The Maid's Sharp Glare
The sharp edge in Marine's voice cut through the air. The girl who always greeted me with a bright smile now radiated a piercing aura that made my legs go weak. Did something bad happen? I couldn't think of any reason why Marine, who had always treated me so kindly, would suddenly bare her fangs like this.
Even Cani, standing behind Marine, kept stealing nervous glances, clearly intimidated by her icy demeanor.
“Just a friend from the magic department,” I said, unable to call her my master, so I kept it vague.
“Yes, we’re just friends,” Carden added, switching on her gentle Leni mode and smiling brightly in agreement.
“Hmm.” Marine wore an expression that clearly said she wasn’t pleased.
“Fine. Have a good day, then.”
Marine gave Carden a half-hearted wave before grabbing my hand and pulling me along.
“Hendel, I know a great restaurant. Let’s have dinner together.”
Her grip seemed light, but as a knight department student, her strength was no joke.
“W-wait a second.”
Marine stared at me with a blank face.
“What?”
“The truth is, I already promised to have dinner with Car… I mean, Leni first.”
Maybe it was my imagination, but I could have sworn intense laser beams shot from Marine’s eyes. After staring at me for a long moment, she shifted her gaze to Carden.
“Sorry, but would it be alright if I borrowed Hendel for a bit?”
Why is she acting like this? I stepped in front of Carden, blocking Marine’s line of sight.
“Marine, that’s not fair. Leni made the promise first.”
Marine looked incredibly upset, but no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what exactly had set her off.
“…”
Marine stared at me intently. I held her gaze without backing down.
“Haa.”
She must have decided to take a step back, because she let out a short sigh and looked away.
“You’re really just friends, right?”
Marine glanced back and forth between me and Carden. The truth was that we weren’t friends at all—we had a master-servant relationship. But I had a strong feeling that revealing that would trigger a massive storm, so I desperately kept my expression neutral.
“That’s what I keep saying.”
“…Follow me. We’ll eat together.”
Marine turned her head and took the lead. Cani pointed at herself, giving me a look that asked what she should do. I gestured for her to come along.
Cani scurried over and hid behind me.
“I’m scared…”
What on earth happened while I was gone? Her body trembled violently.
“Did something happen while I was away?”
I had enough sense to realize that Cani’s shivering had everything to do with Marine. She stole a quick glance at Marine’s back before shaking her head.
“N-nothing at all.”
That reaction screams that something definitely happened.
Maybe it was because we hadn’t seen each other for the past few months, but the Marine I met last time seemed even more dependent on me than before. It left me feeling a bit uneasy. I’d probably need to set aside some time soon to do a little digging.
The high-class restaurant at the academy.
“…”
“…”
Since Marine had recommended it, the food was truly excellent. The steak was cooked to perfection, and the accompanying french fries were so good they deserved applause. The problem was the atmosphere—one of the most important parts of any meal—which had turned ice-cold.
Marine didn’t utter a single word throughout the entire dinner. Carden, whose eyes had practically rolled back at the sight of food, was too busy stuffing her stomach to care. And Cani, who surprisingly paid a lot of attention to other people’s moods, wore a pitiful expression like she was suffering from the tension.
If she’s this good at reading the room, why doesn’t she ever read mine?
“Excuse me.”
A waiter in an elegant old-fashioned suit demonstrated impressive skill by carrying four plates on a single tray.
“This is yokan made with Belgian chocolate and pistachio ice cream.”
The waiter set the tray down with practiced grace. But the moment his eyes met Marine’s, he flinched and his movements sped up noticeably.
“P-please enjoy your dessert!”
After finishing the setup in record time, he bowed deeply and practically fled from the table.
The soft, chewy chocolate yokan looked incredibly appetizing. Marine, the source of the table’s frosty atmosphere, poked at it with a sullen expression before tilting her fork and neatly slicing off a piece. Ever since she was little, feeding Marine anything sweet would instantly improve her mood, so I hoped it would work this time too.
Marine chewed the yokan slowly, savoring the flavor. She seemed satisfied with the food, yet her sullen expression refused to fade.
I subtly rolled my eyes, checking the other girls’ reactions. Carden was happily devouring everything without a care for the mood, but Cani looked like she might get indigestion from the heavy tension.
I guess I need to step in.
She couldn’t even eat properly while watching everyone’s reactions. I wanted her to at least enjoy the dessert in peace. I reached over and tapped Marine’s shoulder. She had been wearing that cold expression, but the moment our eyes met, it softened just a little.
