abcnovels
Chapter 1: Chapter 1, Episode 1
Chapter 1: Chapter 1, Episode 1
Chapter 1: Chapter 1, Episode 1
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
How have I come home since then? I found myself in my room.
Apparently, two whole days had passed since that shocking day.
Perhaps it was because I had cried myself to sleep, but my face was crispy and my eyelids were swollen and heavy. Even my eyes, which are not big at all, have become even smaller. As evidence of this, my vision was narrower than usual. My dress was also wrinkled because of the fact that I was all bunched up in bed with it on. The dress was such a favorite of mine, but now I can’t help but feel sadness at the mere sight of it.
?Milady??
I heard a voice calling me from behind the door. At the same time, the door opened and Meari peeked out. She is a maid ten years older than me, who has been with me since before I can still remember.
?I don’t have to ask… how you are feeling.?
I guess she knew what happened at the night meeting.
Without hesitation, she came into the room and popped me in the futon where I was curled up. I was sobbing, even though I had been trying to hold it in.
?Uuuhhh… eehh…?
?Ah— enough, you’ll lose all the water in your body if you cry that much.?
When she told me this, I poked my face out of the blanket just a little and he placed a cold towel on my swollen face. The cold towel soaked up my tears and soothed my burning face.
?Yes, and please drink some water, too. Meari doesn’t want to take care of a young lady who’s become a wrinkled grandmother.?
?Uuuhh… eeeeeeeehh… eekkuu…?
You don’t talk like that! I wanted to say back, but sobs interrupted me.
I was still crying after all that, and I was just a little worried that I might wrinkle up like Meari said, but the tears wouldn’t stop. I honestly drank water from a straw as it was offered to me, and I started to cry more tears again. It’s a vicious cycle, isn’t it? But my body needed water, and the water was quickly consumed. She offered me another glass of water, which I drank down.
?That should keep you dry for a while.?
Meari nodded broadly as if to say, “You did a good job.”
?A little, more…! Be gentle with me…!?
This, this is not the attitude you should have toward your master who is heartbroken!
Meari is always like this. She always treats me, her master, in a somewhat playful manner. Well, I’m the one who doesn’t condemn it, but Meari is also Meari who won’t stop such antics. If she did that elsewhere, she would be fired at best. If not, they’ll chop her head off for disrespect. She should be a little grateful.
?You are already selfish, Milady. I can’t believe you want me to be any nicer to you.?
She’s definitely not being nice.
Towels and water are part of the maid’s job. It’s a natural act. What I want now is comfort, exertion, and yes, something more spiritual.
And yet, the next words out of Meari’s mouth, as she plucked her nose and scowled,
?I mean, I can smell you, Milady.?
It is. There’s not a shred of kindness from her.
?Uwahh, yuck, that really stinks!?
?Watch your words!?
Meari took the futon from me in a single motion as I sobbed.
?Your bath is ready. Shall we go, Milady??
Meari said with a smile that said nothing, and the rest was now hers to do on her own.
I was quickly undressed without a chance to resist, carefully washed from head to fingertips, rubbed with oil, and kept hydrated in between, and found myself in front of the mirror with a shiny, polished face. Maybe even more polished than before the evening. Mary has an attitude problem, but she is very good at her job.
?Well, Milady, you look beautiful. Don’t you feel refreshed??
?Muuh…?
It was certainly refreshing, but there was something that was not quite clear enough for me to nod my head honestly.
?Meari has polished you up with all my heart and soul. There is not a single trace of that germ that got on you, Milady. I, Meari, have washed them all away!?
?…That germ??
Meari looked at me with a strange look.
?Yes, that person. That germ that isn’t worthy of its own size, and it even escorted Milady to a dance. Yes, you don’t smell like that thing, and you smelled great.?
?That germ, you mean… about Raul-sama??
?What are you talking about? Wasn’t that thing’s name?Scum???
