The Maid, Catherine (Part 2)
“What are you doing sitting there? Get up.”
At my words, the maid scrambled to her feet.
“Um… you’re the new nanny, right?”
She wrung her hands together, blushing furiously as she darted shy glances at me.
“If you already know, why ask?”
“Th-thank you so much for helping me!”
“I didn’t help you.”
“Pardon? But…”
“I merely warned those women against wagging their tongues carelessly about me.”
I despised gossip to begin with, and their shrill chatter had grated on my nerves, so I had simply taught them a lesson. It was by no means venting my spite against the head maid. Absolutely not.
“Now, if you will excuse me.”
“Even so, you saved me, Nanny!”
“Think whatever you like.”
“Wait!”
As I turned to leave, the maid called out to stop me once more.
“Do you still have something to say?”
Anyone else might have taken offense at my persistently frosty tone, but the maid’s eyes only sparkled brighter.
“My name is Catherine Veil. I work in the annex.”
Why introduce herself when nobody had asked? Instead of answering, I stared blankly at her. Her cheeks still flushed, she babbled on.
“Thank you so much for helping me. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, please just say the word. I’ll help you anytime!”
Like I said, I never helped you.
I was about to walk away with an indifferent expression when I paused, turning back to look at her.
“You.”
“Yes?”
“Can you cook?”
The maid blinked in utter bewilderment at my question.
“C-cook?”
“It’s so delicious!”
Edwin and Emilia, the young imperial siblings, looked over with wide, astonished eyes.
“What is this? Aside from banquet feasts, I’ve never eaten anything this good!”
“Yeah! It’s super, super yummy!”
Because mealtime had been delayed, both of them seemed to have been ravenous.
“I-it’s just an ordinary fish stew, Your Highness. You flatter me.”
To think Edwin, notorious for being a picky eater, was devouring the meal with such gusto. I directed my praise to the woman standing beside him.
“Making ordinary food taste exquisite is a talent in itself.”
“Oh, it’s really nothing special. But thank you for the compliment, Nanny.”
The tall woman standing there, blushing bashfully, was none other than the maid Catherine Veil—the one I had inadvertently rescued from the clutches of the others. She had insisted that I call on her whenever I needed a hand, and since I happened to need one right away, I had taken her up on the offer.
“Are you certain you’ll be alright?”
“Pardon?” Catherine tilted her head at my question.
“I was told the head maid strictly forbade anyone from assisting me.”
When I elaborated, Catherine winked and let out a light laugh.
“I haven’t helped you at all, though?”
“Excuse me?”
“I merely brought a meal because I worried the masters of this palace, the Imperial Prince and Princess, might go hungry.”
It was a delightfully shrewd reply.
Shrugging lightly, she added, “Besides, the maids in the main building take their meals separately, and they couldn’t care less about what goes on over here.”
“Maids eat separately from each other?”
“Yes. Most of the maids serving in the main building belong to old, established noble families.” Catherine offered a bitter smile. “On the other hand, those of us assigned to the annex come from commoner backgrounds or families that bought their titles with gold. So we don’t exactly get along.”
So that’s why that woman from the count’s family was throwing such a tantrum earlier.
“Which means nobody will care where the leftover ingredients went. Even the head maid won’t find out.”
“Is that so?”
Just then, Edwin set down his spoon and hopped to his feet. He must have truly enjoyed the food, having scraped his bowl clean in the blink of an eye. Clutching the doorknob, Edwin piped up toward me.
“I want to go for a walk with Emilia.”
“Go right ahead.”
I gave a casual answer, only to feel an intense gaze prickling against me.
“What is the matter, Your Highness?”
Edwin’s eyes were shining with an uncomfortable brilliance.
“I want to go outside.”
It seemed the boy had interpreted what I told the head maid in the most convenient way possible: that as long as I accompanied them, they were free to wander outside whenever they pleased.
“Lia wants to go outside, too!”
To make matters worse, Emilia grabbed her brother’s hand and began whining in unison.
Do we really need to go out?
As I hesitated, reluctant to bother, Catherine gave me a gentle nudge from behind.
“Hurry along, then! I’ll clear the table.”
“No, I should clean up.”
“I brought these dishes from the annex anyway. Let’s head out together.”
In a flash, Catherine stacked the empty tableware onto a tray. She walked out with us to see us off.
“Have a pleasant walk, and be careful!”
“Let’s go!”
Clasping his sister’s hand tightly, the prince trotted forward well ahead of us. In the end, I had no choice but to sigh and trail behind them.
“Lia, over there is the Imperial Library.”
Once outside the palace gates, Edwin pointed in every direction while holding his little sister’s hand.
