Chapter 77. To Take, or not to Take
Aina humd a little tune, pushing the cleaning cart with light, graceful movents as she carried out the dining room tidying work Sister Pati had assigned her.
The girl never stopped to wonder whether the task was truly hers to do. She only knew that as a maid — as a maid of the dillion Duke Manor, as a maid serving the Young Master — every task was sothing she should complete perfectly and without a hitch.
Setting down the mop, Aina wiped the pleasant perspiration from her forehead and gazed at the small dining room, now sparkling and renewed through her own efforts. Her heart was warm with satisfaction.
"Hehe, I rember this is one of the places the Young Master dines most often. I wonder if he'll praise
when he gets back?"
In that brief mont of rest, Aina indulged herself once more in pleasant daydreams about the future.
"Maybe I should… talk to Sister Pati about letting her hand the dining room cleaning over to
as well?"
The girl sniffed lightly, catching the scent in the air — a trace of Luo Nan's presence so faint it was almost nonexistent, yet perceptible to her alone.
"It always feels… improper to let other people breathe in the Young Master's aura so freely, under the guise of cleaning."
At that thought, the girl gave a small nod. "Mm! That's settled then. If Sister Pati won't agree, then I'll just……"
As a certain dangerous idea surfaced in her mind, a tiny, almost imperceptible golden crack split open at the corner of Aina's eye.
"No no no, I can't do this, I mustn't — I should talk it over properly with Sister Pati."
The girl suppressed that dangerous thought, redirected her mind back to normal-person mode, and the faint golden crack at the corner of her eye sealed itself shut along with it.
Aina's hand moved instinctively toward her apron pocket, reaching for the tie she had stitched for the Young Master herself — hoping to draw just a little energy from it.
But her hand closed on nothing.
"Ugh……I forgot again. I already lost the Young Master's tie……"
"Where on earth did I lose it……"
"Did soone steal it……"
"If that's the case, then who would it have been……"
Aina tilted her head slightly and gazed intently at her own reflection in the floor-to-ceiling window.
Brown shoulder-length hair, eyes like jade and erald, pretty and delicate features, a figure beginning to show its graceful curves, skin as fair as snow……
These were the most basic qualifications for serving as a maid of the dillion Duke Manor.
Beyond that, there was also the crack gradually splitting open from the corner of her eye, revealing a faint glimr of golden light.
"How strange — why would cracks be appearing… at the corner of my eye?"
The girl swept her bangs aside and stepped up to the floor-to-ceiling window, studying that ever-widening golden crack closely.
Aina pulled her eyes wide open and pressed her face right against the glass, as if trying to plaster her entire head to it.
"Aina, have you finished your work?"
Just then, a voice from behind shattered Aina's current state of mind, startling her into a full-body jump.
Recognizing the voice as that of Maid Pati, the golden crack at Aina's eye corner healed in an instant, as though it had never existed at all.
The girl's shoulders hunched; she retreated toward the cleaning cart with the delayed reaction of soone coming back to their senses, then turned and replied: "Sister Pati, I — my task is complete!"
Maid Pati scanned the small dining room with a sweeping gaze, gave a small nod upon finding not a trace of dust, and then walked up to Aina and tidied her maid uniform with an affectionate touch — it had grown slightly disheveled from the cleaning.
One couldn't be sure if it was just an illusion, but in the mont Pati straightened Aina's clothes, a faint, unplaceable abyss-colored gleam flickered past.
"Aina, co with ."
"Yes!"
***
"Oh? I've visited the dillion Duke Manor quite a few tis before — there's a reception room this lavish here?"
Anya was following behind Serela, glancing around at all the furnishings in the room.
Whenever she ca to the Duke Manor to report to Luo Nan, it was always done in a rather plain room — nothing like this place, with its magnificent vaulted crystal chandelier, its antique dark-wood furniture, the display cabinet that was obviously worth a fortune, and the gem-encrusted sword resting inside it.
The girl's golden eyes were nearly glued to that sword and couldn't be pried away.
"Such an enormous five-colored gemstone, and the color gradient is so flawless — how much must it be worth……" Anya sat primly on the sofa, her body angled slightly to one side, doing her best to maintain her composure.
"Is Miss Anya interested in that sword, the 'Sword of Achilles'?"
Serela set down her teacup, crossed her legs with elegant poise, revealing a slim section of slightly translucent pale-pink silk-clad leg, her jade foot rocking gently, her expression full of amusent.
Evidently, Serela had seen through Anya's little thoughts at a single glance.
Without waiting for Anya to respond, she continued: "That 'Sword of Achilles,' along with the 'Sisus Gemstone' set in its hilt, was bestowed upon Duke dillion by my Imperial Father in 1782, bearing the aning 'the sword shapes order' — a fitting echo of the first half of the dillion Family Motto. The Sisus Gemstone in the hilt was obtained by the Empire's expeditionary fleet from south of the Lixin Sea……"
The golden-haired Imperial Princess spoke with unhurried elegance, telling Anya in detail the origin of that treasured sword she was so taken with.
"Oh……oh my, I never imagined there was such a legendary story behind this sword……"
After hearing Serela's account, Anya was clearly convinced. She reached up and stroked her own smooth chin, and quite against her own intentions asked: "So how much could this Sisus Gemstone sell for?"
"……"
Serela was montarily at a loss for how to respond. She seed as though she had truly never encountered… a question quite this blunt.
Still, this was nothing that could faze Her Imperial Highness. She simply smiled softly and gestured toward the cup of tea in front of Anya: "Miss Anya, what do you think… that cup of Sulan Black Tea before you is worth?"
"That cup of tea?" Anya's golden eyes made a full circuit, then she answered: "That I know — I specifically looked it up. An ounce goes for 26 Gold Faras."
At that, the girl couldn't help wetting her lips. A price like that — only the great nobles could ever afford it.
"Miss Anya, I am asking what this one cup of Sulan Black Tea — here, now, in this mont — is worth," Serela asked again.
"Ah? How would you put a price on a cup… of already-brewed tea?"
"Precisely. That 'Sword of Achilles' and the Sisus Gemstone upon it — just like the tea before you — belong solely to the na of dillion, and therefore……they are priceless."
"Is…… is that so?" Anya scratched her head with a half-understanding expression.
After answering Anya's question, Serela turned her gaze toward the two maids standing in attendance to the side.
"If I rember correctly, the two of you are nad Pati and Aina, yes?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Yes……yes, Your Highness!"
Having her na called out precisely by Serela, Aina was visibly a little overwheld with the honor.
Serela's gaze swept over the young maid and she smiled softly. "It's been quite a few years since I last ca here, hasn't it? Even little Aina has grown up into such a graceful young lady~"
Before Luo Nan had fallen into debauchery, Serela had indeed visited the dillion Duke Manor quite frequently.
"If I may be so bold, Your Highness — what brings you to visit so late in the night……" Pati bowed first, then addressed Serela with respectful words.
"Mm……naturally, I'm here to wait for Luo Nan's return."
The Imperial Princess rested her left hand against her chest, letting that impressively full, soft figure there stand out even further, while her right hand — gloved in white lace up to the elbow — lightly cradled her cheek. Her expression was gentle, her violet eyes brimming with a smile.
"I see. Forgive
for asking." Maid Pati, her answer received, bowed once more and fell silent.
"At this hour, Luo Nan should be back soon, shouldn't he?"
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