A Majestic Return 

The maid, who was leisurely eating cookies in the kitchen during the employees' break time, suddenly looked out the window.  A woman was walking across the garden.

 'Who is it?'

She narrowed her eyes and glanced over the woman's modest appearance, wondering if today was the day the new maid came to her interview.  Then she looked at the little girl who was hidden by the width of her skirt and tilted her head.  She was a child who seemed to be 7 years old.

'A child?'

I was curious, but in any case, those two people who appear to be mother and daughter are probably not the guests invited by the owner.  The owner of this mansion was a man from a great family, and the guests who came to him were also great people.  On the other hand, the mother and daughter were very poor, without a wagon or attendant.

She said, 'There's no way the gatekeeper could have sent the wrong person in.'

In any case, she was the only one to take charge of that uninvited guest. Putting down her cookies that she had been eating, she wiped her crumbly hands against her apron and got up from her feet.

When she went out to the porch, the unidentified mother and daughter were climbing the stairs past a fountain with a stunning sculpture of a lion spewing water.

"What brings you here?"

Zhang, the maid who looked closely at the woman's face, widened her eyes.  Because she was a familiar face.

"you...."

A beautiful woman with light blue-purple eyes with her black hair tied up in a neatly combed one.  She doesn't suit her calm personality, but her adorable nose, which suits her face, awakened the memories of the maid Jang at once.

She was a maid who suddenly ran away at night and disappeared 7 years ago while being enveloped in a rumor that she had an affair with the former owner of the mansion.

"How are you doing?"

 The woman laughed awkwardly.

She seemed to have a more calm and mature smile than when she was an 18-year-old girl who first set foot here.

There was a bit of hardship, vigilance, and anxiety in her eyes.  She must have gone through a difficult time.  However, her firm eyes were not different from before.

The maid, Jang, soon cleared her expression and crossed her arms with a chilly look on her face. 

"Daring of coming back here, I don't know what you're thinking. Don't you know that my former master passed away not long ago?"

"I know. I heard the news."

"Oh my God, and you're still here? Don't be so shameless."

As if she had expected such a reaction, she took a letter of hers from her arms without being too offended.  Thinking that it was something like a recommendation letter that she was pulling out, the maid snorted and laughed at her.

"I don't know what you came here for, but you had better go back before the master or the new owner finds out. No one here would like to see each other face to face. Don't be in vain thinking that I'll hire you again. If you see the master, you will be kicked out with nothing but shame."

But the woman just silently opened the letter and pushed it in front of the maid chief so that her contents could be seen clearly.

The maid, who had no intention of reading it, saw the strange word at first glance and looked into the stationery.  Soon her eyes trembled greatly.

- Yvnia Grozny co-owns the mansion of the Gelendzhik family with the next head\, Arad Gelendzhik.

Seeing the maid's reaction, the woman smiled modestly and spoke softly but strictly.

"It says that I inherited this Duchy of Gelendzhik."

The maid, Jang, who was furious that this was a nonsensical prank, hesitated when she saw the signature and seal of the former Duke of Gelenjik on the letterhead.

The woman, holding her daughter's hand, looked at the maid with a stern look.

"I and my daughter are tired from the long journey, so can we come into my house and get out of the way?"

Seven years ago, the majesty of Yvnia Grozny, a maid who chose to escape at night while hiding her pregnancy from anyone because of obscene rumors. It was a fair return.

I was guided to the drawing room on the second floor, not the first floor, and swallowed dry saliva.  Because she knew that it was a place reserved for special guests who had to meet the owner of the mansion face-to-face.

'I thought I'd be standing there without coming in from the front door.'

The butler seemed to recognize that the seal on the letter she brought was genuine.

In fact, even she was a little relieved because she came to here with a questioning mind, thinking that the letter with the outrageous content might be a fake.  At least she was ridiculed by her, and it seemed that she would not be driven out hopelessly.

The drawing room had the same scene like seven years ago as she remembers, as if time stood still.  There was no change except for the new sofa sheets that change each season.

Not just this place, but everything in Gelendzhik.

