The maids stood before the East Room as though paying silent respects.
“……It feels strange.”
The maid who had opened the door mumbled.
The East Room.
The most precious room in the entire ducal estate, prepared in the finest location.
“Wait, I’m tearing up again…….”
“Hey, don’t……. I feel like crying too.”
A maid pinched the bridge of her nose and lifted her head.
Heijeul also blinked her moistened eyes.
It had been a child’s room.
A space the ducal couple had decorated with their own hands.
“Oh my, they even bought an academy uniform.”
One maid said while looking at the dressing room. Her voice was thick with emotion.
The room was crammed with all sorts of things, from items for a newborn to those for a child of about ten years old. Clothes, books, shoes, bags, toys……. There was truly no semblance of order.
What feelings Rebiatan and Rojeta must have had as they filled this room.
And when they eventually had to close that decorated room…….
What their hearts must have felt like.
The atmosphere among the maids grew heavy.
“Found it.”
Heijeul, eyes wide, pulled a small box from somewhere in the drawer. It was filled with adorable hairpins and hair ties.
“He always said she seemed like a girl, and truly, he had bought only girls’ things…….”
Rojeta used to stroke her round belly and habitually say it would be a cute baby girl.
And just as Rojeta had said.
‘If the young lady were here…… by now.’
She would have been around Lady Rubian’s age.
‘Being from the Jebereuteu household, where daughters are precious, she would have been incredibly loved.’
Heijeul shook off the thought with effort.
“Thinking about it makes me sad, so I’ll stop.”
She sniffled once more and left the room with the other maids.
The way back was silent.
“But will Lady Rubian stay here forever?”
Someone asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? The lord cherishes her so much.”
Only one person in this entire castle had caused the East Room—long shrouded in darkness—to be opened.
“But she hasn’t been officially registered yet. You never know.”
“What? What do you mean, ‘you never know’? What are you talking about, Heijeul?”
“Lady Rubian has to like this place.”
Thud. The maids stopped in their tracks as if by agreement.
Shock slowly spread.
“Oh my god.”
“That’s why we have to do our best.”
“…….”
“……Even though I messed up today.”
Heijeul swallowed her despair and squeezed her eyes shut.
Creak. She tightened her grip on the box of hairpins.
Since she couldn’t very well crush the box to dust…… Heijeul struck the wall beside her with a thud.
A heavy vibration echoed through the wall.
“…….”
The maids—that is, the women who had been her former mercenary comrades—each slapped Heijeul on the back as she stood leaning against the wall and walked past.
“Fix this even if it costs you your life, Heijeul.”
Urk, urk, ack.
“We’re watching you.”
“Make it up. Hmm?”
These girls still hit as hard as ever.
But Heijeul, who was furious at herself, willingly endured the punishment.
* * *
“Oh.”
I looked in the mirror and let out a small exclamation.
Because my bothersome bangs had been neatly fixed. With a tiny strawberry-shaped pin.
“Heup, it suits you perfectly!”
Heijeul’s eyes were soft with emotion.
But where in the world had such a tiny pin been?
“Let me see.”
The man standing quietly behind me turned me around to face him.
“…….”
He fell silent for a moment.
I couldn’t read his expression well. His purple eyes seemed to darken.
‘Does it look strange?’
Maybe so.
Then, tap, he patted my cheek.
“It suits you. Keep it.”
I didn’t know why his slightly smiling face looked a little sad.
“But Rubi, were you scared of scissors?”
He asked as if the thought had suddenly occurred to him. I shook my head.
“It wasn’t that the scissors were scary, it’s just…… having a stranger hold something dangerous near my neck was a bit…….”
I glanced at Heijeul. She was biting her lip hard enough to draw blood.
“I guess I was nervous because it felt awkward…….”
It wasn’t that I had bad memories or anything. I just seemed to have become more wary of strangers.
Perhaps it was because I was in a situation where I was hiding my identity and being pursued.
“I’m sorry, Lady Rubian. I didn’t even know that…….”
“Ah, no! I just need a little time…….”
I didn’t want Heijeul to misunderstand.
“I just need a little time, that’s all!”
Heijeul nodded with a dejected face.
“I apologize, my lord. I was not attentive enough.”
“Enough. Leave.”
“Yes.”
The maid with a sulky face disappeared.
The man observed the pin in my hair for a long while, then ruffled the back of my head.
