episode_0311

-Whew.

Dark clouds filled the sky.

The clouds spewing heavy rain show no sign of clearing.

Rather, it was getting more intense.

If it were a regular workshop, anyone would have sighed at the sight of this heavy rain.

The maids in charge of cleaning will sigh, wondering what they should do about the rain falling here. The maids in charge of the Duke’s appearance will wipe away the sweat, thankfully getting the flower beds they worked so hard to tend before they get ruined.

The laundry maids who had expected rain early on by looking at the dark clouds will shrug their shoulders and haughtily raise their noses. The people who are like family to those laundry maids will give them short reprimands, asking why they are doing that.

And then I will tell you.

They said they were more worried about the servants and laborers working outside than themselves.

If the servants show up soaking wet from the rain, I will take care of them as I always have.

A towel to dry your body, a blanket to keep you from catching a cold, a drink to warm your tired body. The kitchen maids and chef will bring you food to fill your stomach in time.

If this is discovered by the higher-ups, such as Heron, Shayden, or Tasha, they will sweat profusely, but they will try to pretend not to see it and breathe a sigh of relief.

Yeah, the duke’s house must have been quite noisy.

There is no need to make a loud noise.

The rustling sound is also heard little by little.

You can also see men and women having secret meetings.

All sorts of dramas unfold, including people who are startled when caught sleeping and people who sigh without knowing it.

The sound of the peacock had to fill each and every one of those things.

however.

It’s so quiet now.

With most of the personnel gone, these minor noises were all gone, so now there was no sound at all except in one place.

Towards that place.

Someone steps, adding another noise.

“…”

This hallway was particularly dark.

In other places, people would cheer and say that they now knew why this place was called the Duke’s House when they saw the beautiful night view with the bright moonlight shining in, but this place was not like that at all.

It’s dark.

Even from the outside, it looks like no light is coming in or out.

I can’t shake the feeling of being dull, isolated, and hidden.

Even though the atmosphere changes completely just by walking a few meters.

But the person walking here thinks.

This place should have been bright too.

As in the other rooms, the moonlight should have entered here equally.

-Kururung!

The sound was momentarily drowned out by the thunder, but it did not stop.

The sound of lightning actually made it easier to hear.

That was a cry.

“…”

The source of the crying was a room that was particularly dark in the dark hallway.

There was no way this maid wouldn’t know that place.

Urge your feet to start moving again.

Head towards a darker and dimmer room.

At the end of the hallway, we head towards the most eerie room.

At one point, he heads to the room of a boy who used loneliness to wait for an opportunity.

As expected, the door was open.

“Black, ugh…!”

Her golden pigtails, which had been tied neatly, were loose.

The hem of the clothes was already dirty, as if they had been dragging on the floor.

Plus, one of her knees is swollen and looks like it might hurt if she hit something and fell.

“I was wrong. Come on, Bunny. I, I was wrong, huh. ”

My throat is sore.

It got to the point where I couldn’t even cry properly.

The tears dried and twisted, forming scabs on the soft skin, and a hissing sound overlapped with each breath.

In a word.

It looked like a mess.

It seems like she is the youngest daughter of a duke who monopolizes the love of her mother and older sisters.

However, the ears appeared to be open.

“What should I do? What should I do? Camilla.”

The sound of rain. The sound of lightning.

And the duke’s only sound is crying.

There, our ears are wide open to another noise: the sound of footsteps.

It’s natural to be curious and expectant, wondering whose footsteps it is…

It seemed obvious that it wouldn’t be him, that it wouldn’t be Carcein.

Because I can’t ignore reality any longer.

“Alright, let me go. Camilla. What should I do?”

“…”

“Answer me. What should I do…”

Flora asked with a look of pity.

If that’s an order, Camilla must answer.

In the duke’s house, you must answer the questions of the master you serve.

But Camilla is unable to answer.

“Ugh, ugh…! Say something…”

Once again, tears well up in the dilated eyes.

He crawls, feeling suffocated, and grabs onto her leg.

Even if he didn’t finish speaking, I knew what he was asking.

The owner of this room.

Anyone who knows about Karsain Bagrand.

Because Camilla Deol is the perfect person for Flora Bagrand to find right now.

however.

Camilla closes her eyes tightly.

“Why… aren’t you answering?”

“…”

“You know, you know. You, you’re the Kar, Sein, dedicated maid, right?”

“…”

“I haven’t even apologized properly yet… Huh? Where did you go…?”

Even if you ask me pitifully, I have only one thing to say.

“I’m sorry, Miss.”

“…”

I can’t tell you.

Because that is my master’s will.