The upright butler was a little older, but he had the look she remembered, and so was the maid.  The elegant rambres that adorned the walls, the portraits hung on them, the floor decorations, and the sculptures in the hallways all seemed as if time had stopped.

Ivenia felt as if the time she had left this place was a dream, and now she has woken up and returned to reality.

Then, she heard the voice of her child, awakening her to her true reality.

"Mom, are you okay?"

"Ranelli."

Yvnia looked at her little daughter, who looked exactly like her.

She looked as if the child is a copy of her mother, but if you look closely, she has subtly other characteristics that her mother doesn't have.

Her hair, carefully combed and tied in two, looked similar to her mother's black hair at first glance, but had a faint reddish tint.  Her clear eyes seemed to resemble her father, and it was a warm yellow, but Yvnia was brainwashing her daughter that it was a light green color.

Ranelli was a girl with an expression as mature as her mother.  She rested her head on her mother's chest with her face worried about her mother.

"Is it cold? Mom's hands are cold. Your face is also pale."

Only then did Yvnia realize that she was putting on a face that was too nervous, and she forced a smile.

"Mom is fine. Rather, Ranelli, what do you say when people ask your age here?"

 "She said now that she just turned six."

"yes, right."

"But I'm seven years old... ... ."

Ivnia was startled and covered the child's mouth slightly and looked towards the door.  She made her firm expression as she made sure no one was there.  The child flinched and rolled her eyes.

"You know that the seven-year-old was too big to be with her mom," she said. If they find out you are 7, you might be sent to boarding school while mom is here. Did you know?"

Ranelli nodded her head with her frightened face.

She did not want to scare the child, but Yvnia had no choice.  She somehow made some scary words and she had to scare the kid so she wouldn't speak the truth.

She had something for her.  Because the father of her child is in this mansion.

If he sees Ranelli, he will look at the child's age and will suspect that she may be his child.

Yvnia trembled in fear that she might lose Ranelli, her child and to her dad in the worst case.

[Erase the child.  Then there will be nothing between the two of us.  As if nothing had happened.]

[The child... ... I just can't tolerate that.]

I still couldn't forget the way he spoke in an unfamiliar voice, so coldly that I doubted it was the man I loved.

Seven years ago, she disappeared without her appearance, not because she was swept away by her obscene rumors, but because she wanted to protect the child in her belly.

The father of the child did not want a child from the beginning.  However, if Yvnia, who had disappeared, now suddenly appeared in front of him with his child, she would have been misunderstood.

'I didn't want to bring her here because she was afraid that he would hurt Ranelli, but... ... .'

She looked down worriedly at Ranelli's crown.

Yvnia had an unavoidable circumstance that she had to bring her here.  A huge secret that cannot be told to anyone in this mansion.

Ranelli crawled up onto Ivnia's lap.  Yvnia was accustomed to hugging her child and exhorting her.

"Mom, when are we going home?"

"We are going to stay for twenty nights and go home."

"Twenty nights?"

Ranelli counted the numbers with her fingers and stuck out her tongue.  It was because it was an unimaginably long time for her child.

Her child asked as she fiddled with her fingers the ribbon that was tied around Yvnia's chest.

"If I stay here for twenty nights, will Ranelli not get sick anymore?"

“... ... .”

Embarrassed by her unexpected question, Ivnia kept her silence for a moment, then smiled calmly.

"Why did you think that way?"

"I heard mom talking to grandmother. There's a way to cure Ranelli. So she has to leave right now."

She seemed to have heard Yvnia's conversation with her mother the night before she came to Gelendzhik.

"I thought you were asleep, but were you listening?"

"I woke up to hearing my name. Can I get better now?"

"Well.  That's what I was trying to tell you when I'm a little more certain."

Yvnia pondered if she could explain how she would make her child understand.

Ranelli was ill.  It was a terrible genetic disease that gradually eroded the mind into madness.  She's still young and her symptoms aren't severe, but it will get worse soon, and sooner or later she'll be caught up in madness.

But Yvnia believed that she could cure Ranelli's illness and she firmly believed that.  

