Chapter 82
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Vacation Life with the Grand Duchess (2)
In the room where cold air had settled, their gazes crossed in the silence.
Was something wrong? Or was it just simple curiosity?
No, in the worst case, it might not even be Elena...
Dozens of thoughts bubbled up in his mind and vanished repeatedly.
But that lasted only a moment. He soon cleared all thoughts from his head. Pondering alone wouldn't solve anything.
He sat up at once and spoke.
"Is something the matter...?"
"Well, actually..."
As Elena spoke, soft moonlight filtered through the window. It seemed the moon had peeked out from behind the clouds.
The pitch-black room brightened, revealing her form. Dressed in thick pajamas, she wore an embarrassed expression.
"...I left my doll at the Academy."
"Your doll...?"
"You must think it's childish for my age...! I know it is...!"
"I haven't said anything yet."
"'Yet' means you're planning to say it soon...!"
Did it really mean that...?
To be honest, he hadn't thought anything of it. He'd just woken up, and her mere presence in his room was disorienting enough.
He wanted to refute her right away, but calming her down came first.
They needed to communicate before anything else.
"I am the Grand Duchess's Secret Friend. No matter what story I hear or what I see, I can understand it all. So please calm down and tell me slowly?"
Realizing her excitement, Elena lightly bit her lower lip with her upper teeth.
She soon perched on the edge of the bed and let out a small sigh.
"There was always a bear doll on my bed, right?"
"Yes, I remember."
How could he forget? It was a birthday gift from his younger self. Stitched and patched here and there, it had been Elena's sleep companion for ten years.
"I took that bear doll to the Academy. You probably didn't know."
"I see. I had no idea."
"No helping it. We're in different dorms."
"So, leaving the doll behind means you left that bear doll...?"
Elena nodded slowly up and down.
The meaning was clear, so he answered without hesitation.
"I'll go fetch it right away."
An attendant's duty was clear: move as the master wished. In simple terms, be a convenient tool for autonomous action.
Calling a person a tool might be harsh? But what could he do? That was reality.
Of course, deep down, he hoped—just a little, very little—that Elena would stop him.
Honestly, heading out in the middle of the night felt off. Even people break if overworked.
As if sensing his wish, Elena shook her head slowly side to side.
"No need to go that far. I can't ask someone who rode in a carriage all day to do it again."
As expected of Elena, her mercy was as vast as the Pacific, befitting this world's protagonist.
But taking that at face value would be amateurish.
Time to show his sly, ten-year veteran attendant skills.
"It's fine for me. If that's what you wish, anytime..."
"Luke, I said it's okay. Don't talk about it anymore."
It was a chance to reaffirm and display his loyalty—a perfect two birds with one stone.
There was a slight risk she might change her mind, but gains required risks. No investment was risk-free.
"Then allow me to escort you to your room."
With a triumphant smile inside, he got off the bed and opened the door to leave. But Elena wouldn't budge.
In that silence, after a moment, he released the doorknob and approached her.
"Grand Duchess, is there another issue?"
"No. Nothing else."
"Then may I ask why you're not returning?"
"...I'll sleep here."
What did she just say...?
It took a full five seconds to process Elena's words. He grasped the meaning, but not the reason behind her decision.
Her first visit to his room in years, and she was carrying a bomb like this.
"Then I'll sleep somewhere else."
No need to agonize. An unmarried man and woman sharing a room was absolutely forbidden—at least by this world's common sense.
Especially master and attendant? The consequences were easy to imagine: his head rolling on the floor or limbs dismantled and discarded. One or the other.
Elena surely knew that...
"Why...?"
...Apparently not.
"Men and women sharing a room isn't allowed, so how could I possibly sleep in the same one as you?"
"You slept in the carriage."
"That was my failing."
"I thought we were Secret Friends before being a man and woman, but apparently not to you...?"
Elena's voice brimmed with disappointment.
He was just bewildered. She'd never reacted like this before.
'What should I do...?'
Even in 21st-century modern times, a man and woman sharing a room was relatively special. Even if nothing happened, it invited misunderstandings.
What about this more conservative world? No need to explain.
As he wrestled with his thoughts, Elena suddenly sat up.
"G-Grand Duchess?"
"Sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like I doubt our bond. You're right, now that I think about it."
"No, it's understandable."
"Then I'll head back to my room. Though I doubt I'll sleep well."
"Let me escort..."
"No. You just sleep."
With that, Elena left the room.
Staring blankly at the spot she'd vacated, he let out a hollow laugh and sat on the bed.
How to handle Elena's fickle heart? Attendant life seemed harder by the day.
'Well, it'll work out somehow.'
As he lay back thinking that, a faint herbal scent wafted from where Elena had sat.
He woke much later.
The room was deathly quiet, as if his predawn awakening had been a lie, but the lingering herbal aroma faintly recalled last night's events.
Gazing out the window while inhaling the scent, he saw the sky brightening.
'Back at the ducal estate, duties await.'
Tired from the early rise, but no excuse to skip training.
He got up and headed out for physical conditioning, but stopped after a few steps in the corridor.
The room next door was Elena's. After last night's events, he couldn't help worrying as her Secret Friend and attendant.
'Is she sleeping well...?'
Without permission, he couldn't enter, so he pressed his ear to the door quietly.
Sounds came from inside soon enough.
"Luke... idiot... dummy..."
Mumbling words she wouldn't normally say—it must be sleep-talk. He'd worried she might still be restless, but now he could relax.
Still, calling him idiot and dummy? He hadn't done anything wrong...
'Well, if Elena says so.'
Dismissing it lightly, he resumed walking.
Outside, chilly air stole his body heat. Clothes for movement couldn't be thick, amplifying the cold.
After light stretches, running along the castle walls, someone suddenly matched his pace.
"You've changed beyond recognition."
A massive, sturdy build; fierce face; snow-white hair; long scar over his left eye. The man who'd taught him swordsmanship in childhood here. His master before Shavel.
"Captain Chrome."
"Don't use that title anymore. I retired while you were at the Academy."
He nearly tripped in shock. The retired knight still exuded absurd intimidation.
But it made sense. He'd been elderly since Luke arrived at nine.
A frontline veteran surviving to this age was a blessing.
"Now I teach knights, so no need to worry."
"I wasn't worried about your job..."
"Then worry a little."
Chrome burst into hearty laughter.
Hearing it after so long, Luke smiled too.
After finishing training with him, he headed to Elena's room at breakfast time.
The shrunken butler uniform felt awkward, as did waking her.
Just months away, and a decade's habit felt strange. People adapt fast—and forget faster.
Anyway, duties called.
"Grand Duchess, time to rise."
He knocked lightly. No response from inside. Likely still tossing from last night, hard to wake.
Opening the door cautiously, sure enough, Elena slept.
He approached and whispered softly.
"Grand Duchess Elena, it's time to..."
That was when it happened.
Elena's arm shot out from under the blanket, wrapping tightly around his neck.