122. The Maid Stands Before a Secret (1)
"Shall we take a walk around the neighborhood today?"
Joelly suddenly suggested this during lunch. Saying she felt stiff from staying cooped up in the mansion, Robert was the first to react to her remark. As he bounced up and down, pestering to go right away, Audrey immediately helped him get ready, and Nanny and Alicia decided to accompany them.
"Then we'll be off."
"Take care and have a safe walk."
Nanny held Robert's hand and followed behind Joelly. I stood at the entrance of the forest, saw them off, and stretched. I had some alone time for the first time in a while. Originally, I should have accompanied them on the walk too, but thanks to Nanny's consideration, I was able to stay at the mansion.
After Ethan left, I went back to attending to Robert. Since Nanny is always by his side now, my role is strictly assisting, so there was no difficulty in working. Unlike the beginning, Robert played quietly in the room, and except for occasionally jumping around excitedly, he caused fewer accidents. Thanks to that, the past few days since I took over attending to Robert again have passed peacefully without major incidents.
"What should I do."
I had taken breaks here and there while working, but it's been a while since my entire afternoon was wide open. When I attended to Ethan, it was relatively leisurely, but there were many small things I had to take care of, and even when I had free time, I was rarely alone.
Should I go somewhere sunny and take a nap, or should I go down to the kitchen and find some snacks. Doing both sounds good too.
However, after thinking about it carefully, I shook my head. I wasn't particularly sleepy enough to take a nap right now, nor did I want to eat anything. Normally, it felt like I had a lot of things I wanted to do, but now that I actually had the time, nothing came to mind. I wanted to use my precious time well, but I didn't really know what to do.
I pointlessly wandered around the mansion, then getting tired of it, I headed to the back door, where I saw Johnny coming out. He was holding something like wooden boards in his arms, dropped them on the floor on one side, and brushed his gloved hands.
It had been a while since the last study incident. He had been carefully observing me back then, but perhaps feeling burdened by witnessing something he shouldn't have, he hadn't shown himself.
As I approached that way, Johnny, who was turning around, discovered me and greeted me.
"Where are you coming from?"
"The people I serve said they were going for a walk, so I saw them off. What are you doing?"
"Cleaning. The wall of the storage room on the first floor got broken through."
Again? I frowned and clicked my tongue. The most common thing I heard since coming here was that somewhere was broken, pierced, or collapsed. Since it was located in the forest, the surrounding trees or birds sometimes became risk factors. And aside from that, the mansion itself was definitely old.
"Everyone must be sick of it, saying they don't want to do it. It's a storage room anyway, so they pushed it off, saying I could do it alone. I'm just the unlucky one who got caught."
Johnny grumbled softly.
"Want me to help?"
"Don't you have work?"
"Nope. I have free time right now."
"Then go rest comfortably, why would you help."
"I'll help."
It was perfect since I had nothing to do. When I rolled up both sleeves, Johnny waved his hands dismissively.
"A woman doing what. Go away."
I grabbed the hand that was tapping my shoulder and twisted it backward. Johnny let out a yelp, then quickly pulled his twisted hand out and rubbed it. I pretended not to notice and moved into the mansion.
"Hey! I already have so much to do, what would I have done if my hand got hurt!"
"It's fine as long as it's not hurt. Was the storage room here?"
When I pushed his back, urging him to lead the way, Johnny walked, grumbling. The place I followed Johnny to was a storage room located a short distance behind the mansion. It was a storage room where broken or old decorations and furniture were kept, but the wall was wide open, broken through.
"How does it get broken through like that?"
"I don't know. Maybe it hit the wall while taking a break or something."
It seems even trying to figure out why it happened was annoying now. Perhaps prepared in advance, on one side of the floor, there were long wooden boards and a box containing tools like a hammer. Johnny, bending his back, pushed the boards and the box and went outside through the broken wall.
I looked around. The floor was dirty with leaves, dust, and torn-off wood chips. A broom was also prepared, so I picked it up to sweep the floor. But I saw Johnny outside the wall, struggling to hold up a board.
The board was long horizontally, so it seemed like one more person needed to hold it. I put down the broom, bent my back, and crawled outside the wall. As I suddenly popped out, a startled Johnny shouted.
"What! That's dangerous!"
"Give it, I'll hold it."
When I pointed to the end of the board, Johnny made a sullen face and said it was dangerous. When I shouted to think carefully since it was a rare opportunity, Johnny very quickly took a glove out of the box and threw it. Pretending he didn't need help. I put on the glove, narrowed my eyes into triangles, and glared at Johnny. Johnny, feigning ignorance of my glare, checked if I was wearing the glove, and then held out the end of the board.
As I grabbed it and fixed it to the wall, Johnny started hammering in a nail.
"Will you get paid for doing this?"
"No way. It's a temporary fix. To fix it properly, we need to call an expert."
I see. I nodded and held the board tighter. The sound of hammering continued for a while.
"So miserable, miserable."
Johnny's grumbling was a bonus. He had just finished nailing one side of the board, but complaints came out dozens of times. When Johnny, having driven in all the nails, came over and gestured for me to move, I reached out my hand.
"What?"
"Give me the hammer and nails."
As Johnny handed them over reflexively, I lifted one knee, supported the board, placed a nail, and hammered. As I held it firmly so the board wouldn't twist and pounded away, Johnny, who was watching, let out an exclamation of admiration.
"You're unexpectedly good at this?"
"I've done a lot of physical work."
Even looking like this, there's nothing I haven't done. The work a poor person of lowly origin could do was bound to be limited. Moreover, the house I lived in in Filton was old and fragile, so it broke and tore here and there frequently. At those times, I couldn't afford to call someone, and I certainly didn't have the money to find a new house, so I had to fix it myself. Only when it was absolutely impossible for me to fix with my own strength did my father step in as if doing a great favor.
