Chapter 27
“Aren’t you cold?”
For a moment, Lady Herman’s face visibly reddened. It was rather chilly weather for an elderly woman to be standing outside like this.
“I’ll be fine. I can’t very well skip seeing His Grace and the young lady off, can I?”
“Please don’t overdo it.”
“Hehe. I have a body that can’t afford to fall ill. For the time being, I’ll be responsible for this place.”
As if to reassure her, Lady Herman pulled the shawl draped over her shoulders snugly around herself.
At the Grand Duke’s residence in the capital, the person wielding the greatest authority was the head maid—Lady Herman herself. Ever since Baron Beighton was dismissed, the remaining servants had been on edge, careful not to fall out of her favor.
Count Gavin, the steward, was—strictly speaking—more like a representative of the retainers. He didn’t have direct authority over the internal management of the estate.
“You’ve been working very hard.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. This is hardly work at all.”
After carefully checking Eleonora’s attire one more time, Lady Herman continued in a lowered voice.
“May I ask you to do me a small favor?”
“What is it?”
She took two letters from her bosom. One was a lavish envelope sealed tightly with wax; the other was plain and undecorated.
“Please deliver the wax-sealed one to the Grand Ducal Castle’s chief butler. And this one… to Her Grace, the Dowager Lady.”
“…Isn’t that usually the other way around?”
“The one for the chief butler is an official document of sorts.”
Which meant that the plain letter was a personal message—sent not as head maid, but as a friend, to Dowager Lady Iolene.
“I’ll make sure they reach the right hands. Anything else?”
“Please take good care of the young lady.”
“You really are something, Head Maid.”
Watching Lady Herman, Ailesia was reminded faintly of her late maternal grandmother.
Her speech had been blunt, but her expression was always gentle. It was a pity that so much time had passed that her face had grown hazy in memory.
“If you don’t mind, may I make a request as well?”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Have Ellie’s room cleaned every day. And after eight in the evening, make sure no one enters except you.”
“So that means you plan on going in.”
“Correct.”
Ailesia winked with one eye. As expected, Lady Herman was sharp.
“We’ll talk about the details tonight.”
“…Tonight?”
They were about to depart for the Grand Ducal Castle—what could possibly need discussing at night? Lady Herman gave her a puzzled look, but Ailesia opened the carriage door without explaining.
Just then, Thermion emerged through the front gate and walked straight toward them. Eleonora recognized him immediately and waved enthusiastically.
“Uncle!”
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s go.”
After gently rubbing Eleonora’s cheek with his fingertip, he turned to Ailesia.
“We’ll be departing shortly. Can the carriage move out right away?”
“Yes. Sir Dayfold will take the lead?”
“That’s correct.”
“Good. I’ll tell the kids. Follow the most stern-looking man as closely as possible.”
“…Do you even know what ‘stern-looking’ means when you’re talking about wolves?”
At Thermion’s bewildered question, Ailesia and Eleonora puffed out their chests in perfect unison.
“Blanky can make a stern face too. Isn’t that amazing?”
“That’s right, Uncle! Blanky is super dignified!”
“……”
They really were becoming alike—so much so that no one could possibly deny it.
That proud gaze, the hands planted at the waist just so, even the straightened shoulders.
If not for their different appearances, anyone might have mistaken them for mother and daughter—or sisters with a large age gap.
“Oh my, how wonderfully close the two of you are, teacher and student alike. His Grace truly made an excellent choice.”
“…Let’s go with that.”
Thermion’s voice, tinged with mild regret, drifted away as he sighed and quickly composed himself.
“Head Maid, please take good care of the estate for the time being.”
“Rest assured, Your Grace. Should any problems arise, I will contact the castle immediately.”
“Yes. This time, you won’t have to exhaust yourself coming all the way to the castle.”
When Eleonora had gone missing, Lady Herman hadn’t been able to reach anyone and had personally traveled to the Grand Ducal Castle.
Despite being nearly sixty, she used the gate—something even strong adult men struggled to pass through more than twice a day—five times over two days. Even when the knights escorting her begged her to stop, she refused.
