That’s unexpected. I thought you would recommend sewing or design books.”

“Those aren’t for reading for fun, they’re for studying.”

Unlike other books that are made for the purpose of conveying information or education, novels are more interested in fun from the start, so I remember more of them.

Besides, unless they are crazy people who are obsessed with that field, most people prefer novels or light books to major books, and you can enjoy anything when you read it lightly.

If I were to recommend something to someone else, novels would be the best in the end.

“Then please, introduce me to a book you like.”

“Okay, then follow me.”

Elizabeth nodded readily, perhaps thinking that novels weren’t bad either, and followed behind me.

Walking lightly, I approached the bookshelf where the novels were placed, stood in front of it, narrowed my eyes, and slowly examined the books.

This was too stimulating, this had too weak plot twists, and this… was definitely fun, but the volume was too small.

They were not bad books, but they were all lacking in some way, so it was difficult to choose one easily.

“Hmm…”

“Huh…?”

While I was slowly looking through the bookshelf, Elizabeth, who was looking through it with me, flinched her shoulder, let out a hollow laugh, and widened her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

I wondered if there was a problem, so I asked and lightly touched Elizabeth’s shoulder, but Elizabeth ignored my words as if possessed and carefully took out a book, reaching out to the bookshelf.

“William.”

Elizabeth, who called me in a slightly stiff voice, held out the cover of the book she had taken out to me.

「Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure」

“Is this also your taste?”

“Oh, shoot…”

Why is that here?

Didn’t I throw it away…?

I’ve been a little busy since I bought it, so I think I forgot about it for a while, but still, why should it be in the room…

“Ah…”

Could it be…

Feeling a chill, I laboriously turned my stiff head to look at Emily.

Emily, who met my eyes, blushed slightly on her ears, then slightly turned her head to the side and mumbled very slightly, moving her lips very slightly.

“… I just put the book in the study as I always do?”

“……”

I want to die.

Emily is so capable that I suffered this ordeal.

As I stood still, blushing on my face and ears and trembling, Emily carefully opened the book and quickly scanned the contents.

“You have more maniacal tastes than I thought.”

“I know what you’re misunderstanding, but it’s really not like that. I don’t even know what it’s about? I bought it as a disguise.”

“Disguise? Isn’t it usually the opposite? You’d make up another excuse to disguise this kind of book, right?”

“On the founding anniversary, I did that to drop Emily when I was preparing a gift for her without her knowing.”

“Ah… that time…”

“See, Emily remembers it too.”

Emily frowned slightly and nodded as she remembered what time it was.

Thanks to that, I saw something like a loophole, so I didn’t miss it and appealed as much as possible.

Elizabeth nodded as if this seemed plausible, but then looked at the book again with sharp eyes, raised one corner of her mouth, shook the book slightly, and said.

“Let’s say that’s true, but why do you still have it?”

“That’s… I forgot because I’ve been busy.”

“Hmph~ That sounds plausible, like a pre-prepared excuse.”

“No, that’s not it!”

In an unreasonable situation where she wouldn’t listen to me no matter how much I explained, I shouted out in frustration.

“You two, look at this. I think this is the first time I’ve seen such vulgar and radical writing.”

“Wow… this is really…”

“It’s, it’s much more stimulating than the title suggests…”

But Elizabeth didn’t even pretend to listen and pulled Sarah and Emily to her side, sharing the contents of the novel she had seen with them.

Then, the two people, whose faces gradually began to turn red, looked at me with trembling eyes and hesitated to open their mouths.

“You shouldn’t fall for such radical writings, Master…”

“You’ve been trying quite a lot of challenging and experimental things when making clothes, and you did the same with books.”

“It’s really not like that…”

I closed my eyes tightly at the sight of the three people who had no intention of believing me and drooped my shoulders.

“Haa…”

Then I sighed and covered my face with both hands.

“Ah…”

I wanted to die of embarrassment.

–

After Elizabeth caught me with a racy book, I endured the urge to run away with transcendent mental strength and recommended a novel that I had enjoyed reading.

In the middle, Elizabeth teased me by saying, ‘Why isn’t this memoir on the list?’, but she mostly listened seriously.

After recommending the novel and looking around the study a little more, nothing particularly special happened like what happened in the study.

We had lunch together, lightly enjoyed tea time again, and after confirming that the snow had stopped while enjoying tea time, Elizabeth returned to the Imperial Palace with Miss Sarah after the road was cleared of snow appropriately.

There was nothing special, but it was quite a fulfilling day.

I experienced a snowstorm, watched Elizabeth visibly flustered, watched Elizabeth who was strangely interested in portraits, and talked a lot about books.

In the process, my image was ruined because of a novel that I didn’t properly dispose of… but well, it was fun anyway.

They’re not people who would distance themselves from me with just this, so I can slowly resolve the misunderstanding.

“Sigh…”

No, I have to resolve it.

Otherwise, I’ll end up being recognized as a man with unique tastes.

I was a little at a loss as to how to resolve this, but

What can I do… it was my karma, a trial that I had to accept sweetly even if it was bitter.