Uncomfortable Cohabitation (10)
By the time lunch had long since passed and the sun was slowly sinking toward the horizon, the three of them finally returned.
I heard the sound and hurried to the front door.
"You're back?"
Aside from looking a little tired, the three of them seemed perfectly fine. Still, I couldn't relax just yet. Looking all right on the outside didn't mean nothing was wrong underneath.
"Aren't you hungry? Um, would you like something to eat?"
"Food, you say?"
Maximilian looked perfectly at ease. Had nothing serious really happened? Had they simply run late with the investigation?
"Yes. I didn't know when you'd be back, so I went ahead and made some."
"Then I shall gratefully accept."
"Mary, Daniel, you'll eat too, right?"
"I'll help."
Sister Mary stepped forward, offering to assist me.
"No, no. You must be exhausted from the questioning. Just rest."
I sat the three of them down in the dining room, then went to the kitchen to reheat the food and plate it. After that, I loaded everything onto a large tray and carried it out.
"There might not be quite enough, but please dig in."
"Did you cook this yourself, Miss Julian?"
His eyes lit up with unmistakable anticipation. It wasn't as if this was the first time he'd eaten my cooking. Why was he looking at me like that?
"Yep, yep. All me."
I set the plates down with a playful little flourish.
Sister Mary regarded the dish in front of her with a faintly uncomfortable expression, while Priest Daniel looked genuinely moved.
And Maximilian…
He was eating with a face so blissfully happy it almost made me feel strange. He was enjoying it that much.
Well, at least everyone was eating well. That put my mind at ease.
About twenty minutes later, the three of them finished their meal.
"Whew. I feel human again."
Even Sister Mary, who had looked less than thrilled at first, now wore a noticeably softer expression.
"Um… would it be all right if I asked what happened?"
I asked carefully, in case something painful had befallen them and the question itself would be rude.
"Ah. It was rather serious, but the matter is out of our hands now."
Serious…? I hesitated, unsure whether I should press further, and Maximilian smiled faintly as he sipped his tea. Just as a flicker of irritation started to rise in me, he began to explain.
"First of all, the two people Miss Julian captured were nothing more than underworld trash."
Lowlifes who made their living by thieving rather than honest work. Apparently they'd been hired simply because they knew the underground waterways well.
"And the one who tried to flee was a spy."
A spy… That was serious!
"We still haven't determined which nation he serves, but…"
By now, he was no doubt enduring a rather unpleasant interrogation at the hands of the kingdom's inspectors.
"In all likelihood, a neighboring country."
The magic circle they had been installing had also been more or less analyzed. It was a form of black magic — a curse that, once activated, would simply drain the mana from everyone in the capital.
"The problem is that it drains life force from those without mana."
Had it truly been activated, the capital would have been thrown into chaos.
"Isn't that… a little weak, though?"
If they were going to use black magic, wouldn't something on a larger scale — like spreading disease — have been more devastating?
"They may still have been in the preparation stage."
The kingdom had already dispatched people to investigate the underground waterways thoroughly.
"There wasn't anything in the areas we covered, though."
"True. But we only managed to cover about two-fifths of the whole system, didn't we? Something could still be hidden in the rest."
Given the scale of the curse, dozens of such magic circles would have been necessary…
"What a wretched age we live in."
No matter how poor relations between nations might be, to resort to schemes like this…
"It's fortunate, really. Imagine if it had been discovered too late."
Thinking back on what The Master had said about the dangers of forcibly drawing on life force…
It was the kind of thing that could easily have produced casualties. Considering that, we truly had been lucky.
"That is a relief, at least…"
"Yes. Truly fortunate."
And for preventing the incident in advance, Maximilian, Priest Daniel, and Sister Mary were to receive a special monetary reward, while a letter of appreciation would also be delivered to the Metis Church.
"That's good to hear."
"Because of this, things around the manor may grow rather noisy for a while."
Word would likely spread among the capital's nobility, and people might start showing up hoping to forge connections.
As a noble, Maximilian did need to cultivate his network, but…
"Sounds like a hassle."
"Yes. I expect I'll have to leave the manor quite often as a result."
"Huh?"
"I can hardly impose that burden on all of you. Better that I go to them rather than have them come here."
"But this is your manor…"
Maximilian smiled gently and said it was fine.
"When guests arrive, one is expected to receive them properly. With no servants on hand, inviting visitors would be poison."
Failing to offer the appropriate hospitality could damage one's reputation, he explained. This was simply a way of preventing that, so I needn't worry about it.
"I-is that how it works?"
