Episode 51
Dilton Manor had been bustling since morning.
And with good reason. The young lady had invited a man who might become her fiancé, and today was the day he would visit in person. The manor's servants, regardless of age or gender, gathered together wherever they went and spoke of that guest. They chattered excitedly about the unknown man who might one day marry the young lady and become their new master.
“Just how wealthy must he be? Someone with enormous assets, the kind people like us couldn't even begin to imagine.”
“He might be an heir like the young lady. I heard the nobles down south have that much money.”
“It's been a breadbasket since olden times. I heard even maids like us wear gold bracelets there.”
“……That's ridiculous. What an exaggeration.”
Two maids, who had abandoned their window cleaning to fall deep into gossip, were no different. Having tossed aside their work to giggle at one another, they jumped in surprise at the sound of footsteps behind them and turned around.
“……Oh my, Mr. Jason. We were just in the middle of cleaning the windows.”
Butler Jason looked at the maids with an utterly exasperated expression and sighed.
“Yes, well. Please focus on your work. The guest will arrive soon. And don't forget to put that bucket out of sight before the guest sees it.”
“Of course. Naturally.”
Unfortunately, the man who would become the fiancé of their young lady, Sasha Grayson, was not from the south. Butler Jason adjusted his glasses and silently corrected their speculation in his mind.
Unlike ordinary servants and maids, Butler Jason was in a position to receive orders from the master closer than anyone else. Which also meant that, whether he willed it or not, he could not help but be close to the master's private affairs.
His young lady was already of marriageable age by their noble society's standards. No, in truth, she had slightly passed it. In any case, even after her twenty-first birthday party had ended as it did, the lady had consistently exchanged letters with several men. Though that had largely stopped recently; no doubt it was because of the man who would soon arrive at the manor.
He surmised that he was likely someone she had met in the western region she had been frequenting. She had often gone there, claiming she would receive an apology from the ruffian who had ruined her party, so he must certainly be someone from there.
The west. Lancefield. It was a tiny rural region, but the local gentry were likely quite wealthy. Even after having just scolded the maids, Jason could not help but quietly guess at the status of the man who would become his master's fiancé.
In any case, even if he was not a wealthy noble from the south, he was likely the son of some reasonably old and established family.
“Mr. Jason, a carriage is approaching from afar. I believe that must be the one.”
Jason's idle reverie was immediately shattered. He quickly tidied his appearance and hurried toward the young lady's room on the second floor.
When he knocked to announce the guest's arrival, a concise reply came from inside: “I understand.” Soon, his young lady, Sasha Grayson, opened the door and emerged, dressed in a neat dress as usual.
“The bedroom the guest will be staying in has been thoroughly cleaned.”
“Thank you as always, Jason.”
Jason followed behind her at a distance of one step as they descended the stairs. When they arrived in the hall, it was evident that quite a number of servants had already come out to greet the guest.
For the past month, Dilton Manor had suffered from unwelcome guests whom the master had not invited. Two idlers who had lingered on, calling for doctors under the pretext of injury, and even a young duke who had openly acted as master of the house and tormented everyone.
Whatever guest this was, he would certainly be better than those who had come before. No, he would be nothing short of excellent.
“Jason. Aren't you curious what kind of person I'm going to marry?”
They came out past the hall to the entrance where the carriage would stop. As they waited for the carriage to round that corner while looking down at the small stone steps, Sasha said that to Jason. Asking if he wasn't curious.
Jason, standing stiffly with tension, rolled his eyes with a momentarily foolish expression at Sasha's words. Then he spoke very carefully.
“Whoever he may be, since the lady has chosen him, I believe he must be an excellent person.”
Sasha giggled at the words of the young butler, who was clearly suppressing his curiosity with all his might.
“Of course. Everyone will come to like him. He's so shy that he might cause misunderstandings at first, but eventually everyone will find him comfortable to be around.”
It was a somewhat vague explanation. Yet there seemed to be an affection hidden within that unkind explanation.
