Spring Rain
By the time my conversation with the teacher ended and I checked the time, it was already a little past four-thirty. The light raindrops that had begun to fall since our arrival at the hotel had long since turned into a driving downpour, hammering against the windows.
Rouge, who had gone out to wander the royal capital without realizing rain was coming, returned soaked to the bone. Jerry and Desang had yet to come back at all.
Both of them had said they would stop by home for a short while, so if they were savoring reunions with their families, they probably would not return until tonight.
Still, just in case, I decided I ought to prepare dinner for them as well.
I had already received permission from the hotel to use the kitchen, and I had stocked Bokja with ingredients, so if I started now I could have everything ready right on time for the evening meal.
"Young Lady. In that case, I shall begin preparing dinner."
Ever since the conversation with the teacher ended, the Young Lady had been lost in thought, her expression clouded as she wrestled with how to accept the shocking things the teacher had said.
"Blanc."
I spoke as quietly as I could so as not to disturb her. The Young Lady called my name in a voice drained of every emotion.
Uh… um…
"Yes, Young Lady."
This is really bad…?
No, this is completely, totally bad…?
"Look at me for a moment."
She tapped the table with two fingers—a clear signal that I was not to move and was to take a seat right where I was.
No, this is a full-blown emergency…?
H-how did things end up like this…?
The Young Lady normally treated people with a blunt, icy expression and tone, but that was only ever an act. When we were alone she showed every color of emotion, and she had never once been cold with me.
Yet the chill in her voice right now was no performance!
It was the sound of someone forcibly swallowing a rage that had risen from the deepest part of her heart…!
"Understood."
I carefully sat as instructed. The look she fixed on me was anything but ordinary—the eyes of someone who had a great deal to say and no idea where to begin.
Think carefully. What mistake did I make today…?
Our pure, beautiful, kind Young Lady would never get angry without reason!
Every fault must lie with me!
Let me think back over everything I did today.
First I woke at one in the morning and cleaned the Haas basement, where I met the ghost who was said to have been sealed away long ago. I tried to recruit him as a maid, only for him to flee to the afterlife.
At three I finished cleaning and ran into Deed and Mist, so I gave them a lesson on a maid’s proper mindset. Mist kept begging me to just kill him instead, and Deed’s eyes grew steadily more unfocused, which worried me.
At five I went to the market for fine ingredients and ended up clashing with other chefs. We settled it with a cooking duel; I defeated the wicked dish that claimed to have researched spiciness from the East and claimed that chef’s secret recipe for myself.
At six I prepared the Young Lady’s breakfast in advance, checked her temperature at seven, and served her the meal.
At eight we left for school together and arrived in the royal capital…
Hmm… It was an ordinary day, no different from any other. No matter how hard I thought, nothing seemed out of place.
Apart from arriving in the kingdom for field training and discussing the Disaster with the teacher, it had been a peaceful day.
The monster subjugation after the field exercise was no different from the hunts the Young Lady and I usually went on together, and during the talk with the teacher I had simply stayed quiet and said nothing at all.
So what on earth is the problem?
Could it be that she is angry because I noticed the teacher following us during today’s subjugation mission and never said a word?!
I kept silent so Group A would not feel pressured, but looking back now, I should at least have told the Young Lady.
"Blanc, just so you know in advance—the reason I’m angry is definitely not whatever you’re thinking right now."
"It… was not because I kept the teacher’s surveillance a secret…?"
"The teacher’s surveillance…? What is that even about? Now I want to ask you questions."
It wasn’t that…?
I was so sure it was!
"Haa, Blanc. Let me ask you just one thing."
Cold sweat slid down my back.
I abandoned the smile I usually maintained—at least for this moment. I always tried to keep a smile on my face in front of others, but I could not possibly smile in front of an angry Young Lady.
"What are you?"
"Pardon…?"
Ah…
I, who must be the perfect maid, failed even to answer the Young Lady’s question and instead asked one back…!
To think I would make such a mistake in front of her!
"Pardon?"
Blanc’s eyes—always so composed—trembled violently. She clearly understood neither why I was angry nor the meaning of my question.
Grit.
Normally she is so sharp, so why does she become like this the moment it concerns herself…!
Having to see Blanc’s unusually dazed expression for a reason like this made me both irritated and furious.
I admit it. What I am saying to Blanc right now is nothing more than petty nitpicking.
It is not as though Blanc has done anything wrong enough to deserve this anger. Sitting her down and scolding her is, for her, quite unfair.
But I still had to say these words to her.
"Blanc, what are you? Don’t tell me you’re still M, the assassin of those Yeoro bastards?"
"I am terribly sorry, Young Lady. I truly do not understand what you are saying…"
"Just answer the question."
"I am your exclusive maid…"
Yes. Blanc is my exclusive maid.
She wanted it, and I wanted her.
I made her my exclusive maid because I no longer wanted her to be a tool that moved only according to someone else’s orders.
"Then why, Blanc, do you still act like an assassin?"
"Pardon?"
"Why do you simply move according to orders without thinking for yourself?"
"Because I am your maid…"
"Blanc, that is not a reason. Asabella, Anjel, Dorothy—every one of them is a maid who serves House Leonhart. Yet not a single one of them is blindly obedient."
When Blanc first became my exclusive maid, I made two resolutions.
