Chapter 171
* * *
“…Did I buy sothing like this?”
lody muttered unintentionally, and soon a nearby maid answered.
“Oh my, Miss. These were all bought by the young master during the Kristonson trip.”
“Ah.”
Right, that was it.
The servants knew that all of these were items Claude had chosen and purchased alone.
But the reality was different.
lody had personally picked items she liked at every Briggs branch. And she was certain she didn’t buy snow-white
shoes like these.
But the shape of these
shoes was quite familiar.
“I’m alright. There are still a few spare shoes for
back at the Briggs mansion.”
“…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I was being stupid.”
“It’s not your fault. I wanted to do this myself.”
When lody jumped into the water to retrieve August’s shoes, she had lost one of the white shoes she was wearing in the water.
The shoes in front of her eyes now had a very similar shape to those.
But they weren’t the sa.
Those must have been ruined after falling into the water, but these were brand new, never worn.
‘…This might be.’
lody abruptly stood up while grasping the
shoes.
When nearby maids called out “Miss?” in surprise, she was already out in the hallway, running frantically.
She imdiately went up the stairs. The thin dress fabric getting caught on her knees was annoying, but she didn’t want to delay now.
If her thoughts were correct, she had to relay this news quickly.
As soon as she arrived at Claude’s room, lody pushed the door open without even knocking.
“Young Master!”
At her loud call, he turned to her in surprise, standing in the middle of the room.
“-Miss lody?”
His eyes widened, perhaps startled by her sudden visit.
lody rushed towards him with hurried steps.
“I have sothing to say. Right now in my room!”
“Wa-Wait a mont! Wait…!”
For so reason, he was backing away at a trendous speed every ti lody approached. Extrely wary of her.
Could it be because of what happened in the hut a little while ago?
Of course, even lody thought it wasn’t good to face Claude like this when thinking about that incident.
“I know too, but it can’t be helped!”
lody shouted and stepped in front of him. He had his back firmly against the wall, his gaze completely turned to the left.
“Young Master, look here.”
lody abruptly held out the
shoes she was holding with both hands.
“…”
But for so reason, he couldn’t properly look towards lody.
Wondering why and blankly looking up at him, he answered with a trembling smile.
“Um… Could you…co back after getting dressed…?”
“What?”
Pondering his words, lody soon looked down at her body.
She was wearing a thin chemise she had put on after bathing.
“Do-Don’t look!”
lody crouched down on the spot and scread.
“I didn’t see anything… No, anyway.”
He quickly moved away from the wall with brisk steps and covered her back with a blanket from the nearby bed.
Soon, lody’s bewildered maids entered with a long coat.
Claude completely turned his body to pretend to look out the window, not wanting the maids to see his miserable face.
“…There’s a limit even to torture.”
He muttered that and leaned his forehead against the glass window.
* * *
lody returned in front of Claude’s room after changing into proper clothes.
Honestly, because of the commotion earlier, she felt even more uncomfortable facing him than before.
‘…He must have seen everything.’
He said he didn’t see anything, but that couldn’t be true. Because when lody opened the door, his eyes were montarily fixed on her.
Well, he must have been so surprised that he couldn’t help it, but she couldn’t help feeling embarrassed.
A maid who noticed her feelings suggested, “Miss, if you’re very embarrassed, should I accompany you to the young master’s room?” But lody forced herself to shake her head.
When discussing what happened in Kristonson, she couldn’t allow anyone by her side.
lody took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
As if waiting, the door opened right away. lody bowed deeply with the white
shoes held to her chest.
“A little while ago, I was rude. I apologize. Young Master.”
“It’s alright, so lift your head.”
He answered smoothly and stepped aside so lody could enter.
“Sit down. I had warm milk prepared, so you’ll feel much better after drinking it.”
At his invitation, lody sat precariously on the edge of the sofa.
“Drink.”
He pushed a thick glass in front of her and urged again.
lody placed the
shoes she brought on the table and took the glass he offered.
As she held the warm glass with both hands, her frozen hands from tension softly lted.
“It’s warm.”
It was an uncommon sentint in the sumr, so it felt awkward to say, but it was true.
lody tilted the glass to her lips.
The richness of the milk and a soft sweetness were felt.
“This is…”
“Oh, you rember?”
“Yes, because it was delicious.”
“It’s been quite a while.”
