Chapter 13
“I see.”
Ian nodded, staring intently at me.
Somehow, he didn’t look disappointed.
“That’s a relief.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’d heard Lord Haber said you looked young, but…”
His eyes scanned me cautiously.
“I didn’t realize you were this young. I had imagined a maid with enough experience to trust and entrust things to.”
“…….”
Something inside me bristled.
No matter how young I look, it’s not like I’m so inexperienced that I can’t be trusted…
For what it’s worth, I was selected as one of the final three in the Iblis Empire’s secret research lab… blah blah blah.
But I said nothing.
Him misunderstanding on his own actually works in my favor.
As I nodded quietly, he stroked his chin and muttered.
“It seems Haber has developed both presbyopia and age-related hearing loss simultaneously. There’s no way a young maid like this could have solved two quizzes.”
“…….”
“I should go ask Haber to introduce me to another outstanding maid.”
Having said that, he turned away.
Completely unaware that he had just driven three large daggers into my heart.
‘Sigh…’
I just want to live quietly.
I wanted to live without attracting anyone’s attention anymore…
But they keep provoking me.
I stared at his retreating back, fist clenched tightly, until I couldn’t hold back and opened my mouth.
“Excuse me, Sir Ian.”
“Hm? Are you calling me?”
“I think it would be better to entrust it to me.”
“Regarding what…?”
“It seems that outstanding, experienced maid you’re looking for… might be me.”
“…What?”
Ian’s eyes widened.
Undaunted, I replied with a smile.
“So, why don’t you tell me about it once?”
Eclipsia Palace.
Ian and I sat facing each other across the round table in the reception room.
After a long hesitation, he took something out from his pocket.
It was an old, corroded golden pendant, its details unrecognizable.
“This is a pendant containing memories of my late wife. My wife passed away from an illness the year I turned thirty, so about forty years ago now.”
“…I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s alright. I knew from a young age that her health wasn’t good. Our parting was just a little sooner than others’.”
He shook his head, holding a warm teacup.
Even though he must have lived through countless painful hours to reach this point of acceptance, he seemed detached at a glance.
But it was only on the surface.
His heart was surely still a bleeding, wounded mess.
Forty years had merely formed a callus over the surface…
Thud.
He placed the pendant on the table. I picked it up to examine it closely.
But then, the pendant grew faint and… astonishingly, disappeared.
“……?”
When I placed it back on the table, the pendant regained its form.
Flustered, I asked.
“Why does the pendant disappear?”
“That’s precisely why I’ve come.”
“I see… Then, where did you purchase this pendant?”
“I bought this long ago from a foreign night market while passing through during my honeymoon with my wife. The merchant engraved an image of my wife and me onto this pendant himself.”
“Did it not disappear back then?”
“Correct.”
“Then it must be a pendant imbued with some special power.”
“Indeed. They said it was carved from a stone that was present when Luminesca, the goddess who protects the Castium Empire, manifested.”
Luminesca is said to have manifested only once in the empire’s history.
When Raven, the empire’s founder, saved a white owl, her messenger.
So this pendant is made from a stone that is now about 680 years old.
“But, can a stone be imbued with a spirit’s power?”
“I didn’t believe it back then, but now I do. It seems the spirit’s power is fading over time, as its form keeps growing faint or disappearing. Something an ordinary pendant couldn’t do.”
He looked at the pendant with regretful eyes.
Looking closely, the pendant held a very faint image of Ian and his wife in their youth.
Their shoulders wrapped around each other, smiling happily.
“So… if it’s alright with you, could you clean this pendant? I want to preserve the memories with my wife. This pendant is all I have left of the things she left behind.”
“Why……”
His face contorted as if in pain.
Gripping the table tightly, he slowly spoke.
“My wife, Florence Rochester, wanted everyone to forget her after she died. Even me.”
“…….”
“She used to say that her memories were only of painful and agonizing moments, and she repeatedly told me to live peacefully after she was gone. Before she died, she even pleaded with me to burn all her belongings.”
“To that extent…”
“Somehow, only this pendant remained unburned.”
In a voice lowered further, he asked.
