Chapter : 09
One hour later.
“Your Grace, I have brought the ice pack.”
Piru came in carrying an ice pack on a tray.
“If I come in with you, I’ll place it down.”
“Forget it. I’ll do it.”
“……”
At Wayne’s words, Piru narrowed his eyes and stepped back without handing over the tray.
“That’s strange.”
“What is.”
“Even though she’s a maid, you treat her like a noble lady.”
Piru looked at Wayne suspiciously. Wayne felt slightly pricked by Piru’s sharp observation, but he had no intention of revealing Valley’s identity.
Piru already liked to overthink things and would definitely start talking about marriage on his own. And if she failed the test again, Valley would leave the estate immediately anyway, so there was no reason to say anything.
“Which noble young lady comes here wearing a maid uniform?”
“That’s true, but…”
“She confidently said she had a promise with me. I’m just making her take responsibility for those words properly.”
With a slight frown, Wayne snatched the tray with one hand.
“If she can’t prove herself, I’ll send her away.”
“You promised her that.”
“If she’s not useful to me, she has no right to stay in the Biterad estate.”
After saying that, Wayne opened the reception room door. As he stepped inside, he saw Valley leaning against the sofa, sleeping peacefully.
When she first came to the estate, her blue eyes had sparkled with determination and energy, ready to prove herself.
But in just one hour, she was sleeping so defenselessly.
“So confident…”
Wayne muttered while standing at the entrance, then walked toward Valley.
Even when he stood right next to her, she was in such a deep sleep that she didn’t notice him at all.
He was about to sit across from her but changed direction and went to sit beside her instead.
As the distance got closer, her cheek became clearly visible.
It was swollen, mixed red and blue, clearly the shape of a hand slap.
He didn’t even need to ask what happened. He could already guess it. Even if she was a 5th-class noble, servants would not dare leave visible injuries like that.
Then the only ones who could hurt a noble lady’s face would be her own family.
“…So that’s why she desperately asked to be hired as a gardener.”
Magic was a privilege of nobles. In this empire, the weaker that power was, the more one was treated like an ordinary citizen and looked down upon.
But Wayne had never personally experienced discrimination. The Biterad family had strong magic and had achieved many accomplishments in the special unit Zero, so he did not understand the life of the weak at all.
After staring at Valley for a long time, Wayne took out the value meter he had brought from his pocket.
The number, which had been 96 three days ago, had become 97.
It had clearly dropped once when he met Valley.
Wayne moved a little closer to her while keeping his eyes on the meter.
Even after waiting, hoping it might change again, the needle did not move at all. Thinking it might have been coincidence, he raised one eyebrow and looked at her face closely.
“…Mm.”
Still asleep, she flinched slightly and slowly opened her eyelids.
Through her blurry vision, she saw skin-colored shapes, and a question mark appeared in her mind.
A thick neck, broad shoulders, and a wide chest. Huh…? Chest?
“Eek!”
Startled, Valley pushed hard against the chest in front of her with both hands.
“Ah!”
But the person didn’t move at all, like a rock, and instead her own body fell backward.
Landing on the soft sofa, she looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, blinking rapidly, trying to understand the situation. Then she quickly sat up.
Wayne just watched her frantic movements silently. More precisely, he was watching her hands that had touched him again and were still unharmed.
“W-why are you so close?”
She tried her best not to look at Wayne, who was showing his bare upper body. At the same time, she secretly used one hand to cover herself.
Wayne checked the value meter first instead of answering, but it still hadn’t changed at all.
“I came to tell you it’s over.”
“W-what? What’s over?”
“One hour has already passed.”
At those words, Valley’s face turned pale as she looked at the clock on the wall. Just as Wayne said, the promised hour had already passed.
Once she was left alone in the reception room, her tension finally loosened. Relief from successfully reviving the flower like in her practice, and the fact that only the final verification remained, made sleep suddenly overwhelm her.
Even though she tried everything to stay awake for the final test, even pinching her thigh…
But sleep was heavier than anything. She hadn’t properly slept for three days, so keeping her eyes open had been difficult.
Also, because the estate was filled with fire attribute magic, it was warmer than the Fria Tine estate, making it even easier to fall asleep.
Eventually, she must have lost to her drowsiness and fallen asleep.
“J-just a moment. I didn’t sleep properly for three days while practicing…”
“Do I need to understand that too?”
“That’s… not it, but if I don’t revive it better than before, I’ll leave on my own.”
She spoke quickly in desperation.
Wayne thought for a moment, then grabbed all the flowers from the vase. In the short time he carried them from the table to Valley, the outer stems had already dried up.
“Then revive two at once.”
“…Together?”
“How long would it take doing one by one?”
She had never revived two at the same time during training.
Valley was nervous, but she had no choice. She swallowed hard and looked at the dried flowers on the table.
At first, even reviving one flower was difficult, but now she could do it easily. I can do this again. I definitely can.
“Fuu—”
She took a deep breath and grabbed two stems with both hands. Remembering the feeling of reviving stems and petals, she focused her magic.
She poured out more magic than when reviving just one flower.
After the hourglass was flipped twice and about half the sand had fallen, Valley finally placed the revived flowers down.
“Is this… enough to pass?”
She was breathing heavily. The more she gasped, the more visible her swollen cheek became.
Wayne stared not at the flowers, but at her cheek, then ran a hand through his hair.
“You said you needed someone to take care of the estate garden.”
“Then are you hiring me…?”
“But with this weak power, how long would it take to build a garden?”
As Wayne spoke, Valley’s eyebrows kept rising and falling. Her eyes were large, so her expression was easy to read.
She looked like a small puppy.
“One month.”
“Huh?”
“Bring me a landscape plan for how you will design the estate garden within one month. And train your magic so you can revive at least one flowerbed at a time.”
“If I do it within one month, you’ll officially hire me, right?”
“Yes. Until then, official employment is on hold.”
Wayne bent his index finger and lightly pointed at her.
“Remember what you said—you can live here as a maid without your family name.”
“Of course.”
“And in this estate, your family name must never be mentioned.”
At his firm tone, Valley nodded strongly.
“If I finish earlier than one month, will you hire me immediately?”
“Yes.”
As if the conversation was over, Wayne stood up first.
“Oh, and all of this only applies while I am alive.”
“…What?”
“If I die, you will immediately leave this estate.”
With that final sentence, Wayne left the reception room.
“Is the conversation finished? Should I send the maid out now?”
Piru, who had been waiting, quickly approached and asked like a sparrow. Instead of answering, Wayne checked the value meter first.
The needle had moved slightly. Between 96 and 97. When Valley had pushed his chest earlier, the number had changed.
But the change was too small. He wanted to confirm it properly by touching her again, like on the first day they met.
Wayne smirked at Piru and replied.
“No. Give her a room.”
