14

"Eh… jadi orang ini adalah instruktur sulap?"

"Ya!"

Gadis gila.

Namun, saya tidak mengatakannya keras-keras.

Aku tidak mungkin mengucapkan kata-kata kasar seperti itu di depan para bangsawan.

Bagaimana dia bisa berbicara informal kepada Catherine, yang baru saja dia temui?

Pada titik ini, sungguh menakjubkan.

"Halo. Kau pernah mendengar tentang keluarga Pangeran Oldenburg, kan?"

"Ya, mereka keluarga yang sangat kaya!"

"….."

Sebuah desahan hampir lolos dari bibirku.

Memang benar keluarga Oldenburg punya banyak uang.

Wilayah mereka jelas berbeda dari Eristirol dalam hal itu.

Tidak seperti Eristirol, yang melambangkan utara, Oldenburg terletak sedikit ke utara, dengan iklim sejuk dan wilayah yang menyenangkan untuk ditinggali.

Mereka tidak mengenakan pajak besar kepada rakyatnya, tetapi mereka memiliki modal besar dari bisnis mereka.

"Umm… yah, itu tidak salah. Keluarga kami memang punya banyak uang."

"Terakhir kali saya pergi ke Oldenburg, saya benar-benar terkejut! Bangunan-bangunan di wilayah itu tampak semahal bangunan-bangunan di ibu kota."

"Hehe… sepertinya kau tahu banyak hal. Apakah kau ingin mengunjungi wilayah kami suatu saat nanti?"

"Apakah itu benar-benar baik-baik saja?"

"Tentu saja."

Sementara kami menikmati makanan kami, kedua wanita itu asyik mengobrol.

Kyle duduk diam di antara mereka, hanya makan.

Apakah dia benar-benar buruk dalam berbicara dengan gadis-gadis?

Jika saya seorang pria, saya akan berusaha keras untuk tidak tertawa dan akan terus mengobrol dengan dua gadis cantik.

Dia ngobrol dengan Catherine secara normal, jadi mengapa dia diam saja dengan Louise?

Kalau saja dia dapat berbicara dengan baik dalam situasi ini, dia pasti akan semakin populer.

TIDAK.

Dengan penampilan Kyle, dia akan mendapat banyak perhatian hanya dengan duduk diam.

Pangeran dingin dari utara.

Gadis-gadis biasanya terpikat dengan karakter seperti ini.

Dulu sewaktu aku masih di akademi, ada gadis-gadis yang bilang ingin menjadi pembantu di suatu keluarga hanya supaya bisa dekat dengan tuan muda.

"Ah, Sebastian? Bisakah kau membawakan benda yang sudah kusiapkan itu?"

"Ya."

Saat Catherine mengatakan ini, Sebastian meninggalkan aula.

Saya tidak tahu jenis barang apa yang begitu penting hingga perlu disebutkan saat makan malam.

Saya belum mendengar apa pun tentang hal itu.

"Apa yang kamu persiapkan?"

Kyle bertanya apa yang membuatku penasaran pertama kali.

Saya kira saya bukan satu-satunya yang bertanya-tanya.

"Hanya sedikit saja… ini bukan suap, hanya hadiah. Hadiah untuk Tuan Muda."

"Oh…."

Louise menunjukkan rasa ingin tahu, mendengarkan percakapan itu.

Saya menantikan hadiah macam apa itu.

Mungkinkah itu sesuatu yang muda dan manis seperti hadiah romantis?

Aku berpikir sejenak tentang hadiah macam apa yang mungkin diberikan seorang wanita kepada seorang pria.

Di kehidupan masa laluku, yang terpikir olehku mungkin hanya dasi.

Pria pada umumnya senang dengan apa pun yang diberikan wanita kepada mereka.

Jika seseorang memberiku hadiah, aku akan dengan senang hati menerimanya, asalkan bukan sesuatu yang aneh-aneh.

"Merindukan."

"Terima kasih, Sebastian."

Sebastian memberikan sebuah kotak kecil kepada Catherine.

Saya tidak tahu apa yang ada di dalamnya.

Lagi pula, itu adalah kotak tertutup; kalau saja aku tahu apa isinya, aku pasti benar-benar seorang cenayang.

"Sekarang, Tuan Muda. Silakan buka."

Catherine tersenyum saat menyerahkan kotak itu kepada Kyle.

Kyle received it with a puzzled expression, as if he didn't understand what was happening.

"…."

Kyle silently opened the box.

Inside was a necklace.

"This necklace is made from gems from our territory. It has no special meaning; I just wanted to give it as a token of affection."

"Thank you. I will keep it safely."

Kyle closed the box again and placed it on the table.

Why isn't he wearing it?

"Young Master, is it alright if I put it on for you?"

"No, that's okay."

Even though he received a gift, I thought it would be better to wear it.

Maybe he felt uncomfortable putting it on alone, so I asked, but he refused immediately.

Why isn't he wearing it, it's just a necklace?

"Hmm… I understand."

Catherine said and resumed eating.

