episode_0421

Ethan and I went out on a date downtown wearing slightly more comfortable clothes than usual.

It had been quite some time since I had been out to the town of Blackwood Estate. Excluding today’s outing, it had probably only been two or three times in my life.

Even though she was already a debt maid, she couldn’t move around as freely as other maids, and unfortunately, she was banned from going out by the head maid because of the hook-and-mouse incident on her first outing.

Looking back, it was already 7 years ago.

In the meantime, I paid off all the debts I had in front of me and served my original 7-year contract, but by then I had no reason to come downtown for other reasons.

Because of my position as Ethan’s exclusive maid, it was a bit difficult for me to go out here alone, and I didn’t really feel the need to come all the way to the city in the first place.

‘If I think about it, Ethan was a real loser back then.’

If that piggy sexual harassing brat had grown up like in the original, Ethan and I wouldn’t be in this relationship now.

Now, it was to the point where I was the one asking her out on a date first. It was truly unpredictable how people work.

“Your Majesty, can the carriage come back to pick you up in the evening?”

“Yes, please. It will probably be after dinner, so maybe by then… .”

“, Ed.”

“Huh?”

“… Instead of dinner, why don’t you ask me to come tomorrow morning?”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Ethan blushed slightly as he understood what I meant, while Dietmeyer looked away, pretending not to hear at all.

The butler returned to the mansion, pulling the carriage while having this kind of conversation, so from now until tomorrow morning, it was just Ethan and I alone.

“Lily.”

“Yes, Ed.”

“Today is a date that Lily asked me to go on. Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Well, I did ask you out on a date, but I don’t know much about Blackwood Estate. The only time I’ve been out was a few years ago when I went out with Isabelle and Katarina.”

“… Well, Lily was a debt maid. She worked as my exclusive maid for a long time.”

At first, I started out by pretending that I didn’t know much about Blackwood Estate, but in fact, I did know enough about the geography within Blackwood.

Since I moved around with Release more than 15 times out of 25 plays, it was only natural that I became familiar with the environment of Blackwood Estate.

Of course, I had as much information as I needed about hidden items and event locations.

“By the way, I think there’s a nice park in the city center for a walk. Can we go there, Ed?”

“If you like Lily, then do it. Today is the date that Lily suggested.”

Ethan nodded with a smile, as if he had no objection to my opinion.

The nicknames that had been awkward when I called them after a long time had become bearable after calling them a few times, so I began to cautiously explore the Blackwood estate that I knew from my past life.

… Even though dating Ethan was the main goal, it would be better if I could gain something from dating.

‘As far as I remember, that guy never visited Blackwood Estate in this episode.’

According to the story, we should have visited around winter break last year, but that was only when Ethan was a pig prince like in the original.

In the current world line, Ethan was fine and I hadn’t become a holy maid, so there was no reason for him to visit the Blackwood Estate to save me.

… It seems like I’ve become something similar to a sex maid in this world line. I’m doing this because I want to, you know.

Anyway, the fact that the warrior guy has never visited the Blackwood Estate means that he has not collected the hidden elements remaining in the Blackwood Estate. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take this opportunity to go around with Ethan and collect such items.

If it was something that was going to be thrown away and left behind anyway, it would have been much better for Ethan and I to pick it up and use it.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The park in the heart of Blackwood town is famous for being quite well maintained.

There are hedges decorated with various kinds of flowering trees, wooden benches here and there where you can sit and relax, and a large cherry tree in the center of the park surrounded by a low fence.

It is said that if you visit in the spring, you can see cherry blossoms in full bloom, which is almost a spectacular sight, but I have never actually seen the cherry blossoms up close, except from a distance as I went back and forth to the shrine. It is still summer, so the flowers have all fallen and only the fruit is abundant.

“It’s a bit of a shame, Lily. It would have been better if you had come in the spring.”

“Yes, Ed. It can’t be helped since spring is the middle of the semester.”

Ethan mutters something like that while looking at the cherry blossom tree in the center of the park, as if he has similar feelings to me.

I nodded in agreement with his words and walked slowly around the cherry trees.