Meari says it with a nice smile, but her eyes are not smiling.
In other words, that’s it. According to Meari, Raul was treated like a germ, and all the places he touched during escorts and dances were washed away. Moreover, the smell she was referring to when she said?stinky?was Raoul’s smell, and not even that was left, that’s what she was trying to say.
?If only I could wash the inside of Milady’s head, I could make you feel so clean!?
“It’s a shame,” she says, deliberately shrugging her shoulders.
If it really could be washed, Meari would seriously wash it. I’m sure there won’t be a single memory left.
After all, Meari seems to be so angry that she’s not even willing to call him by name. She’s just a maid, yet she calls the son of a count?that miniscule thing,??a germ,?and even?a scum.?
?Fufu… thank you, Meari.?
?Much appreciated.?
And this, I guess, is Meari’s kindness. It is very difficult to understand and too oblique.
This forceful bathing in the name of Meari’s gentleness had given me a sense of physical refreshment, but more than that, I had regained my composure. The sadness was still coming, but I had a little more time to reflect on the situation.
?Hey… Did Raul-sama… came here??
We can’t continue the engagement now that this has happened.
When I asked her that, Meari shook her head.
?I haven’t heard anything from that thing.?
?And from the Count Colden’s family??
?I have heard that the Count received a letter, but not to the content…?
It must be an offer to end the engagement.
The Colden family had been in frequent contact with us until two years before I went abroad to study. We were a personable couple and said they were looking forward to being called father-in-law and mother-in-law in the future, so how could this happen?
?What did Father said about this??
My father, a kind, dependable, and loving man. He never remarried after my mother died and raised my brother and me. I worry that I have not discouraged my father this time around.
?The Master is very angry. Not at Milady, of course, but at that thing. I have heard that he has written to protest.?
Although I was relieved to see my father, I couldn’t hide my disappointment at not hearing anything from Raul.
?No excuses, no apologies… I wonder if he hated me that much… I…?
Tears welled up again at the thought.
I remember the two people I saw in the garden.
The pink-haired lady was very pretty and mature. They looked like a pair of dolls when lined up with the taller Raul, and they looked very well together. In comparison, I was three years younger than him, and when I stood alongside him with blond hair, we were often seen as brother and sister, partly because of my light chestnut color hair. Although I have grown up a lot in the past two years, I may have been like a little sister to Raul.
It is true that my engagement to Raoul was a house-to-house decision, but at least I liked him.
I met Raul when I was 11 years old. That was the year my mother passed away.
Raul, who was three years older than me and a classmate of my brother’s, came to visit our estate for a summer vacation with his parents during the summer vacation of the Royal Academy.
At the time, I was a rather withdrawn child, but I was curious about Raoul, who was a friend of my brother’s, and would peek out from behind his back. My brother was annoyed with me, but Raul was kind to me, even though he was not used to it, and by the time the vacation was coming to an end, he had come to miss me completely. It was also at this time that our engagement was finalized.
When I was selected as an exchange student with a neighboring country, I was really nervous, and living in a foreign country without family and friends was hard to get used to. But Raul said it was an honor and cheered me on. He told me that I would be fine, and that’s why I had worked so hard to make it happen.
When on earth had he found a woman he liked, even though we had exchanged letters without fail for two years when we couldn’t see each other? There was no sign of such a relationship in his letters. I wonder how he wrote the letter to me, hiding it all along.
My heart, which Meari had helped me to recover just a little, was depressed again.
?…Meari…?
With a nudge, she silently reached out my hand and Meari, who had guessed by the gesture, sat on the edge of the bed and held my head in hers. It’s an unbecoming behavior for a maid. But it’s too late for that.
?You’re still a child, don’t you think so, Milady??
I hug Meari back with all my might as she strokes me with a familiar hand.
?It’s okay. I was taught that when you’re sad, it’s best to cry like this…?
It was the childhood Raul who taught me that, and it has always been Meari’s role to do so.