“So, what do you say? Can you grant this old man’s wish?”
Cleaning a pendant imbued with a spirit’s power honestly didn’t seem easy.
But I couldn’t say it seemed impossible.
‘After all, I was the one who claimed to be an outstanding and experienced maid…’
Moreover, the fact that he sought out someone like me, just a maid working at the prince’s palace, showed how desperate he was.
Like grasping at straws.
That one phrase probably represented his state of mind.
“Of course, I’ll help you.”
“Thank you so much. If there’s anything you want, within my power…”
“No, payment isn’t necessary. I offered to help first, after all.”
“Thank you…”
The power of a spirit.
Back at the research lab, Ruin was obsessed with the power of spirits.
Not only did he develop illegal drugs purported to allow the use of spirit power, he even tried to replicate the blessing stolen from Calix.
It failed because everyone who took that drug died…
But by observing the process, I learned in detail about the types of spirits and their characteristics.
‘So, what kind of spirit power is contained in this pendant?’
A pendant that disappears when you try to grab it, and fades even when left alone.
Moreover, a pendant that doesn’t burn.
“Ah.”
I quickly filled a bowl with water and placed it on the table.
Then, without hesitation, I dropped the pendant into the water.
“Wait. What are you doing?”
Ian’s startled exclamation echoed through the room.
Astonishingly, the pendant maintained its form within the water.
In other words, it didn’t disappear or grow faint.
“…This is incredible!”
A flustered Ian exclaimed.
“The pendant isn’t disappearing in the water! How did you anticipate this?”
“Because I deduced what kind of spirit power is contained in this stone.”
“How?”
“There are roughly four main types of blessings. Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind. Those spirits each have their own abilities and characteristics. Among them, the spirit with the characteristic of disappearing when grasped and fading when left alone is……”
“Don’t tell me.”
Ian’s eyebrows twitched.
“It’s a wind spirit? Wind can’t blow inside water, so it maintains its form.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“You… I wouldn’t have guessed…”
Ian stroked his chin and muttered.
“You’re quite a capable maid.”
“Ahem, I suppose one could say that.”
“Then, do we just clean the pendant while it’s in the water now?”
“Probably tha—”
The moment I was about to answer ‘that’s right,’ the pendant, submerged in water, vanished as if by magic.
“…That might be difficult.”
“Hmm.”
At my answer, he visibly deflated.
But he quickly changed his expression, pretending it was okay, and asked again.
“Then, what should we do?”
“To be honest…”
I continued confidently.
“I don’t know.”
“…….”
“But I might find an answer if I keep thinking about it, so I’ll continue to ponder it.”
“I understand. Then I’ll leave the pendant with you and be on my way.”
“I’ll let you know if I find a method.”
He nodded as he rose from his seat.
He opened the door to leave, then suddenly turned back and said to me.
“Excuse me, Miss Rosie.”
“Yes.”
“This is belated, but I’m sorry for dismissing you earlier because you looked young.”
“…Pardon?”
I was taken aback. I hadn’t expected a noble like him to apologize to a maid like me.
Since the first noble I met was Dale karman, who bullied Calix, my first impression of nobles was very poor.
I thought all nobles were pompous and arrogant, but I guess I was mistaken.
“I’ve taken this pendant to many people over the years, but you’re the only one who realized it was imbued with a wind spirit’s power.”
“…….”
“That fact gives me some insight. It teaches me not to dismiss someone, no matter how young or inexperienced they may seem.”
He gave a slight smile. A smile that seemed to erase even the traces of time etched on his face.
“Anyway, I leave it in your hands, clever girl.”
“Yes, I understand.”
After seeing him out, I looked at the pendant in the bowl.
The smiling faces of the couple shimmered faintly within the rippling water.
…Somehow, it was a sight I could gaze at for a long, long time.
‘Alright, I should hurry back to my room and research the pendant.’
Now that I know it’s a wind spirit, it’s just a matter of time.
Maybe I can find a method by tonight?
I carefully clutched the pendant and hurried towards my room.
And then…
“…Damn it.”
A curse I didn’t mean to utter escaped my lips as I opened the window.