One was to become a Young Lady perfect enough that she would never be embarrassed by me. The other was to give freedom to Blanc, who had been treated as a tool by Yeoro.
I wanted to give back the life of this girl who had been seized at a young age by those trash called Yeoro and had her life ruined.
I could never restore the childhood Yeoro had wasted so emptily and painfully, but I wanted to fill the future Blanc would live with happiness equal to—or greater than—what had been stolen.
I wanted to give a future as a gift to Blanc, who had lost her past.
"Blanc. Why are you entrusting your future to my hands?"
The Disaster subjugation force the teacher spoke of today was too important a matter to decide lightly.
It was something that could easily cost a life—no, something that would cost a life with high probability.
Even the teacher, who was normally shameless, had shown guilt and apology when proposing that a young girl join the force.
"If you move according to someone else’s thoughts without any opinion of your own, how is that any different from your assassin days?"
Yet Blanc was ready to decide whether to join the subjugation force based solely on my opinion, with no regard for her own.
This was an entirely different matter from simply following her master into the Academy.
The teacher must have sensed Blanc’s mindset as well; he asked only me about joining the force.
That made it feel as though even Blanc’s opinion was unnecessary, and that made me angry.
Irritation surged up.
And the way Blanc seemed to value herself so lightly made me terribly sad.
"Blanc, you are precious to me."
—“Simply being at your side is already more than enough for me to enjoy Academy life.”
When Blanc said she enjoyed Academy life with me, I was overjoyed.
When she truly got angry at Oblia’s vicious words today, I was angry too—yet I was also happy that she had stepped forward and shown anger of her own free will.
But if I had grown tired of Academy life, would Blanc still have been able to enjoy it?
If Oblia’s insults had been aimed at Blanc herself, would she have gotten angry?
"As much as you treasure me—no, perhaps even more than that—I treasure you."
Cherishing others is a virtue.
But failing to cherish oneself is a vice.
"So, Blanc. I want you to treasure yourself as much as you treasure me."
When she finished speaking, the emotions she had been holding back finally overflowed. A thin spring rain began to fall from both her eyes.
One drop, then two; the spring rain soon became a full monsoon.
"Young Lady."
Treasure yourself as much as you treasure me.
It was a moving statement, so very like the Young Lady.
Including my previous life, it was the most moving thing I had ever heard as a maid.
"I am sorry."
Even so, I had no choice but to offer her an apology.
"If what you desire is for me not to move solely by orders, but to think and act for myself—then for the first time, I shall disobey your command."
Disobeying the Young Lady’s order is unbearably painful.
I know full well this is a cowardly sophistry.
Still, I had to say these words to her.
"Young Lady. For me, you will always come first. Nothing can be as precious as you, or even equal to you."
"Blanc…"
"But I will try to treasure myself. As much as you treasure me, I will treasure myself."
If the Young Lady treasures me, then I will treasure myself to that same degree.
And I will treasure the Young Lady with a heart even greater than the one with which she thinks of me.
That was the only solution I could offer.
Hotel employee Garaham was tense.
Starting today, people from the prestigious Aegis Academy would be arriving.
The guest list even included the name of a renowned imperial ducal house and a high-ranking count of the royal capital.
On top of that, the Sage himself would be dropping by from time to time.
This hotel was no stranger to noble guests, but today’s visitors had to be treated perfectly, without a single mistake.
So Garaham and the rest of the staff had been watching the Aegis students with unbroken tension…
"Young Lady. For me, you will always come first. Nothing can be as precious as you, or even equal to you."
"Blanc…"
"But I will try to treasure myself. As much as you treasure me, I will treasure myself."
The conversation the two students were having in the hotel lobby was anything but ordinary.
At first, seeing them stick together, he had thought they were close friends. Then, when the white-haired girl began calling the black-haired one “Young Lady,” he realized it was a master-servant relationship.
But listening to them now, he was starting to wonder whether it really was a master-servant relationship at all.
"What? So you’re saying you’ll think of me more than I think of you?"
"Yes, Young Lady."
"Who said I’d settle for that? I’m going to think of you far more than you think of me."
Umm…
So this is still supposed to be a normal conversation between a young lady and her maid…?
This felt less like a young lady and her maid and more like…
"Senior, what do you think…?"
Garaham called out to his senior, Della, hoping for her opinion.
She was playful, but she was also kind and experienced, and she always gave helpful advice in moments like this.
"Senior, are you… crying…?"
When Della gave no response, Garaham turned to look at her—and found the ever-spirited Della bawling her eyes out.
"I’m not crying, you brat…"
"No, you clearly are!"
"Shut up for a second, damn it. This is an important scene…"
What in the world…
Startled by Della’s tears, Garaham finally took in the full state of the lobby.
Every employee working there was stealthily watching the two girls’ conversation from places where their gazes would not meet, careful not to interrupt.
Several guests were listening with rapt interest as well, and the student named Rouge who had come with them was outright munching on snacks while watching the show.
Garaham himself had been paying close attention to the conversation, so he had no room to criticize, but he still could not understand the people who were openly weeping or even getting nosebleeds from pure emotion.
"Then I shall think of you even more than that, Young Lady."
"Then I’ll think of Blanc even more than that."
Still, on the way home he found himself wanting to stop by the bookstore and pick up some of those novels currently in fashion—the ones known as Noble.