Butler Jason gazed at Sasha's profile.
It had been over ten years since he had entered Dilton Manor holding his father's hand. Jason had watched his young lady of the same age from afar, and sometimes up close. He had always been by her side when she treated her grandmother, Lady Rosaline, with precocious manners unbefitting a child, and when she had been struck with a switch by her governess, Madam Mom, yet held back her tears and corrected her homework.
“……Of course, my lady.”
Jason looked at her face, which now seemed unfamiliar. Seeing her, who had lived as though her emotions had been stripped away, unlike himself, looking somehow elated like a child, he suddenly pinched his nose to stifle the stinging sensation.
“Whoever he may be, no one will be able to help but like him.”
If he is the one who made you this way, that would only be so.
“Are you alright, Jason? Have you caught a cold?”
“No. Miss— no, my lady.”
With the heart of an older brother greeting his younger sister's fiancé, Jason frowned and shook his head.
Soon, a black carriage was seen rounding the corner. As the carriage drew closer, crossing the well-tended garden, Jason, and indeed all the servants nearby, looked toward it. Even Mr. Cobb, the gardener who was indifferent to everything, held his rake and fixed his gaze blankly on it.
The carriage finally came to a halt, and the door opened with a clatter.
“Welcome, Captain Pinscher. Was the journey difficult?”
Sasha approached him with a bright smile, greeting him without hesitation.
“……Not really.”
“That's good. Please come this way. I'll introduce you to everyone.”
The large man hesitated, then moved his feet toward where Sasha gestured.
“This is Mr. Jason, the butler. This is Allison, the head maid. And this is……”
Sasha kindly pointed out several of the servants and introduced them to him. Each time Sasha mentioned a name, the man's black eyes flicked swiftly toward them and stared. There was no hint of intimacy to anyone who saw it. An extremely dry gaze, almost guarded, as if merely checking them off. It was abundantly clear that he was a man to whom vigilance was second nature.
“……This is a joke, right?”
Someone muttered behind Jason.
“That man is the one marrying the young lady? Him?”
“Shh.”
Jason tried to stop him too late, but the servant, too astonished, could not close his mouth.
“……He's the one who caused that commotion at the young lady's party……”
***
The atmosphere among the servants grew restless in many ways. Not only Butler Jason but also the male servants who had directly clashed with him on the day of that fateful party openly failed to hide their displeased expressions.
Good heavens. It was that man. The man who had arrived soaked to the bone on the young lady's birthday, which had taken two months to prepare. The man they had let in despite his wretched state, only for him to repay their kindness by getting drunk and causing a disturbance. The bastard who, rather than making any amends, had simply disappeared quietly afterward and caused the young lady even more trouble!
“……He looks even more terrible in the light. Did you see his size? And those eyes? If the young lady weren't there, he looked like he would strangle my throat right away.”
“Tim, mind your tongue.”
Jason was busy trying to keep the mouths of the chattering servants shut, as they were astounded in various ways. In the midst of that, he himself was still so dazed that he kept glancing uneasily toward the drawing room where his master and that man were.
What on earth was going on? Lancefield, or whatever it was. He had thought she went to that countryside often, but how could he have known her purpose was that man. He had merely assumed he was some wealthy man living in the area; the irony of the situation was truly laughable.
“……Mr. Jason!”
Butler Jason belatedly came to his senses. Head maid Allison, who had called him sharply, looked at him with a sigh.
“The young lady is calling you. Go in at once.”
Then came the sound of Allison clicking her tongue at Jason, asking how he could be so foolish, but Jason had no time to retort. With a bitter expression, Jason opened the drawing room door and went inside.
“Did you call for me, my lady?”
As Jason quickly composed himself and addressed her with polite formality, Sasha, seated on the sofa, pointed to the “guest” across from her.
“He must be tired from the long journey. Would you please show the captain to his room?”
Jason quickly nodded his head.
“I shall. Please come this way. The room is already prepared.”