“It’s a shame there are no cherry blossoms, but the tree is still beautiful. It smells a little sweet, I think.”

“July is the time when the fruit is in full bloom. Of course, a tree this big will bear a lot of fruit.”

“I guess so.”

‘I remember there being a ‘whispering leaf’ hidden near this cherry tree… .’

Whispering Leaf, a milestone item that provides minor help in progressing through the game.

It was an item used to find specific objects or people. You would hold it in your hand, think of the object, and use the tip of the leaf to point out where the object was.

Beginners often use it to find specific characters. For example, to find a character that is advantageous in a battle event and move to it, or to track the target in an event where a character suddenly disappears.

It doesn’t work on objects or people you don’t know, so you can’t use it to find new items, and so it’s not an item that’s attractive enough to warrant collecting if you know the strategy, but it’s quite useful to me now.

If you have this right now, you can use it to find out where Ethan, Agnes, or other characters are wandering around within the Academy.

As I was walking around the cherry trees with those thoughts in mind, searching with my eyes for a place where there might be whispering leaves, Ethan told me a story about the park where this large cherry tree was planted.

“I found out while doing some paperwork over the past few days that this cherry tree was taken care of by my father.”

“If you are Ed’s father, are you talking about Master Harold?”

“Yeah. My mother said she liked this park and often went on dates here. Especially in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom, she always took a day or two to see the flowers.”

“The master also had great love for Lady Thanasia.”

“It looks different, right? Maybe that’s why my father has been taking care of this cherry tree and maintaining it. If you leave this big tree alone, it could rot and wither at any moment.”

Considering the way Harold’s eyes changed whenever he talked about Thanasia, it was quite possible. He was already so unsympathetic to his son, Ethan, so how would he have been to his own wife?

As I looked around the cherry tree, feeling like I had discovered some hidden backstory within the game, I was able to find a single, brightly colored sky blue leaf inside a small hollow that was just big enough to fit my fist.

‘… found it.’

Considering that it was about half a year ago when you retrieved the ‘Whispering Leaf’ in the original game, there was a possibility that someone else had already taken it, but fortunately, it was still there as an item from the original.

Taking Ethan’s hand so that he wouldn’t feel too strange, we slowly climbed over the low fence surrounding the cherry tree.

-Just a little.

“… Lily?”

“Shh. Follow me, Ed.”

Judging by the low fence, it seemed to be designed to prevent people from approaching the cherry trees, so be as careful as possible.

It was Ethan and I, cautiously approaching the cherry tree with the tree between us and a man who was presumed to be a gardener.

-Little by little, little by little.

“What are you doing, Lily?”

“… I’m a little curious.”

“So, what?”

“Follow me and you’ll know, Ed.”

“… … .”

-Sabak, sabak.

Ethan and I, taking small steps to avoid the gardener’s gaze, arrived at the central trunk of the cherry tree.

First, he secretly took out the sky-blue leaves that he had previously checked from the tree stump and secured them, then this time, as an excuse to show them to Ethan, he picked a pair of fruits hanging from the lower part of the tree and pushed them in front of Ethan.

-Same.

“Good night, Ed.”

“Is this what you were wondering about?”

“Yes, Ed.”

“You can buy as many berries as you want just by going to a fruit store.”

“I was curious about the taste of freshly picked cherries. And I was also curious about what the cherries from such a large cherry tree taste like.”

“… … .”

Ethan looked at me as if he had some questions, but he obediently accepted the berry I handed him.

As we looked into each other’s eyes, each putting a pair of cherries in their mouths, a sweet aroma spread through our mouths.

“… Sweet and delicious.”

“It’s a taste of summer, Ed.”

“Wait a minute, over there! You shouldn’t go near that tree!”

“We’ve been caught. Now let’s run away quickly, Ed.”

“Anyway, I thought it would turn out like this… .”

If it was revealed that the person who entered the cherry blossom fence of the Blackwood Estate Park was Prince Blackwood, it would be embarrassing for both of us, so I quickly grabbed Ethan’s hand and ran back out of the fence.

And it was Ethan who looked at me like that and let out a sigh with a strange smile.