It seemed she was a bit disappointed that Kyle didn't wear the necklace.

*

Afterward, the breakfast tea time with Catherine and sword training with Elin continued.

And then there were magic lessons with Louise.

I felt like the time had decreased where Kyle and I did things together.

It felt like the sad heart of a mother who sees her son spending less time with her.

Was my mom feeling like this when I entered the boarding academy?

Probably not.

If she did, she wouldn't have sent me off so abruptly.

"Miss Sophia."

"Yes?"

Since Kyle was in a different class, I was walking alone down the corridor when Sebastian suddenly called me.

Always dressed in the same suit with neatly arranged hair.

It had been a while since Catherine had been at the castle, so I was somewhat used to it.

"The lady would like to have a quick chat."

"Oh, okay."

Catherine was calling me again to talk today.

I didn't understand why she wanted to chat with me.

I thought maybe she was trying to extract information about the castle, but I didn't sense anything of the sort.

"Sophia, would you be able to go outside the castle with me tomorrow?"

"Outside the castle… you mean?"

Why suddenly want to go outside the castle?

She could just send the servants to do that.

"Yeah, I just feel bored staying in the castle all the time. I want to see what Eristirol's territory is like."

"I will ask the Young Master first and let you know."

Kyle probably wouldn't mind as it wasn't a big deal.

It was just a matter of briefly surveying the territory, so there was no reason to refuse.

"And could I possibly borrow some clothes to wear tomorrow? My servants didn't prepare anything like that."

"Got it."

Clothes, huh…

I shouldn't lend her my clothes.

The sizes would completely mismatch.

Especially the chest and hip sizes would surely be too big for Catherine.

She's still in the growth phase.

There was no way an adult like me and a child like her would have matching sizes.

I should ask the other maids to arrange something.

If there's nothing available, I'll have to ask them to fetch some from the lower territory.

The conversation with Catherine ended like that.

It was more like a request than an actual conversation.

"Young Master, is it alright for me to accompany the Oldenburg Young Lady on a tour of the territory tomorrow?"

"A tour of the territory?"

"Yes."

When I said that, Kyle fell into thought for a moment.

It was a reasonable concern since I was directly assigned to Kyle, and he had to think about me leaving my post.

I had been handling most of the paperwork that Kyle should be doing and looked after everything else, aside from bathing.

Even now, I was sitting in Kyle's library processing his paperwork.

Though I felt this wasn't the right situation, it was too late as I had been doing this for years.

Before he became an adult, I had to teach Kyle how to properly handle the paperwork.

"Well, since we'll have the usual classes tomorrow, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Is that so."

"Yeah, let's consider tomorrow a kind of holiday. Miss Sophia, you haven't had a proper break until now, right?"

"Oh."

Now that I think about it, that's true.

"Take some time to relax. I'll inform the other teachers for you."

Kyle answered with a smile, making me feel grateful.

Thanks to that, it seems I can relax tomorrow without thinking about being a servant.

No, actually, partnering with Catherine might end up being more uncomfortable.

While I'd known Kyle for years, I had only known Catherine for a few months.

And most importantly, we weren't close at all!

I had only treated her as a servant, and she had treated me no differently.

We clearly had no reason to be familiar with one another.

In fact, hanging out with Kyle in the territory would definitely be more fun.

I thought it would be truly enjoyable to explore the territory with Kyle.

I should plan to go down together sometime.

"Young Master, how's the class with Louise going?"

I intentionally didn't observe Louise's class so as not to put any pressure on Kyle.

But I couldn't help but ask how his class was going out of curiosity.

"It's fun. It's still the beginning, but it's different from the sword."

"Is that so."

I was relieved that Kyle seemed to be interested in magic.

I felt like I had forced him into it, but seeing that he was enjoying it made me happy.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Uh… Miss Sophia?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you suddenly…"

"Oh."

Without realizing it, I had been petting Kyle's head.

"I'm sorry."

Was it because I thought of him too much as a little brother, or had I gotten too close to him?

Even though I knew I shouldn't behave like this, I had patted him absentmindedly.

"I'll be more careful to avoid such things in the future."

I lowered my head and said that to Kyle.

Fortunately, Kyle said it was okay and overlooked my mistake.

*

"Sophia! What's that over there?"

"Just some regular skewers."

"Ohh… I must try it! Sebastian?"

Catherine was dressed in the warmest yet simplest clothes.

Of course, her appearance wouldn't let her blend in as ordinary; people noticed she wasn't just any commoner.

Catherine seemed completely unaware of this, asking for skewers as if nothing was amiss.

"Yes, Miss."

If she's going to act like this outside, why did she ask to borrow clothes that she could wear outside?

Anyone could see she was a noble.

"Sophia, what's that over there?"

Untuk saat ini, tugasku adalah membantu Catherine menjelajahi wilayah itu.

Tampaknya "liburan" ini tidak akan terwujud.

Sejujurnya, jika Kyle datang untuk bergabung dengan kami, melihat Kyle dan Catherine bersama-sama akan benar-benar terasa seperti sebuah istirahat.