Although she serves a master named Duke, Camilla Deol only serves one master, Karsain Bagrand.

‘I’m really sorry, Miss.’

My master is Lord Karsain.

-Slurp.

Flora eventually cannot hold out and collapses.

Camilla, who dared to disobey her master’s order, carefully carried the youngest princess, who had collapsed from exhaustion, to the bed in her room.

“…are you here?”

Shaden appeared as if he had been waiting for her.

“Your leg is swollen because you hit it, but that’s all and that’s not why you fell asleep. You just cried too much.”

“Yeah. You must be tired, so you should go and rest too.”

“Yes, Shayden.”

Camilla says a brief greeting and leaves the room.

Shayden sighs as he looks at Flora, who has fallen asleep from crying.

“…Even though we lost the Duke and Lord Karn, miraculously, because Lord Karsein was there, Madame’s condition improved.”

Now that he’s gone again…

“Hoo.”

Shayden squeezed his eyes shut.

***

A day passes.

Two days passed.

Three days, four days.

The week is about to end.

“You clearly said you would send a letter…”

Isabella could no longer bear to question herself and called her servants.

“Is there a servant from the Duke’s house?”

“No, there is no duke…”

“What about the letter?”

“Um… I heard the maids are preparing for the cold winter this year.”

“…Any other news?”

“Uh… There are some reactions from the people who have passed away. Other than that, there is some news from the territory due to the heavy rain.”

The messenger and letter manager asks Isabella if she should bring it, but she refuses.

Because that’s not what I wanted to hear.

“…”

Isabella, who had bitten the servants, looked at the calendar again.

There is plenty of time.

Since the preparation period for Karsain’s coming of age ceremony was initially set to be quite generous, there is no problem with that amount of time being spent.

“…How strange. Claire wouldn’t have handled things this strangely, and Flora wouldn’t have forgotten it.”

Although there were many letters from other places, there were no letters from the Duke’s household.

Also, although many people have visited this place, no one has been sent by the Duke’s family.

That was truly a strange thing.

Claire, who said she moved first.

Flora also followed her, saying she knew where her little sister had gone.

I wonder if that means that there isn’t any news coming from the Duke’s household.

“Mother.”

Just then, Arina opens the door and comes in.

Her expression brightened slightly, as if she thought that maybe it had been relayed to Arina first.

“…I guess your mother hasn’t heard of it either.”

The same goes for Arina.

Rather, the reason I came here overlapped exactly with Isabella.

At this point, it’s natural to start getting worried.

“I checked just in case, but they said there wasn’t an accident.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Thanks to the demons appearing, the knights who had blocked the dukedom were able to find out various things. The river overflowed, but the carriage heading to the duke’s house went normally.”

I’m relieved to hear that my daughters didn’t have any accidents.

“That means there’s a problem at the Duke’s house…”

Isabella glanced through the stack of papers several times.

There is no urgent report among them.

There is nothing dangerous, let alone anything worth seeing, even in an emergency.

If the demons appear, but the problem is something that the Knights can step in and roughly resolve, then it is not an external problem after all.

Then what on earth is the problem within the Duke’s household?

“…Did they fight?”

“Fighting? Who said that?”

“Well… If it’s because of something like a problem with Karsin… I’m sorry. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand it…”

“Don’t think it’s strange. That was my limit.”

Something similar to today happened in the past.

There was a time when I fought with Karsane before an important event and there was no news.

“At that time… all three of them were so angry that they didn’t say a word, so no letters or anything were sent.”

“In the end, my mother had to come back and mediate.”

Now that it was like this, there was only one answer.

“What should I do, Mom?”

“I have to go back.”

Isabella answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“There must be a reason why it’s taking so long, and why those kids haven’t sent me any news. It’s okay if the coming-of-age ceremony preparation schedule is delayed a bit, so let’s go for a bit.”

“I think the same. That’s why I prepared the carriage in advance.”

“Yeah. I hope he wasn’t seriously hurt.”

You’ll know when you go there yourself.

If there’s a fight between children, they should be reconciled.

So, the last carriage leaves.

Eventually, everyone will leave this place and gather at the Duke’s residence.

But the moment I got on the carriage.

Isabella suddenly thought she heard Carcein’s voice.

-No need.

“…!”

Why am I hearing that answer now, which made my heart ache and sting so much?

Because of that, I missed the step to get on the carriage.

“Mother? Why are you doing this?”

“…I suddenly feel like I have no strength in my legs. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Isabella says she’s okay and gets back into the carriage.

But that’s not what I really feel.

-No need.

Strangely enough, those words kept ringing in my head.