“M-maid! Are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?!”
“Young master?”
Ethan suddenly popped out from the eastern training ground of the Blackwood mansion and rushed towards Dittyer and .
Seeing him appear drenched in sweat, I could roughly guess why he showed up so late.
He must have been late because he was receiving swordsmanship training from Harold until just now. Considering Harold’s personality, he would always try to be serious when it cos to the sword.
“S-sorry! I wanted to check on you as soon as I saw you earlier, but I couldn’t leave in the middle of my father’s training….”
“…What are you suddenly talking about, young master?”
“My father is strict when it cos to swordsmanship. I couldn’t interrupt the training for personal reasons. I-I was worried, though….”
“Ah, no, young master. The part I was curious about wasn’t that you couldn’t end the sword lesson with the master midway.”
“Huh?”
“I asked the question because I couldn’t understand why you were apologizing for not being able to check on my well-being right away, young master….”
“……”
“……”
I asked because I was genuinely clueless, but the atmosphere suddenly beca quiet.
For so reason, Ethan suddenly avoided my gaze and made an expression as if he was seriously pondering sothing.
In the awkward atmosphere, Dittyer quietly alternated his expressionless gaze between Ethan and a couple of tis. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]
What the heck? When you suddenly act like this, it feels like I said sothing I shouldn’t have.
Should I think of it as a slip of the tongue and try to rectify it…?
“C-co to think of it, it also ans that you cared about my safety that much, young master. It wouldn’t be strange for you to have said sothing similar to an apology in a flustered manner.”
“Th-that’s right. I-I only said it because I was really worried about you, Maid. It wasn’t with any strange intention….”
“…I think it’s sothing you can sufficiently say, Young Master, since you cherish Miss Lilith a lot.”
“I expressed doubt even though I couldn’t even express gratitude for your deep concern for , so it was more of my fault than yours.”
“Ah, no, Maid! It’s not like you did anything wrong….”
The atmosphere is still awkward, but it’s sohow easing up.
I still had so questions about the suddenly awkward atmosphere, but I didn’t dare to pry further.
Since this was a mont when Ethan and Dittyer openly showed strange reactions, I had a montary feeling that I shouldn’t be suspicious.
In the first place, it wasn’t only Ethan but also Dittyer who were in higher positions than in terms of status.
It would be much better than awkwardly hearing so ‘truth I can’t handle’ and making things uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the two of them seed to have had similar thoughts, and they quickly started to change the subject of the conversation without any prompting.
Among the three of us, the one who opened his mouth first with another topic was the young master of the Blackwood family.
“Ra-rather than that, Maid! Are you really not hurt anywhere? It seed like you were riding quite fast earlier….”
“Yes, I’m fine. I was able to stop safely sohow after going around the Blackwood mansion’s yard once. Thank you again for your concern, Young Master Ethan.”
“Y-you managed to stop safely. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt, Maid.”
“It’s thanks to Head Butler Dittyer here throwing himself on the horse to stop . I owe a great debt to the head butler.”
“…Good work, Dittyer. This ti, our maid is indebted to you.”
“No, I was just doing what I had to do.”
As if to say that he wasn’t lying about wanting to check on out of concern, Ethan sighed in relief as soon as he heard the explanation of the circumstances that nothing had happened to .
This ti, he started asking about the horseback riding that had just happened.
“By the way, Maid, why were you suddenly riding a horse earlier?”
“I was learning horseback riding from Head Butler Dittyer.”
“Horseback riding? So suddenly?”
“It’s not that I suddenly thought I should learn it. I had been thinking I should learn it for about a year now. It’s just that there hadn’t been an opportunity to learn due to the timing and circumstances between the head butler and , and starting today, I had so free ti for a while, so I started learning from Head Butler Dittyer.”
“Hmm….”
As soon as I answered that I was learning horseback riding from Dittyer, Ethan shifted his gaze to him with a strange look.
I don’t know why, but in Ethan’s eyes, there seed to be a strange hostility that was hard to find normally.
On the contrary, Dittyer seed to be strangely flustered by his gaze.
…What the hell is this atmosphere? Why does it feel like there’s lots of tension in the air today?
“Maid.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Did anything strange happen during the learning process?”
“Pardon?”
“You know. Horseback riding is a skill where posture and such are important. I was wondering if there was any strange physical contact during the teaching process.”
…What is he suddenly talking about?
Strange physical contact? Dittyer?
There’s no way that guy, who is a workaholic, would be interested in Lilith’s body.
I simply shook my head and refuted Ethan’s absurd speculation.
“I received a few corrections on my posture, but there was no strange physical contact like you ntioned, young master.”
“…Was there really none? Like him rubbing your thighs saying your legs’ positions are strange, or telling you to straighten your back while holding your waist.”
“If there had been anything like that, I wouldn’t have denied it. You can rest assured, young master, since Head Butler Dittyer instructed verbally from beginning to end except for monts when it was absolutely necessary.”
“I-I see. If that’s the case, then it’s fine, yes.”
Today, Ethan is unusually observing the relationship between and Dittyer with an awkward atmosphere.
I think the three of us were together like this in the carriage going to and from the Imperial Palace Masquerade Ball so ti ago.
It was difficult to adapt to the awkward atmosphere that was completely different from that ti.
Why is Ethan acting like this today…?