This was what Claude had made for her when she couldn’t sleep as a child.
Warm milk mixed with vanilla syrup, and she rembered magically falling asleep comfortably after drinking it.
‘Did he prepare it now so I could be comfortable too?’
Carefully raising her head to look, Claude was holding one of the
shoes she brought and observing it closely.
“It’s not unreasonable for Miss lody to be surprised to…discover this.”
At his softly muttered words, lody blushed slightly again.
At that reaction, Claude hurriedly apologized, saying “I’m sorry.”
“It ans I was surprised that much too. I definitely had no intention of tornting or teasing you. Anyway.”
He quickly changed the subject.
“It seems to have the sa design as the one Miss lody lost when trying to save August. Shall we check?”
“Check?”
Claude got up from his seat and took out a bundle of keys from inside his desk.
Then he brought back a thick book from the bookshelf.
“What’s that?”
“Well, I couldn’t just take it out and store it openly.”
He smiled awkwardly and inserted the key into the book. Surprisingly, with a clicking sound, the book, no, the box shaped like a book opened.
“…!”
lody was surprised that the book was a box, but she was even more surprised when she saw what was inside.
One of the
shoes lody had worn on the first day in Kristonson was neatly grood inside.
“Wh-Why is this stored in here?”
“I can’t openly display the
shoes my favorite girl wore. You might find
suspicious, Miss lody.”
No, even hiding it well using a secret box like this seed suspicious sohow.
Moreover, he casually added the word “favorite”!
“I was keeping it because I wanted to give you the other one when the lost one returned.”
“Those words an…”
lody put down the glass and stared at him directly.
“There was a possibility that the other
shoe I lost would return?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
He placed the
shoe he took out from the box next to the newly arrived shoe.
Everything from the shape of the toe to the height and shape of the heel matched almost perfectly.
“I didn’t tell Miss lody, but the reason August went into the water that day was because he found this shoe stuck between the water plants.”
“…Oh my.”
“The kind child wanted to repay the person who picked up his
shoes.”
lody tightly grasped her dress fabric, feeling sowhat dizzy.
If the two of them hadn’t found August that day, the little boy might not have been able to endure the fast currents any longer.
If that happened, sothing really terrible would have occurred. To think the cause of that accident was lody’s
shoe…
“I made an unthinkable mistake.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Of course.”
If she had known it would put August in danger, she wouldn’t have gone to retrieve the
shoe floating away in the water.
“But if it hadn’t turned out that way, we couldn’t have created a connection point with Prince Samuel.”
“Sothing horrible could have happened to August!”
“Anyway, that child is safe, and we now have room for negotiation with them like this. Isn’t it alright?”
“That’s…too results-oriented.”
He shrugged and nodded. He didn’t seem to have anything to refute.
“Let’s focus on the
shoes for now.”
“That would be better. So in the end, did August retrieve my
shoe?”
“Yes, and he went into Prince Samuel’s arms while holding that shoe.”
Prince Samuel most likely asked the child about the circumstances with a high probability.
August must have had no choice but to spill everything along with the
shoe.
“Then could that shoe be a kind of ‘gift in return’?”
Muttering like that, lody shook her head.
“But we can’t rule out the possibility that it was simply sent from the company. Mr. Wendel Benton also knew I lost my shoe.”
In that case, there was no reason to attach great aning to this shoe. Her worry deepened, but Claude concluded quite simply.
“No. This wasn’t sent from the company.”
“What? But…”
When lody tried to refute, he answered again with conviction.
“It’s a bit loose to say the Briggs Company ordered it.”
“Loose?”
lody closely observed the
shoes again. The perfectly finished
shoes had no corners that looked loose anywhere.
“I didn’t an there was a problem with the
shoe itself.”
Claude approached around the table and placed one
shoe in front of lody.
“Try it on.”
He knelt on one knee and urged.
lody put on the shoe, wondering, and soon understood the word “loose.”
“…It really is loose.”
At her muttered answer, he smiled brightly as if he had expected it.
“Yes, the width is a bit wide, right?”
“That’s right. Although it’s very slight…”
“And the back seems to have a little room too. The Briggs Company doesn’t send
shoes they’re gifting to custors like this.”
In the first place, lody had ordered several pairs of
shoes from the company, so they would have her exact size information.
‘But how did the young master know the size was different at once?’
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