Ā Chapter 10
“Damnā¦ I’m tired.”
Claude, who had returned to the residence after being stuck at the Imperial Palace for about two weeks, frowned deeply and threw his heavy uniform behind him.
Harriot, catching it just in time, looked with wonder at the emblems on the expensive-looking fabric before neatly folding it over his arm.
“Did His Majesty give you some other useless task?”
“That brat said I don’t need to return to the Southern Front and should come live at the palace.”
“What? I mean, you’re not the Emperor’s personal knight. That’s not just being thoughtless, it’s practically ill-mannered, isn’t it? Honestly, where has his respect for the nobility goneā¦”
Since no one else was listening, Claude gladly heard his adjutant badmouth the Emperor. He too had been quite exhausted from being tormented by that Emperor all week, so there was no way he wouldn’t enjoy his subordinate’s curses.
Claude’s eyes, having not even closed properly, let alone slept soundly, for two weeks, were so haggard that fine blood vessels were visible.
It was often the case that he couldn’t sleep even at the residence, so the Imperial Palace was no different.
Already, for about six months since the war ended, he had been busier than if he had two bodies. Because they had lost the war, he had to handle the storm of aftermath.
Months had passed just assessing the damage, and after appeasing the nobles to reorganize the lands devastated by war everywhere, now that young Emperor was the problem.
Claude sent a glance toward Harriot, who was grumbling that the Emperor should have experienced the battlefield at least once.
“Ah, speaking of which, how is that woman doing? I didn’t see her when I came in earlier.”
The Duke, brushing back the hair falling over his forehead, asked about Flora’s situation as if it had just occurred to him. He had paid no attention to her since that day, but seeing his grumbling adjutant suddenly made him think of her.
“Ah, you mean that murderer?”
“She’s not still carrying around an axe or something, is she?”
When he asked with a stern face, just like when he had kicked his adjutant out of the carriage two weeks ago, a startled Harriot shook his head.
“No, sir. I told the Head Maid that very day to give her maid’s work. But why are you so interested? You usually don’t care about anyone.”
“I brought her.”
Claude chuckled, answering his subordinate’s grumbling that she wasn’t being treated like a human being, out of habit.
The reason the Emperor had summoned him this time was unexpected.
*’Lord Heinster, thatā¦ about the woman.’*
He had hesitated for a long time, as if about to speak, and the topic he finally brought up was about that woman.
As it turned out, the Emperor had apparently intended to entrust that woman named Flora to Marquess Sternbough. Since he had taken the woman everyone thought no one would want, the Emperor was curious and had called him.
A woman who was simultaneously an object of public hatred and the Emperor’s profound interestā¦
Whatever the inside story, Claude was satisfied with his choice. The face of Marquess Sternbough, who was present, was also worth seeing.
Erasing his thoughts, Claude looked with annoyed eyes at the pile of banquet invitations stacked high on the desk during his absence, then looked away.
“I figured she’d be upset about being given maid’s work. I’m curious how she’s doing now.”
“Your Excellency, I really must say something. It’s been over twenty years since I started serving you.”
“Ha. You’re saying you’ve been assisting me since you were eight?”
“Even when you beat me every time we sparred, I endured because I was fascinated by the young master’s martial prowess growing day by day.”
“You should speak properly. You just desperately clung on because you kept losing to someone a year younger than you.”
That was true. Could an eight-year-old, pushed out the door by his father with the words “go be the young master’s playmate,” really have a proper awareness of his master?
Struck home, Harriot flinched, but decided to brazen it out.
“You don’t appreciate my true loyalty at all, Your Excellency. Because of whom did I train like crazyā¦”
“I don’t really want to knowā¦ Just continue what you were saying.”
Knowing this was the excuse Harriot always used whenever he wanted to voice his opinion, Claude brushed it aside, telling him to get to the point.
Even as he showed a disappointed expression, Harriot pouted at his indifferent master and then spoke.
“I still don’t like that woman being here. Who knows? She might suddenly go mad in her sleep and run amok with a sword.”
“If you’re losing sleep over that fear, then you’re the foolish one.”
Claude sank back into the plush chair and retorted to his subordinate’s words. Having come back after putting on all sorts of airs at the Imperial Palaceāpretending to be grave, pretending to listenāHarriot’s complaining was quite amusing.
“Who said I was scared? I sleep very soundly.”
“Then there’s no problem. It would be the same even if I had brought someone else.”
Whether his subordinate’s face turned red or blue, Claude, habitually pulling a cigar from the drawer, answered absently. Harriot let out a strange, hesitant sound.
“That’s actually what I wanted to talk aboutā¦ Do you think a woman who’s only killed people for eight years will turn into a docile maid just because she does some housework for a few days?”
