The Vanished Glasses
"Yaaawn!"
Morning broke over Hamilton. Rita stretched out on her bed and let loose a long, luxurious yawn.
Whoosh!
Outside the window, the rain was still pouring down in sheets. Compared to Carrington, with its bright and cloudless skies, the difference was almost absurd. Even the damp blankets gave off a faint chill.
And yet even this clingy, clammy humidity felt welcome to Rita.
My room. My bed. My pillow.
Waking up in her own space after so long, Rita felt genuinely, deeply happy. Despite staying up late into the night having fun, her body felt light as air.
"Today's going to be the best!"
Throwing both arms up in a kind of victory salute, Rita sprang out of bed and reached toward the table.
"Hm?"
But the thing that should have been there wasn't.
"Where did it go?"
Rita's brow furrowed. She squinted as hard as she could, scanning the tabletop from edge to edge.
"Wh-what? Why is it gone?"
When something that should obviously be there vanished, panic set in fast.
"Don't tell me I put it somewhere else?"
There was no way, she thought — and yet Rita, hair still loose and unbrushed, searched the entire room anyway. It was a tiny space, barely a couple of steps across. The furniture consisted of a bed, a table, and a wardrobe, and she combed through all three again and again, corner to corner, but her glasses never appeared.
"What am I going to do...!"
Rita slumped onto the bed in despair.
Her glasses were gone. She distinctly remembered placing them carefully on the table before bed, and now they'd vanished without a trace.
Without her glasses, she couldn't serve the young master — she couldn't do anything at all. Her severe astigmatism meant she was forever bumping into people and furniture and tripping over things mid-step.
"Those cost a fortune, too..."
Above all, the guilt of having lost such an expensive pair of glasses nearly sent Rita into a full-blown panic. On her maid's salary, such a purchase was an impossible dream; the only reason she owned them at all was Duke Randert's kindness.
Young Rita had been forever toppling over and hurting herself, and Bayul and Bail had gently asked their father to get them for her. To lose something so precious — it was a disaster.
"This is no time to be sitting around!"
Rita scrambled to her feet.
"I have to find them, fast! They've got to be somewhere in the castle!"
She threw on her clothes in a flash and bolted for the door.
"Ow!"
Her shin cracked against the corner of the table. A stinging pain shot through her, and it felt like her whole body was going numb. Without her glasses, this was always how it went.
"Slow and steady."
Her heart was racing, but this was exactly the kind of moment that demanded composure. If she asked the other servants of the castle, they would surely help.
"Hoo!"
Rita took a deep, steadying breath, gripped the railing, and carefully made her way down the stairs.
How much time had passed after that? She visited every place she could think of and turned it inside out, but the glasses were nowhere to be found. The kitchen, where she'd spent the most time the night before, had been rummaged through with a fine-toothed comb as well — not even a shadow of the glasses turned up. Every lead was a dead end.
"Waaaah!"
The tears she'd been holding back finally burst free. Rita sank straight down onto the floor and buried her face.
"Rita, let's look again, together. They're somewhere, I just know it!"
Aeslin offered what comfort she could, but it did no good. Not a word reached Rita's ears.
"How much were those glasses again?"
Tania asked, leaning against the wall at a casual slant.
"Tania, why would you ask that?"
Aeslin shot her a look that said don't you dare, but Tania's mouth was already open.
"Oh, I was just wondering how many months of salary she'd need to save up to buy an identical pair. It'd be nice if the lord bought her new ones, but I doubt he will — and even if he offered, accepting something that expensive twice would be shameless, wouldn't it?"
"Tania, how can you say such—"
"Long story short, she'll have to buy them herself. I was just doing the math on how many months of wages that'd take."
Suddenly Tania stepped over with a look of exaggerated sympathy and patted Rita on the back.
"Aigoo, you poor thing, it must feel hopeless. Money aside, you can't even see what's right in front of you — how will you manage? And there's got to be a dozen ways that gets in the way of serving the young master!"
The words were dressed up as concern, but anyone could see Tania was gleefully enjoying every second of it. When everyone had gone to search for the glasses, she'd only pretended to look, lifting a single finger to help.
Why bother? It's not like they'll ever be found anyway!
Tania's lips twisted upward into a smirk.
Serves her right for messing with me. Did she really think a little brat like her could go up against me?
So what if the lord and the young master spoiled her a little? The girl had no manners at all. Who cared that she'd been born and raised in this castle — all that special treatment was infuriating, and Tania had fully intended to teach her a lesson this time.
"Huh-hueeeh!"
No matter how Aeslin soothed her, Rita's sobs wouldn't stop. All her pent-up misery seemed to erupt at once, and she wailed louder and louder, voice cracking.
"What's all this? Why are you crying first thing in the morning?"
At the sound, Des and Amon appeared — the two of them had been cleaning with the resolve of men determined to scrub every last fleck of grime from the castle.
At the sight of those dark, towering figures, Aeslin and Tania instinctively shrank back. There was something unsettling about them, something that made you want to keep your distance.
"Miss Rita, what's happened?"
Amon hurried over and gently helped her to her feet. In that brief moment, Rita's eyes had swollen into puffy slits.
