Chapter 52
Isaac nodded without a word and followed behind the butler. As he walked, he looked around with an indifferent expression, as if surveying the place.
On the day of the party, the weather had been what it was, and the situation had left him with no leisure to examine the manor. Returning to Dilton Manor on a clear day, he found that, contrary to its reputation, it was not, overall, an especially lavish mansion. It was certainly spacious, but neither the walls nor the floors glittered with expensive materials the way people had gone on about.
The servants, on the whole, seemed quiet and lacking in assertiveness. Isaac felt a familiar sense of déjà vu at that as well. The servants who worked at the residence of his grandmother, Lady Caroline, had much the same attitude. Always working quietly and obediently, as if they were there and not there at the same time—the typical sort of demeanor favored by the older generation.
But these people were a little stranger than that. All the while Isaac walked down the corridor, he felt gazes burrowing into him from here and there. Yet whenever he turned his head toward where he felt them, no one was there.
It was not as though he had stepped into some haunted mansion, and it was damn unpleasant.
“The bedroom is not very far from the mistress’s own. It has a full view of the garden, and comes with a private bath as well. The mistress put a great deal of thought into it.”
“……I see.”
When he whipped his head around again, his eyes met those of a young maid who had failed to hide in time. Her face went white, and she clutched the broom tightly to her chest before hiding behind a large flowerpot.
Clicking his tongue, Isaac looked forward again.
Fine. That was clear wariness. Everyone working here was on guard against him.
“If you should need anything, you may use the bell placed on the bedside table. If there is any part of the manor you are curious about, please call for someone and we will guide you at once.”
“…….”
“……The breakfast room is on the first floor. All guests who visit our manor, without exception, have come down to the breakfast room themselves to take their morning meal. It is a tradition established by the late master.”
“……Understood.”
The butler talked without pause the entire way to the bedroom, and though Isaac listened to a certain extent, he could not help letting his eyes wander.
Stricter than the army.
This, too, was something similar to what he experienced whenever he visited his grandmother Lady Caroline’s residence. Were all old noblewomen originally like this?
“The young lady—no, the mistress is an exception, and rarely takes breakfast. Therefore, you will unfortunately have to eat breakfast alone, Captain.”
This was more explanation than necessary. And he could read, to some extent, the meaning behind this deliberately excessive kindness.
Like the other servants, the butler was also wary of Isaac. Though Isaac felt somewhat displeased, he merely raised an eyebrow with the thought that it could not be helped.
After that day’s party, the only ones for whom things had been neatly settled were Isaac and Sasha. For the servants who did not know the inner circumstances, it was only natural to be on guard against a man who had suddenly appeared claiming to be their mistress’s fiancé.
To them, Isaac was still a madman who might turn violent at any moment.
“You needn’t worry. I won’t be the first to go looking for your mistress.”
He understood to a degree, but that did not mean his discomfort vanished. With a face that looked more sullen than necessary, Isaac muttered gloomily, and though only for an instant, the butler glanced at him with an uncomfortable expression.
A brief silence fell. The two men only walked without a word, and soon Jason opened a door with perfect composure, as if nothing had happened, and showed him the bedroom that had been prepared.
“……As I said earlier, if there is anything you need, please call for someone at once. When it is time for dinner, I will send someone up. Will you require any refreshments before then?”
Without even looking in Jason’s direction, Isaac shook his head curtly. As if he had been waiting for that, Jason said, “Then I shall take my leave,” bowed politely, and went out, closing the door behind him.
Isaac soon looked around the bedroom said to have been prepared for him. The room was spacious, and the fine furniture, including the bed, was arranged with such perfection that it felt somehow inhuman. Isaac roughly rolled the trunk bag the servant had placed there in advance beside the bed, then headed toward the window.
As the butler had said, the perfectly maintained garden could be seen at a glance. In that brief moment, Isaac swiftly scanned and grasped every entrance and exit leading into the building. A classic occupational disease.
He soon locked the window tightly and went to the bed. When he sat on the edge, the moderately soft mattress sank deeply in the shape of his weight.
“……A damned uncomfortable room.”
But as it always had been, adapting was the basic strategy for survival. With a reluctant expression, Isaac lay flat on his back on the bed. Then he stared at the ceiling for a long while.
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“Is there anything inconveniencing you during your stay?”