“You don’t have to worry, young master, since the thing you’re concerned about regarding and Miss Lilith has never happened even once.”
“…Can I trust that?”
“You know that I wouldn’t approach Miss Lilith with strange intentions. Also, most of the servants in the mansion already know about the relationship between Young Master Ethan and Miss Lilith.”
“…Hmm, that’s right. Indeed, I was being too sensitive.”
“What servant would dare to do sothing inappropriate to the young master’s exclusive maid?”
…The relationship between and Ethan… ans the relationship between an exclusive maid and the young master of the house, right?
Sohow, just listening to what the two are saying, it feels like there’s a strange aning implied.
I didn’t dare to ask, afraid that the already strange atmosphere would beco even stranger.
I just hope this awkward three-way confrontation ends quickly.
Above all, it was a sorry thing for that Dittyer, who took the ti to teach horseback riding, was receiving unjustified suspicion.
I added an additional explanation to Dittyer’s statent that nothing actually happened between us.
“The head butler is right, young master. In the first place, Head Butler Dittyer only accommodated my request to learn horseback riding.”
“…I see, I’m sorry for suspecting you for no reason.”
“…The only physical contact Head Butler Dittyer had with during today’s horseback riding lesson was the mont he got on the back of the running Zeraon with and took over my reins.”
“…What?”
“Ah, by the way, Zeraon is the na of this horse. Rember when I montarily couldn’t stop the horse I was riding and it ran off? At that ti, the head butler jumped on the back of Zeraon that I was riding, and took over the reins while embracing from behind.”
“……”
“……”
“That was the only mont that could be called physical contact between Head Butler Dittyer and , young master. Also, what he did was sothing necessary to stop Zeraon, so it can’t be called unnecessary physical contact.”
“……”
“……”
“……?”
…Why does the atmosphere keep getting awkward every ti I say sothing today?
Around the ti I was contemplating whether I should supplent more additional remarks here and explain the situation at that ti…
Suddenly, Dittyer’s mouth opened hastily, and he started to utter sothing in a tone that sounded like an excuse.
“As Miss Lilith said, it wasn’t unnecessary contact but a necessary asure. If I had made a mistake, Miss Lilith could have been seriously injured along with the horse….”
“I know. I know, but….”
“I-I have sothing to discuss with the cooks regarding dinner preparations, so I will take my leave first, young master. Please continue the conversation between the two of you.”
“…Alright, go ahead.”
Ethan, who answered in a sowhat unpleasant voice, gave off an unusual atmosphere, and Dittyer hurriedly drove Zeraon and quickly left the place.
In the unusually awkward atmosphere today, I couldn’t quite grasp the situation and only observed Ethan’s reaction.
“…Young master?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Is there anything bothering you? For so reason, you seem to be in a very bad mood today.”
“…No, it’s nothing.”
“……”
This reaction itself doesn’t seem like the reaction of soone who has nothing bothering them.
But if a re maid tries to guess her master’s emotions, she’ll be treated as an impudent servant.
Unable to do this or that, while observing Ethan’s reaction, a clue that could be used to infer why he was in a bad mood finally popped out of his mouth.
“M-maid.”
“Yes, young master.”
“About horseback riding, are you going to keep learning it in the future?”
“For now, yes.” [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]
“…Do you have to learn it?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, no, that… I thought it might be a little dangerous for a woman to learn. Horses are animals that can beco violent at tis, and you could be in danger if you can’t control them like earlier.”
…Aha.
I was wondering why he seed to be in a bad mood since earlier, but it was because of this.
It seems that Ethan is not very happy about learning horseback riding.
The reason the atmosphere has been awkward all this ti is probably because he was in a bad mood because of that.
Indeed, as Ethan said, learning horseback riding sotis involves risks.
In fact, even earlier, there was a mont when it could have been dangerous if Dittyer hadn’t intervened.
If his exclusive maid gets injured and can’t work, it would be very inconvenient for Ethan, so it’s not like I can’t understand him worrying like that, but…
‘Still, I don’t particularly want to stop learning.’
As I said earlier, horseback riding is a skill that is useful in many situations if you learn it.
If I end up living as an adventurer, it’s undoubtedly a necessary skill, and even if I have a different job other than being an adventurer, there’s plenty of room for it to be helpful in transportation, travel, and such.
The problem is that even if I, a re debt maid, insist on continuing to learn horseback riding, it’s impossible if Ethan doesn’t allow it.
Since I wanted to continue the horseback riding lessons as much as possible, I carefully tried to refute the part Ethan was worried about.
“You don’t have to worry about my injuries, Young Master Ethan.”
“Huh?”
“There was no risk of getting hurt at all thanks to Head Butler Dittyer teaching kindly and in an easy-to-understand manner. In fact, even that incident earlier occurred due to my mistake, and there was generally no danger except for that mont.”
“S-still, you can’t say it’s completely safe….” [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]
“Even if sothing dangerous happens, I believe that Head Butler Dittyer will control it well like earlier. You don’t have to worry, young master, since he has the skills to be able to get on a running horse and control it.”
“I-I see… So you thought of Dittyer like that, Maid…? That he’s kind to you, Lilith, and is a trustworthy person….”
…What?
Why does it seem like his mood has gotten worse…?
Reviews
All reviews (0)