"Please, tell me what's wrong."
At Amon's calm request, Rita tearfully stammered out the whole story.
"...So you woke up, and your glasses were gone?"
Des's black eyes, half-hidden beneath his bangs, glinted sharply for an instant. Something smelled off. Glasses didn't grow legs — how could something left in plain sight simply walk away?
"..."
His gaze slid silently toward Tania, who stood rooted in place. The human woman who'd crossed words with Rita in the kitchen just yesterday. Her eyes and mouth had been fixed on the food, but her ears had caught everything.
"Amon."
"Yes, brother."
"Go fetch Bar."
"I'll be right back. Miss Rita, please wait just a moment."
Amon sprinted off toward the kitchen at once. Bar, on Rita's orders, had been up since dawn helping with the kitchen chores.
"Mistress!"
Moments later, having heard the news from Amon, Bar came racing up, breathless, calling for Rita. His face was contorted with a fury that promised death to whoever was responsible — no second chances, no mercy.
"You've heard everything?"
"Yes, brother!"
"Find them."
Des's order was short and to the point. He was certainly capable of it himself, but tracking the traces of vanished objects was one of Bar's particular talents. If they wanted the glasses found as quickly as possible, the brute was the better choice.
"Master, put your worries aside and just wait right there. I'll be back before you know it!"
Pfft, like you could manage that?
Bar's attitude was so earnest, so utterly certain, that Tania nearly said it aloud.
Even a one-armed lump can make a fuss.
It grated on her, too, the way the giant peppered every sentence with Master this and Master that. Where had they dredged up these bizarre brothers from? She wished the whole lot of them would just disappear. Naturally, at the very bottom of the household hierarchy — in her own mind, at least — sat Rita.
Bar didn't hesitate for an instant. His face blazed with purpose as he bellowed his promise to Rita and dashed off.
I will find my master's glasses!
Sniffing at the air like a hound on a scent, Bar began to comb through Hamilton Castle.
"...There!"
His game of hide-and-seek lasted less than five minutes. In a secluded corner of the castle grounds, a faint glitter seeped out from a mound of dirt — a radiance visible only to eyes gifted at finding hidden things.
Bar clawed the soil apart, and Rita's glasses emerged at once. Their condition, however, was grave. The frames were already snapped, and the lenses had shattered into countless tiny fragments — as if someone had ground them viciously underfoot.
"How dare they touch my master's glasses...!"
Bar's enormous body trembled with rage. It was only because he was in Hamilton that he held himself back; had this been his old domain, a few dozen lives would have been snuffed out on the spot.
Bar's big, rough hand descended upon the wreckage of the broken glasses.
Pop—!
A burst of black flame exploded outward like a spark and vanished. And then, miraculously, the shattered, fragmented glasses were whole again, as if nothing had ever happened to them.
"Got it!"
Just picturing his master's joy, he couldn't bear to waste even a second. Cradling the glasses tenderly against his chest, Bar broke into a run once more.
"Master! I found them!"
Rita had calmed down somewhat by then, though she was still only half in her right mind. At Bar's shout, she startled and jerked her head up.
"Here they are!"
She looked down at the hand he held out. And there, astonishingly, resting in his enormous palm, were her glasses.
"Hnngh!"
Overcome with gratitude, she couldn't get a single word out. They were back. She was so happy she couldn't even bring herself to put them on — she just stood there, tears welling in her eyes.
"Heh heh. Told you I'd find them in no time."
"Miss Rita, allow me to put them on for you."
Glasses were Amon's field of expertise (?). He plucked them from Bar's hand and placed them gently onto Rita's face himself.
"Can you see clearly now?"
At last, the world snapped into focus. Apart from the momentary blurring of fresh tears, everything was perfect.
"Bar... thank you so much!"
It had only been a little while, but it felt like an eternity in hell. If not for this, she might have had no face to show the lord and the young master on her very first day back in Hamilton. She almost felt sorry for all the times she'd scolded him for his terrible cooking.
I won't do that anymore.
"I'm going to teach you so seriously from now on!"
There was only one way to repay this kindness.
"Wh-what... how...?"
Tania, who had been practically vibrating in anticipation of the mockery to come, stood there slack-jawed.
I stepped on them and crushed them myself... I'm sure of it!
Her first thought was that they must be a different pair. But no — those were Rita's glasses. The round frames, the faded spot on the right temple tip — everything matched.
"Th-that's impossible!"
Now it was Tania's turn to be shocked. She couldn't make sense of it at all. The woman who'd been smug and triumphant mere moments ago had gone ghost-white, unable to utter a word.
Des regarded her in silence. Something like a cloud of pure black began to billow up from his body, then drifted through the air toward Tania — and seeped straight into her chest.
It's over! They'll figure out it was me any second now!
Tania sank to the ground, clutching her head.
What if they beat me? No — what if they throw me out entirely...!
She'd clawed her way into this position against all odds, and now expulsion was only a matter of time. Terror seized her completely, and her whole body shook like an aspen in the wind.
This is a nightmare!
Little by little, her mind began to sink — down, down into the swamp of despair.