Although known as an incurable hereditary disease, she knew of one person who was treated and is living well.  It was Ranelli's father.

And that was another secret, intertwined with the huge secret that Yvnia had to take the risk and bring Ranelli here.

'In the first place, this mansion is not greedy.'

It is not known why the previous duke inherited this mansion to Ivnia.  Known as an eccentric, he was a person that even Ivnia could not understand.

So, the reason I came here after receiving a letter of inheritance was not really to believe in him and receive the inheritance of the Gelendzhik family.

But she just wanted to see  Ranelli's father with her own eyes, who was living a normal life.  And I wanted to get a clue to cure Ranelli.  The inheritance letter was a good excuse to come back here, nothing more, nothing less.

Yvnia, carrying all these heavy facts alone, secretly, gave Ranelli a bright smile as if she had no worries.

"Ranelli, this wonderful mansion contains a medicine to cure Ranelli. Mom came here to find it. As long as she finds some medicine, Ranelli won't be sick any more."

It was like a voice retelling a mysterious fairy tale.  Ranelli was lost in her mind and imagined her mother wandering the mansion with full of adventures and secrets, finding her hidden medicine.

"really?"

"Yes. But it's so big here, it's going to take some time to find the medicine. In the meantime, if you want mom and Ranelli to be together, you have to keep it a secret."

Ranelli put her index finger to her lips and lowered her voice as far as she could.

"Age and disease? Ranelli won't tell anyone that she's sick. I'll say that i'm six years old."

"okay. Are you promising to mom?"

Yvnia smiled softly and held out her little finger.  Ranelli's tiny fingers intertwined trustily.

At that time, a heavy voice intervened between the two, who put their heads together and had a strategic meeting.

"You are back, Ivnia."

*Note: Phew! that was the end of chapter 1. It was a long chapter, right? & it's also my very first TL. I hope you all enjoy reading it & be considerate if there are any small mistakes in grammar. 

**

You will find me crying again**

Surprised, Ivnia jumped up, unable to give up her old habit.  Ranelli, who was sitting on her lap, was startled by how quickly she got her body up and hung it around Yvnia's neck.

Yvnia calmly laid down Ranelli and pulled her little body up to hide the child and buried Ranelli in her skirt.

 "Young master."

Her nervous expression rolled her eyes down, not even online to look at the young master to his powerful face. It was only then that I remembered that I should now call him Duke/Master and not Young Master.

Fortunately, the opponent didn't seem to have any intention of grabbing it.

"It's been 7 years."

Shoes that made a heavy sound approached without hesitation.  Arad Gelendzhik's clean shoes without a single dust came into view.

The nose of the shoe was directed in front of Ivnia.  Viewing angle saw Arad clasping his arms.  He wanted to look down at Ivnia's crown without saying a word for a while, then commanded in an arrogant and overbearing voice that suited his position.

"Lift up your head, Ivnia. From the butler, it sounds like you're trying to make a deal with me, but it's no fun if you lie flat from the beginning."

“... ... .”

Yvnia meekly raised her head.  But his eyes were still looking down.  At her attitude of not making eye contact with him, Arad looked down at her with her strange gaze, and grit his teeth.

Yvnia knew that he was looking at her as if he was going to eat her without looking at her.  It was such an open gaze.

It would be anger

His anger at her for not listening to his offer to take her back again if she erased her child, no, his cruel command to her right away.

It was.  He was the cruel ex-lover who gave Yvnia the sweetness of her love that shone in her most splendor, and at the same time trampled on it mercilessly, and was Ranelli's biological father.

'I would have completely forgotten myself, but I thought it would be nice.'

Yvnia knew that her own stubbornness stirred his wrath, but she just swallowed her dry saliva and closed her eyes.

From the moment she heard his voice, her heart felt like it was going to explode.  I haven't had the courage to face him yet.

"You are still stubborn."

He murmured lowly.  However, compared to the stinging gaze a while ago, the voice was strangely weak.

Without a moment's doubt, he found Ranelli, who grabbed Yvnia's skirt and poked her head out, and was intrigued.

"This little... ... What's with this... a miniature of you?"