“What?”
“Want to get some fresh air for a bit?”
Marine’s clear blue eyes bored into me.
“Just the two of us?”
“Yeah.”
A faint hint of joy colored Marine’s face. She stood up before I even had the chance. I was about to tell her to finish the easily-melting ice cream first, but her plate was already completely empty. I marveled at how quickly she had demolished the dessert, then placed one serving each of the ice cream and chocolate yokan in front of Cani and Carden.
Carden’s eyes sparkled as she licked her lips, having finished her own dessert even faster than Marine. Cani just looked confused.
“I’ll be back soon, so go ahead and eat my share too.”
Carden’s eyes lit up. At that exact moment—
Whoosh!
Marine snatched the ice cream and yokan with lightning speed.
“Huh?”
Carden looked utterly bewildered. True to her physical fighter nature, Marine moved with smooth, efficient grace as she shoved both the ice cream and yokan into her mouth at the same time.
“D-delicious…”
Having crammed the freezing ice cream into her mouth in one go, Marine’s words came out slurred from the brain freeze. Cani let out a dumbfounded chuckle, while Carden’s hands trembled in despair at having her food stolen.
Carden looked like she was about to burst into tears any second. Marine didn’t spare her a single glance. Instead, she looked at me with a bright, innocent smile.
“Let’s go quickly. I feel so suffocated.”
Having devoured countless romance novels, Cani (eternal solo) proudly considered herself a master of love. In fact, quite a few maids had successfully gotten married thanks to her advice. Some even came to her for marriage counseling afterward.
Of course, Cani herself was a lifelong singleton—the only boy she had ever held hands with was Hendel.
Regardless of her own lack of romantic experience, Cani had recognized Marine’s feelings from the very beginning. A pure, single-minded love that had been devoted to one boy since she was eight years old. Add in the childhood friend trope, and it was a combination that a passionate romance novel reader like Cani simply couldn’t resist supporting.
Ha, how did it come to this?
But at some point, the solid support she had given to the Hendel x Marine pairing began to crack.
In front of the young master, she didn’t have to wear that uncomfortable mask. She could show him her honest, true self. The casual conversations they shared had, at some point, gone beyond enjoyment and become pure happiness. Watching each of the young master’s brilliant ideas come to life in reality filled her with admiration.
It was embarrassing, but she had even stayed up all night lost in impure fantasies about the young master.
At first, seeing the young master and Lady Marine share affectionate conversations had been healing for her. But at some point, it stopped being healing and started causing her pain instead.
She wasn’t like the dense female leads in romance novels. That’s why she understood her own feelings perfectly.
She had been born to ordinary parents in a small village called Daeri at the western edge of the Edgar County territory. She had been nothing more than an ordinary countryside girl. And yet, she had fallen for the young master—the next head of the Count Edgar family, whose countless inventions had made his name famous across the continent.
Why did I have to fall for a love that can never come true…?
The love between the next head of a wealthy count family and a commoner maid. In a romance novel, maybe. But in reality, it was a love that could never be.
That’s what she had thought until just a moment ago.
There’s still… a chance.
But after becoming a love expert through countless romance novels, Cani’s sharp eyes had caught a path to victory in what had just happened.
The young master believed that Marine had reformed, but Cani knew the truth. Lady Marine’s true nature hadn’t changed at all from her childhood. She was simply acting innocent and harmless only in front of the young master.
Until now, Cani hadn’t been able to see any way to overcome Marine’s perfect performance in front of Hendel.
But today, for the first time, Lady Marine had shown a clear opening.
When she saw the young master coming out with that woman named Carden, Marine had clearly been shaken. She had revealed her true self to the young master. And Cani had clearly witnessed how greatly the young master had been disturbed by seeing Marine’s real personality, even if only for a brief moment.
Cani was no fool who would let an opportunity like this slip by.
At some point, Lady Marine had begun to see her as a rival—whether through feminine intuition or something else—and had started keeping her in check. Until now, Cani had kept her head down, never resisting in what seemed like a hopeless fight. She had been satisfied with claiming just a tiny portion of the young master’s world.
But from now on, things would be different.
Cani clenched her fist tightly.
“Yokan… my yokan…”
“…I’ll order you some more yokan.”
“Huk, thank you!”
First, she needed to soothe this gluttonous girl.