Episode 7
Dumping everything onto Ruden.
Even though it wasn't something I had done, I felt a pang of conscience.
Good heavens, it was work that Renee Blair was originally supposed to do, but since she hadn't done it, Ruden had been taking care of it all.
But if it was originally supposed to be Renee Blair's work, then the story became much easier.
"Th-that's right! Since it was originally my job, I'm saying I'll take charge of it from now on. Please grant me this task, Your Grace."
I clasped my hands together, practically pleading. But Ruden was like an iron fortress. Perhaps because I had suddenly come and said I would work, he found me extremely suspicious; he scrunched his face up and let out a sigh.
"What scheme is this?" he asked.
He fixed his eyes on the documents again. He seemed to find the time precious.
"It's not like I'm up to anything......"
"You say you'll take up work that you never cared about in your life. Did you think I would believe you when you say there's no scheme?"
Of course, it wasn't that I couldn't understand where he was coming from.......
At his unwavering attitude, I fell into worry, bit my lip gently, and placed both hands on his desk.
"Then what do I have to do for you to believe me?"
His hand paused again. Since it meant he wasn't ignoring my words, I added one more thing.
"If you truly can't trust me, feel free to set conditions."
"......Hmmm."
"Conditions," he muttered, and raised his gaze.
Eyes identical to mine were unwavering like a still lake. I still couldn't shake the feeling that he was like an iron fortress, yet somehow I could tell. That he was seriously contemplating my words.
'If I play my cards right, he might go for it.'
I was about to say something to drive the point home when he suddenly blurted out something random.
"I wasn't going to ask, but. What's with your face?"
My face?
Wondering if something was on it, I touched my cheek, only for a stinging pain to shoot across it. At that throbbing, I realized what Ruden was trying to say and answered as if it were nothing.
"Ah, this."
"Who hit you?"
"Oh, why? Worried your one and only little sister went and got herself hit somewhere?"
"Worried?"
Ruden repeated my words as if mocking me.
Ah, well. I know you weren't close enough with Renee Blair to be worried about her...... Still, being laughed at stung a bit.......
*Ahem*, feeling slightly awkward, I cleared my throat unnecessarily and shrugged.
"Well, let's move past that. So? Will you hand the work over to me?"
"......Any conditions are fine?"
"Yeah! I don't mind. Any condition is fine as long as it's something I can do."
Ruden fell silent. At the same time, his expression grew complicated. Complicated to the point where I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
I could only tilt my head in confusion. He sighed.
"Fine. I still don't know why you're suddenly acting like this....... But if any condition is fine, I'll hand it over."
"Great! What's the condition?"
"Do not abuse your power."
Was he telling me not to fire employees as I pleased, but phrasing it in such a convoluted way?
I answered immediately.
"Okay."
"I mean, don't do things like cutting wages without any reason."
"Ugh, come on. Of course."
"......If you abuse your power......"
"If I do?"
Ruden stared at me, then lowered his eyes. Whether it was my imagination or not, it felt like he was avoiding my gaze.
"I'll kick you out of the family."
Oh, harsh.
I inwardly admired how firmly he set the condition, as if he had made up his mind. But I wasn't worried. I had no intention of breaking his condition—because my goal was simply to get him to employ me.
Not only that, I wanted to make a decent impression on him. To the point where I wouldn't do anything to fall out of his favor.
"Okay!"
Once my thoughts reached that point, I accepted quite gladly. Ruden's eyes turned toward me again.
His gaze somehow looked distrustful, so I laughed inwardly and boldly held out a finger to him.
"You still can't trust me? Then let's pinky promise, come on."
I wiggled my pinky finger. Ruden looked down at my finger swaying chaotically in his field of vision.
Ah, was this a bit too much?
Afraid he would brush me off just as he had before, I was about to withdraw my hand when Ruden, rather bewilderingly, hooked his pinky finger around mine.
Honestly, I hadn't expected it; greatly flustered, I stiffened.
'Wow.......'
I thought he would completely ignore me, but he was going along with me. Could I take this positively?
Though it strongly reeked of reluctance, I decided to attach great significance to it anyway.
'Anyway, now I can succeed at the mission!'
Inwardly cheering, I tried to pull my finger away, but Ruden showed no signs of letting go.
Surprised, I opened my eyes wide and looked at him.
"You've gotten strange."
I couldn't understand the meaning behind those words for a brief moment and stared blankly at him. Then, soon realizing his intention, I grinned and pressed my thumb against his.
"I haven't gotten strange, I've returned to normal, you idiot!"
Saying words that indirectly meant I would show him a changed side of me from now on.
* * *
After lunch, the butler Catherine came to my room.
She was the one who had led me and brought me to the mansion on the first day of my possession.
I had thought such tasks were usually a personal maid's job, but.......