He thoughtfully picked out the words, and in his actions, she read that he couldn't believe that such a tiny creature was a human being.

Yvnia answered in a monotonous voice.

"She is my daughter."

She pulled her daughter tight and tried to widen the area covered by the skirt width.  But her curious little head kept sticking out.

"Daughter?"

Arad slowly rolled her words out of his mouth.  The voice somehow stood up to me.

As he abruptly lowered himself and sat down in front of Ranelli, Yvnia, who had her gaze below, was forced to face his face, which she had been so avoiding.

In an instant, Ivnia almost stumbled.  As I faced his handsome face that still made my heart sink, old thoughts flooded me like an oasis.

 I felt like crying.

Compared to his seven years ago, his elegant auburn hair and straight forehead, which seemed to keep his a little longer than he was seven years ago, deep eyes under the strong-looking dark eyebrows she was particularly fond of.  And his tall nose and delicate lips positioned in perfect harmony.

He was the exact same image she remembered so clearly that she could draw even with her eyes closed.  'Cause she kissed his face one by one, stroking her hands and looking into them for a long time.

Fortunately, he didn't notice how Yvnia's expression changed from moment to moment, as he was looking at Ranelli.

He stared at Ranelli with his yellow eyes full of innocence and grumpiness.  It was like a huge red lion showing interest in a baby rabbit.

"Are you Ivnia's daughter?"

Ranelli rolled her big eyes and looked at Yvnia and Arad alternately, then nodded her head.

"Yes. It's my mother."

Yvnia swallowed her dry saliva.  I don't know if the two of them, looking at each other at eye level, noticed, but Ranelli and Arad's eyes were the same as reflected in a mirror.

With all her earnest heart, she repeated and believed that Ranelli's eyes were yellow-green. Despite what she had believed, the child inherited her father's mysterious gold eyes.

As expected, Yvnia, chewing her lips, was asked, "How old is she?"  ' I answered Arad a little hastily.

"She turned six this year."

A hasty answer followed by a hasty question.

"Her father?"

Does he suspect that she is his own child, even though she has lied to Ranelli about her age?

Yvnia recalled what she had done in the past, crafting his legacy with a midwife. Yes, she was. She had the help of a midwife who was shaken by her pleas that she wanted to save the child.

It was the day she sent the body of another aborted baby and a blanket stained with pig blood to Arad.  What she had escaped at night, Ivnia trembled as she remembered the terrible feeling of that day.

“... ... The child's father passed away a few years ago. So i had no one to take care of the child. She's a quiet kid, so she won't make a fuss during the conversation."

She deliberately affixed her with a lie, and Yvnia hoped that Arad had not noticed anything.

Fortunately, Arad seemed to be completely drawn to the words Ivnia had uttered.

"Passed away... Hmm."

Arad sat down, so Yvnia sat on the sofa with Ranelli.

But she seemed to hear rumbling, and the sound of a tree breaking.  Following the voice, she reflexively looked at Arad's hand as he grabbed the armrest of the sofa, his voice stopping her gaze in the air.

"Are you alone now anyway?"

Yvnia looked up at him with courage, reminding her that she didn't have to answer all of Arad's questions.  Then she met his gaze, which had been on her all the way, exactly.

'Your eyes are clear.'

It was a strong gaze that did not look like a person suffering from madness.

Hearing stories from people with the same ailment, it was said that by the age of 25, at Arad's age, he had already seen madness in his eyes.  They said that they usually do not exceed the age of 30 and die in complete madness.

 'You must have been treated properly.'

There is hope for Ranelli.  Yvnia sighed a little, feeling relieved.

Arad was looking at her with a close gaze, as if covering her lasso on each one of his with the little gestures of her.  Even as he rummaged through his arms with his long fingers and pulled out his cigar, his gaze could not be taken away from Yvnia.

He leisurely and gracefully crossed his long legs and, as usual, took a cigar to his lips.  Then he found Ranelli next to Yvnia, sticking her head out and looking at my face with curious eyes.

The hand holding the cigar stopped.

He frowned and put the cigar back in.

"By the way, you are brave to come to me to rob my estate without a notary."