“ā¦It won’t be easy.”
“Exactly. It’s impossible. After all, everyone who fought in the war goes a little mad, don’t they?”
“Unfortunatelyā¦ I can’t argue with that.”
Claude took a deep breath. Somehow, pleased that he readily agreed, Harriot spoke enthusiastically, getting to the point.
“So let’s just send her away. Make an excuse that she’s hard to keep and send her to some other noble house. You said yourself from the beginning that you were just going through the motions and never intended to pick anyone.”
“That was certainly the case then. Butā¦ Harriot.”
Claude languidly lowered his eyes and habitually chewed on the cigar between his teeth.
“I feel like I’m missing something.”
Twisting the corner of his mouth into a smile, he took another deep drag of the cigar. The hazy smoke, rolled on his tongue and then blown out, spread thickly through the room.
“ā¦Excuse me?”
“I’m no less crazy, you know.”
With those words, he let out a self-deprecating laugh. Then, as if he had drunk a bitter liquor, a fine line creased Claude’s smooth brow.
“You and I both went through that war. You haven’t forgotten what I did, have you?”
Harriot could say no more.
He, who had been there that day, couldn’t possibly not know what his master was recalling. Because the memories of that horrific battlefield were the cause of his master’s severe insomnia.
*’Stupid fool. Why did you have to slip up here?’*
With the heavy atmosphere, he inwardly imagined hitting his own head and carefully changed the subject.
“Well, actuallyā¦”
Just as Harriot was about to say that Flora had been kicked out of the kitchen for messing up her work, his mouth closed. The Duke had raised one hand to stop him.
Following the gaze of the Duke, who had just sat down at his office desk, Harriot turned his head toward the window. Looking closely, a thin, thread-like strand was gently swaying at the top of the window frame.
A fine thread, like that used for sewing dressesā¦ It looked somehow familiar, reflecting the light.
“Is it a bird?”
Before Harriot could check, Claude sprang to his feet and strode over on his long legs, flinging the window wide open in an instant.
“ā¦!”
The moment he grasped the window frame with both hands and lifted his head, Claude unconsciously swallowed his breath.
Following the pale forehead atop the hair cascading down toward the ground, his eyes met hers. A bewildered-looking woman had her eyes wide open.
Against the cloudless sky, the woman’s eyes were remarkably blue. For an instant, he felt as if the world had stopped.
Unable to take his eyes off her for a while, he only came to his senses after hearing a strange gasping sound from behind.
“Haā¦”
He finally grasped the situation and let out a dumbfounded, hollow laugh.
What had been flickering beyond the window was Flora’s hair.
To be precise, not standing normally on the ground like him, but hanging upside down, dangling, her eyes meeting his.
“ā¦Duke?”
The woman, also slightly startled, blinked her large eyes, but in terms of sheer absurdity, he was no less.
Craning his head slightly, he saw her with her legs hooked on a roof support, hanging upside down, holding a dry rag. Naturally, there was no rope or anything of the sort on her body.
Claude’s smooth brow furrowed deeply.
“I told you to do maid’s work. I don’t recall telling you to hang from the roof like a monkey.”
This wasn’t part of the job he had assigned. Since when did maid work involve climbing up on the roof like that?
As flustered as he was, the Duke’s voice rose.
“Are you in your right mind? It’s dangerous if you fall, so come down immediately.”
“I won’t fall.”
The woman, staring blankly at him, answered calmly, as if she’d heard something strange.
“Are you confident?”
“Yes. If I had made a mistake, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
The woman, whom he had assumed would follow the order immediately, instead of coming down, stubbornly refused. Contrary to her initial taciturn impression, she answered without hesitation.
Feeling a sudden dryness in his throat, Claude continued, as if trying to calm his somewhat bewildered feelings.
“To begin with, what reason does a maid have to be hanging from the roof?”
“I am currently cleaning the window under the Head Maid’s orders.”
“The Head Maid told you to do that?”
In his common sense, there was no way one would climb onto the roof to clean a window. Clicking his tongue, Claude ordered Harriot to summon the Head Maid immediately.
Even while this was happening, Flora, still hanging upside down, was moving her hands, cleaning the window.
He, as if to see how far she would go, sat down on the window sill with his arms crossed. He intended to simply watch what she would do, but she, ignoring him completely, focused silently on her mopping.
*People say that when something is so absurd, you just have to laugh.* Claude was so bewildered that he couldn’t even grasp his own feelings at the moment.
Having only imagined her grumbling and complaining that she didn’t like working as a maid, he found this woman, cleaning so diligently and with such enthusiasm, utterly absurd.
Claude gazed for a long time at the woman who showed no sign of coming down. Her flushed cheeks and the heated skin of her neck captivated his gaze.
