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\'Oh right, I shouldn\'t be so carefree like this.\'

Even though I thought of that, I couldn\'t take my eyes off the face of the smiling man.

Not just simply because he\'s handsome, but because he looked so sad.

"You came here because you\'re looking for the one you love?"

The man was smiling, but he looked as if he was about to shed tears at any given moment. Without realizing it, I put my hands around his eyes.

"That\'s right."

He nodded his head as if he had no intention of pointing out my rudeness. Far from being wet, his eyes which I touched were dry with no trace of tears and I was surprised by the actions I had taken, making me flinch back.

"Ack, I apologize."

"It\'s fine."

"I thought you were crying for a moment."

The man didn\'t reply and only blinked his eyes slowly. His eyes, which were dyed red in the sunset light, were staring at my face in concentration.

"Does the one you love stay here?"

I asked, clearing my tightening throat.

"I don\'t know. I\'ll have to find out."

"What is her name?"

The estate managed by the Viscount was only a very small rural village. I might know her name if she lived here.

"Why are you asking?"

"I might be able to help you find the one you love, my lord."

The man grinned at the words I belatedly added. He was a person who laughed easily despite his cool impression which matched his blunt expression very well.

\'And when he smiles….\'

I listened to him, pressing on the area where my heart was beating loudly as if it would jump out of its ribcage.

"You don\'t have to call me my lord."

"Is that so?"

I thought he would be a quasi-noble since he talked informally to me despite that it\'s our first meeting.

The man was tall and of considerable size, but it didn\'t look like he was even a knight.

\'Is he just the servant of the Grand Duke?\'

I narrowed my eyes as I tried to guess the man\'s identity. I didn\'t know what he found good, but the man didn\'t even think to lower the corner of his lips which was raised.

"And I\'m sorry, but I can\'t tell you her name."

"Yes, well. It can\'t be helped if you don\'t like to tell me."

"What\'s your name?"

"I\'m Annie. I\'m a maid of the Viscount."

I scratched my cheek as I uttered the name with my lips, which seemed a bit provincial compared to the man\'s sophisticated manner.

\'I\'m a bit embarrassed.\'

It would have been better if I had possessed someone with an elegant aristocratic name like Lorelei or Fredia.

"What about your name?"

"D…."

"D?"

"Dylan."

I nodded my head at the short name that came out of the man\'s lips.

\'I guess he\'s really not a noble.\'

Dylan, Annie, and Lindsay were ordinary names mostly used by commoners.

"Then, you\'re Grand Duke of Lagrange\'s servant, Dylan?"

".....Well, I guess you can say it\'s something like that."

Dylan answered my question with a stiff lip. It was then that I remembered my original purpose and scrambled to my feet.

"Ah! Flowers!"

"Flowers?"

"I came here to pick flowers but I dallied too much."

I set aside the confused Dylan and looked around for wildflowers.

\'They\'re gathered there.\'

As I limped towards where the wildflowers were blooming, I was caught by the waist and raised just like earlier.

"Wh-what\'s wrong?"

Without being surprised by my body floating in the air, Dylan placed me in the same spot as before. I didn\'t know why he was so strong when he wasn\'t even a knight.

"Stay here. I\'ll pick them for you."

"Then, I\'d like the flowers with full petals and vivid leaves."

I blinked and opened my mouth, thinking he must be afraid my feet would be uncomfortable.

He chuckled in disbelief at my brazen manner.

"I thought you were a maid and yet you\'re good at pushing others around."

"Think of me as someone who appreciates the kindness of others."

Dylan walked while laughing lowly as if thinking my words were some kind of joke and came back after picking a few bundles of wildflowers.

A gentle servant from Lagrange.

That was my first impression of Dylan.

────── 〔✿〕──────

"His Grace said that he wanted to rest for the time being. I think he just came here to recuperate."

"Recuperate?"

"That\'s right. There are rumors circulating that his health isn\'t good."

I tried to decorate my hair with pretty flowers and looked for the head maid, but she glanced at my appearance and told me there was no need while shrugging her shoulders.

"Keep the clothes safe since you might need them while he\'s still staying here."

"........Yes."

"There\'s a lot of work that piled up while you were taking all day to get dressed up.  Work hard today until late."

\'Did I say I wanted to dress up?\'

The head maid forgot that me dressing up was something she had ordered and clicked her tongue while handing a rag to me.

"Understood. Do I have to just finish cleaning the hallway to the balcony?"

"Yeah. Work hard."

I hurried out of the corridor to change into a maid\'s uniform because I couldn\'t do chores while dressed up, however, a shadow that was short on the top and long on the side blocked me.