It was a sarcastic tone, but it wasn't a voice that somehow felt malicious.

'Is it because he is confident that he will never lose the inheritance?'

Yvnia acknowledged that confidence.  Even in my opinion, the inheritance of the legacy of the previous duke was absurd.

To inherit an inheritance to a single maid, an untrustworthy employee who ran away in scandal.  It would have been ridiculous from Arad's point of view.

She said she didn't have the strength to fight Arad.  All she had was a letter signed by the duke of Lagon and signed by the previous duke.

She wasn't even sure if she was actually able to inherit her inheritance just by having it.

So she wanted to clear things up before Arad's malice broke out.

"I know what is written here is nonsense."

"Even though you know that, there must be a reason you came here. Moreover, you even summoned me, so it shouldn't be a trivial reason."

Feeling the pressure in the air, Ivnia swallowed one more dry saliva, which she do not know how many times she did, and placed the letter with the inheritance information on her lap. She felt like a foolish one trying to negotiate with a worthless hostage.

In her head, the image of him continuing to recommend an abortion to me with a cold face was repeated over and over again. She felt like she was about to go nauseous, weighed down by the re-emergence of disappointment, fear, and sadness.

'Can we expect warmth from him?'

She was not confident  But she had to try it for Ranelli.

"I promise you, I will not dare bother you with this, if the Duke grant the me one little favor."

 "Request?"

"I don't need an inheritance. Please let me work here as a maid again."

"You really came back for that?"

Arad frowned. He asked again.

"There is another reason... right?"

It seemed to Ivnia that he did not believe her words.

'Probably... ... I would also be reluctant.'

Since the relationship between the two is like that, it was the expected reaction. Yvnia decided to lower her posture a little more.

"It is very difficult to raise a child on my own," she said. Please, have mercy on us so we can stay here. I will do anything."

However, as Ivnia's plea continued, Arad's expression grew even more frowned upon.

"Hey, are you stupid? I'd rather... ... . That kid is my... ... ."

He glanced at Ranelli to see what he was thinking, then he clenched his teeth and stopped himself.

Yvnia felt anger in his voice.  But as she bowed her head, she didn't realize that his eyes were full of sad light, contrary to her guess.

He turned his head and clicked his tongue.

"It's only because it's so dark."

"I don't care what you think of me. I am well aware of my situation here, so I will accept it even if I only get paid half my salary."

In fact, it would have been nice to not have to receive any salary at all as long as room and board were provided.  What Yvnia wanted was to find out how Arad was managing his illness.

As she remembers, his predecessor Duke did anything to cure Arad's illness.

The previous duke was a sorcerer called a geek.  Yvnia knew better than anyone how devoted he was to research to develop a treatment method for his son, who was considered with an incurable disease.

 Those who were unaware of such circumstances would say that the former Duke was a geek who was obsessed with his hobbies.  But she knew how desperately he was devoted to his research as much as Ivnia.

'I've seen him keep his research material somewhere before.'

She was lucky enough to be caught by the duke's eyes, working as a research assistant, and being paid on condition of confidentiality.

 Then she saw the approximate location where she hid her research data.  If I could work here, it would be a matter of time to find it.  It was a study conducted without even his young son knowing at the time, so there is a high probability that the materials still remain in this mansion.

"Please consider the situation."

At her earnest plea, Arad folded his arms and tilted his head slightly.  It seemed that his patience was running out.

"Is it necessary to be so humiliating in front of me? You just ran away to do this. I thought if you appeared in front of me again, you would have been a little more brazen. Even with past relationships."

Yvnia was nervous.  To be honest, I didn't expect him to speak of the past with his mouth.  She didn't know what to do with herself, but she thought that to him, their love affair was something that would have been forgotten.

It is common for a good house master to touch a young maid who works in a mansion, and it is usually only the woman who loses her honor and gets kicked out.

Men with power and background do not take responsibility for women.  To them, women are just tools.

Wasn't that the case with Yvenia?  Arad was cruelly cold to the pregnant Yvnia.