Dinner took place at exactly seven in the evening, in the large dining room beside the breakfast room. Amid the stillness, other than Sasha occasionally speaking to Isaac, the only sound was that of cutlery striking dishes.
“……The room is a little.”
“The room is a little?”
In this quiet, uncomfortable atmosphere, Sasha alone wore a perfectly calm expression.
“……It is excessively large.”
The room was luxurious. Considering not only the furniture but also the attached bathroom, it was on the level of a high-class hotel. Isaac could not bring himself to talk about the discomfort those things gave him, and barely managed to say that much. After leaving home and enlisting, he had always lived only in quarters of a reasonable size. Even after his special promotion gave him the title of youngest captain, the sole reason he had not moved into a separate official residence was that he found his current place comfortable.
The minimum amount of space. The minimum number of things. Isaac could only feel truly at ease under those conditions.
Even after saying it honestly himself, Isaac defensively swept his palm around his mouth. She would think it was ridiculous. Would she laugh at him, wondering what could be so unfamiliar when he was clearly of noble birth? Of course, she would not laugh at him the way other people did.
……Even so.
“Then I’ll move you to a slightly smaller room.”
Instead of prying, Sasha immediately accepted his request.
“It will just take a little time to prepare. How about staying in that room for one day, and moving the next?”
“That seems like far too much trouble in its own way. I will simply stay there.”
“No. Since you’re here, you should be comfortable. Please bear with it for just one day. It’s all right.”
At that kind acceptance, Isaac looked at Sasha with a somewhat strange expression. Then, as if he could not bear the way his gaze was drawn to her, he forcibly lowered his head and began to eat.
She really is kind. Does she treat all guests that way? If she is like that to everyone, not just me, then perhaps that would be more reassuring. No, in another sense, that did not sit quite right either.
……What the hell am I saying? I’ve gone completely insane.
“How about a cup of tea once the meal is over? I have a tea that helps with sleep.”
“That would be fine.”
After finishing the meal, Isaac followed behind Sasha. She led him into a certain room.
“It’s the study I’ve used since I was young. Whatever the task, I find it more comfortable to do it here. Though it’s a little stark for drinking tea.”
“It’s fine. I rather like it.”
“Do you? You like this place?”
Sasha said it as if she had never seen anyone like him before.
The room was simple. So simple that one might wonder if it was a servant’s room; there were almost no decorations, only a few bookshelves, a desk, and two chairs.
When Isaac hesitated and then sat down in a chair, Sasha suddenly burst into laughter. She said it was because, with him sitting in it, the chair looked far too small. Then she quickly apologized, saying she certainly had not been laughing at him.
Isaac simply stared blankly at her, then said it was fine.
She soon opened a desk drawer, took out a thick leather-bound notebook, and spread it open.
“We have to prepare for the wedding.”
She said it, and Isaac looked over the notebook she had opened. He could see a list where she had written down various things needed for the wedding in advance.
“Without an engagement process?”
“We can skip the engagement. Of course, if he had known while he was alive, he would have been furious, but I hear there are people these days who skip the engagement and marry right away.”
“Most of them are probably love matches.”
“Yes. So let’s say ours is a love match too.”
She said it simply and smiled at him.
Isaac looked only at her neatly written handwriting. Almost compulsively.
“If others ask…… what will you say?”
“Is there anything difficult about it? I’ll say I went to confront you, fell for you at first sight, and then I was the one who chased after you first. And half of it is true, isn’t it?”
“……I do not have the kind of appearance one falls for at first sight.”
“To my eyes, you do. I’m sure others would say the same.”
Every time he tried to find fault, she refuted him without the slightest concern.
Sweat was seeping into his palms. It was a habit that appeared whenever he was nervous. Good God. This habit that had tormented him back in his cadet days was back again.
“Captain Pinscher.”
“……Yes.”
“Is there truly nothing making you uncomfortable?”
I’m not some child. What the hell is this?
Isaac was clicking his tongue inwardly and roughly wiping his palms on his trouser leg when it happened.
Isaac, who had been answering half-heartedly, suddenly widened his eyes at her repeated question that had struck straight in.
Her face was right in front of him. The desk she said she had used since childhood was far too small for him, so her face, closer than usual, was all too clearly visible.
Beneath her neatly brushed-back wheat-colored hair, her green eyes stared fixedly at him without even blinking. Under her long lashes, her lips parted, and she soon spoke her next words.
“It’s all right, so please be truly honest with me.”