Chapter 133
***
Although she could have asked the maids to open it, Claude was lody’s lifelong ‘master,’ so it was only proper for her to personally welco him.
‘But then.’
As lody grasped the doorknob, a certain thought occurred to her. Just as they had prepared a dress for lody at the rchant’s, it was likely they had also prepared festival clothes for Claude.
‘Would the young master wear festival attire…?’
Really.
…Of course, considering his personality, he would have been very grateful and worn it. He wasn’t one to ignore the thoughtfulness of a business partner.
‘Could it be, the one with both shoulders exposed isn’t , but the young master?’
Among the n participating in the festival, there were many who not only exposed both shoulders but were completely bare-chested.
It was indeed a gracious sight to see handso n shedding their clothes to reveal splendid physiques.
…But having Claude, with whom she had to conduct investigative activities, appear in such a state was a bit.
‘Uncomfortable.’
It would be preposterous, to say the least. lody might not even know where to place her eyes.
‘Given the situation, should I hope it only exposes one shoulder?’
But that too was odd. After all, lody had absolutely no desire to encounter either of Claude’s shoulders.
‘Please.’
lody hoped the Briggs rchants understood the dignity of the capital’s nobility well.
After all, she absolutely did not want to endure the tornt of a half-dressed Claude.
Moreover, he was incredibly quick-witted, so if lody showed even a hint of discomfort, he would undoubtedly commit more heinous acts.
With a very gentlemanly smile.
A gentlemanly smile while undressed was difficult to imagine, though.
‘Ah, young master, please wear your clothes…!’
With a prayerful heart, lody pulled the door open.
But lacking the courage to see his appearance, she kept her head bowed low.
“…….”
At first, she saw dress shoes in front of her. They were slightly different from his usual ones. Should she call them modest? They sowhat resembled the ones her father, Butler Higgins, preferred to wear.
In any case, they passed since they looked ordinary and well-mannered.
As she cautiously lifted her head, she saw his long legs and the neat fall of his dark trousers, which relieved lody even more.
It seed unlikely that soone wearing such trousers would be standing with their shoulders exposed.
“…Phew.”
At her own foolishness, lody sighed deeply and straightened up, relieved to see hardly any skin was showing. He had his hair swept back, revealing his forehead a bit more than usual, but that was okay. Most male servants in noble houses styled their hair neatly like that, so a bit of forehead showing wasn’t really embarrassing, was it?
“Hmm…?”
For a mont, lody forgot her manners and scrutinized him from head to toe. His appearance was undeniably neat, which pleased her greatly. However, overall, he seed a bit… like a servant, didn’t he? Not to ntion the stuck-up tie he would never usually choose and the white gloves showing beneath it.
And why, exactly, was he bowing so politely in front of lody?!
“…?”
As lody stood frozen, only her eyes blinking in shock, he slightly lifted his head and grinned.
“I’ve co to escort you, Miss.”
“Eek!”
She hastily backed away, feeling chills run through her entire body, stumbling several tis in the process.
“Why, why, why are you doing this to !”
“Why indeed.” His interest seed to wane a bit, and he straightened up with a drained expression. “Didn’t you read the card?”
“…The card that ca with the gift from the rchant? What about it?”
“It said they were sending interesting clothes.”
That’s right. But this was anything but interesting. No, it was actually terrifying.
“Do you find such clothes interesting?”
“Yes, quite interesting,” he said, bowing again like a butler, and lody, with a yelp, quickly retreated to the window. If the window had been any larger, she might have jumped out right then.
“The Baldwins and the Higgins have maintained an absolute master-servant relationship for generations.”
anwhile, he approached calmly and picked sothing up. lody hadn’t noticed in her haste to escape, but it appeared she had dropped her mask. He carefully examined the lace, checking for any damage, before standing directly in front of lody again.
“If you think about reversing our roles for even a mont, I find my heart racing quite a bit. Don’t you think so, Miss Higgins?”
‘…A heart should race, shouldn’t it? If it didn’t, you’d be dead.’
lody couldn’t bring herself to voice the thoughts that sprang to mind.
Nevertheless, she knew he was thoroughly enjoying himself, whereas lody was not enjoying it at all.