So, for her, it was surprising and terrifying that Arad first mentioned the relationship between the two people of the past. She didn't want him to ridicule and despise her.  Especially when Ranelli is listening.

Yvnia hopes that no more tales of the past will come out of his mouth, and she draws a line on her side.

She said, "I will live as the Duke wanted, as if nothing had ever happened between us. Please believe me. The past has already been forgotten like a white paper."

“... ... Are you serious?"

He burst out laughing as if he was stunned.

Yvnia simply nodded her head innocently, hoping that her sincerity would be reached.

Arad, who was staring at her with his contemptuous eyes, got up from his seat as if there was nothing more to say.

He called the butler in a loud voice and said,

"Give that stupid woman a job. Or let her live in the abandoned house."

Then he mumbled to himself, inaudible.

"Someday you will find me while crying again."

Note: How do you like this chapter? Do you think Arad's redemption is possible? I personally still don't think it is!!  

 Being honest takes Courage

Ranelli was truly courageous and patient.  She was a bit fidgety throughout the adults' conversation, but she waited patiently without whining or fussing enough to get attention.

The child, who had been keeping her mouth shut while watching the grown-ups, opened her mouth only after the butler showed Yvnia to a private residence for hire on the grounds of the Duke of Gelendjik.

Glancing at the back of the butler as he left after his guidance, Ranellie tugged at the hem of Yvnia's skirt. Yvnia bowed her back to her daughter's eye level.

"Mom.. Mom."

 "Huh?  Why?"

"It's about that old man. Such a big and handsome man."

Yvnia, relieved her tension, wondered if Arad would look good in her child's eyes, and she burst into laughter.

"He is the Duke."

"Factory?"

Yvnia smiled calmly and corrected Ranelli's pronunciation, as she spit out an unfamiliar word for the first time without any confidence.

"No, it's Duke."

"Ah, Duke."

"Yes. So what about him?"

"Does the Duke like you or hate you?"

"Huh... ... ?"

What question is this?  It seemed like a normal question, but there was a bit of a puzzlement in the situation in which she was asked.

Of course, even if it wasn't, it was an ambiguous question to answer easily.  It will hurt the child's heart to tell her that a stranger who doesn't like her mother.

After a moment's hesitation as to how Yvnia would answer her, Ranelli added her explanation, apparently frustrated.

"Because the Duke looked at mom like a candy jar."

The child who tried to get her quicker answer from Yvnia, made her speech even worse.

Even Yvnia knew the meaning of the idiom Ranelli spoke.  The child now imitates what her grandmother often used to say.

If Ranelli, who was helping with the housework next to her mother, watched the village children running around with envy, her grandmother would laugh and say, 'It's like looking at a jar of candy'.

She tilted her head as if it was strange.

"If you like it, you should treat it kindly, but why does the Duke speak bad words to mom? Charles is always so mean to us, so no matter how much he looks at us like candy jars, he doesn't want to play with us."

"Um, so... ... ."

Yvnia smiled awkwardly and agreed with Ranelli.  But she had no idea what the child was seeing and what Arad said was looking at her 'as if he were looking at a candy jar'.

Arad maintained his overbearing attitude throughout, and he never had a friendly smile, except for a grumpy grin on his face.

Yvnia thought that Ranelli would have been afraid of his intimidation.  Even as an adult, she was afraid of Arad, so Ranelli must have been afraid as a child.

But she never imagined that she would hear this from Ranelli, let alone saying she was terrified, that he would 'look at her mother like her candy jar'.

'You must have misunderstood something.'

She won't need to change Ranelli's thinking.  Because the child will never meet Arad in the future.  Wouldn't it be more important to give emotional satisfaction to children than to tell them everything directly?

 Yvnia smiled as she stroked Ranelli's hair.

"Does our Ranelli know how to make friends? Ranelli knows it's good to be kind, but the Duke doesn't seem to know it yet. Still, he has allowed us to stay here, so he must be a very kind person."

"Why then does the Duke act against his heart?"

"Originally, adults are shy to show their true feelings."

"Why?"

"To be honest, it takes courage, but as you get older, you lack courage."