“And that palace right next to it is where First Brother lives. Remember what I told you last time?”
“Uh-huh! Lia knows everything!”
“Really? Then could you find your way around all by yourself?”
“Uh-huh! Lia is super smart, so Lia never gets lost!”
“Is that so? Who did our princess take after to be so clever?”
“Big Brother!”
Edwin beamed radiant joy at his sister’s adorable answer.
They certainly know how to entertain each other.
I had thought so before, but when it came to his younger sister, Edwin was an absolute angel.
Such remarkable sibling devotion.
Like a shadow, I trailed behind the pair who resembled a couple of fledgling chicks. Though this was the imperial palace of Ventrum, with the exception of the 3rd Prince’s Palace, every corner of these grounds was intimately familiar to me. After all, I had once slipped in and out of this place as if it were my own front yard.
Suddenly, Edwin froze in his tracks.
“Look, it’s Daddy!”
At Emilia’s innocent chirp, I understood why Edwin had halted.
Ahead lay the sprawling expanse of the Central Flower Garden. A figure trailed by a long retinue of attendants was strolling leisurely among the vibrant flowerbeds. It was Emperor Carvelius III.
And walking beside the Emperor was a man.
Even for someone like me, who had the backgrounds of every meritorious retainer in the empire memorized, he was a total stranger.
Who is that?
Raven-black hair matched with pitch-black armor. His piercing golden eyes, which seemed to swallow every ray of sunlight, stood out strikingly even from a distance.
Standing beside the Emperor in full battle armor?
Out of sheer habit, I began assessing him. A disciplined, measured stride. An attitude that was courteous, yet completely devoid of subservience.
A knight? No, that can’t be it…
Maintaining an impassive expression, the man matched the Emperor’s pace stride for stride. A mere knight would never be permitted to walk abreast with the ruler of the empire.
He must hold considerable rank. Perhaps the ruler of an allied principality?
It was right at that moment.
The man abruptly turned his head toward us.
Before I could even register surprise, our eyes locked.
Normally, I would have averted my gaze without giving it a second thought. But this time, I froze.
Did he just… smile?
It was the briefest flicker of a second, but I was certain. The moment his gaze caught mine, the hint of an amused smile had curved his lips.
I wondered if my eyes had played tricks on me, but when he turned back toward the Emperor, his expression was once again completely blank.
Why on earth?
Confusion churned within me. Why would a man I had never seen before in my life flash a smile at me?
Did he recognize me? Surely not. And he certainly wasn’t flirting.
Wait… could he have known the real Rachel?
Though, judging by appearances, the chasm between this man’s status and Rachel’s was as wide as heaven and earth.
Well, one never knows.
While I was busy turning over various theories in my head, a sharp tug dragged at the hem of my skirt. The culprit was Edwin. He had grabbed a fistful of my fabric while staring at the imperial entourage, his face pale with unspoken fear, even as he tried his best to hide it.
“Mister Ant, where are you going?”
On the other hand, spirited Emilia showed remarkably little interest after her initial call to her father. The young princess was crouched beside her brother, observing an ant scuttling across the dirt path.
At this rate, we would be stuck rooted to this spot until the Emperor drifted far out of sight.
“Your Highness, shall we head back?”
Edwin looked up at me, startled.
“…Don’t we have to greet Imperial Father?”
“Why ask me? If Your Highness wishes to greet him, do so; if you do not, then don’t.”
Edwin stared at me with his mouth slightly ajar before slowly lowering his head.
“What would you like to do?”
After wrestling with the dilemma for a long while, the boy finally murmured in hesitation, “…I want to go back.”
“As you wish.”
Just as I turned away without a single lingering thought, Edwin grabbed my sleeve.
“I-I’m telling you this in advance!” he blurted out loudly, as if scrambling for an excuse. “It’s definitely not because I don’t want to greet Imperial Father! It’s just that he looks busy! Understood?!”
Nobody asked.
Children truly were impossible to understand.
“Yes, Your Highness. Understood.”
When I offered my brief, impassive reply, Edwin peered intently at me.
“Is something the matter?”
He clamped his lips shut and glared at me for a beat before abruptly whipping his head away.
“You really are strange.”
“Pardon?”
“If it were Emma, she would have insisted I pay my respects no matter what.”
“In that case, should we go greet him now—”
“No! Forget it!”
Edwin shook his head furiously from side to side.
“Let us return, then.”
“…Okay.”
I scooped up Emilia, who was still sitting in the dirt, and turned back without hesitation. Because of that, I failed to notice right away—that the boy was still clinging tightly to the fold of my skirt, quietly following in my footsteps.