She coughed up blood and collapsed unconscious on the way, yet still forced herself onward. Her loyalty was such that no one in the Grand Ducal family could help but bow their head in respect.
“Ellie, shouldn’t you say goodbye to the Head Maid?”
“Grandma Inge! I’ll be back!”
Lady Herman gently took Eleonora’s outstretched hand and bowed slightly.
“Have a pleasant journey, Young Lady.”
“Yes!”
Seeing Eleonora brimming with excitement, Lady Herman discreetly wiped at her eyes.
She’s become so much brighter thanks to her teacher. Children should be allowed to be children.
Even after climbing into the carriage, Eleonora leaned out the window and kept waving. Lady Herman waved back with a smile.
“Move out!”
At Kubera’s command, the mounted knights began to move one by one.
[Please come to Ellie’s room tonight at nine. Make sure no one notices.]
As she watched the carriage roll away, a clear voice slipped into Lady Herman’s ear.
She glanced around instinctively, then quickly realized the voice was a message sent by Ailesia.
“…She must have something in mind.”
Even though no one was listening, Lady Herman spoke formally. She believed that if she showed respect first, the other servants wouldn’t dare behave carelessly toward Ailesia.
“Huh?”
Ailesia suddenly rubbed her ear, prompting Eleonora—seated beside her—to tilt her head.
“Teacher, does your ear hurt?”
“Witches don’t get ‘ouchies.’ It’s just itchy.”
“Ellie gets that sometimes too.”
“Hmm. Maybe someone’s praising me.”
“That’s right! Teacher is super strong and pretty!”
“I know.”
After gently patting Eleonora’s bright, cheerful head, Ailesia turned to look out the window and reflected on everything that had happened so far.
The early parts of the story have already changed quite a bit.
Originally, Dowager Lady Iolene was supposed to come up to the capital near year’s end to keep her lonely granddaughter company. Baron Beighton’s downfall also happened then.
The sequence of events had shifted somewhat, but up to this point, the overall plausibility of the original story hadn’t been seriously damaged.
…Honestly, I could smash the ending right now if I wanted to.
She could just shut her eyes and swing her staff once—done. But if asked why she hesitated, the answer was simple.
I’ve read too many possession novels.
Stray too far from the original story, and all sorts of absurd things tend to happen. A hidden god or demon king pops up, or some cosmic law—“narrative force,” “causality,” whatever—kicks in and creates even bigger problems.
Of course, when she’d once asked her master about such things during her lifetime, she’d been scolded mercilessly.
“Have you been reading strange novels? Or scriptures from some cult?”
“It was just a passing thought.”
“If that were true, every bastard who went around causing trouble out of boredom would’ve been struck dead by lightning.”
“I-Is that so?”
“When a dragon goes berserk without just cause, its own kind usually swarm in and beat it to death. You can pray all you want—gods won’t step in. I’ve dealt with plenty of them myself, back in the day. Tch.”
“…So gods really do exist?”
“They do. They just don’t intervene directly in this world.”
Coming from Rubia—a dragon of all beings—those words couldn’t possibly be wrong.
Ailesia simply allowed for the possibility that somewhere in the world, there might be another being as strong as herself.
There’s a reason protagonists hide their strength early on.
What if she’d revealed everything from the start? Some unimaginable enemy might have emerged and put the Grand Ducal family in danger.
“Teacher.”
“Hm?”
She must have been lost in thought for too long. Turning her head, she found Eleonora pouting slightly, looking at her with an unusually serious expression.
“Teacher, you’re making a weird face.”
“What kind of face was I making?”
“Well…”
Eleonora clutched her head with both hands, thinking hard, then spoke.
“Like Mom’s face when she stares at the door because Dad doesn’t come home for dinner.”
“Oh… was it like that?”
“When Mom makes that face, Ellie feels really sad.”
Seeing Eleonora glance at her cautiously made Ailesia’s chest ache faintly.
Maybe she’d worried about things she didn’t need to—things she definitely shouldn’t have worried about in front of a child—and made her uneasy.
“Hey, my little Ellie.”
Ailesia pulled Eleonora into a tight embrace and whispered softly.
“Does being with your teacher make you happy?”
