Red Tape

“Why are you going to the master’s room these days?”

At Mary’s sudden question, Liam almost dropped the bread loaf. He is so flustered that he swallows the dry loaf of bread without chewing it.

Mary pushes a glass of milk over Liam, who is groaning. Liam is able to calm down a little after finishing the glass of milk and tapping his chest a few times.

“To the master’s room? Me?”

“You often go to the master’s room at night.”

“……Did I?”

Liam rolled his silver eyes, unable to hide his agitation. It took a long time for him to come up with a plausible excuse.

“That… He asked me to move the furniture…. .”

“I am the maid in charge of cleaning the master’s room, and not a single piece of furniture has been moved?”

Mary narrowed her eyes and glared at Liam.

“Are you keeping a secret from me? That’s fatal.”

Mary gets up as if to reveal that she is upset and leaves the servant’s hall.

Liam quickly cleaned up the table where he had been eating and followed her.

Mary, who comes out to the backyard of the mansion, is deliberately walking slowly as if to give Liam time to catch up.

Mary, who had known Liam since the moment he arrived at this mansion, has become like a sister to him.

They are both orphans with no family or connections, so there is a kind of solidarity.

In this desolate mansion, if they didn’t take care of each other, then who would?

“Actually… I was learning something from my Master.”

Liam felt embarrassed to say that he was learning the noble waltz as a lowly servant, so he spoke in a somewhat muffled tone.

Mary turned around.

“You made a fuss about studying, but now you’re hiding from learning literature or philosophy?”

“…Yeah. Well, it’s similar.”

“Why are you keeping this a secret? Who will say anything? If a lowly person reads a book, will something happen? Will there be a riot?”

“Shhh… .”

Liam quickly covered her mouth at Mary’s somewhat challenging words. If the master heard such arrogant words, she might get beaten and kicked out.

“Mary, who had been secretly annoyed by Liam’s behavior, bites the hand covering her mouth.”

“Ugh!”

Liam quickly removes the hand that is covering her mouth and shakes it. Mary smiles mischievously like a winner.

The two, with different heights from each other, one unusually large and one unusually small, bickered as they picked up a bucket and brush and walked to clean the fountain that Jeffrey had told them to do.

Erwin, who is reading a book on a bench in the shade of a tree after a short walk, happens to see the two people.

When the maid holding the bucket said something, Liam, who was holding the broom and brush, tilted his head to listen and laughed.

The face of the maid who kept chattering seemed familiar. She was the girl who used to clean my room.

Could it be the girl who confessed to Liam in a shy voice? Did he accept the confession? Did Liam want to dance the waltz with that girl?

Erwin had been calling Liam two or three times a week these days to teach him the waltz. It had been a few weeks already, and now Liam can dance quite well. He seemed to have quite an aptitude for physical work.

Erwin, who has been watching the two people moving away, gets up. He turned away from them and muttered to himself.

“She doesn’t suit you.”

***

The duke returned to the townhouse in the capital with his wife. The gatherings of the noble faction led by the Duke of Caliwell seemed to have become much more frequent recently.

Before the Duke was always accompanied by his heir, who seemed like a symbol of the nobility with his beautiful appearance and graceful every little action, to balls and banquets like an ornament.

However, this time he does not take Erwin. He does not want people to see the dropout who has not graduated from Saint-Bernoulli.

But Erwin is very pleased with the Duke’s decision to leave him behind.

The quiet mansion is peaceful and comforting.

Every morning and evening, Erwin would go for a walk with his book in hand.

When you go out to the front door, there is a maze garden on both sides of the fountain. The symmetrical garden, which is carefully trimmed to ensure no error, is beautiful, but it feels rather artificial.

Erwin’s has his own favorite place.

If you walk a long way behind the mansion, there is an untouched field. It is where the horses of the Caliwell family often graze.

Erwin, who is walking along the back road of the mansion where the saplings of the thorny oak are planted densely, decided to take a rest under a large beech tree.

He leaned against the tree trunk and looked up, the green sunlight glinting through the leaves and tickling his eyes.