Had she known it would be like this, she might have preferred facing his bare shoulders instead.
…Not that she particularly wanted to see him undressed, of course.
Whether he knew of lody’s confusion or not, he adeptly suggested going out, imitating a servant.
“If you have no specific orders, Miss, I would like to depart imdiately.”
“…Are you really going to keep doing this?”
But just because he was adept at imitating a servant didn’t an lody could naturally imitate being a master.
After all, even in the ducal household, she found it difficult to delegate tasks to servants, often taking care of trivial matters herself.
“I think it’s quite a good disguise.”
He took a step closer to lody, lifting the lace mask over her face.
“I have known a few knights here for quite so ti. And their discernnt is quite sharp.”
After adjusting the mask to sit prettily, he reached over her head with the long strings in hand.
Soon, the sound of knotting was heard.
“…”
lody slightly lifted her gaze. The distance was close because he was right in front of her, fixing the mask.
His focused expression on such a task was sowhat unfamiliar.
He seed to be careful not to entangle the knot with her hair.
Almost like a real servant.
‘So, even if a knight were to recognize you, sir…’
Was he trying to say that the knight would dismiss any suspicion upon seeing his behavior towards lody?
‘They wouldn’t think the proud, sole heir of the ducal family would imitate a polite servant like this.’
Soon, he said, “All done,” and withdrew his hands from the knot.
“Is it uncomfortable?”
“It seems okay.”
lody nodded gently in response. The mask seed well-secured, not sliding down even when she moved.
He stepped back with a relieved look.
“That’s good to hear.”
At his kind deanor, lody suddenly had a slightly different thought.
Maybe spending ti this way wouldn’t be so bad after all.
At least in this relationship, he wouldn’t tornt lody.
“If it was done clumsily, it might slip down halfway. In that case, please feel free to call out ‘Claude.'”
“…Yes?”
But perhaps he couldn’t allow her even a mont of relief.
Once again, he made an absurd request.
‘Call him by his na…?’
The thought was imnsely repellent, enough to pale lody’s face.
“Ah. If you dislike it to such an extent, I might be hurt…”
He answered quite sullenly, but lody found no pity for him.
His eyes were smiling, after all.
“H-how could I possibly call you that? I’m a Higgins, and you are a son of the Baldwin ducal family?!”
“But Ronny and Loretta call
comfortably.”
“That’s because!”
…Well, that was true.
“Besides, you’ve even allowed Jeremiah to conduct magic experints, haven’t you?”
“That, that’s true too.”
“It seems a bit unfair that I’m the only one not permitted anything. Why are you so strict with
alone?”
It was because he would barge into lody’s daily life uninvited, even without permission.
“It’s not difficult, is it? Calling soone by their na. It’s just about making the titles clear.”
Sensing lody’s hesitation, he continued to persuade her.
“Besides, you might be able to take the long-thought revenge.”
“R-revenge? I-I never thought of such a thing!”
Perhaps due to the blatant lie, she stuttered a bit. Claude continued to explain, regardless of her awkward protest.
“For example, if Miss says to , ‘Claude, water.'”
He paused for a mont.
As if to let her guess the following action, lody tentatively answered.
“Y-you can’t an to… bring it to ?”
With an incredulous expression. Soon, he nodded lightly.
“Yes, and furthermore, Miss, you could even turn
away at the door after I bring it. I would be left fumbling, waiting just to be allowed in.”
“…!”
The idea of turning Claude away at the door! Just imagining it felt like a refreshing form of revenge.
“Judging by your expression, it seems you don’t find it too bad.”
“I-it’s not like I particularly want revenge on you.”
Of course, that was a lie.
lody harbored a mountain of reasons to seek revenge on Claude, to the point where she was pondering what to do first.
“Anyway, we can’t delay any further, so it’s best we depart now.”
“…Understood.”
lody walked past his shoulder, took a few more steps, and then spun around in the middle of the room, causing her light dress to flutter wide open.
“Then, let’s head to the town now, Cl…aude.”
When lody awkwardly called him by na, Claude also turned to face her.
“…?”
He seed to flinch in surprise, as if realizing sothing for the first ti.
Was it strange for him to hear his na being called out?
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