Since I hadn't seen so much as a shadow of a personal maid since the possession, I had reached the conclusion that there simply wasn't one.
Red hair, dark brown skin, and a scar across her cheek. Add to that a large build and height. When I stared in admiration without realizing it, Catherine, who had brought the documents, wore a puzzled expression.
"Is there anything you need?"
"Uh-uh, it's nothing. Is that everything?"
"Yes, these are the employees' résumés and the weekly planning documents. These are the pay statements and resignation letters that must not be discarded for a year......."
There were more documents than I had thought. Especially.......
"There are an awful lot of resignation letters......."
At my muttering, Catherine maintained silence. Yeah, right. She must want to say it's because of me but can't bring herself to.
Coughing awkwardly, I put on a smile toward her.
"Anyway, thanks for the hard work. I heard the details from Ruden this morning, so you can go."
"......Yes, understood, my lady. If you need anything else, please call for me."
Catherine spoke politely and left the room.
Clack—the sound of the door closing was only then that I quickly scanned through the documents.
In my heart, I wanted to laze around without doing such things. But I wanted to avoid the insensitive act of dumping everything on Ruden.
Even if I take on this work, it's not like Ruden will get a breather....... But I have to do at least this.
And kill two birds with one stone by succeeding in the mission too.
'But what if I still can't succeed like this?'
I tried hard to shake off the anxious thought that suddenly came to me. Such thoughts were nothing but poison.
I roughly skimmed through the résumés. Among them, one caught my eye.
Susan Balromi. She was an amazing person with decades of experience as a maid alone. However, this person's position was head maid while simultaneously my personal maid.
"......What, I had a personal maid? Then why haven't I seen her even once?"
Isn't a personal maid supposed to follow you around like a shadow and attend to you......?
It wasn’t a field I knew well, so I was left puzzled. Thinking I might find the answer if I checked Susan’s weekly plan, I ended up rummaging through it.
Only after quite some time was I able to look over her plan.
“Hmm……”
I read through her plan with a nasal hum, and it was flawless.
That was the problem.
The plan had a beautifully worded section about attending to me, so why was it that she never actually appeared before me?
If anything, everything she had written in the plan had been done by Hendel.
‘It’s not as if she wrote up a plan like this and then went on vacation……’
Could it be that she hated the idea of serving the wastrel Rene Blair, so she made the easygoing Hendel do it instead……? Surely not, right?
Deciding to ask her directly later, I put the plan back down.
But among the papers scattered messily across the desk, there was one sheet that caught my eye. Its color was subtly different from the others.
I pulled it out without thinking, and at the very top, in large letters, it read: “Report from the Hugo Knights.”
“The Hugo Knights?”
For some reason, the words sounded familiar. Reflexively, my eyes moved down and read the contents.
【Discovered a hibernating wind-type dragon in the Sukea Mountains in eastern Euphonie Kingdom. Subjugation completed over the course of two weeks. The dragon’s corpse will be distributed to certain Magic Towers, excluding the bones and heart. Three injured. No deaths. Two weeks remaining until Konia Kingdom. No other abnormalities.】
Below the brief report were the signatures of the vice commander of the Hugo Knights and Reuden Blair. It seemed to be a document Reuden had received from the Hugo Knights.
More importantly……. A dragon?
It wasn’t that I didn’t know what a dragon was. It was just that, for some strange reason, my gaze kept being drawn to the word “dragon.”
Knock, knock.
“You scared me!”
Startled by the sudden knocking, like someone caught peeking at something they shouldn’t, I roughly set the document down on the desk and told them to come in.
It turned out to be none other than Catherine.
“Why, why are you here again, Catherine?”
“My apologies, my lady. It is nothing else, but it seems another document was mixed in among the papers I gave you just now. By any chance……”
“Ah, this must be it! I thought it was strange that something else was mixed in.”
For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t say I had read it, so I handed the document to her right away without adding anything unnecessary. Catherine gave a curt greeting and immediately left.
‘Mm, more importantly……’
I folded my arms and tilted my head.
Putting the dragon aside, the Hugo Knights…… sounded like something I’d heard somewhere before too.
“No, forget it. I’ll think about that later for now……”
I pulled the application form to the top.
According to Reuden, they recruited employees once every three months, and it just so happened to be that time now.
The timing was good. If I applied and got approved when it wasn’t the recruitment period, they might not acknowledge me as a maid.
That was only my guess, but since the mission window seemed to nitpick more things than I’d expected, there was no harm in being careful.
“Phew……”
Why was I getting nervous over something like this?
With my ice-cold hand, I gripped the pen and began filling out the application.
But as soon as I wrote down my name, I ran into an obstacle. I had to write Rene Blair’s date of birth.
“……Like I’d know that!”
The only birthday I knew was Anastasia’s!