Chapter: 15
I cried out urgently.
“It really wasn’t because of you, young master!”
“Then why were you crying?”
It felt like the misunderstanding would only grow, so in the end I grabbed the hem of my skirt and lifted it. The young master jumped in shock and shouted.
“What are you doing?! Why are you suddenly lifting your skirt?!”
I had only raised it enough to show my knee, but his face turned bright red.
“I thought you were misunderstanding, so I wanted to show you.”
“S-Show what?”
“My knee.”
Only then did his gaze move to my knee.
When he saw how mottled and bruised it was, his face filled with shock.
“Your knee… when did it get like that?”
“I fell last night while going back to my room.”
“…Last night? Then does that mean it’s been like this all day today?”
“Th-That is… um, anyway! The reason I teared up wasn’t because of you, young master—it was because my knee hurt. So you don’t need to worry—”
While I was explaining as best as I could, I noticed that the young master’s shoulders, his head bowed low, were trembling slightly.
“Young master?”
I lowered myself to look at him more closely and froze in surprise.
His eyes were wet.
“Young master, why are you about to cry all of a sudden? Did you get shocked because my knee looks so bad? Or are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
When I asked anxiously, the young master rubbed his eyes hard with his hands. Then, with his small lips trembling, he muttered something.
“…rry.”
“Yes? What did you say?”
“I’m sorry.”
The tiny voice, barely audible, reached my ears.
Because his head was bowed, I couldn’t see his face. His tightly clenched little fists were shaking.
That single phrase, which he seemed to force out with difficulty, carried complicated emotions that were conveyed to me 그대로.
I had believed that one day the young master would sincerely apologize to me. But I never expected that day to come so soon.
It was a short apology with no explanation before or after it, but I smiled gently.
“It’s okay.”
The young master lifted his head and looked at me.
“You say it’s okay without even knowing why I’m apologizing?”
“Well, I’m not completely sure. It feels like you had… more than one thing to apologize for…”
I scratched the back of my head with an awkward smile. Even with tears pooled in his eyes, the young master shot me a sharp glare.
“…….”
“But since you apologized just now, everything’s okay now.”
“You’re saying it’s okay over just one word like that?”
“Yes. Because that one word just now was filled with your sincerity.”
I knew how much he must have agonized before managing to say that brief apology.
His guilty feelings had outweighed his pride, leading him to offer a sincere apology while on the verge of tears.
That was enough.
“You came all the way here to apologize to me, didn’t you?”
The young master nodded silently. His reddened eyes lowered again, as if embarrassed.
“Thank you. I’m happy that you thought of me.”
Even though he’d always drawn a line, saying things like “a mere maid,” he had come all the way to my room at night just to apologize.
I could feel that he genuinely cared about me, and it made me smile.
“J-Just what’s so good about that? A-And more importantly, you—!”
As if something had suddenly occurred to him, the young master huffed and pointed at me.
“You shouldn’t casually show your body to some random man!”
“What? What did I show?!”
“You just lifted your skirt in front of me.”
I was dumbfounded.
I wondered what he was suddenly talking about, but then…
Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered hearing that noblewomen never revealed their legs carelessly. To the extent that they wore long dresses that hid even their toes, with stockings and shoes tightly covering everything.
On the other hand, commoners like me didn’t really worry about that.
After thinking about where to even begin correcting him, I calmly addressed things one by one.
“I did it to show you that my knee was injured. And you’re not some random man, young master.”
The young master wasn’t really a “man,” after all.
“What?”
His green eyes widened, the pupils trembling as if something had broken.
“Young master, you’re—”
If I said he was still young, he’d probably get angry again.
I quickly changed my words.
“You’re the young master.”
For some reason, that sounded even stranger.
Because he’s the young master. What kind of nonsense is that?!
“D-Don’t talk nonsense and just go to sleep!”
Ricardo’s face was red as he fumed. No matter how I looked at it, he seemed furious to the tips of his ears… He must have realized what I was originally about to say.
“Will you be all right going back to your room without me escorting you?”