“Your bangs are one thing, but your back hair is incredibly tangled. Isn’t it uncomfortable?”
“Mm…….”
It really was.
My hair was unusually fine and prone to tangling to begin with, but now it was beyond hopeless.
“What if I cut it for you?”
“Huh?”
I opened my eyes wide. I thought he was joking, but to my surprise, the man’s face was serious.
“Would that be okay?”
Looking at his face cautiously gauging my reaction, I thought carefully.
If it’s Sir Leviathan…….
Surely…….
“That’s not okay at all?”
He blinked.
“Sir, do you have any experience cutting hair?”
“I don’t?”
Other than cutting off demonic beast heads.
“See? No experience! Disqualified!”
“That was the reason?”
It was an important issue!
“Tsk, what does it matter for a lad, it’s just hair that grows back…….”
“Then I’ll cut your hair too!”
“Go ahead.”
Gasp. Look at him, not caring about his hair just because he has a handsome face.
He chuckled and gently swept my back hair.
“Forget it. If you don’t want to, let’s drop it.”
Since he backed down so easily, I somehow felt like I had lost.
I pondered for a moment. It was a bit uncomfortable every time I washed my hair anyway…….
“Then call Heijeul back.”
“Why?”
“Heijeul can give instructions, and you can cut. I think that would be okay.”
“Ha, I’m the one in charge of her.”
He let out a hollow laugh.
But perhaps reading my resolute gaze, he didn’t say anything more.
“Bring Heijeul.”
At the short command, Heijeul, who had been waiting nearby, quickly appeared.
The same chair and tools were set up neatly.
I sat between the man’s knees. His long legs stretched out on either side of my body.
The man, who had been fiddling with my back hair, muttered thoughtlessly.
“Wouldn’t it melt in your mouth?”
……Had I made the wrong choice after all?
I subtly covered the back of my head.
Anyway, a one-of-a-kind salon in the entire world had opened!
“U-uh, my lord! You mustn’t cut that side!”
“Why not? It seems like it would feel refreshing.”
This has become nerve-wracking in a different sense.
“Yes, please hold it firmly with your fingers and cut along the line.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“Ah! If you gouge that side like that……!”
“…….”
“……Huk.”
“……What?”
I clenched my fist on my knee. Seriously, I broke out in a sweat for a completely different reason.
“What was that ‘huk’ just now!”
“Ohoho. It’s nothing, Lady Rubian. Nothing at all!”
The fact that Heijeul laughed “ohoho” in a way that didn’t suit her at all proved that it was definitely something.
“……Rubi, in the end, you should cut my hair too.”
From behind, I heard the man’s voice, somehow grimly resolved.
“……Please do that.”
“Damn it…….”
It seemed like everything was ruined!
But amusingly, I fell asleep midway.
The overlapping of whispering voices, warm and large hands rummaging through my hair, and the snipping of scissors in the gentle afternoon sunlight made me somehow drowsy.
To think that just knowing Sir Leviathan was watching my back could make me feel like this.
It really is a curious thing.
“Oh?”
I was a bit surprised looking in the mirror.
“It looks better than I thought…….”
“Not bad, right?”
The man put on a triumphant expression.
Because contrary to my worries, my hair was impeccably neat.
‘Perfectly.’
I had become a boy!
“It suits you well!”
Should I be happy?
Anyway, my hair had been a mess, sticking out every which way like a filthy broom, and now it was neat and clean, so I felt refreshed. My bangs were also tidy, perhaps trimmed a bit.
“Don’t take out the pin, since it suits you.”
The man spoke as he touched the pin sitting gently on the right side of my head.
“Hmm.”
The man covered his mouth with his hand and spun me round and round.
“I feel cuteness from every direction.”
Heijeul and the other maids shook their heads fiercely. With clenched fists, they looked as if they were collectively suppressing something.
“Thanks for cutting it well!”
I was more than willing to give confidence to the novice hairdresser lost in self-admiration.
He raised his eyebrows and then chomped down on the top of my head.
“What are you doing!”
“As I thought, it doesn’t melt.”
Did he go crazy after switching careers to hairdresser?!
I fled with a horrified face.
The hairdresser, who had casually pressed his lips to my head, was simply chuckling.
* * *
“…….”
The next morning.
Boideu, who was entering the dining room, paused.
Tap, tap. He nudged the attendant standing beside him and whispered.
“……Can a fairy become a younger brother too?”