#160. Counterfire (2)
Sensing the ominous undercurrent, Nina denied it firmly.
“You must have seen it wrong.”
“No… I’m sure I saw it…”
“With Lady Sasha around, why would the master meet some other woman? And even if he did, there must have been another reason.”
“Ah—y-yes, ma’am…! Come to think of it, you were there too, ma’am.”
“What? What did you say?”
Nina jumped in surprise.
She didn’t believe everything Anne said, but if Sasha had misunderstood the situation at the scene, how hurt must she have been? That thought made Nina anxious.
“So? What did my lady do?”
Nina waited nervously for Anne’s answer.
Seeing Nina like that, Anne swallowed a laugh and said,
“When my lady arrived, the two of them separated immediately. Ah… right! Now that I think about it, I guess I misspoke. Yes. Like you said, there must have been something I didn’t know.”
“……”
After Anne finished speaking, only an awkward silence lingered.
A maid who disliked gloomy atmospheres stepped forward and began to wrap things up.
“See? There’s no way the master would meet another woman besides my lady! There must’ve been something you didn’t know. Come on, we’ve rested enough—let’s all go back to our rooms. If the head maid sees this, we’ll get an earful.”
It seemed like the little incident had ended, but Nina, left alone after everyone else departed, fell into thought.
“…Surely people aren’t saying things like this elsewhere too, are they?”
An uneasy premonition crept over her.
Turning over what had just happened in her mind, Nina slowly moved to leave the lounge.
That was when she saw a familiar person standing by the door.
“Hey there, Miss Nina.”
“Sir Nikolai?”
As Lady Sasha’s personal maid, Nina was acquainted with the two knights, Nikolai and Andrei.
They often appeared together while escorting Pavel, and more importantly, they were comrades of Sa-Sa-Mo.
A few years ago, Nina and Nikolai had joined forces to form that group. Though it barely had any activity now, it still existed in name.
And Nikolai brought up the topic of their nearly forgotten organization.
“We need to restart our activities.”
“Our group… you mean SaSaMo?”
When Nina asked in confusion, Nikolai nodded.
“Yes. Well, the thing is…”
He paused, thinking about how best to explain, then said,
“It’s about the new guest.”
“…You mean Miss Naina?”
“Yes. That woman.”
Nikolai frowned as if he didn’t even want to say her name, which put Nina at ease.
Thankfully, Nikolai seemed to dislike Naina as well.
Of course. If you like Lady Sasha, how could you not dislike Naina!
Looking at Nikolai with newfound fondness, Nina asked,
“What about her?”
As Nina subtly changed the way she addressed Naina, Nikolai caught on that she disliked her too.
With a grin filled with comradeship, he said,
“Strange rumors about that woman are spreading among the knights. A lot of them can build muscle just fine, but sewing their mouths shut is another matter—so it looks like the gossip might spread outside soon.”
Shaking his head as if fed up with the knights’ loose tongues, Nikolai clicked his tongue.
They say women’s gossip is scary, but men are no better.
“Tsk, tsk.”
After that, Nikolai explained why he had come to see Nina.
“It feels like something unpleasant is about to happen, so I thought we should at least come up with some countermeasures. We can’t just sit around and do nothing.”
“I see.”
Listening carefully, Nina frowned in thought. The conversation she’d had in the lounge earlier now seemed suspicious.
“…Actually, there are bad rumors circulating among the servants too.”
At Nina’s words, Nikolai straightened up from where he’d been leaning against the wall.
“Really? Already?”
“Yes. A week is more than enough time for gossip to spread.”
With a cynical smile she had never shown in front of Sasha, Nina relayed what had been said in the lounge.
“Hah… this is troublesome.”
Nikolai’s face crumpled like a piece of paper.
Seeing such a serious expression on someone who was usually nothing but slick made Nina stare in surprise.
Noticing her gaze, Nikolai ruffled his hair roughly, then immediately changed his expression back.
Wearing his usual carefree, shameless smile, he said,
“It looks like we really do need to take action.”
“How?”
“Well, don’t worry. There’s always a way.”