“Do I look like some little kid who can’t even go back to his own room alone?”
As expected, he’d noticed that I thought of him as young.
Thinking that adding more words would only make him angrier, I quietly nodded.
“Yes. Then I’ll go to sleep now. Please get back safely, young master.”
I bowed and gently closed the door. Then I pressed my ear close to it until the sound of heavy footsteps disappeared.
When the footsteps faded completely and silence settled in—
“Phew.”
So the reason he’d kept nagging me all day with words starting with “s-s-” really was because he’d failed to say “sorry” and had been beating around the bush.
As I tidied up the bedding, I recalled his tearful face as he apologized, and I smiled.
The young master who’d once thrown a watch at me and said, “Why should I apologize to a mere maid?” had come all the way to my room just to say sorry.
That 모습 was both cute and admirable.
I was relieved that the young master seemed to be growing up well.
After returning to his room, Ricardo sank into deep thought.
In noble society, for a woman to reveal her bare legs to a man was only permitted when the two shared an extremely close relationship.
For example, a fiancé they had been dating for a long time with marriage in mind… or a husband.
A husband.
Ricardo shook his head violently, his face burning red.
“Because you’re the young master.”
Mary’s answer, said as if it were the most natural thing in the world, refused to leave his mind.
‘What on earth does that even mean?’
Because he was the young master.
To Ricardo, it sounded as if she meant that he was someone special to her—not just a master and maid, but something closer than that…
“That can’t be true!”
Ricardo kicked the blanket covering him again and again.
After thrashing around under the rustling blanket, his body finally went limp. Then he’d think of Mary again, kick the blanket away, and make a fuss several more times.
He thought that now that the guilt that had tormented him all day was gone, he’d be able to sleep easily.
But Ricardo couldn’t fall asleep at all.
The next morning.
“Young master, did you sleep well? Good morning!”
I entered the room with a bright greeting, but—
“…….”
I was met with a deeply crumpled face…
“Young master? Did you not sleep well last night?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Did you have a nightmare? Or maybe you got lost wandering the hallway—”
“Why would I get lost in my own house?”
After what felt like a rather heartwarming moment yesterday, I thought today might be peaceful.
But it seemed another difficult day lay ahead.
The young master began his meal with a sulky expression.
As I approached the bed to tidy up the bedding, a sharp voice stopped me.
“Don’t wander around. Stay put.”
“Yes…….”
Now I couldn’t even tidy the bed and had to just stand there. What a tyrant of a master.
I stood quietly, waiting for him to finish eating.
“Why are you just standing there like that?”
The young master looked at me askance, his brow creased as always.
“Huh? You told me not to wander around and to stay put.”
“Yes. I meant stay put and sit over there quietly.”
He pointed toward a sofa. I hurried over and sat down.
“So I just need to sit here until you’re done eating, right?”
“What?”
“Oh—was that not it? Then how long should I stay here?”
The young master speared a plump sausage with his fork and replied casually.
“Until your injury completely heals.”
“Ah! Are you being considerate because I’m hurt?”
I was a little touched.
“Thank you, young master.”
When I beamed at him, he turned his head away abruptly.
“…Yeah.”
“But young master, may I at least tidy the bed and clean the room?”
“No.”
“What? Then who’s going to clean the room?!”
“Have Lisa do it.”
Why make Lady Lisa do that?!
I tried to persuade him calmly.
“Young master, I still need to do my job. If I laze around without working, I might get fired!”
“Who’s going to fire you?”
“Well, that’s…”
“You’re my maid. Who would dare fire my maid without my permission?”
He had a point, and I was left speechless.
No, I couldn’t just be speechless!
“But madam—madam is still here! What if she decides to fire me?”
He flinched. The hand holding the fork trembled slightly.
The young master was willful, but in front of Lady Lianne he couldn’t do anything. So I tried to use her as an excuse to naturally stand up, but—
“In that case…”
His resolute voice continued.
“Even if it means falling out with Mother, I’ll protect you.”