Was it because the hole was quite large? Nailing in even one board took a lot of effort. When I wiped the sweat that had formed on the back of my hand and picked up a new board, Johnny, perhaps feeling sympathetic, also lifted the end of the board. By the time we finished two and were nailing in the third, sweat was dripping down.
"See, I told you not to insist on working during your break."
"I've tried taking breaks here and there while working, but I've rarely had a whole afternoon off like this. Besides, when I tried to rest alone, I didn't know what to do. Using my body is rather better."
Even while answering, I focused on driving in the nail.
"I'm one thing, but you really can't sit still either."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"You looked really close with the noble guest who came here last time."
"What nonsense is that?"
The change of topic was sudden. I frowned, finished hammering the nail, and looked back at Johnny. Johnny immediately picked up a new board and held it out to me. As I held and supported it skillfully, he tapped the nails in.
"The other kids were saying that? They said they saw him following you around."
Ah, is it about that day Ethan chased me around? I didn't have any particularly close servants to talk to about it, but it certainly must have looked strange to anyone watching. Fearing it might cause a misunderstanding, I spoke firmly.
"It was just because I was attending to him. It was nothing special, so don't say strange things for no reason. If anyone says anything strange, just deny it."
"Even before, there was a lot of talk because he specifically pointed you out to attend to him. What exactly is your relationship?"
"In the past, there was, something like that."
"What's 'something like that'?"
"I don't know. Why are you asking so persistently?"
When I shook the board up and down, the nail Johnny was hammering popped out and rolled on the floor. He barely caught the rattling board. I pretended not to hear Johnny shouting "Hey!" and feigned ignorance. Then Johnny fixed the board again and hammered in the nail.
The tapping sound of hammering rang out again.
"Hey, I kind of like you."
I almost slipped the hand holding the board. Is this guy crazy? Despite my horrified gaze, Johnny focused on hammering the nail.
"It hasn't been that long since I got to know you, but I think I know a little bit about what kind of person you are. At first, I thought you were an ill-tempered girl, but it turns out you were just living your given life as hard as you could. So you were being strict against acting leisurely. And occasionally, talking like this together is a bit fun. Even if you act coldly, I've also come to know that you're a person who's weak to affection, contrary to your actions."
"What nonsense."
"Don't hang out with nobles for no reason. Sometimes there are kids who are just so happy because a noble treats them kindly that they follow them around giddy with joy, but you'll get badly hurt doing that too. Those people live in a completely different world from us."
"...I know that too."
I wondered why he was suddenly bringing up such creepy words. It seemed that bad rumors had circulated because of the incident with Ethan. I glanced at Johnny, who was wholly engrossed in hammering. It felt unpleasant, but I guess he was worrying about me in his own way.
Feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, I turned my head and looked straight ahead.
"Don't just say that, really take it to heart. Would those people even care about lowly folks like us?"
"I said I got it."
"No, no. Not just the noble bastards, but if other people treat us kindly, there's always a reason for it. Hey, life, you see..."
Why is the talk getting longer. I listened quietly, but when he seemed to think this was the moment, swinging the hammer and suddenly trying to preach, my composure completely vanished.
"Stop the nonsense and you'd better do a good job yourself."
"Me? I'm always doing well."
"I wonder if you're doing well with Alicia too."
"Don't talk about that."
I coldly countered Johnny's fierce glare. I said it because I knew very well that he had made no progress with Alicia, to the point where he couldn't even properly talk to her anymore. Johnny was annoyed, but I was annoyed too. Honestly, I wanted to stop this cringeworthy conversation.
When it was my turn again, holding the hammer and driving in the nail, Johnny spoke to me again.
"Why did you come here?"
"If you're going to keep spouting nonsense, I'm not helping."
"No, well... I'm just curious."
"What's so curious about that. It's probably the same reason as you. They said they pay a lot."
"Ah, did you also come after hearing the rumor?"
I tapped in the last nail, stepped back, caught my breath, and examined the wall. It looked like it would be over if I just drove in one more at the very bottom. I wiped my sweat and looked back at Johnny.
I was now even out of breath, but that guy, although dirty with dirt, somehow looked less tired than me. That's why he had the energy to flap his gums. When I scanned him up and down with a dissatisfied expression, Johnny frowned.
"Why are you looking at me like that."
"You don't look very tired?"
"No, I am? It's incredibly hard?"
Johnny immediately pretended to be serious, bent his back, placed the last board, and tapped in the nail. Since the last one could be placed on the floor and hammered, there was no need to support it.
"So did you hear it, the rumor. Some kids said they came after hearing it."
"What rumor?"
At this point, it seemed better to ask what he wanted and end the conversation quickly. Then Johnny moved his mouth rapidly as if he had been waiting for this.
"I looked into it, and there are quite a few rumors here. The most famous among them is the rumor that the master went mad. At one time, the master here suffered a major injury and suddenly disappeared, and since there was no news of whether he was dead or alive, such rumors circulated."
I know this very well too. So such a rumor circulated. Well, he was stuck in the annex room, displaying all sorts of wretched temperaments, so I thought that even if they tried to hide it, a rumor that he went mad could have circulated secretly.
"Furthermore, according to what someone heard, the master lost his mind due to that injury, smashing everything and even killing people, causing a huge commotion. They said the dead bodies from then are buried here and there in the forest."
"Ah, really?"
It was an absurd, baseless rumor. Moreover, wasn't it too exaggerated? Thinking that rumors should indeed be taken just as rumors, I bent my body, slouched, and casually nodded.
"Another one is the rumor that the master here went mad over a woman."