TMOGTD 109🔐

Chapter 109 …

“C–Cecil?”

Watching Lizzie’s eyes widen in surprise, Cecil absentmindedly kicked the front of the cabin steps with the toe of her black shoes.

“What brings you here?”

Lizzie couldn’t help being surprised.

She hadn’t had many close fellow servants to begin with, but among them, Cecil was one of those she had the least interaction with.

Part of that was Cecil’s personality—she wasn’t exactly warm so much as prickly.

But more than that, Cecil was a maid assigned to clean the fourth floor, where the Duke himself lived.

To clean the fourth floor, she had to wait until the Duke was away, which usually meant mealtimes.

Because of that, their meal and rest schedules never lined up, and Lizzie almost never ran into Cecil.

“……”

Cecil didn’t answer right away.

She stared for a moment at the small trees beside the cabin, then lowered her head again to look at the toe of her shoe as she kept nudging the step.

“Cecil?”

“I heard you made frostbite ointment.”

Her voice was curt, but Lizzie thought she detected a faint tremor at the end of it.

“……Yeah.”

“And you helped save the people buried in the avalanche at Nesh.”

“Well, strictly speaking, I didn’t save them myself. The knights did all the digging.”

“They said that if it hadn’t been for the medicine you made, everyone buried in that avalanche would’ve died when their hearts stopped.”

“……Hmm. That’s true.”

Lizzie nodded.

At that, Cecil suddenly lifted her head and asked bluntly,

“Are you a healer?”

“Ummm… you could say that. But why—?”

Still unable to grasp Cecil’s intent, Lizzie narrowed her eyes slightly as she asked back.

“……”

Cecil pressed her lips together without answering, complicated emotions surfacing on her face.

“Ah.”

At that moment, something Lizzie had once overheard in the staff dining hall came back to her.

—Didn’t Cecil take a few days off recently? I heard her father passed away because of an avalanche in the gorge…

—Oh my goodness…

“……”

Had she come here to blame her?

Lizzie carefully studied Cecil’s expression, unable to hide her unease.

Honestly, accepting Cecil’s resentment wouldn’t be all that difficult.

No matter how strong a druid’s abilities were, Lizzie knew she couldn’t prevent every disaster in this world—nor every death.

So even if Cecil blamed her, it wouldn’t deal Lizzie a devastating blow.

If Cecil needed somewhere to direct her resentment, Lizzie was willing to become that “somewhere.”

What worried her instead was Cecil’s heart.

Few things left deeper scars than anger and resentment poured out without direction—

Whump.

In that instant, Lizzie felt warmth wrap around her body and looked up in shock.

“H–Huh?”

The ever-prickly Cecil was hugging her tightly.

With strength far firmer than Lizzie had expected.

“……”

“……”

Crackle, crackle.

Listening to the fire in the hearth gradually die down, Lizzie remained frozen in Cecil’s arms.

[What are you two doing?]

If Garrett hadn’t come looking for Lizzie and let out a shrill caw upon seeing the scene, that moment might have lasted even longer.

Flinch!

Startled by the raven’s cry, Cecil came to her senses and shoved Lizzie away as if she’d never hugged her in the first place—

—or tried to.

Lizzie didn’t budge.

Naturally.

Even Cyrus, with his solid muscles, couldn’t push Lizzie Atkins around. There was no way a slender maid could.

“What? Why aren’t you moving?”

“Huh? You pushed me?”

“…….”

Cecil fell silent, startled at herself for pushing with all her strength without realizing it.

“But just now… what was that?” Lizzie asked.

At her question, Cecil lowered her head again and kicked the cabin step with her foot.

“Cecil, if you kick it like that, the steps will break. You need to kick harder.”

“I’m not trying to break it.”

“Oh, you’re not?”

“You’re really strange.”

“…….”

This time, Lizzie fell silent.

Cecil’s blunt words packed more of a punch than expected.

As a brief silence lingered between them, Cecil was the first to speak.

“……Thank you.”

“What?”

“Thank you. For sending the ointment.”

It was a gratitude Lizzie hadn’t expected.

Seeing Lizzie’s confused expression, Cecil continued calmly.

“You know my father died in an avalanche. The ointment and medicine you sent were already too late to save him.”

“Then why…?”

“But that ointment will save the village where I was born and raised. My friends. The neighbors who bring us vegetables they grow themselves. Even the annoying kid next door—and the grandmother that kid loves so much.”

“……”

Lizzie slowly blinked her large eyes and said nothing.

She hadn’t thought that far.

“I wanted to tell the Duke so many times, but I couldn’t. I was scared. And I figured he’d ignore me anyway. The village sent an official messenger and he didn’t even acknowledge it—what would happen if a lowly maid spoke up? I’d just get fired.”

Cecil kicked the step again before continuing.

“I can’t get fired. I’m the only one earning money for my family now.”

Her voice was calm, but the weight of her words was anything but light.