The world of nobility really was exhausting…
I used to envy the lives of nobles. But the more I learned about the reality, the more I realized how many tiresome obligations came with it. I was starting to think that being a commoner might actually be more peaceful.
"Yes. So please, make yourselves comfortable."
"Are you sure it's really all right?"
"Yes, well…"
A faintly lonely expression crossed his face. Still, he said it was fine, so I would simply take him at his word. If people started coming and going in large numbers, I'd planned to take a room at an inn — or, inconvenient as it would be, head to the temple. This worked out better.
Once I'd heard the whole story, the tension finally drained out of me.
And the moment I relaxed, drowsiness came crashing down.
I'd slept poorly the night before, then spent the morning cooking and fretting while I waited for them to return. The fatigue had clearly piled up.
And I wasn't the only one. Maximilian, Sister Mary, and Priest Daniel — all of whom had endured questioning late into the evening — seemed equally heavy-lidded now that their stomachs were full.
"You've all had a hard time with the investigation. Go get some rest."
I cleared the dishes and made sure the three of them could settle in comfortably.
After roughly washing up in the kitchen, I stepped out to find Maximilian just emerging from the bath.
"Lunch was delicious."
Out of nowhere? A small laugh escaped me, and a warm little lift of spirits made me smile brightly.
"Really? Then it was worth making."
It would have been even better if he'd eaten it fresh, though.
"Ah — this isn't the time. You should go upstairs and rest."
"Yes. I suppose I should."
He walked along smiling… matching his pace to mine, unhurried. We exchanged small talk as we went. He mentioned how regrettable it was that they hadn't fully completed the commission…
"Ah, you needn't worry about that part."
"Hm?"
"We only managed to clear less than half, but they said they'll still pay the full commission fee."
Given the significance of the achievement, they intended to provide proper payment for the request on top of the special reward.
"Well, that's good news."
The more money, the better.
Before I knew it, we had reached the third floor, and it was time to part ways.
"Um… rest well."
"Yes. You as well, Miss Julian."
His room was to the right, mine to the left. We were about to go our separate ways when — suddenly — he took my hand. Gently drawing it toward him, he bent and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
"Thank you. It was thanks to you, Miss Julian, that we were able to achieve this."
"M-M-M-Maximilian?"
The sudden gesture startled me so badly that simply not yanking my hand away felt like an accomplishment.
"It was all thanks to you."
He stepped back at once and strode swiftly toward his room. I stood frozen in place, too flustered to move or speak. Looking back, I was fairly certain his face had been a little red.
If he was going to get embarrassed about it, he shouldn't have done it in the first place…
Some time had passed since that incident.
Just as Maximilian had predicted, troublesome matters began cropping up around the manor with some regularity. It started with the letters — they arrived every single day. At first I thought, Letters? How bothersome could letters possibly be?
But nobility, it turned out, was different.
With commoners, if no one was home, the letter simply got shoved through a crack in the door, or handed off to a neighbor with a casual "Please pass this along." That was the end of it.
Nobles operated on an entirely different level. For one thing, the courier delivering the mail was never an ordinary person. They were servants of a noble house. Sometimes they even held titles of their own.
And they didn't just drop the letter in a mailbox and leave. They insisted it be delivered to a person, and they waited until someone came out to receive it.
High-ranking nobles took it even further. They would plant themselves there and refuse to leave until the intended recipient personally accepted the letter.
Why am I bringing this up?
Because something very much like that was happening at Maximilian's manor right now!
Day after day, letters and invitations from this place and that came flying in. Some of the messengers even waited until Maximilian himself took the invitation from their hands. It was hard not to feel awkward about the whole thing.
Even now, he was at the front gate receiving letters, checking them on the spot, and declining them one after another.
A few invitations that were difficult to refuse, he kept…
He looked thoroughly worn out.
"An invitation?"
"Yes. This one is rather hard to decline…"
He fidgeted with the letter, looking distinctly put-upon.
"So you'll be going out again, then?"
Sometimes he was summoned to tea parties; other times, to evening banquets.
"Yes. This one will be difficult to skip."
He let out a long sigh. Tea parties and banquets would be packed with pretty, elegant young noble ladies, wouldn't they? Would he receive advances at places like that?
Objectively speaking, Maximilian was a handsome man… so it was entirely possible.
The thought made me unreasonably irritated.
"Well… good luck, then."
I'd meant to offer him some encouragement, but the irritation got the better of me and I brushed him off instead.
"M-Miss Julian?"
He looked startled and started after me, so I quickened my pace and put distance between us.
"Go on, then. Off to your tea party or banquet or whatever it is. Go meet all those pretty noble ladies."
The moment the words left my mouth, I fled into my room like a runaway.
Really… what is wrong with me?