Chapter 49
“Lily, I like you.”
“Yes, I know.”
“No, I really like you.”
“Ah, yes. I really like myself too.”
For the past few days, whenever Lou saw me, he followed me around and kept saying he liked me. The whole world already knew I was a good person, so I didn’t see why he had to keep announcing it.
I couldn’t exactly chase away someone who was praising me, so casually responding to him had become part of my daily routine.
Lou had been spending more time at the Imperial Palace lately. He went to work in the morning and came home late at night. The only time he could comfortably talk to me was in the morning.
Even then, for nearly an hour before leaving, he would cling to my side until the very last minute.
I held back the urge to throw the pile of laundry in my arms at him and turned to look at him.
“Please hurry and go to work.”
“Ah…”
Lou looked like he really didn’t want to go. Still, he obediently took out a magic stone from his pocket. When I told him to leave, he always left right away.
He disappeared using teleportation. I stared at the empty spot where he had just been, then started walking again.
“Sister Lily!”
One of the maids who had been watching me and Lou ran over and stood in front of me. She wasn’t unfamiliar. She was Katie—the maid who had spread strange rumors in the duchy before.
“I’m so happy these days because I get to see Young Master Lou so often!”
“Sorry, did we disturb your work?”
It wasn’t my fault, but I apologized on Lou’s behalf. Katie quickly shook her head.
“Not at all! I live for seeing Young Master Lou every morning these days!”
“…You’ve seen his face every day though, haven’t you?”
She had worked here for at least a year, so she must have seen Lou countless times. But Katie shook her finger firmly.
“The Young Master from before and the Young Master now are very different.”
“In what way?”
“He’s wearing a uniform now.”
“…?”
So what?
I blinked at her. He was just wearing different clothes. What was so different about that?
Unlike me, the other maids nearby nodded in agreement.
“…Looks like you don’t have enough work.”
I handed the pile of laundry to Katie.
She stared at me with wide eyes as I suddenly gave her extra work.
“Good job.”
I coolly turned around and left the wash area.
When the master was away, a personal maid was given free time.
Since Lou practically lived at the Imperial Palace these days, I had more free time than work time. Even when Lou was home, I didn’t have much to do anyway.
Since Deriksha was busy, I looked for someone to keep me company and headed to Abel’s room. Like me, Abel usually had nothing to do, so she was the perfect partner to skip around with.
Strangely, Anna, who always stood guard in front of Abel’s door, was nowhere to be seen. Because of that, I entered Abel’s room without knocking.
“…Huh.”
The sight inside made me rub my eyes in confusion.
But it wasn’t an illusion. The person sitting across from Abel was still there.
“L-Lily! What brings you here? You didn’t even knock…”
Abel said awkwardly from her seat. The person sitting across from her was someone I thought would never sit at the same table as her.
“…Did you two make up?”
“What are you talking about? We were never fighting.”
Chris answered with a shameless smile.
I blinked in confusion.
Everyone knew Abel hated Chris to death.
Even after I accepted Chris as a friend, Abel still reacted badly whenever she saw him. I never thought their relationship would improve.
Yet somehow, the two of them were sitting together like they had been enjoying tea.
“There’s nothing more to say now, right? I’ll get going.”
Abel nodded at Chris’s words. Chris stood up and walked toward me at the door.
“Oh, Lily.”
He stopped as if he had remembered something.
I looked at him curiously. Chris smiled lightly and said,
“Don’t tease Lou too much. He’s pitiful.”
“Ah.”
I nodded awkwardly. His instincts were really sharp.
Chris kindly closed the door behind him as he left.
“…Did you two decide to get close now?”
“No. I still hate him.”
After confirming Chris had left, I asked Abel. She answered firmly.
I pulled out the chair Chris had been sitting in and sat down.
“Then why did you invite him for tea?”
“He had something to tell me… Lily, sorry, but I don’t think we can hang out today. I need to pack.”
“Oh, are you going to the Duchess’s estate?”
Unlike her brothers, who barely visited once or twice a year, Abel went to the Duchess’s estate quite often.
I asked with confidence, but Abel shook her head.
“I think I’ll have to go somewhere farther.”
“…When will you come back?”
“Maybe… about three months.”
My eyes widened. Where was she going that would take three months? I immediately made a sad face.
“Then who will I play with?”
“Play with Lou.”
“He goes to the Imperial Palace every day. I don’t even have time to see him.”
Abel made a surprised expression, as if she had forgotten that Lou commuted to the Palace.
How little interest did she have in him to forget that?
“I won’t even get to say goodbye… Tell Lou to travel safely.”
Her words sounded strange.
Not “I’ll travel safely,” but “tell Lou to travel safely.” It sounded like Lou was the one leaving.
“You can tell him yourself.”
“I’m leaving right now, so I won’t see him. Since you’re here, help me pack.”
She threw a travel bag toward me. I easily caught it and walked over to her.
“This feels like you’re running away at night…”
“I was planning to leave today anyway. I was going to go quietly, but then you suddenly showed up…”
She sighed and stuffed clothes into her suitcase. I opened the bag and started packing with her.
“…You’re not going somewhere dangerous, right?”
Abel usually didn’t keep secrets from me.
But today she seemed strange. She looked tired, and she had been talking privately with Chris.
Only unfamiliar sides of her were showing, which made me uneasy.
She continued packing as if nothing was wrong.
“I’m taking plenty of escort knights, so it’s fine.”
Then why so many escorts?
The Empire was very safe. Unless she was going far outside the capital, she wouldn’t need that many guards.
When both suitcases were mostly filled, Abel lifted them.
“That’s all?”
“I already loaded the rest onto the carriage. Don’t come out in the cold for no reason.”
She turned her back to me and walked toward the door, as if she really intended to leave quietly.
She reached for the doorknob, then suddenly turned around.
“Hey. I really wasn’t going to meddle anymore. But if I leave without saying this, I’ll feel frustrated for three months. So I’m just going to say it.”
She walked back toward me, looking like her usual self again.
After taking a deep breath, she looked straight at me.
“You like Lou, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Chris definitely told her.
Only someone as sharp as Chris would have noticed.
Abel hit her chest in frustration and shouted,
“Lou likes you too!”
“I know.”
“No, not that kind of like! He likes you as a woman!”
“I know.”
All the anger drained from her face instantly.
“…You know?”
“Of course. He says it openly. How could I not know?”
I had realized it long ago—on the day Lou first went to work at the Imperial Palace.
The day I buttoned his shirt and made a strange prediction.
In the empty room after he left, his last words came back to me.
‘The person I said I like… is you.’
I wasn’t so clueless that I couldn’t understand that.
And Lou’s behavior made it even clearer. Looking back, I wondered how I hadn’t noticed sooner.
As each day passed, my guess became certainty.
He openly said he liked me.
Anyone who wasn’t a fool would notice.
“…Then why did you pretend not to know?”
I smiled.
“Because it’s cute.”
That was the only reason.
Seeing the person who likes me flustered is so cute that it makes me want to tease him more.
Lou is usually shy. If not now, when else would I get to hear him confess so much?
After hearing my answer, Abel let out a hollow laugh.
“…Right. You’re Lily.”
Then she said in a pitiful voice,
“Don’t tease him too much… and accept him properly. He’s pitiful…”
“Yes.”
She said the exact same thing Chris had said earlier.
I smiled and nodded.