“But then I heard that you and the Duke saved people and treated them in Nesh. The moment I heard that, I regretted it.”

Why hadn’t she spoken up sooner?

If she’d told the Duke first, before explaining everything in detail to the visiting Princess, would something have changed?

Even after the Duke’s party returned from Nesh, Cecil agonized over it for a long time.

“So… thank you. That’s all I wanted to say.”

She looked a little relieved as she said it.

“You’re not angry?” Lizzie suddenly asked.

Some of the quiet whispers among the servants came to mind.

Why had she ignored things when it happened, only to pretend to care now?
Why hadn’t she made the medicine sooner?
Why hadn’t she told anyone she had such abilities in the first place?

But Cecil simply shook her head.

“I told you. It’s regret, not resentment.”

“…….”

“I heard the messenger never even made it here. We all knew among ourselves, but no one told the Duke. I regret not having the courage a little sooner. But I don’t resent you. I may not be well educated, but I know blaming someone like that means nothing.”

Cecil lifted her gaze from the ground to look at Lizzie.

“Anyway, that’s all I came to say.”

Then, after hesitating briefly, she added,

“And since I’m here anyway, I have one more favor.”

“Hm?”

“Make the Duke do more gardening.”

“Why? Are you part of the ‘I want to die after seeing the Duke do garden work’ camp too?”

“No. I’m in the ‘cleaning the fourth floor is so easy when the Duke isn’t around’ camp.”

Lizzie burst out laughing and nodded.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Please.”

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Yeah.”

After exchanging short goodbyes, the two of them walked off in different directions without looking back, as if it had been planned.

Lizzie toward the garden.
Cecil toward the mansion.

But the small yet solid bond and trust formed between them would only continue to grow.

Along with Lizzie Atkins’s anger.

“Garrett.”

[Yeah, Lizzie.]

“There’s something I want to ask the mountain birds.”

[I’ll pass it along.]

“Find out what the people who set off explosives in the snowy mountains to trigger avalanches look like—their appearances and traits. The mountain animals may have been too busy fleeing to see anything, but birds wouldn’t be.”

[That’s true. But why all of a sudden?]

“I just realized something.”

Just as what she did to save Cyrus ended up saving others, the actions taken to harm Cyrus were killing others too.

“And knowing that, how could I just let it go?”

Murmuring words that had become a habit, Lizzie lifted her head. Her deep, dark green eyes flashed sharply.

“Well, I told you not to let the branches grow toward the road if you can help it.”

“……”

“You know, if you say you don’t want them growing the other way and you don’t want to cut branches either, what do you want me to do? I’m just a gardener. It’s not like I can decide everything myself.”

“……”

Why are they having this conversation right in front of me?

Holding the tree-persuasion snack Lizzie had handed him, Cyrus pondered seriously.

Maybe they weren’t trying to persuade the tree—but him.

In that case, shouldn’t I be the one eating this tree-persuasion snack?

And more importantly, what even is a tree-persuasion snack?

“Cyrus!”

Snapped out of his thoughts, Cyrus looked up to see Lizzie pointing at the tree with a what are you doing? expression.

“You have to give it the snack!”

“How do I…?”

“Just sprinkle it lightly around the roots.”

At Lizzie’s instruction, Cyrus obediently scooped up a handful of the small brown sand-like substance from the bag.

Following her guidance, he sprinkled it little by little near the roots.

“Whew, that was tiring. Why did they even plant such a stubborn tree as a garden tree?”

“…….”

Because I only just learned that trees could even be ‘stubborn?

Instead of saying that, Cyrus sprinkled a bit more of the mysterious snack.

Hoping the tree would soften its stance after eating it.

“Hmm, if we just trim it this much… done.”

Lizzie didn’t prune heavily.

Because of that, the garden she tended didn’t boast striking shapes or perfect symmetry.

But it felt natural.

With just a bit of trimming, the trees looked neat, growing vibrantly as they reclaimed their original forms.

Little by little, the garden filled with vitality and life.

Something Cyrus had never imagined could exist within the vast, oppressive mansion that always weighed on his heart.

“……”

If someone asked whether observing Lizzie Atkins had helped him understand her strange power, Cyrus could confidently say it hadn’t.

But he didn’t regret it.

With each passing day, Cyrus realized that something was sprouting within the heart that had been dying from that dreadful illness—his ability to feel others’ emotions too vividly.

That nameless sprout grew slowly every time he watered the courtyard, spread fertilizer in the rear garden, trimmed branches, and pulled the weeds that sprang up day after day.

“Cyrus, look at this!”

Something was suddenly thrust in front of the contemplative Cyrus.

The trunk of a tree he’d thought completely dried up was tinged with green.

“If you listen closely to a tree like this, you can hear it.”

“Hear what?”

Holding the trunk, Lizzie answered with a bright smile.

“The sound of spring arriving!”

In that moment, the sprout growing in Cyrus’s heart burst forth, unfurling its leaves.

A strange yet beautiful color—where carrot orange and deep green mingled together.