In reality, it was not that Arad wasn't courageous enough to be honest, but rather, it must have been that he was expressing his dislike of Yvnia.

Because he's a person who doesn't need to hide his heart.  All are at his feet, and he will have nothing to fear.

Yvnia was simply inventing a bona fide lie for her child.

At her mother's words, Ranelli's eyes widened like a rabbit.

"The Duke looked so big and brave, doesn't he have the courage?"

"You know the story of the cowardly tiger? The story is that the tiger that looked fierce and scared was actually a coward. Even a tiger that big and fearsome sometimes lacks courage. He's not just what he looks like."

After hearing her familiar fairy tale story, Ranelli, who understood at once, said, "That's right."  and nodded her head.  Then she suddenly opened her eyes and spoke shyly.

"By the way, Mom... the Duke also had pretty yellow-green eyes just like mine!"

"No, it's yellow."

Astonished, Yvnia answered her calmly and resolutely.  It was because she was terrified by the embarrassment that Ranelli had discovered the secret she had been hiding.  It was only after she had uttered her words that she looked at Ranelli with a look of embarrassment, and she smiled softly again.

"See, that's what Ranelli looked like.  She looked different to mom.  Next time she sees the Duke, let's take a closer look."

Then she hastily changed the subject of the conversation.

"Now then, shall we stop looking around the dormitory?"

The place the butler showed me was a small private house on the site of the mansion.

The site of the large Gelendzhik mansion was very large, and there were many buildings.  In addition to the main building and the annex, there were separate living spaces for knights and employees, and there were quite a few facilities that were built for various purposes and then neglected.

The place given to Yvnia and Ranelli as their lodgings was a private house where an elderly couple gardeners lived seven years ago.

Originally, this detached house was built by the Duchess of a certain generation as a hobby space, and was decorated for aesthetics rather than practicality.  The former duke lent it to the gardener who took care of his sick wife.

'Are they well?'

Yvnia recalled the short, chubby gardener's wife who lived here.

Although she often complained about her body aching here and there, she was a diligent and affectionate person by birth.  With her aching body bustling, she meticulously maintained this little house, often inviting her employees.

She had even been affectionate to Yvnia, so she had been there a few times.  So this private house remained in her memory as a very comfortable and warm place.

But now, for some reason, the familiar place has turned into ruins.

'Why is this place empty? Did you quit your job?'

The front yard where tomatoes, lettuce, and figs were grown modestly was empty, and the roof of the porch covered with cobwebs looked like it had not been touched by humans for about 100 years.

In the meantime, I could see furniture stacked up to the ceiling inside the messy windows, probably because the building had been used as a warehouse.

'I think it's been empty for quite some time... He must have given me this place as an anger.'

Yvnia guessed, Arad must have thought that if he gave this place to her as lodgings, she would hate it and run away from him right away.

But she said that her vitality was very strong, and she even passed on her overflowing vitality to her daughter.

Arad overlooked a really important point. It was said that the house in her hometown where her mother and daughter lived was built about 70 years ago. On the other hand, this is... ... .

"I love it here, Mom!

"Right? A little sweep and polish, and it will look pretty cool."

The mother and daughter cheerfully entered inside.

"Wow, the ceiling is so pretty!"

"It's called Casson. The ceiling was decorated with wood panels carved by artisans."

"I've never seen anything like that! Shining like gold!"

"Isn't that cool?"

If Arad had seen it, the friendly conversations would have made him angry and went back and forth endlessly.

On the other hand, Arad has been unable to concentrate on his daily routine since returning to the office after parting ways with Yvnia.  He took off the ring he wore all the time, fiddling around with it, and set it roughly on his desk.

As the butler opened the door and entered with knock, Arad grumbled as if waiting.

"She has a child, is that dust pit okay?"

“... ... .”

The butler, who came in because he had something to say, was annoyed at first and stopped what he was going to say because of his master, Arad and waited for a while.

Arad grumbled for a while before asking him, "What?".  The butler, who had been quietly standing still, finally opened his mouth.

"It's Yvnia."

Arad, who had been looking to the side, buried deep in his chair, raised his head and looked at the butler for the first time.

