An Unreachable Star
Hena was the only commoner among us. My father, though a simple man, was still a nobleman holding the rank of count. He didn't own any land, but his moniker, the "Sword of Illencia," carried more weight than the calling cards of most high-ranking nobles. As his son, I was naturally of noble birth myself. And there was no need to even mention the lineage of Therion and Sirien, the direct descendants of the Illencia family.
Of course, none of us ever looked down on Hena because of her status. Having inherited my father's easygoing nature, I had always gotten along well with the servants. Moreover, possessing memories of my past life as a modern person, I harbored no prejudice against commoners. Surprisingly, the siblings felt the same way. Perhaps it was because their own status was so astronomically high. From their perspective, they couldn't really see a difference between an ordinary noble and a commoner. Such a lofty position left them with only two choices: to become utterly arrogant, or utterly benevolent. Fortunately, the two of them chose benevolence.
Yet, the barrier of social class could never truly vanish. We could only treat each other casually in private; whenever others were watching, we had to strictly maintain the hierarchy. And "whenever others were watching" included the time after our life at the cabin came to an end. For Hena to remain their maid once everything returned to its proper place, she had to continue acting as one even now.
Because of this, Hena was the busiest person among us. Her duty had always been to attend to Therion, but now she was looking after all of us. Sirien, in particular, was a handful, as expected of a twelve-year-old lady of the ducal house. Hena certainly had her hands full.
Therion and Sirien are playing chess, but I don't see Hena.
It seemed she was hard at work even now. I looked around the cabin for her, but she was nowhere to be found. Like anyone else, I occasionally overslept. Fatigue must have built up in my body without me realizing it. It was my first time oversleeping since coming here, and no one had bothered to wake me. Thanks to that, I didn't open my eyes until quite late in the day.
Even with a late start, my routine remained the same. If I woke up late, I just had to do my chores late. After a brief physical conditioning session, I swung my sword. By the time I finished everything, the sun was already dipping below the horizon. It was several hours later than my usual schedule.
In other words, all of this was a mere coincidence.
What's this? The shoulder of this shirt is torn.
It was pure coincidence that I overslept today, pushing back my schedule, and it was equally coincidental that out of all my clothes, I happened to pull out a damaged shirt. Therefore, my descent into the basement storage—a place I normally had no reason to visit—was also entirely accidental. After all, when it came to clothes, I usually just wore whatever Hena laid out for me each morning. Neither the siblings nor I had any reason to go downstairs.
Did we put the clothes here when I helped carry the luggage? Yes, I think so.
We casually referred to the cabin's basement as a storage room, but the entire underground area wasn't just a single open space. In fact, the basement was divided into more rooms than the first or second floors. There were six rooms in total, and because they were so cramped, they were useless for anything other than storage. And of those six rooms, I happened to open the exact one.
"Mmm, ah... Young master... *sob*... haah..."
The moment I stepped through the doorway, a feverish voice reached my ears. It was a familiar voice. The delicate whimpering of an adolescent girl. Her ragged, somewhat hurried breathing tickled my ears. Even though she wasn't touching me, I felt as if I could feel her hot breath.
In Hena's hands was a piece of clothing. It was a familiar garment—the very outfit Therion had been wearing earlier. Since he had likely changed into something