“Haa… .”

He let out a deep sigh of relief.

This is the life he wanted. A leisurely and free life.

The duke already has enough wealth to pass down for several generations without doing anything, and he also owns an enormous private estate.

He can not understand his father’s greed and his desire to have more —Money, land, and fame.

Erwin got up from his seat and started walking again, his steps leading to the stables.

“Master.”

The stable keeper who found Erwin stopped what he was doing, took off his hat, and greeted him. Erwin looked around the stables, which he had not visited in a long time.

“Jeffrey said. Emma gave birth to a foal.”

“Yes. I will bring it.”

While the man who went to get the foal was away, Erwin went to Emma.

The beautiful cream-colored white horse with a rich mane was a gift from the duke when Erwin was fifteen years old.

Erwin stroked her mane and praised her.

“You must have had a hard time.”

Emma blinked obediently as if she recognized her master and accepted Erwin’s hand.

Meanwhile, the stable keeper came out with a foal. The brown and white spotted foal is cute like a doll.

“Please name the baby. It’s a female.”

“…Joy.”

As soon as Erwin named it, the spotted foal purred and neighed.

“It seems she likes her name.”

“Don’t just lock it up, let it run around freely.”

“Of course. There are no horses in this empire as lucky as ours.”

Erwin gave the filly a name that meant ‘life’. He wanted him to live a free and fulfilling life, not tied down. Unlike him.

When he returns to the mansion after a long walk, Erwin’s room is being cleaned.

Erwin passes the maid cleaning as if he is an invisible person, sits down on the chair made of rosewood, and opens the book again.

“Oh, Young master.”

Only then did the maid notice Erwin’s presence, greet him quickly, stop what she was doing, and try to flee.

“It’s okay. Finish what you were doing.”

“Thank you.”

Erwin nodded slightly and turned the pages of the book, then suddenly remembered something and looked up at the maid.

The maid, who has opened all the windows and is dusting the furniture, is the same child who was always with Liam.

Erwin asked impulsively.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Mary.”

Was she the one who confessed to him with a fluttering voice? He could not tell because he could not remember the voice clearly.

“If it is Mary, is it a nickname for Meredith? Or Marriott?”

Mary looks embarrassed as if it is the first time she has ever heard this question.

“Oh, no. It’s just Mary.”

“Just Mary… .”

“Yes, Master.”

Mary, who prided herself on her talent for cleaning, finished her work meticulously, politely said goodbye, and left the room.

***

Erwin, who goes out for a morning walk, finds the two sitting side by side on the bench behind the mansion.

A girl named Mary is holding Liam’s face in both hands and using her thumbs to tap the area under his eyes. They seem to be quite close.

“See how dark it is here? And your eyes are red, as if pepper has gotten into them.

Liam’s white blood vessels are about to burst. Mary, who had been looking at him with a worried face, felt a presence and turned around. Erwin is standing not far away, holding a small book in his hand.

“Oh, Master.”

Liam also gets up and bows his head with Mary to greet him.

Erwin narrowed his eyes and smiled, keeping his gaze fixed on Mary’s face.

“I see you also here. Good morning, just Mary.

“Yes… .”

Mary’s face turned pale at the master’s small prank. Meanwhile, Liam, who is treated as an invisible man, is noticeably depressed.

As soon as he passed by them, the gorgeous smile on Erwin’s face disappeared.

Erwin felt a sense of self-loathing that could not be expressed in words.

What did I do just now? As if I was trying to seduce that maid.

He frowned and bit his lips in shame.

“Just Mary? What is that?”

Liam asked as soon as Erwin disappeared.

“Huh? Oh, We met in the master’s room the other day. He asked me why my name is short.”

“… .”

“That’s not the problem. What the hell is he doing these days? Is he also reading a popular novel all night?”

“No, there is nothing wrong.”

He said that to reassure Mary, but in fact, Liam had not been able to sleep properly for several days.

It’s been a few days since I witnessed the master’s secret night walk.