"Is she saying that she can't stand it? Is she calling me outside for help?"

“... ... The head maid was at a loss as to what to do."

His golden eyes, which had been alive for a moment, subsided coldly. 

"Do I have to instruct each and every one of those things? Please tell them to do it properly."

His eyes narrowed with a light of contempt.  Some hate is indistinguishable from affection if you look closely.  Such was the light of hatred in those eyes.

"I want you to regret being so arrogant to me."

I hoped she would regret it.

I hope that she will regret it every day as she look back on it and regret even the events of that day that vanished like a mirage 7 years ago.  Then, when she couldn't be able to stand it, she would long for a comfortable life, and I hoped that she would run to me, throw away that wretched pride and ask for help.

There was no more hatred on Arad's face, imagining Yvnia reaching out to him for help in his imagination.  However, neither joy nor arrogance took the place where hatred had cooled. 

Rather, there was relief and serenity.

He had no idea what kind of expression he was making.

"That's enough."

"Yes, I understand."

The butler left after completing the task, and Arad was left alone again.

He was a groping of the past.  He didn't even move, stayed like a statue as he thought of Yvnia blankly.

 ***

The butler quietly left the office after completing the task.  He tilted his head a few times as he closed the door, and his face was confused as he could not understand the owner's will.

The young butler, Hampton, was the son of a former butler, whom the previous Duke trusted.  He will serve Arad after his father, who retired together after the death of his predecessor Duke.

It had been seven years since he had followed his father and learned to work, but it had not been long since he had looked after Arad so closely.  So he was still struggling to keep a close eye on Arad's mood.

However, he couldn't help but blame his eyes for not fully grasping the owner's temperament.

Arad was a secretive and sensitive person.  He was sometimes uncontrollably nervous and ferocious, and Hampton could not comprehend Arad at that time.

Even today, he's been rolling his head alone hard to figure out why Arad is upset.

'Did he hurt his self-esteem because of her?'

I can't quite catch it, isn't it?  After all, I don't think anyone would like when someone without a drop of blood tried to take my parents' inheritance.  Even more so, if the legacy is such a wonderful and iconic Gelezhik mansion.

'I don't know what conversations went on between the master and Yvnia, but she is a bold woman. She's thinking of sitting here.'

It was surprising to Hampton that a woman who seemed infinitely docile, but wasn't really like that.  He also knew of her unsavory affair of seven years ago.

It was surprising that the woman who had left with such absurd rumors had a letter written in the will of the previous duke, but it was even more amazing that she dared to come and see Arad.

Inwardly, he admired how hard her determined eyes were.

'There was something that couldn't just be called shameless.'

Should I say that the wick looked hardened?  For her, the unsavory rumors about her 7 years ago really didn't suit her.

'Because you can't judge a person just by looking at them.'

 He clicked his tongue.

Hampton had never heard of why Yvnia had offered to work here as a maid.

Presumably, Arad would need time to clear the paperwork with a notary public about Yvnia's inheritance.

'Besides, she doesn't have the confidence to fight her master only from Yvnia's point of view, but maybe she is left with regrets about her legacy.'

Thinking like that, it was understandable that Arad was nervous.

Hampton immediately ran to the head maid and delivered Arad's words.

"Selby, this is the way of the master."

As the butler in charge of everything in the mansion, he had a higher position than the housemaid, but he was treating the housemaid, who had worked in the mansion for a long time, as an adult.

Shelby, the maid, asked him, sneaking a snack or something.

"What did the master say about the woman?"

"He wanted her to regret that she offered to work here."

"Is he telling me to put the hard work out?"

"That's what I heard."

Hampton answered without certainty.

Selby, who thinks Yvnia is rude and blatant, was unaware of the Hampton's flair as she thought about how she could cook Yvnia to her taste.

"Right.  I see.  What kind of a woman of such poor quality in such a high-class mansion?  She may have seduced her old master to receive a nonsensical letter, but as long as I am guarding this place, she is still young".

The maid chief shook her head satisfactorily and left.

The quiet night was ripe.  Tomorrow was going to be a different day than today.