Nikolai chuckled. He looked like he was hiding some scheme, but to Nina—who was on the same side—it somehow felt reassuring.
“All right. Then I’ll prepare in my own way too!”
Nina said this energetically, even clenching her fist. Nikolai snorted in amusement.
Then he extended his own clenched fist toward her.
“…?”
When Nina just stared at the fist in front of her, Nikolai waved it.
“You don’t know a fist bump? It’s what comrades do.”
“I do.”
Nina slowly brought up her fist and lightly bumped it against his.
“Then let’s all do our best!”
“Understood. You do your best too, sir!”
At Nina’s words, Nikolai shrugged, waved his hand, and left first.
Nina watched him go, then turned sharply and headed for her room.
Looks like I’ll have to postpone my leave. How should I explain it to Lady Sasha?
Lost in such thoughts, Nina failed to notice the shadow that slipped away as she approached.
There was someone listening to Nina and Nikolai’s conversation from not far away.
Only after the two of them had completely left did the eavesdropper slowly emerge from the darkness—it was timid Anne, the very maid who had spread the shocking rumor earlier.
With hunched shoulders, she glanced around nervously and moved cautiously.
After walking for quite some time in the opposite direction of the servants’ quarters, she arrived at Naina’s room.
“Lady Naina.”
Anne knocked and entered politely, then knelt to pay her respects.
“What is it?”
Only after receiving permission did Anne carefully speak.
“I spread the rumors as you ordered.”
“Did you?”
Naina, who had been grooming her nails, cast her a sideways glance.
Anne, ensnared by subtle black magic, had become nothing more than her puppet. She couldn’t entrust her with anything important, but small tasks were manageable.
“Then it’s time for the next step. You can handle it, right?”
“Yes. Just give the order.”
Anne’s eyes, as she spoke expressionlessly, were strange.
Her overly dilated pupils didn’t look like those of a living person, instinctively repulsive—but Naina gazed at them with satisfaction and spoke.
“Good. Then go and… do this.”
As she whispered her command, a smooth smile spread across Naina’s lips.
Meanwhile.
After parting with Nina, Nikolai did not return to the knights’ quarters.
“Should I go to my lady… or should it be my lord after all?”
Since the two cared so deeply for each other, it was obvious they would tell him not to say anything so as not to worry the other.
But if he told only one and kept it secret from the other…
“Cleaning up afterward would be a nightmare.”
Gnh.
Nikolai tilted his head, troubled.
“Who should I see?”
Since it involved Sasha, he thought perhaps he should speak to her first.
“But then my lord would be furious when he found out later.”
Nikolai shuddered, recalling Pavel’s piercing gaze.
After secretly sending Sasha a letter Pavel had entrusted to him once before, he’d endured a long, difficult period under Pavel’s cold looks. If he got caught doing something behind his back again, there would be no saving himself.
“But if I tell my lord, then my lady later…”
Nikolai imagined Sasha’s reaction when she found out afterward.
“…Still, even if my lady learns later, she wouldn’t get angry. She’d be upset, though. And disappointed.”
He pictured Sasha saying, I’m disappointed in you, Sir Knight.
Just imagining it made his mood plummet.
“Haa… neither option feels good.”
After ruffling his hair in frustration, Nikolai went to find the butler.
“Um, where are my lady and my lord right now?”
“They are in the study.”
“Together?”
“Yes.”
“Oh!”
Fortunately, since they were together, his dilemma about whom to tell first disappeared.
Feeling much lighter, Nikolai headed straight for the study.
Knock, knock.
“My lord, my lady. It’s Nikolai.”
“Come in.”
When he opened the door, he saw Sasha sitting at the end of a long sofa, with Pavel lying down, his head resting on her lap.
“Pavel. Sir Nikolai has come in—you should sit up and greet him.”
At Sasha’s whisper, Pavel remained lying down, merely rolling his eyes to look at Nikolai.
Why are you here?
The meaning in his sullen gaze was obvious, and Nikolai smiled awkwardly.
“Pavel. Hurry.”
At Sasha’s urging, Pavel stood up with an expression of great annoyance and sat properly.
