Chapter 124
***
When lody returned to the mansion, Higgins was waiting for her at the entrance.
“I’m back!”
“You’ve worked hard. It seems you did well until the end.”
Higgins patted lody’s head with a look of pride.
He must have been keeping an interest in how the exam was conducted.
“Yes, thankfully.”
lody smiled brightly and quickly took the watch out of her bag.
“Thank you for the watch.”
“Was it helpful?”
“Very much so.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Higgins untied the lace ribbon attached to the watch strap and handed it to lody.
“Then, you should take a bath and rest now. You’ve worked hard for a long ti, so all that’s left is to wait for the results.”
“I will.”
“Everything you need for your rest is already prepared. Now, I’ll go to Young Master Claude for a mont.”
At that, lody was startled and quickly grabbed Higgins’s arm.
“Young Master Claude?!”
“Yes.”
“Is the young master at the mansion?”
“Yes, he returned a little while ago. Right now, he should be in his room….”
Before he could finish, lody imdiately started running inside the mansion.
While screaming strangely.
“……It seems.”
Watching her, Higgins looked down at Loretta and smiled awkwardly.
“There must have been another interesting incident between them, Miss.”
“Really, brother!”
Loretta clenched her fists tightly, looking extrely upset.
“What did he do to lody behind my back!”
“The eldest young master is not as easily subdued as the other young masters, is he?”
“That’s because Claude brother is as frightening as he is kind.”
That’s why she could leave lody with him for a while.
“……But lody will have to keep being oblivious.”
“Why is that?”
Higgins asked, and Loretta lifted a finger spiritedly and replied.
“Because that’s the only powerful weapon that can tornt Claude brother.”
“Ah.”
Higgins nodded, finally understanding.
***
lody arrived in front of Claude’s room and knocked frantically.
“Yes.”
A leisurely reply ca from beyond the door, and she flung it open.
“Young Master!”
Her urgent call was t with a relaxed response.
“Hello, Miss lody.”
He was leisurely polishing a silver ornant by the window where the white morning sunlight was falling.
“What, what.”
She lost her words for a mont at that peaceful scene.
lody rushed up to him and imdiately started questioning him.
“When the knight was inspecting the inside, did you hide the newspaper? And you made sure no one found out you had been outside?”
He smiled and said, “Calm down,” then explained slowly.
“When the knight was inspecting, I was indeed reading the newspaper. I happened to be engrossed in an interesting column and couldn’t stop.”
“What? But!”
“Your bag was taken care of by . Nothing was missing, right?”
“Nothing was missing, but that’s not the point.”
“Seeing your reaction, it seems you didn’t recognize him.”
“…Recognize who?”
“Didn’t that knight look familiar?”
Did he?
Thinking about it, he was quite polite to lody. But with the helt on, it was hard to recognize who it was.
The only knight lody knew was…
“Ah.”
lody recalled a man from her mories.
The younger son of a certain family who was the conversation partner when Claude intervened and ruined their rare mont of dialogue!
“You’re harsh, Miss lody. At least rember the face of a man who showed interest in you.”
Claude said so but seed to enjoy the situation for so reason, though it was unclear why.
“Anyway, I owe him, so I might have to buy him a drink soti soon.”
“When did you go out to buy the newspaper, anyway?”
“Do you think I would leave Miss lody’s side? Of course, soone else brought it to . Such a task is nothing.”
It seems he used his influence to secretly bring in the newspaper.
lody knew he was capable of handling matters discreetly… but to go to such lengths just for a newspaper.
“…I feel like a fool for worrying over this and that.”
“Miss lody is not a fool. Just passing the two written exams proves that.”
“But that wasn’t a test of intelligence.”
Especially the second question seed more about discerning beliefs rather than ability.
“…I still don’t understand the criteria for the first one.”
“Tell . What was it?”
“Well.”
lody recounted everything that happened during the first exam, omitting the story of the annoying man who had unnecessarily provoked her.
“Hmm….”
He pondered deeply, montarily holding the silver ornant up to the sunlight. Satisfied with how prettily it sparkled on the surface, he set it down on the windowsill.
“Perhaps it was to check the handwriting?”
“Handwriting…?”
To lody’s question, he nodded.
“Yes, to see if there were any bad habits in writing certain letters that make them hard to read. Whether the size of the letters was appropriate, things like that.”
“Ah.”
“And above all, it’s important for an excellent archivist to maintain consistent handwriting from start to finish.”
lody thought that Claude’s guess might indeed be right.
The fact that the officers could decide pass or fail as soon as they saw the answer sheet added more credibility to this.
“So, those who attempted more questions were at a significant disadvantage.”
Writing more sentences within the limited ti would naturally lead to a loss of control towards the end, making it almost impossible to avoid sloppy handwriting.
“That makes sense. This is why considering the examiner’s intention is important.”
Coming from soone who entered and graduated at the top of his class in the academy, his words felt very credible.
“Thank you. I feel a bit more at ease thanks to you, young master.”
“Does that an you can finally rest well now?”
“Mm, not really.”
lody glanced nervously at the door, wondering if soone was in the corridor.
“I have sothing I want to ask.”
Her voice lowered significantly with her request, but he shook his head firmly.
“If you’re asking if I found information about the birth mother in the archive, I won’t answer.”
“What?! Why, why not?”
“Because.”
He leaned in, looking closely at lody’s face.
“Your eyes are all dark.”
“…….”
“Of course, Miss lody would still look pretty even if her entire face turned dark… But I prefer you healthy.”
His words seed to carry a genuine concern.
Plus, the idea that she’d still look pretty even if her whole face were dark seed like sothing a hopelessly smitten man would say.
So, lody once again had a valid question.
“Sotis… you act as if you really like .”
“I’ve told you. I do like you.”
His earnest and fervent reply made lody snort.
“Ah, yes. Of course. And just so you know, I think you’d look ugly if your face turned all dark.”
“What… I knew you’d react like that.”
He responded with a resigned voice.
“Then, I’ll go back to my room.”
“Yes, rest well.”
lody gave a brief nod in farewell.
“Oh, right, Miss lody.”
“Yes?”
At his sudden call, she turned around to find him sporting a rather splendid smile.
A pleasant breeze blew in through the wide-open window, beautifully tousling his hair.
Even the sunlight, which should be fair to all, started sparkling more around his face.
lody narrowed her eyes at him, wondering why he was needlessly flaunting his beauty.
She was well aware of how handso he was without him having to do so.
Claude, maintaining that sparkle, approached her closely.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“Go… go ahead.”
lody was not enchanted by his beauty, but sohow, she stuttered in her response.
He seed pleased with her reaction, smiling satisfactorily.
“This.”
“Yes?”
“Could you give this to the maid on your way out?”
What he handed her was the towel he had been using to polish the small silver ornant.
lody stared down at the white towel placed in her hands.
‘You didn’t have to act so charmingly; I’ve been quite accommodating to your requests so far.’
Wasn’t it a waste of ti to watch such unnecessary flaunting of beauty? Though, it was pleasing to the eye in the end.
“Take care, then.”
With that, lody nodded and left his room with sowhat brisk steps.
‘Ah.’
And when she fully stepped out into the corridor.
lody realized why he was so pleased to hand over the towel.
‘It was a small revenge.’
A revenge for the rag lody had thrown at him yesterday.
Though, as a young master of a grand ducal family, he had to make do with a towel instead of a rag.
“He must have been really upset about yesterday…”
The sparkling smile must have been because the thought of taking revenge was so delightful to him.
“He’s subtly childish.”
lody sighed and asked a passing maid to wash the towel.
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