CH 69

As I returned to my room, I repeated to myself, “Calm down, calm down.” I had been distracted by Lucia lately, so I was more on edge than usual.

Before, I could brush it off as just a greeting, but now it wasn’t that simple. I realized from the bottom of my heart that the destructive power of his beauty was no joke.

Yeah, I still can’t believe that beautiful person will become my husband in the future. I have confidence in my lack of confidence, so even if he touches me like that, I still feel like I’m dreaming.

Well, it’ll work out somehow… or will it?

Feeling anxious and at ease, I decided to focus on what needed to be done and changed into my nightwear with Dora’s help. Then, I headed to Lucia’s room.

As soon as I knocked, the door opened immediately. The first thing that caught my eye was a troubled-looking maid.

“Lorraine-sama, you’ve come. I’m glad. I didn’t know what to do,” she said weakly, looking at her master sitting at the table. As expected, Lucia was writing a letter at his writing desk and seemed to be quite focused. He hadn’t noticed that I had come. I tilted my head in confusion.

When the maid said, “Please wait a moment,” she informed Lucia of my visit. However, she didn’t notice me right away. After calling out to her several times, she finally seemed to realize that I was there.

“Lorraine-oneesama…?”

Lucia turned to me with a somewhat vague expression.

“Lucia, are you okay? I was worried because you look really pale.”

Upon hearing this, Lucia quickly stood up from her chair and rushed over to me with great force, her eyes moistening as she spoke.

“I’m glad. Actually, I was thinking of consulting with Onee-sama, but it was kind of hard to get there…”

As she exhaled a sigh of relief, I stumbled a bit.

Her aura as a beautiful girl was dazzling, so dazzling. What a beautiful girl aura it was. If there were any naive young men around, they would fall in love completely, and even middle-aged men would want to protect her. That’s how shocking Lucia’s current weakened state was.

However, although I usually thought that it was good to see something beautiful, tonight for some reason, a different impression came to mind.

――I’m glad Jeremiah didn’t see this.

I was surprised by the sudden thought from a different direction. I never thought I would think such a thing.

――No, no, now is not the time to be thinking about that!

Forcibly diverting my attention from my own thoughts, I looked at Lucia, who was struggling to speak. This feeling was similar to when I talked to Dorothea, so there was probably no mistake.

Thinking that it had become troublesome, I called out to her.

“Lucia, what’s the matter?”

“Uh, um… well, you know, it’s about the servant I talked about yesterday. Today, I was really bored, so I got permission from Duchess Astorga and wandered around Duke’s mansion.”

“And then…?”

Although Lucia seemed hesitant at first, once she realized that she was being listened to properly, the words began to flow out of her.

Although the content occasionally jumped around, this is what it was about.

During the day, Lucia was bored because Mrs. Morena was not there and she couldn’t go out without permission. So, she asked Paula for permission and wandered around the Duke’s mansion. Just then, that servant appeared, so she caught him and asked him to guide her. He kindly accepted and showed her various things, such as a hallway decorated with paintings and the history of the Duke family.

He showed excellent work as a servant, preparing tea immediately when she felt hungry and bringing warm clothing when she felt cold. He continued to do so until the butler came and ordered him to work. However, she seemed to have followed him because she couldn’t bear to leave and wanted to see how he worked.

Well, I can understand that.

“He’s amazing. He deals with any rude guests…and runs around without being affected by the cold. Watching him, I feel excited and it’s very painful.”

“Y-Yeah…”

This is serious.

I started to have a headache.

“What should I do? Hey, Onee-sama, could it be that I’m in love?”

She looked at me with sparkling eyes, and I was at a loss for words. In this case, there are several possible answers.

One is to answer that it’s true and support her.

The second is to say that it’s not true and that she probably just caught a cold.

The third is to acknowledge that it’s true and then convince her that it can’t happen because of their different social status.

Now, which one should I choose?

Whichever one I choose, it will only be a sad thing for Lucia. I couldn’t help but think of Dorothea. She also fell in love with a man who was called a libertine and caused trouble because of it. In the end, it turned out to be a misunderstanding, but why do sisters fall in love with such people? No, is it because they are sisters…

I groaned inwardly as I looked at Lucia.

If she enters society in the future, she will be a beautiful lady with admirers lining up and a support group formed immediately. And yet, the person she is yearning for now is a servant of all people.

Well, marriage itself is possible, but can someone who has lived as a noble suddenly live like a commoner? That’s also questionable, even though there have been such examples before, there are no success stories.

“Lorraine-oneesama?”

Lucia called out to me curiously as I remained silent. Even that gesture was terrifyingly adorable. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt her.