"Young master?"

It was Donovan.

He was glaring at me with his nose flaring in anger at something.

I took a step back, frowning at the bad foreboding I felt.

"Is there something the matter?"

"You. I heard you said you wanted to look good in front of the Grand Duke so you asked my father to buy you a dress?"

"Pardon?"

What kind of nonsense was he saying when I\'m not even the Viscount\'s daughter yet I, a mere maid, begged the master to buy me a dress?

However, the stupid Donovan didn\'t even realize that they weren\'t my words and continued with a ruddy face.

"You don\'t want to be my concubine but you wanted to become the Grand Duke\'s mistress?"

None of the above.

I lowered my head and let out a low sigh, avoiding Donovan\'s fuming gaze.

"You\'re jumping to conclusions. I have never seen the Grand Duke\'s face."

"Then, why would a mere maid walk around in a dress?"

It seemed that the servants who didn\'t like me conveyed strange words to Donovan.

Donovan, who was agitated, roughly grabbed my chin turning it here and there as if he would devour me, and began to look intently.

"What did you paint on your lips?!"

"That\'s not it–"

"This won\'t do. Follow me!"

"It was an order from the Viscount!"

"Enough with your excuses, damn it!"

\'I\'m not making excuses!\'

I felt more afraid than feeling injustice at Donovan\'s action of suddenly grabbing my wrist.

\'Would it have been better to be sold off somewhere?\'

The Viscount was an arrogant and aristocratic man, but he was a man of culture, and though the head maid was cold, she wasn\'t bad at heart.

\'Moreover, Lindsay is here so I was able to hold out.\'

I just didn\'t know that Donovan, whom I thought was an obstinate and immature young master, would turn out to be this violent.

"Pl-please wait, young master!"

"Shut up! Are you not going to let go?!"

"It was really the Viscount\'s order! Please ask him!"

"Stop lying!"

Donovan kicked my legs which refused to be dragged as I held unto the railings of the stairs.

"I said let go! Follow me while I\'m still being nice!"

\'You\'re not even being nice!\'

Due to the loud commotion, a few servants came out into the hallway and watched us.

Among them, there was also a servant with a larger build than Donovan – who often flirted with me – but he turned his head when our eyes met as if he had no intention of helping me.

I glared at the people who turned a blind eye on me as I was being dragged away by Donovan, and then tightly closed my eyes.

I didn\'t want to curse because they were cowards.

Being a maid meant you had to keep your mouth shut even if you were beaten for no reason just for a few pennies.

\'I should have gone to the city where there are a lot of people instead.\'

Maybe the Viscount would feel sorry and write off my debt after being hit by Donovan a few times for no reason.

In the end, I lost the grip I had on the railing which I held on to with all my might.

"Kyaah!"

Donovan roughly grabbed my head which fell to the floor.

He bent his head and looked down at me who was breathing heavily, raising the corners of his lips nastily.

"That\'s why I told you to follow me while I\'m being nice."

"Yo-young master…."

\'Whether you say something nice or not, I wouldn\'t follow people like you.\'

Words such as that filled my throat, but I did my best to swallow them and though I did nothing wrong, I put my hands together and pleaded guilty.

"I was wrong, young master."

"What did you do wrong?"

"....A maid…a mere maid dared to wear a dress."

"If you wanted to wear a dress, shouldn\'t you have listened to me when I told you to become my concubine?"

I heard Donovan try to persuade me in a soft voice, muting his anger.

I struggled to get out of his clutches as he still grabbed my hair roughly in his hand.

"Did you change your mind now?"

"............"

"A disobedient servant must be beaten to come to their senses. Should I have done this earlier?"

I bit my lips as Donovan shook my head back and forth in the bright lobby.

"I told you that I\'d give a mere maid the body of a concubine and yet you impudently said no!"

He was only a son of a lowly Viscount and yet he was already indecently frivolous, how terrible of a monster would he become once he succeed to the title?

It might be better to bite my tongue and die than become Donovan\'s wife.

As I thought like that, I swallowed a handful of tears that had pooled in my eyes, and at the end of my blurry vision, I saw a familiar figure.

\'.....Dylan?\'

He was definitely someone I had met today for the first time, but why did he feel so familiar?

Holding a box as if he was moving the Grand Duke\'s luggage, he slowly walked toward me.

There was a loud thudding of footsteps.

"Wh-what are you doing!"

Donovan shouted loudly at Dylan\'s appearance.

"That\'s what I want to ask you."

Dylan\'s lips drew a smooth arc as he asked back at Donovan, but unlike before, I didn\'t feel like he was smiling prettily at all.